Epson Printers ...

[Arfa Daily]

Hi all

I am never EVER going to buy another printer from Epson. For years I used
HPs without any problem at all. I then changed to an Epson on the grounds
that the cartridges were cheaper to buy, because the heads weren't built in.
First mistake. The heads used to clog up on a regular basis. OK, it was a
cheap printer, so eventually I threw it away. Stupidly, I allowed a salesman
to talk me into another much more sophisticated model, which had card slots
for printing off my photos. And what does this one do ? Right ... the heads
clog about once a week.

This morning, as I was printing off a circuit diagram, I watched as the
stupid piece of shite clogged on the black half way through the print. If I
was using garbage inks or refills, I might be able to understand it, but I
have ALWAYS used the genuine article right from the day it came out of the
box.

Of course, there's always the cleaning program. Yeah, right ...

This piece of software is such CRAP, that it can only do ALL of the heads at
once. It usually takes anything up to FOUR runs of this rotten program to
clear a clogged head. Each run uses about a gallon of ink, so by the time
you've got the black unclogged, you've also sprayed about 10 quids worth of
Mag Yell and Cyan into the bottom of the printer for no good reason other
than making the time a bit closer when you've got to line Epson's pocket
again for some more of their ludicrously priced dye.

I read somewhere the other day that home printer ink is the most expensive
fluid on the planet. I can vouch for that.

So, am I just being unlucky, or has anyone else had similar problems ? This
one's close to being drop kicked down the garden ...

Arfa

 

[Peter]

So, am I just being unlucky, or has anyone else had similar problems ? This
one's close to being drop kicked down the garden ...

We've been running a half dozen newer Epsons (R300's, R800's
etc) and haven't had a single clog on any of them.

Are you shaking the ink cartridges several times before installing
them? If not, you're supposed to. That gets rid of air pockets
in the cartridges and settles the ink to the bottom.

Also, are you using a power strip to turn the printer off? If so,
you're bypassing the head seals, and that will cause a problem.

 

[3T39]

Hello, Peter!
You wrote on Tue, 27 Sep 2005 09:06:29 GMT:

??>> So, am I just being unlucky, or has anyone else had similar problems ?
??>> This one's close to being drop kicked down the garden ...

P> We've been running a half dozen newer Epsons (R300's, R800's
P> etc) and haven't had a single clog on any of them.

P> Are you shaking the ink cartridges several times before installing
P> them? If not, you're supposed to. That gets rid of air pockets
P> in the cartridges and settles the ink to the bottom.


I've been using my old Epson Photo 870 for years and I always use cheap
compatible cartridges, It only clogs occasionally, and that's usually when I
ignore it for a few weeks. I find if I use every couple of days it never
clogs and still prints terrific photos. Honest! Maybe the newer ones are not
as reliable, I couldn't comment about that as there's no way I'm going to
replace the 870 in the near future just to get a few more pixels per inch.



with best regards, 3T39. E-mail: [email protected]

 

[Arfa Daily]

We've been running a half dozen newer Epsons (R300's, R800's
etc) and haven't had a single clog on any of them.

Are you shaking the ink cartridges several times before installing
them? If not, you're supposed to. That gets rid of air pockets
in the cartridges and settles the ink to the bottom.

Also, are you using a power strip to turn the printer off? If so,
you're bypassing the head seals, and that will cause a problem.

Hi Peter

Thanks for the advice. I haven't been shaking the cartridges prior to
fitting, but then I've never seen anything in the paperwork that suggested
you should, or in the " on screen " instructions that pop up when you start
replacing a cartridge. I've also never had to do this with any other printer
that I've owned, but I will give it a try on the next replacement ...

