Is there an Epson Official Cleans/print ratio?

[amiad]

Hi,

After a long & very frustrating experience with Epson 3800, (clogs, cleaning, swapping printers, strange unit with -very noisy 'bumps' that resulted in head half clogged...)  
I am trying to get the local rep - to vouch for the printer he want to send.

I am trying to get him - to assure a certain level of ink usage ratio - between cleaning and printing.... just for record - currently I have an accumulating ratio of about 35 to 1 (35mil cleaning - per 1 mil of ink for real photo printing... :-)))  ..!!! )
I know this is unbelievable - but this is the accumulated result of the printers I got...

The rep responded - that Epson has no way to assure any ratio...  Now - I'd appreciate if anyone here - heard of something resembling to an Epson  number...

Thanks,
Dvir

[Jonathan Wienke]

Epson can't possibly give you a number. The temperature and relative humidity of the room where the printer is stored, the amount of printing you do, and the length and frequency of time the printer sits idle will all have a major impact on cleaning vs print ink use. If you print one 4x6 a week in a hot dry room, your ink use would be reasonable. But if you print constantly 6 hours per day in a cool room with 80% relative humidity, it would not be.

[dmccombs]

Dvir,

  I am getting much better ratio than what you are seeing.  Mine only does a cleaning before a print, and after a print, after I turn it on, and before I turn it off.  But it never does a cleaning during a print or when it is turned off.    

Regards,
Darrell

[Brian Gilkes]

All these discussions suggest we still have a way to go with inkjet printers. Epson will have to overcome the clogging proplem,. There is just too much expensive ink used for cleaning. I've just filled my second maintenence cartridge for the month. Ink swapping does not help of course and the 800s will be the last we see of that one. Current info suggests the new Epsons will be out later this year. Thet will have to be a step up from the 3800 (as the 800 series was from the stop gap 4000). The problem is piezo printers clog much more than thermal (eg Canon, HP) . On the other hand thermal wears out current heads especially with pigments. This means thinner inks . This is why Epson does not loose much gamut  to Canon or HP with it's 8 inks compared to their 10- 12. For instance Canon still seems to have slightly better red gamut , HP has an edge in cyan and blues. For many commercial puposes all these printers are too slow. Software and interfaces are still clunky and often temperamental. Paper handling is not good. Long rolls can run off square, sheets can be difficult to load. The new HPs are really trying hard , certainly enough to shake up Epson. If the experience with cameras is anything to go by Canon could very well quickly update it's offerings. When I ask about deckle edge papers, I get a deathly silence .
The real needs of the fine art community are only partially being addressed.
Cheers
Brian
www.pharoseditions.com.au

[amiad]

Hi Jonathan Wienke,
I think that I understand you point of view (though I think that you meant the opposite - frequent printing = good ratio for less cleaning per print attempt).

What I want to get at - is a number stating what is not acceptable. What do I mean?
1) what can be considered as abnormal ink wast on cleaning(if for example printer never sits without printing more than once per 3 days)?
2) Should a printer be considered defected if being clogged between consecutive prints?
3) I've seen a number stated here on  L.L. regarding the rate ink is being used to keep the ipf5000 clean (auto cleaning) to be around 10% and that the 4800 it is about 17% - can't a factor of two on these be considered faulty machine?


Thanks,
Amiad

[Jonathan Ratzlaff]

Do you turn the printer off when it is not being used.  Epson recommends turning off the printer when not in use.  It parks and caps the heads and clogging is minimimzed.  
However I also think clogging is related to humidity as well, as living in the Pacific Northwest where dryness is not a problem, also means that there are minimal clogs as well.

[Jack Flesher]

I leave my 3800 on all the time.  I think it has done one auto cleaning cycle in all the time I've owned it and I've printed at least 3 dozen prints on 13x19 or 17x22 stock, and at least that many on 8.5 x 11 stock.  You clearly got a bad printer and I suspect the next one will be fine.  FWIW, I still have over half full tanks on all colors.

[John Moody]

-very noisy 'bumps' that resulted in head half clogged...) 
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That is really interesting to me.  The very first 4x6 I printed, I heard a 'bump' and the head 'half clogged'; every single color, the lower half of the nozzle check 'clogged' or missing.  I still have the nozzle check.  I thought it was odd; the paper was dead flat, so what was the sound?  I've heard head crashes from dirty encoders (not my printers), and it did not sound as bad as that.

After cleaning to fix, I printed another 4x6 that came out fine, but the mechanical sound of the head was 'loud', and I recal thinking, that's how to shake the lines, just print a 4x6.

Anyone else try a 4x6, and have an opinion on the 'sound' compared to printing letter and larger?

John

[Jonathan Wienke]

Hi Jonathan Wienke,
I think that I understand you point of view (though I think that you meant the opposite - frequent printing = good ratio for less cleaning per print attempt)

No, actually what I meant was if you print infrequently in a very hot, dry room, your ink consumption is reasonable. But if you print several hours per day in a cool reasonably humid room, your ink usage would indicate some kind of problem.