Hello
My experience so far has been with an epson 3800 printer up till now. Never a problem with it. Great prints.
Now I recently took delivery of a 9900 printer. Here’s my experience with the Epson 9900 so far:
Warning: Long-winded BLOG, but, I’ll try to be as factual as possible – you can draw your own opinions.
Monday, December 22, 2008:
I started to install the printer on Monday, Dec 22nd and got as far as installing the ink cartridges when I ran into a problem. The green cartridge wouldn’t recognize being installed. All other inks installed and charged the supply lines. The operator panel displayed a message to the likes of ‘install cartridge’ and displayed a flashing circle with an ‘X’ in the place where the green ink volume remaining bar would be displayed. I couldn’t proceed any further with installation and startup – DEAD printer.
I removed and re-installed the green cartridge at least 25 times. I turned the power on/off numerous times. I closely examined the contacts to the IC chip on the cartridge and also the mating connector. I couldn’t see anything unusual.
I contacted Epson technical support Monday afternoon. The tech asked me to firmly tap-hit the sides of the cartridge – (apparently that would solve issues with the IC chip making contact within the cartridge in some instances). I tried this technique about 20 times without success, each time being more forceful – to the point that I thought I would break, or split, the cartridge wall. I called Epson tech support back. The tech told me that they would ship me another green cartridge overnight (both of us were hoping it was a faulty cartridge). He was going to ship a 350 ml cartridge since they didn’t stock the 110 ml starter cartridges.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008:
Tuesday afternoon, FedEx delivered a package – it wasn’t a cartridge, but a CD with firmware for an Epson projector. I called Tech Support again. The technician did some checking and informed me that the shipping department mixed up my shipment with another customer’s order. He promised to ship another green cartridge overnight.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008:
At 11:45 am. FedEX delivered the cartridge. The plastic encasing the cartridge was already opened and it appeared that the cartridge had been used due to a small amount of ink on the outer case where the ink nozzle connects to the printer. (I’m making an assumption that Epson tested the cartridge at their site to ensure that it was a perfectly working unit before shipping it to me).
I installed the cartridge; holding breath – but…. Nnooo, same issue; Flashing ‘X’.
I removed the cartridge and reinstalled it. Viola, it recognized it! The printer made the familiar noise of charging the line. It was very quick. I thought it was odd that after charging the line the green bar never dropped on the display – like it never used any ink. I know it was a 350 ml ink supply, but in comparison to the other ink cartridges, the displays on those dropped to 50% to 60% remaining and doing one cleaning cycle. Odd…
I loaded some paper and proceeded to due a nozzle check. It printed out fine and showed that the vivid magenta color was missing a few spots. Okay, I thought, I can get that fixed, but first I had to continue with the network and print driver installation. I finished that up (confusing information in the manual(s) on network setup so I just did my own thing). That out of the way, I started to update the firmware by using the Epson LFP remote panel 2 software. That worked okay, but the printer had to reboot as the final step. Well, guess what, the green cartridge wasn’t recognized afterwards. I never even touched the printer since it produced the nozzle check print. I removed the green cartridge and reinstalled it about another 50 times without luck. So I called Epson tech support again. The tech said that they were very short handed due to the holidays and he didn’t think anyone would be available to make a site visit until the first full week of January. He indicated that they would be in contact with me. Okay, I can understand the situation with the holidays.
Thursday, December 25, 2008:
Day off, enjoyed Christmas day with the family.
Friday, December 26, 2008:
While working on other projects, I occasionally would stop at the printer and remove and install the green ink cartridge. (I swear, I think I’m wearing out the assembly by now).
With the thought that I was going to have a site visit by an Epson tech, I had nothing to lose, so I started to be a little more aggressive on each attempt. (also please remember, you have to open and close the door on each try – it’s solenoid locked and opens only via the control panel). I started to twist, turn, push, pull, jam, ram, cockeye… oh something happened – the display panel didn’t come back up instantly with the error message and flashing ‘X’. when I closed the ink door this time. The printer was making other noises… hhmmm, another long cleaning cycle working. In a few minutes the display showed that I was all good to go. Wow. How about that! I left the printer turned on overnight fearing that if I turn it off I’ll have problems with the cartridge again.
Saturday, December 27, 2008:
I started making test prints using matte black ink. The prints look very good. I spent the next several hours making more prints on different papers that I wanted to test out – all using MK ink. I took notice that the printer went through a cleaning cycle twice, or three times in a short amount of use. All the prints look great. Oh boy, I start watching the ink level remaining now…
Monday, December 29, 2008
The printer has not been turned off, or moved in any way; I fear that the ink cartridge will malfunction again. I switched black inks to use the photo ink. I know that this will use some ink; but I still monitoring the ink use. I printed out several more prints. The printer went through another lengthy cleaning cycle. All the prints look great. Late afternoon, a regional Epson tech support rep called and left a message about parts being shipped and that he would try to contact me again soon. Side note: I’m very low on ink with three cartridges, so I ordered 350 ml cartridges from a reputable vendor; at what I consider a very good price. Thank you Jim Bell.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Tuesday morning, FedEx delivered a box from Epson which contained 4 circuit board assemblies. I was quite surprised, and impressed, with the response they were able to provide during the holiday time frame. Thereafter, I returned the call to the regional Epson field tech representative and we discussed what I had experienced so far. He mentioned that the crew was just trained on the Epson 9900 last week and that I would be his first field experience with the 9900. He said that he could stop January 2nd. With this information divulged, I decided that I would be better off to use my printer while it was still running and see what happens in the days to come; especially since I’m still trying to test different paper types at this point. (I didn’t tell him, but I didn’t want to be the ‘first’ – my printer is currently working – who knows what the aftermath will be after he pulls a few circuit boards out). I told him that I would contact him the middle of January to give him an update, or earlier is my problem reappeared. I also told him I was concerned about the number of cleaning cycles and the ink usage that I had experienced so far with the limited number of prints I had produced. He took notes and said that he would pass the information along.
The printer has not been turned off, or moved in any way since I got it started.
So here is the current stats on the usage of the 9900 printer:
Printed Size QuantityPaper Type
8x10 23 est. 15 on rag papers, 7 on RC papers, 1 on canvas
10x15 5 all rag papers
32x42 1 epson doubleweight matte (44” roll came with the printer)
By my calculations, that’s 3,934 sq inches of ink coverage, or, just over 27 sq feet.
5, maybe 6, full cleaning cycles (estimated)
Ink remaining (estimated) (from the initial 110 ml starter cartridges, except Green=350 ml)
Cyan: 28%
Orange: 44%
Yellow: 41%
Light Cyan: 43%
MK: 43%
PK: 44%
Vivid Mag: 25%
Light Blk: 17% (actual displayed readout)
Green: 96% (one notch below ‘full’)
Lite,Lite Blk: 35%
Lite Mag: 43%
Left Maint. Tk: 100% (from Epson status monitor)
Right Maint Tk: 54% (from Epson status monitor)
Measurements were done by using calipers to measure the length of the remaining ink bar and using ratio to the length of a full bar.
Maybe it’s me, but it sure seems to me that I’ve used quite a bit of ink (money) into making these few prints, regardless of ink usage charging the lines.
I’m going to read further into the manual to see where to turn the cleaning cycles off.
Well, that’s my story and input on the 9900 so far.
Thanks
Jim