As far as turning off goes, it is basically never turned off, but it is used
pretty much daily, and I would have thought that there was seldom much more
than 12 hours between uses. As far as head sealing goes, I would have
thought that the standby " park " position was the same as the
printer-originated power down " park " position, thus sealing up the heads
during periods of non use but perhaps that's not so. What you're saying
would suggest that this is what you believe, and the heads get left in an '
out ' position if you just kill the power rather than allowing it to go
through a power down sequence. If not, then I would suggest that that's a
design oversight, and the heads should always be sealed when not actually
printing. Even if it is so, I would not have expected bulk ink to dry in the
nozzles that quickly, but perhaps I'm being over optimistic there. Comments
?

Perhaps these ' cartridge only ' printers don't sit well with my patterns of
useage. I do know that in future, I will be going back to an HP. Even though
the cartridges are more expensive, at least I'm getting a nice new head each
time, and if one does block up, the only thing that's scrap is the
cartridge, not the whole printer.

Thanks again, and if shaking and turning off seems to do any good, I'll post
again in a few months, and say so.

Arfa

 

[Dave D]

Hi Peter

Thanks for the advice. I haven't been shaking the cartridges prior to
fitting, but then I've never seen anything in the paperwork that suggested
you should, or in the " on screen " instructions that pop up when you
start replacing a cartridge. I've also never had to do this with any other
printer that I've owned, but I will give it a try on the next replacement
...

Epson seems to endorse shaking cartridges. Here's a couple of Epson
manuals.

http://support2.epson.net/manuals/english/ij/stylusc65/pdf/sc65sug.pdf
http://support2.epson.net/manuals/english/ij/stylusphotor1800/pdf/SPR1800sug.pdf

However this article says no, though they are talking about not shaking open
cartridges, which is fairly obvious.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Choosing-the-Right-Printer-Ink&id=70138

Mind, any article with gems of astounding insight like "With regular use,
printer ink may begin to dwindle." doesn't fill me with confidence.

Dave

 

[Anna Daptor]

Epson seems to endorse shaking cartridges. Here's a couple of Epson
manuals.

http://support2.epson.net/manuals/english/ij/stylusc65/pdf/sc65sug.pdf
http://support2.epson.net/manuals/english/ij/stylusphotor1800/pdf/SPR1800sug.pdf

Those are Pigment ink printers.

 

[Peter]

Hi Peter

Thanks for the advice. I haven't been shaking the cartridges prior to
fitting, but then I've never seen anything in the paperwork that suggested
you should, or in the " on screen " instructions that pop up when you start
replacing a cartridge. I've also never had to do this with any other printer
that I've owned, but I will give it a try on the next replacement ...

It depends on what model printer you have, and what kind of ink
it uses. It's clearly stated in our R800/R300/R200 manuals to
shake the cartridges downward several times right before installing
them. The insert that comes with the ink cartridges says the same
thing.

These printers use pigment-based inks, which are thicker than the
dye-based inks used in most of Epson's lower-end models. This
might account for the difference in instructions.

As far as turning off goes, it is basically never turned off, but it is used
pretty much daily, and I would have thought that there was seldom much more
than 12 hours between uses. As far as head sealing goes, I would have
thought that the standby " park " position was the same as the
printer-originated power down " park " position, thus sealing up the heads
during periods of non use but perhaps that's not so. What you're saying
would suggest that this is what you believe, and the heads get left in an '
out ' position if you just kill the power rather than allowing it to go
through a power down sequence. If not, then I would suggest that that's a
design oversight, and the heads should always be sealed when not actually
printing. Even if it is so, I would not have expected bulk ink to dry in the
nozzles that quickly, but perhaps I'm being over optimistic there. Comments
?

Epson printers do seal their heads after a certain amount of
inactivity. I was referring to turning the power off via a power
strip, whereby the printer couldn't engage its seals.

BTW are you using Epson or third-party inks? If the latter, all
bets are off with regard to clogging problems.

Perhaps these ' cartridge only ' printers don't sit well with my patterns of
useage. I do know that in future, I will be going back to an HP. Even though
the cartridges are more expensive, at least I'm getting a nice new head each
time, and if one does block up, the only thing that's scrap is the
cartridge, not the whole printer.

