K3 Black ink swap glitch

[Jakub]

I originally set up my 7800 for Matte-black and would like to swich over to
the Photo-black ink. Thinking I could reduce waste by actually letting the Matte-black
cartridge go emtpy I now find that I cannot get to the "BK INK CHANGE" menu on the control panet as it is requesting the cartridge to be replaced. Can I simply install the Photo-black
cartridge now?  Thanks,

Walter

[Wright]

I have a 4800 and beleive you can put in the PK cartridge now.  I caution that I never let any cartridge run dry. I have read that doing so can cause some problems that did not seem worth the ink saved.

[Jonathan Wienke]

Don't worry about that. Epson's ink level system leaves a few ml of ink in the cart, even when it indicates empty. Try taking apart an "empty" cartridge--you may be surprised.

[Brian Gilkes]

Don't worry about that. Epson's ink level system leaves a few ml of ink in the cart, even when it indicates empty. Try taking apart an "empty" cartridge--you may be surprised.

Like 30-50ml!
We need someone with a hacksaw and a Z3100 to supply some figures on the HPs, and then  MarkDS to tell us how much the new printers are going to cost us in ink/sq m.
Let's assume no nozzle blocks on the Z, and say a  black ink swop once  month.
Actually, as I think about this, what we need is  little bit of software into which we can feed our own circumstances and get out cost /area.
Any takers?
Cheers,
Brian,
www.pharoseditions.com.au

[Ed Foster, Jr.]

I originally set up my 7800 for Matte-black and would like to swich over to
the Photo-black ink. Thinking I could reduce waste by actually letting the Matte-black
cartridge go emtpy I now find that I cannot get to the "BK INK CHANGE" menu on the control panet as it is requesting the cartridge to be replaced. Can I simply install the Photo-black
cartridge now?  Thanks,

Walter
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=94348\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Walter,

Installing the PK cartridge at this point may not reset the printer properly.  However, if you are looking to not purge all cartidges when you switch from PK to MK or vice-versa, the following is a nifty tip that I picked up on a couple of years ago for the 7600.  It has worked well for me on my 7600, but I have not yet tried it on my 7800, so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the hardware routines on the 7800.   However, I was planning on it when I make a switch.  (Credit: This originally came from a gentleman by the name of Rüdiger Schäfer who lives in South Africa, via alain with beautiful-landscape.com)

Good Luck,
Ed
--------------
How to change the photo/matte ink in the Epson 7600 and 9600 printers without using the costly Epson draining procedure:

1 – Make sure your printer is not switched on
2 - Open the ink cartridge lever in the ink cartridge bay
3 - Replace the photo black cartridge with the matte black cartridge (or vice versa)
4 - Leave the ink lever open !
5 –Using the printer control panel go into Maintenance Mode 2 by by switching power ON while pushing the 'Paper source', 'Cut/Eject', and 'Paper Feed down' buttons.
6 - Press the 'Paper Feed down' button until you see "SERVICE CONFIG" on the display - press the 'arrow right' button. It then shows 'XXD' in the lower part of the display.
7 - Press the 'Paper Feed down' button until you see "NPD" - press 'arrow right' button. A value of '1' appears in the display.
8 - There are 3 possible value settings for NPD:
0 - no ink check
1 - pigmented ink (there should be s star "*" at this setting)
2 - dye inks

9 - Change NPD setting to '0' (no ink check) and press "Enter" - a star should now show next to the '0' value
10 -Switch printer off
11 - Switch printer on
12 - Close the ink lever in the ink cartridge bay
13 - Printer and driver shows the matte black ink is installed (or photo black ink)

You can use the same procedure to switch from matte black to photo black or from photo black to matte black.
What happens is that once you change the ink in that way the printer
re-sets the 'NPD' value back to '1' the next time you switch on the
printer in the normal way (non maintenance mode).

