Continuous Ink Flow Systems for Epson

[kazuya]

im thinking of getting one for my printer so i can save some money on ink
does anyone have one?

whats the pro's and con's?
they seem to sell two types, a dye ink system and a pigmant ink sytem thats twice the price, it also says the pigmant system can block if you dont regulary use your printer.

im guessing the pigmants the best, but as i dont use it that often i may just get the dye inks

any advice or comments

thanks
Dave

[paniolo]

A very helpful site for printing and refilling.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/
I have been using Canon printers (currently using Pro9000, dye based ink) for several years - easy to refill. Saves tons of $, but use of good ink is very important. Epson makes pigment ink printers but have a tendency to clog. Pigment ink, however, is "forever" and will not fade. Again use of good ink is recommended - I purchase from Precision Colors (http://home.eol.ca/~mikling/). He is very knowledgeable and helpful. Lots to learn from him about monitor calibration and printer profiling - he posts on niftystuff forum. Good Luck!
BTW - I refill Canon cartridges (very hard/impossible to get reliable CIS). Epsons are more forgiving and CIS is common.

[kazuya]

thats most helpfull, thank you very much

[zig-123]

Originally Posted by kazuya

im thinking of getting one for my printer so i can save some money on ink
does anyone have one?

whats the pro's and con's?
they seem to sell two types, a dye ink system and a pigmant ink sytem thats twice the price, it also says the pigmant system can block if you dont regulary use your printer.

im guessing the pigmants the best, but as i dont use it that often i may just get the dye inks

any advice or comments

thanks
Dave

Hi I would personally, be very cautious of using non-OEM pigmented based ink in an Epson pigment ink printer. I've no affiliation with Epson but in my former life as a product manager for a non contact ink jet printing system manufacturer using similar piezo type print heads, I can assure you that using proper ink formulation is paramount in the performance of the printheads.

I've been using an Epson photo 2200 printer now for the last 4years. It works perfectly. I attribute that to using Epson's ink formulations. And cleaning those heads out if you do go and decide to use a different company's ink is a dirty messy job.

I also have a Canon Pro 9000 MKII and have used precisions' ink to refill my dye based ink cartridges. While the printer works without any clogging issues. My experience is that the ink fades out dramatically after a few short weeks. This is especially true of the photo magenta color.

If you plan on printing and framing photographs to display on a wall exposed to sunlight, you'll be disappointed.


Zig

[ummar]

my epson cx4300 printer is not printing black,i changed the new black but still s not printing black,its printing in color,,so what was the problem?can u help me?

[zig-123]

Originally Posted by ummar

my epson cx4300 printer is not printing black,i changed the new black but still s not printing black,its printing in color,,so what was the problem?can u help me?

The CX4300 stylus printer appears to be a model made for the European market only as I couldn't find any reference to it on the Epson site, here in the states. But here is a link to the instructions that come with the printer:
ftp://download.epson-europe.com/pub/...on317754eu.pdf

Sounds like the printer may have run out of ink and needs to be primed. Go to the printer dialog in your pc and you should be able to go to maintenance. Once there you should print a test page to see if any black is coming out at all. If you're getting a few black dots appearing but some are missing or not getting any black to appear at all, then go to printhead cleaning and run a cleaning cycle. Once the cleaning is done, go back and run a test page. You should see improvement. You may have to run the cleaning cycle more than once to get all the dots to appear properly.

Zig

[paniolo]

Originally Posted by zig-123

Hi I would personally, be very cautious of using non-OEM pigmented based ink in an Epson pigment ink printer. I've no affiliation with Epson but in my former life as a product manager for a non contact ink jet printing system manufacturer using similar piezo type print heads, I can assure you that using proper ink formulation is paramount in the performance of the printheads.

I've been using an Epson photo 2200 printer now for the last 4years. It works perfectly. I attribute that to using Epson's ink formulations. And cleaning those heads out if you do go and decide to use a different company's ink is a dirty messy job.

I also have a Canon Pro 9000 MKII and have used precisions' ink to refill my dye based ink cartridges. While the printer works without any clogging issues. My experience is that the ink fades out dramatically after a few short weeks. This is especially true of the photo magenta color.

If you plan on printing and framing photographs to display on a wall exposed to sunlight, you'll be disappointed.


Zig

I have been using Precision Colors ink (mfrd by Image Spe******ts) for quite a while. Fading is an issue, both by UV and ozone and varies with ink/paper combinations. I have a bad ozone fade problem in Hawaii with micro-porous paper (most marketed as instant dry type photo paper) and have tested several inks and papers. I print proofs on Kirkland paper (Costco) and keepers on Ilford Galerie (swellable paper), and have had good results with the swellable papers.

Although I never used a pigment printer, my next will most likely be pigment as the new Epsons seem like to have a much better track record regarding clogging than in the past. Older models have had problems, even with OEM inks.

[zig-123]

Originally Posted by paniolo

I have been using Precision Colors ink (mfrd by Image Spe******ts) for quite a while. Fading is an issue, both by UV and ozone and varies with ink/paper combinations. I have a bad ozone fade problem in Hawaii with micro-porous paper (most marketed as instant dry type photo paper) and have tested several inks and papers. I print proofs on Kirkland paper (Costco) and keepers on Ilford Galerie (swellable paper), and have had good results with the swellable papers.

Although I never used a pigment printer, my next will most likely be pigment as the new Epsons seem like to have a much better track record regarding clogging than in the past. Older models have had problems, even with OEM inks.

Good morning,

More of a problem for the earlier Epson pigmented printers than head clogging was color matching using icc profiles. The newer printers such starting with the Stylus 2400 are quite a bit better. I've got my eye out for a used Epson 3880 when it comes along.

As for paper, have you tried Red River Paper's line of products? They have a great collection of printable papers. Their website is redriverpaper.com. You can get a sample pak for little cost. I use their River Linen stock which produces lovely results.

Zig

[paniolo]

Originally Posted by zig-123

Good morning,

More of a problem for the earlier Epson pigmented printers than head clogging was color matching using icc profiles. The newer printers such starting with the Stylus 2400 are quite a bit better. I've got my eye out for a used Epson 3880 when it comes along.

As for paper, have you tried Red River Paper's line of products? They have a great collection of printable papers. Their website is redriverpaper.com. You can get a sample pak for little cost. I use their River Linen stock which produces lovely results.

Zig

Thanks for the tip - have heard of Red River but never tried their papers. Wish I could convince my wife for a 3880, but would settle for r1900 or r2880.

[Patriot Imaging]

Just to add, according to EPSON, using anything except their brand of ink cartridges voids the warranty on the printer. So be careful. The good thing about Continuous Ink System is that you can save money, but the downside is that, the installation would take you hours and`you're not sure if it's gonna last.