We've never found an HP inkjet that equals Epson's image
quality. A few of their most recent models come close though.

 

[Ken Weitzel]

Hi all

I am never EVER going to buy another printer from Epson. For years I used
HPs without any problem at all. I then changed to an Epson on the grounds
that the cartridges were cheaper to buy, because the heads weren't built in.
First mistake. The heads used to clog up on a regular basis. OK, it was a
cheap printer, so eventually I threw it away. Stupidly, I allowed a salesman
to talk me into another much more sophisticated model, which had card slots
for printing off my photos. And what does this one do ? Right ... the heads
clog about once a week.

This morning, as I was printing off a circuit diagram, I watched as the
stupid piece of shite clogged on the black half way through the print. If I
was using garbage inks or refills, I might be able to understand it, but I
have ALWAYS used the genuine article right from the day it came out of the
box.

Of course, there's always the cleaning program. Yeah, right ...

This piece of software is such CRAP, that it can only do ALL of the heads at
once. It usually takes anything up to FOUR runs of this rotten program to
clear a clogged head. Each run uses about a gallon of ink, so by the time
you've got the black unclogged, you've also sprayed about 10 quids worth of
Mag Yell and Cyan into the bottom of the printer for no good reason other
than making the time a bit closer when you've got to line Epson's pocket
again for some more of their ludicrously priced dye.

I read somewhere the other day that home printer ink is the most expensive
fluid on the planet. I can vouch for that.

So, am I just being unlucky, or has anyone else had similar problems ? This
one's close to being drop kicked down the garden ...

Arfa

Hi Arfa...

Have a suggestion for you if I may.

Grab yourself a copy of the ssc software (free) from ssclg.com.

A fantastic utility that replaces (or supplants) the Epson cleaning
software. Allows you to clean only one head when required, rather
than wasting ink cleaning both when not needed.

Has a "power" cleaning mode as well, so that 4 wasteful regular ones
aren't needed.

Let's you reset the tank counters, so you can get every last bit of
expensive ink from your carts.

Lets you stop the counter if you wish, or reset it to full if you
want to refill your own carts.

Lets you hot swap carts without the printer insisting on re-charging them.

And more, waaaaay more.

Hope this helps, and take care.

Ken.

Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with ssc, other than having been a
user for years.

 

[Jumpster Jiver]

I've been using my Epson Stylus Photo 960 for about 1.5 to 2 years now
with no problems. It gets regular use with black text printing about 3
to 5 days a week and color photo printing about once a week to once a month.
I've only used genuine Epson Inks and have only had a head clog once.
Selecting the "cleaning" program solved the problem but did waste a lot
of ink. I cringed as I heard it squirt into the bottom sponge.

 

[Bob Parker]

Back in the late 90s I paid heaps for an Epson Stylus 500 printer.
It was great at first, but then started producing "banded" printouts.
I wasn't really surprised, because it didn't get much use. Eventually
it got so bad that it was unusable.
When I took it apart, I was stunned by how much massively expensive
ink the thing had pumped into the huge absorbent pad under the
mechanism in its unstoppable self-cleaning cycles. I vowed that I'd
never ever touch another Epson printer, or inkjets in general if I
could avoid them.
However a mate loaned me his old HP Deskjet 500 which was totally
reliable for years until I decided to upgrade.
A couple of weeks ago I bought a little HP Laserjet 1020 which is
perfect so far, for the small amount of invoice etc printing that I
do.

Bob

 

[Chuck]

Hi all

I am never EVER going to buy another printer from Epson. For years I used
HPs without any problem at all. I then changed to an Epson on the grounds
that the cartridges were cheaper to buy, because the heads weren't built in.
First mistake. The heads used to clog up on a regular basis. OK, it was a
cheap printer, so eventually I threw it away. Stupidly, I allowed a salesman
to talk me into another much more sophisticated model, which had card slots
for printing off my photos. And what does this one do ? Right ... the heads
clog about once a week.

