Ink evaporation

[deadshot]

Is it me or does the ink evaporate out of inkjet printers.
I have an Epson Stylus Photo printer which I used to use regularly but recently I haven't used it much. I put new cartridges in earlier this year and printed a couple of 5x7s. I decided to print a couple of pics yesterday and the symbols are showing that I'm nearly out of ink??
So it looks like drying out or evaporation to me.
Anyone else had this?

[VTphotog]

The way the printer determines ink use is by counting drops, not how much ink is actually in the cartridge. What this means is likely that the printer has gone through some cleaning cycles, using up the ink. It actually is done to prevent the ink drying in the printhead. It's a pain, and uses up a lot of ink. What really annoys me, is that an ink charging cycle, done when changing carts, uses ink from all the carts instead of just the one that was replaced. So much for the advantage of individual ink tanks.

brian

[deadshot]

Thats it! you've just reminded me that I did change my black cartridge some weeks ago.
So that would have meant another cycle Dohh!!

[VTphotog]

It seems counterintuitive, but I have found that if I need to replace a cart, I also change any others which are less than 1/3 full, and end up using less ink.

brian

[PeterP]

Printers, especially my Epson (I've got an Epson stylus photo 13*19, HP 13*19 and Canon 8.5*11 inkjets and a Brother laser) go through several cleaning cycles.

My Epson used to do a big one when a cartridge was changed, about 3% drop in all the other 6 cartridges.
And smaller ones when the printer is powered on, also it seemed to run a periodic cleaning cycle on its own if it was left powered on.

All carefully designed to keep you buying expensive inks, even if you are not using them.
Also inks expire, good for about 6 months after a cartridge is opened.

[deadshot]

My Epson inks, only 4, cost me £25 +, (= $ 45 approx) the cheapest I could find on the net.
So I am thinking of going over to compatibles but I understand they tend to clog more and fade quicker, although a friend of mine who paid £5 for a compatible 4 ink set says he hasn't noticed any difference yet.( I crafty swine, am waiting for him to find out different )
I was thinking of posting a thread entitled " which is the best compatible ink ?" but I expect it has already been done , I haven't had a look yet.
John

[peterbj7]

Change to a laser printer. MUCH cheaper to run.

[VTphotog]

Some good threads in the printers forum on this. My own experience with third party inks for my Epson printers has not been good, so I bite the bullet and spend for the OEM ink. Best place I have found yet is Atlex.com, but don't know if they ship to UK.
Haven't found a laser that is acceptable for (high quality) photo printing.

brian

[zig-123]

If you're complaining about the cost of OEM inks, wait 'til you introduce pirated ink into the printer. you'll pay less for the ink, but then most likely, the ink will clog the printhead. which means you'll waste time, money and effort on unclogging it. THEN, you'll go ahead and buy a whole new set of ink cartridges from Epson to reprime the head.

save yourself the aggravation.

Zig

[deadshot]

Quite a few of my camera club members have now gone over to print companies like Snapfish etc and reckon it is cheaper than buying a printer and replacing the inks every 5 mins.
I haven't costed it out yet but I will do.
Certainly these companies have brought their costs down lately and a professional photographer, who came to our club last year to give us a lecture, maintained that these companies produced a better quality print than he could print himself.I personally have not tried this as yet but my printer is getting old and I dont see myself bothering to replace it.