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Author Topic: Cost per sq. ft. on an Epson 7900  (Read 6052 times)

Paul Eby

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Cost per sq. ft. on an Epson 7900
« on: May 27, 2009, 02:49:47 pm »

I ran a 7600 for 6+ years prior to upgrading to the 7900. On the 7600 I calculated the printing cost to be around $1.75 per sq. ft. using Epsons premium photo papers. This would include paper, ink, and maintenance tanks but not paper wastage. From the short time of using the 7900 I find the costs to be as much as 3x higher and it all seems to point to excessive ink use (from cleaning) which also leads to frequent waste tank changes.

Anyone else who has owned a previous model to the 7900 seeing this kind of increase? - Paul
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Wayne Fox

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Cost per sq. ft. on an Epson 7900
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2009, 03:30:15 pm »

Quote from: Paul Eby
I ran a 7600 for 6+ years prior to upgrading to the 7900. On the 7600 I calculated the printing cost to be around $1.75 per sq. ft. using Epsons premium photo papers. This would include paper, ink, and maintenance tanks but not paper wastage. From the short time of using the 7900 I find the costs to be as much as 3x higher and it all seems to point to excessive ink use (from cleaning) which also leads to frequent waste tank changes.

Anyone else who has owned a previous model to the 7900 seeing this kind of increase? - Paul


There are several threads already concerning problem 7900 and excess cleaning and wasting of ink.  Yes, many of us have had problems, some much more serious than others from unnecessary cleanings or excessive nozzle clogs.  I have consumed two full maintenance tanks, yet my 18 month old 11880 is still has 40% left on its first one and has printed at least 20 or 30 times as many prints.  Epson freely admits this isn't normal or acceptable, but have not been able to isolate and remedy the problem.  At this point I have asked for a replacement machine, since after all of the things they have done to remedy the problem (on the 3rd set of heads, full AID replacement twice now, pump and cap assemblies at least twice now) it is worse than ever.

I assume you have disabled Auto Nozzle Check, a great feature in theory but which seems to be completely unreliable for most and makes the printer clean way more often than it needs to.

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mikev1

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Cost per sq. ft. on an Epson 7900
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2009, 03:30:27 pm »

Quote from: Paul Eby
I ran a 7600 for 6+ years prior to upgrading to the 7900. On the 7600 I calculated the printing cost to be around $1.75 per sq. ft. using Epsons premium photo papers. This would include paper, ink, and maintenance tanks but not paper wastage. From the short time of using the 7900 I find the costs to be as much as 3x higher and it all seems to point to excessive ink use (from cleaning) which also leads to frequent waste tank changes.

Anyone else who has owned a previous model to the 7900 seeing this kind of increase? - Paul

Paul I am starting to get very frustrated with my 9900.  I have ANC turned off yet it still runs cleaning cycles.  The last two occurred when I switched the black inks.  Each time it consumed around 25 - 30ml's of ink.  This is a lot more than the 1.2 to 3.4 ml's the manual states (for switching inks.  I run nozzle checks just about every day and only once have I seen a clogged nozzle so I'm at a loss to explain why these cleaning cycles are being run.  Especially considering I turned the damn thing off.

I'll be calling Epson today.
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Paul Eby

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Cost per sq. ft. on an Epson 7900
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2009, 06:12:35 am »

Quote from: Wayne Fox
I assume you have disabled Auto Nozzle Check, a great feature in theory but which seems to be completely unreliable for most and makes the printer clean way more often than it needs to.

Oh, it's turned off... however it appears to have no affect at all. It still initiates (quite frequently) checks and cleaning.

Just yesterday there was an Epson tech guy here for on site service on my second 7900 http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=34371
I was hoping to drill him with as many questions possible concerning similar issues (stated on this forum) about the 7900/9900 printers. Unfortunately this guy was like an evasive politician when it came to providing answers. I wondered if this is now part Epsons tech training.  

The Epson tech rep started off by asking the "symptom" questions. (apparently Epson doesn't provide him with the phone data log previous to this visit) His first prognosis was to check voltage balances between ground/hot & ground/cold for difference readings. There was ~1 volt difference between the two which lead him to put a lot of focus on this issue. In fact he made a point of saying that replacing the parts that Epson had pre delivered would most likely be a waste of time/expense, but I convinced him to do anyway.

After the parts change he did a nozzle check which showed a large number of clogs. He executed the cleaning function then attempted to make a test print. Unfortunately I was still in matte black mode and could not get the printer to switch back to photo black because the waste tank to too close to capacity and I did not have a spare....I did not have a spare because from previous experience from our 7600 I felt I wouldn't need one for several months, NOT a few weeks!

So at this point I am waiting for a overnight delivery of extra waste tanks so that I may find out if the printer has been fixed.

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Wayne Fox

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Cost per sq. ft. on an Epson 7900
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2009, 02:18:12 pm »

Quote from: Paul Eby
Oh, it's turned off... however it appears to have no affect at all. It still initiates (quite frequently) checks and cleaning.

Just yesterday there was an Epson tech guy here for on site service on my second 7900 http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=34371
I was hoping to drill him with as many questions possible concerning similar issues (stated on this forum) about the 7900/9900 printers. Unfortunately this guy was like an evasive politician when it came to providing answers. I wondered if this is now part Epsons tech training.  

The Epson tech rep started off by asking the "symptom" questions. (apparently Epson doesn't provide him with the phone data log previous to this visit) His first prognosis was to check voltage balances between ground/hot & ground/cold for difference readings. There was ~1 volt difference between the two which lead him to put a lot of focus on this issue. In fact he made a point of saying that replacing the parts that Epson had pre delivered would most likely be a waste of time/expense, but I convinced him to do anyway.

After the parts change he did a nozzle check which showed a large number of clogs. He executed the cleaning function then attempted to make a test print. Unfortunately I was still in matte black mode and could not get the printer to switch back to photo black because the waste tank to too close to capacity and I did not have a spare....I did not have a spare because from previous experience from our 7600 I felt I wouldn't need one for several months, NOT a few weeks!

So at this point I am waiting for a overnight delivery of extra waste tanks so that I may find out if the printer has been fixed.


I have never had a the printer initiate a head cleaning on it's own since the latest firmware where the ANC is no longer part of the startup process.  Having 6 colors with clog showing this morning again, I initiated a normal cleaning cycle.  I was somewhat surprised when 10 minutes later the printer said that the Auto Head Clean failed, would I like to try again.  Naturally I said no, and a nozzle check confirmed all nozzles were working.

It appears the Auto Nozzle Check feature is designed for checking between prints while printing.  The circuitry is still employed in each head cleaning you do, and if your AID circuitry is not working correctly it will most likely result in double cleaning each time you clean.  If the AID circuitry is not working, cleaning a single color pair will not work because the printer will go ahead and initiate a full clean.  If you do a full clean the printer will still do a nozzle check and if your AID circuitry is not working correctly will clean the head AGAIN.  If that fails it will then prompt you and ask if you would like to try again.

If you know your ANC feature isn't working, simply disabling it will prevent the printer from triggering it's own unnecessary cleaning cycles, but will not prevent the printer from triggering unnecessary cleaning cycles when performing any of the 3 head cleaning functions.
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