This morning, as I was printing off a circuit diagram, I watched as the
stupid piece of shite clogged on the black half way through the print. If I
was using garbage inks or refills, I might be able to understand it, but I
have ALWAYS used the genuine article right from the day it came out of the
box.

Of course, there's always the cleaning program. Yeah, right ...

This piece of software is such CRAP, that it can only do ALL of the heads at
once. It usually takes anything up to FOUR runs of this rotten program to
clear a clogged head. Each run uses about a gallon of ink, so by the time
you've got the black unclogged, you've also sprayed about 10 quids worth of
Mag Yell and Cyan into the bottom of the printer for no good reason other
than making the time a bit closer when you've got to line Epson's pocket
again for some more of their ludicrously priced dye.

I read somewhere the other day that home printer ink is the most expensive
fluid on the planet. I can vouch for that.

So, am I just being unlucky, or has anyone else had similar problems ? This
one's close to being drop kicked down the garden ...

Arfa

I have a C60 that I use once a week. I use only Epson cartridges and
it plugs up at least every other time I use it. We have used HPs,
Canons and Lexmarks in the past, none of which plug up. Chuck

 

[Dave D]

Back in the late 90s I paid heaps for an Epson Stylus 500 printer.
It was great at first, but then started producing "banded" printouts.
I wasn't really surprised, because it didn't get much use. Eventually
it got so bad that it was unusable.
When I took it apart, I was stunned by how much massively expensive
ink the thing had pumped into the huge absorbent pad under the
mechanism in its unstoppable self-cleaning cycles. I vowed that I'd
never ever touch another Epson printer, or inkjets in general if I
could avoid them.

Yes, I had the Stylus Colour 500. It cost me about £275 IIRC and never lived
up to the print quality of the 'sample' image. After a period where it was
unused, it clogged up so badly that nothing would shift the blockage. It
ended up in the bin. I always used Epson cartridges BTW. Not only was the
print quality disappointing, the paper feed was dismal.

Some people knock HP printers, but at least I can put any old crap ink in
the cartridges and it can't damage the printer. If the print head gets
blocked beyond hope, I simply throw the cartridge in the bin and start off
with a new one.

Dave

 

[Arfa Daily]

Hi Arfa...

Have a suggestion for you if I may.

Grab yourself a copy of the ssc software (free) from ssclg.com.

A fantastic utility that replaces (or supplants) the Epson cleaning
software. Allows you to clean only one head when required, rather
than wasting ink cleaning both when not needed.

Has a "power" cleaning mode as well, so that 4 wasteful regular ones
aren't needed.

Let's you reset the tank counters, so you can get every last bit of
expensive ink from your carts.

Lets you stop the counter if you wish, or reset it to full if you
want to refill your own carts.

Lets you hot swap carts without the printer insisting on re-charging them.

And more, waaaaay more.

Hope this helps, and take care.

Ken.

Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with ssc, other than having been a
user for years.

Hi Ken.I've got it and installed it, so we'll see how it goes. Thanks very
much for the reference.

Interesting to see, if you follow the thread down, that I'm not the only one
having these woes with the Epson. As a matter of interest, to all of those
who comment on what inks I am using , they are the genuine article. Branded
Epsons in Epson boxes, bought from high street retailer. I know many people
who have come to grief with third party inks, and as this machine has fixed
heads, I have never even contemplated using anything other than genuine
manufacturer's inks. Just for the record, the printer is a " Stylus Photo
RX425 "

Arfa

 

[none]

I have a C60 that I use once a week. I use only Epson cartridges and
it plugs up at least every other time I use it. We have used HPs,
Canons and Lexmarks in the past, none of which plug up. Chuck

Epson printer's are pure crap, at least the one's I've wasted my money
on.
That includes the following models:
Epson Stylus Pro and Pro XL.
Epson Stylus 1500 and the later "Colorado" model.
Epson 800