At that point the previous black ink, either matte or photo black, has not been flushed our of the printer. Here is what you need to do to flush the remaining ink:

The 7600 uses approximately 10 to12 ml of ink before the previous black ink is flushed out.
1 - Create a 23"x 40" image in Photoshop and fill it with pure black (RGB 0,0,0).
2 - I use inexpensive matte paper and print that image at 720dpi.
3 - When you look at the finished print you will see that 2/3 of the print is photo ink as it looks a little bit dull and the rest of the print shows the nice dark matte ink.
4 - When this image is done printing the ink line is charged with matte black (or photo black).

[Stephen Best]

I originally set up my 7800 for Matte-black and would like to swich over to
the Photo-black ink. Thinking I could reduce waste by actually letting the Matte-black
cartridge go emtpy I now find that I cannot get to the "BK INK CHANGE" menu on the control panet as it is requesting the cartridge to be replaced. Can I simply install the Photo-black
cartridge now?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=94348\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

You could try but I don't think this will work. Probably the cheapest is to get a chip resetter, reset the MK to clear the message and do the swap procedure immediately.

The South African method above doesn't work on the x800.

[Jakub]

You could try but I don't think this will work. Probably the cheapest is to get a chip resetter, reset the MK to clear the message and do the swap procedure immediately.

The South African method above doesn't work on the x800.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=94395\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks for all the ideas. Perhaps the safest approach is to purchase
another MK cartridge and install it which should clear the "replace cartridge"
message so that I can proceed with the "normal" swap procedure.
 
Walter

[andyheb]

Thanks for all the ideas. Perhaps the safest approach is to purchase
another MK cartridge and install it which should clear the "replace cartridge"
message so that I can proceed with the "normal" swap procedure.
 
Walter
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=94545\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Hi there

I ran into the same problem today with my EPSON 4800. But the MK cartridge isn't empty. The printer watcher utility reports 19% ink left.
To buy a new MK cartridge isn't an option for me, since I don't plan to switch back to MK inks.

Does anyone know about another solution?
Maybe an undocumented press-4-keys-down-power-on-and-pray-to-the-gods-of-pigment-ink-printers-trick similar to the procedure for the x600 series reported above?

Thanks in advance for any hint.
Andy

[Ed Foster, Jr.]

Hi there

I ran into the same problem today with my EPSON 4800. But the MK cartridge isn't empty. The printer watcher utility reports 19% ink left.
To buy a new MK cartridge isn't an option for me, since I don't plan to switch back to MK inks.

Does anyone know about another solution?
Maybe an undocumented press-4-keys-down-power-on-and-pray-to-the-gods-of-pigment-ink-printers-trick similar to the procedure for the x600 series reported above?

Thanks in advance for any hint.
Andy
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=120866\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Andy,

You might consider a "chip resetter" as Steven Best Mentioned.

Good Luck,
Ed

[andyheb]

Andy,

You might consider a "chip resetter" as Steven Best Mentioned.

Good Luck,
Ed
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks for the tip. But since such a piece isn't available in Switzerland, I would expect spending nearly as much as buying another MK cartridge. Cause with shipping, taxes and customs the final price tag will raise to about the same amount such a thing costs.

But I guess, I just fooled myself and misinterpreted the display were all the other cartridges where blinking but not the MK-Ink-Symbol.
And with a little help from Google I've found a solution for that in another forum:
[a href=\"http://www.prophotobasics.com/showthread.php?t=134461]http://www.prophotobasics.com/showthread.php?t=134461[/url]
scroll down to the 5th message or use this URL:
http://www.prophotobasics.com/showpost.php...369&postcount=5

I will try that as soon as the current matte paper roll is used up. Full replacment cartridges of the other colors are already waiting in the drawer.

Have a nice week
Andy

[Ray]

--------------
How to change the photo/matte ink in the Epson 7600 and 9600 printers without using the costly Epson draining procedure:

1 – Make sure your printer is not switched on
2 - Open the ink cartridge lever in the ink cartridge bay
3 - Replace the photo black cartridge with the matte black cartridge (or vice versa)
4 - Leave the ink lever open !
5 –Using the printer control panel go into Maintenance Mode 2 by by switching power ON while pushing the 'Paper source', 'Cut/Eject', and 'Paper Feed down' buttons.
6 - Press the 'Paper Feed down' button until you see "SERVICE CONFIG" on the display - press the 'arrow right' button. It then shows 'XXD' in the lower part of the display.
7 - Press the 'Paper Feed down' button until you see "NPD" - press 'arrow right' button. A value of '1' appears in the display.
8 - There are 3 possible value settings for NPD:
0 - no ink check
1 - pigmented ink (there should be s star "*" at this setting)
2 - dye inks