I have a storage locker full of Epson crap that we had to sideline
because of the constant problems associated with these printers,
namely clogging and loss of seal integrity on the ink tanks.
I'd even managed to burn out the pezio heads on a couple of them
running the endless cleaning cycles Epson insists would "fix" the
banding problems.
We run a pro print shop and in the mid to late 90's saw inexpensive
inkjets as a solution for "spot color" work in our smaller print
runs(offset). Also as a low cost proof system on our bigger four color
work.
The Epson's failed miserably, they were neither reliable enough to
cost effective and Epson never came out with any pantone ink
cartridges that were work a fck.
We finally went with a couple of mid level plotters from Encad and
haven't had any problems since.
We've also purchased a few Lexmark printers as well as two of Canon's
better offerings that have done a bangup job for our low-end work.

I can't emphasize enough that one should stay away from anything
Epson.
I'm only hanging on to the pile of Epson crap that I have because I've
invested thousands into it and hope that someday some third party will
offer upgrade kits to replace the head and ink supply system so that
these units will actually print something besides test sheets and
cleanup patterns.

 

[none]

Hi Peter

Thanks for the advice. I haven't been shaking the cartridges prior to
fitting, but then I've never seen anything in the paperwork that suggested
you should, or in the " on screen " instructions that pop up when you start
replacing a cartridge. I've also never had to do this with any other printer
that I've owned, but I will give it a try on the next replacement ...

As far as turning off goes, it is basically never turned off, but it is used
pretty much daily, and I would have thought that there was seldom much more
than 12 hours between uses. As far as head sealing goes, I would have
thought that the standby " park " position was the same as the
printer-originated power down " park " position, thus sealing up the heads
during periods of non use but perhaps that's not so. What you're saying
would suggest that this is what you believe, and the heads get left in an '
out ' position if you just kill the power rather than allowing it to go
through a power down sequence. If not, then I would suggest that that's a
design oversight, and the heads should always be sealed when not actually
printing. Even if it is so, I would not have expected bulk ink to dry in the
nozzles that quickly, but perhaps I'm being over optimistic there. Comments
?

Perhaps these ' cartridge only ' printers don't sit well with my patterns of
useage. I do know that in future, I will be going back to an HP. Even though
the cartridges are more expensive, at least I'm getting a nice new head each
time, and if one does block up, the only thing that's scrap is the
cartridge, not the whole printer.

Thanks again, and if shaking and turning off seems to do any good, I'll post
again in a few months, and say so.

Arfa

What shaking is supposed to do is settle the ink into the bottom of
the cartridge.( the cartridge contains a sponge that's soaked in ink)
Why a sponge is beyond me, it just allows the introduction of air
bubbles and promotes dry clogging if the cartridge is allowed to sit
for more than a day or two.
An old trick that many Epson owners used to use was to place the
cartridge in a sock with the ink ports pointed outward and give the
sock several fast hard spins in an attempt to drive the ink into the
bottom of the cartridge and force the air either out the feed port or
into the top of the cartridge.
Some have even claimed this worked.

 

[Peter]

Epson printer's are pure crap, at least the one's I've wasted my money
on.
That includes the following models:
Epson Stylus Pro and Pro XL.
Epson Stylus 1500 and the later "Colorado" model.
Epson 800

I have a storage locker full of Epson crap that we had to sideline
because of the constant problems associated with these printers,
namely clogging and loss of seal integrity on the ink tanks.
I'd even managed to burn out the pezio heads on a couple of them
running the endless cleaning cycles Epson insists would "fix" the
banding problems.
We run a pro print shop and in the mid to late 90's saw inexpensive
inkjets as a solution for "spot color" work in our smaller print
runs(offset). Also as a low cost proof system on our bigger four color
work.
The Epson's failed miserably, they were neither reliable enough to
cost effective and Epson never came out with any pantone ink
cartridges that were work a fck.
We finally went with a couple of mid level plotters from Encad and
haven't had any problems since.
We've also purchased a few Lexmark printers as well as two of Canon's
better offerings that have done a bangup job for our low-end work.

I can't emphasize enough that one should stay away from anything
Epson.

Lexmark? Lexmark?? I wish you'd include your company name,
so I can be sure to keep my customers at least 100 feet from it.

Were you using third-party inks?

We had occasional clogs on our old Stylus Color 800, and zero
clogs after nearly a year on our R800. Apparently Epson has
addressed the problem, at least partially.

 

[b]

none ha escrito:

Epson printer's are pure crap, at least the one's I've wasted my money
on.
That includes the following models:
Epson Stylus Pro and Pro XL.
Epson Stylus 1500 and the later "Colorado" model.
Epson 800

I have a storage locker full of Epson crap that we had to sideline
because of the constant problems associated with these printers,
namely clogging and loss of seal integrity on the ink tanks.
I'd even managed to burn out the pezio heads on a couple of them
running the endless cleaning cycles Epson insists would "fix" the
banding problems.
We run a pro print shop and in the mid to late 90's saw inexpensive
inkjets as a solution for "spot color" work in our smaller print
runs(offset). Also as a low cost proof system on our bigger four color
work.
The Epson's failed miserably, they were neither reliable enough to
cost effective and Epson never came out with any pantone ink
cartridges that were work a fck.
We finally went with a couple of mid level plotters from Encad and
haven't had any problems since.
We've also purchased a few Lexmark printers as well as two of Canon's
better offerings that have done a bangup job for our low-end work.

I can't emphasize enough that one should stay away from anything
Epson.
I'm only hanging on to the pile of Epson crap that I have because I've
invested thousands into it and hope that someday some third party will
offer upgrade kits to replace the head and ink supply system so that
these units will actually print something besides test sheets and
cleanup patterns.

I have used the old stylus 500, was given a few other epsons a while
back (i think they were 450s) and relatives have a photo810. In both
cases i experienced the same clogging and hassle. After a massive clog
resulted in no output and the cleaning cycles did nothing but wasted
all the colour ink, The photo 810 i ended up dismantling, unscrewing
the print head, removing it and cleaning the nozzles manually with a
wet-wipe. That solved the problem, dunno how long it lasted. So at
least it is possible to restore them that way. I know opening them up
sounds time consuming but look at it this way: you'll spend as much
time opening them up as you would fruitlessly running the cleaning
prog.
But in short: avoid 'em!
-B.

 

[James Sweet]

Epson printer's are pure crap, at least the one's I've wasted my money
on.
That includes the following models:
Epson Stylus Pro and Pro XL.
Epson Stylus 1500 and the later "Colorado" model.
Epson 800

I had an old Stylus Color IIs that worked beautifully and never clogged.
Later I had a Stylus 600 which would clog constantly. I also had a couple
Canon printers that behaved similarly, HP is the only one that seems to be
decent but I got a laser printer for my B&W stuff now and it never clogs.

 

[clifto]

I had an old Stylus Color IIs that worked beautifully and never clogged.
Later I had a Stylus 600 which would clog constantly. I also had a couple
Canon printers that behaved similarly, HP is the only one that seems to be
decent

I started keeping alcohol wipes in the computer room when my H-P would
clog almost every time I used it (occasional use). I kept on keeping
them here for my Lexmark, which clogs less but still often enough.

 

[Arfa Daily]

What shaking is supposed to do is settle the ink into the bottom of
the cartridge.( the cartridge contains a sponge that's soaked in ink)
Why a sponge is beyond me, it just allows the introduction of air
bubbles and promotes dry clogging if the cartridge is allowed to sit
for more than a day or two.
An old trick that many Epson owners used to use was to place the
cartridge in a sock with the ink ports pointed outward and give the
sock several fast hard spins in an attempt to drive the ink into the
bottom of the cartridge and force the air either out the feed port or
into the top of the cartridge.
Some have even claimed this worked.

Yes, it's curious how the internals of these cartridges are constructed,
isn't it ? You'd think that if air bubbles in the cartridge was a problem,
they'd work the design up so that it wasn't the case.

Arfa