9 - Change NPD setting to '0' (no ink check) and press "Enter" - a star should now show next to the '0' value
10 -Switch printer off
11 - Switch printer on
12 - Close the ink lever in the ink cartridge bay
13 - Printer and driver shows the matte black ink is installed (or photo black ink)

You can use the same procedure to switch from matte black to photo black or from photo black to matte black.
What happens is that once you change the ink in that way the printer
re-sets the 'NPD' value back to '1' the next time you switch on the
printer in the normal way (non maintenance mode).

At that point the previous black ink, either matte or photo black, has not been flushed our of the printer. Here is what you need to do to flush the remaining ink:

The 7600 uses approximately 10 to12 ml of ink before the previous black ink is flushed out.
1 - Create a 23"x 40" image in Photoshop and fill it with pure black (RGB 0,0,0).
2 - I use inexpensive matte paper and print that image at 720dpi.
3 - When you look at the finished print you will see that 2/3 of the print is photo ink as it looks a little bit dull and the rest of the print shows the nice dark matte ink.
4 - When this image is done printing the ink line is charged with matte black (or photo black).
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=94383\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Ed,
That's a neat trick. I've been using an Epson 7600 for some time with mostly Premium Lustre and occasionally gloss paper. Matte paper has the advantage of greater longevity, less reflection and no metamerism. It's also less expensive.

Since my Photo Black cartridge was almost empty, I decided to switch to Enhanced Matte paper tonight, for the first time, and change the Photo Black to Matte Black using your method.

It worked like a charm. No problems at all. Thanks for the tip.

What surprises me is why Epson have not implemented this option without having to go into the Service Menu, which of course they wouldn't want to encourage.

The facts are, it's possible to change black cartridges without having to flush out all the other colors in the system. In fact, one doesn't really need to flush out the Photo Black in the manner you've suggested (if one is an amateur, anyway). One could just continue using Premium Lustre until one got a sense that there was something wrong with the blacks, and then switch to matte paper.

However, I did make a 23x40" all black print as you suggested. I now have a minimalist work of art which I shall entitle "Shades of Black"   .

[Roscolo]

We need someone with a hacksaw and a Z3100 to supply some figures on the HPs, and then  MarkDS to tell us how much the new printers are going to cost us in ink/sq m.
Let's assume no nozzle blocks on the Z, and say a  black ink swop once  month.
Actually, as I think about this, what we need is  little bit of software into which we can feed our own circumstances and get out cost /area.
Any takers?
Cheers,
Brian,
www.pharoseditions.com.au
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=94377\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

The HP software with the z3100 has an accounting statistics utility so one can see how much ink/sq.area has been used per job.

[T_om]

...
However, I did make a 23x40" all black print as you suggested. I now have a minimalist work of art which I shall entitle "Shades of Black"   .
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129978\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Mat it, put it in a frame, hang it in a gallery, and some fool will buy it for 20 grand.  This would be a particularly good tactic in So-Cal because you could get 100k for it out there.  

Tom

[rdonson]

I now have a minimalist work of art which I shall entitle "Shades of Black"   .
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=129978\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

You need a catchier title.  How about "black cat in the coal bin at midnight on a moonless night"?

[Ray]

You need a catchier title.  How about "black cat in the coal bin at midnight on a moonless night"?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=130051\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Quite! I could arrange to have a secret video camera positioned so I could capture the expressions of complete bafflement of the viewers. The video footage would then be the work of art   .

[Ed Foster, Jr.]

Quite! I could arrange to have a secret video camera positioned so I could capture the expressions of complete bafflement of the viewers. The video footage would then be the work of art   .
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=130063\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Ray,
I am glad that worked for you.  And, yes, the video would indeed be the work of art.  How do you spell UTOOOB?

Best Regards,
Ed