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Author Topic: Epson 9900 Questions  (Read 6975 times)

photomike

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Epson 9900 Questions
« on: November 26, 2009, 01:05:42 pm »

Hello everyone, it has been years since I have been on this forum or any others regarding printing but have some questions with regard to our new Epson 9900.  I was so use to running the 7600's that I could do it with my eyes closed.  The 9900 is opening up a whole new area and questions.

First let me say that I love this printer, it is fast and the quality is great.  I added this printer as I do a lot of printing for others and wanted something to go larger than our Epson 7600.

I have a few questions that have some up in the last two weeks when running it;

1) Single cut option - I have set the option for one cut on the properties screen but when I print it is still is doing a two cut.  What am I missing?

2) Not cutting between prints and leaving the white slug - I have also set this so it should not cut the first print and leave a white slug and it is still cutting the first print and then starting over with the white slug (this is when printing print after print at the same time).  Again, what am I missing?  I have gone through a roll of paper for just the slugs forget about the prints, on the 7600 I could print one after another with no slugs in between prints.

3) Ink usage - I am comparing this printer to the 7600 and I am going through what seems to be a lot more ink.  Has anyone noticed the same thing? Is this because of the cleaning cycles?  Should the cleaning cycles be shut off and run manually?  I am not running in the highest quality mode as we are unable to detect a difference in the quality with the human eye.

4) Cost per print - I have looked for a cost per print (or even a ink usage guide per square foot) so I can make sure my prices are in line with costs but have not been able to find anything.  I realize costs will depend on the cost of paper & ink but a rough guide would be nice if anyone has found one.

I know I have a lot of questions but this is a major learning curve that I want to overcome ASAP.

Thanks,

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dgberg

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Epson 9900 Questions
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2009, 03:57:29 pm »

Ink and paper costs for this printer have been discussed here quite a bit. These costs should be less then a $1.00 a foot for ink and between $1 and $2 a foot for canvas based on the quality you purchase. Paper will be much less. Thats less then $3.00 a square foot and as low as $2.00 a foot average for canvas and ink. My canvas wraps start at $43.20 a square foot and sell for as high as $57.60. If you are printing canvas and gallery wrapping more attention should be paid towards controlling labor costs as they are probably around 90% of your project total.  My basic prints on good paper for just the print sell for around $20.00 a square foot. Again ink and paper account for less then 10% of the sale.  What you actually sell your work for drives this whole issue.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2009, 05:49:55 am by Dan Berg »
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jdoyle1713

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Epson 9900 Questions
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2009, 09:01:59 am »

Why dont you use the Tool Epson provides with that printer..

www.myepsonprinter.com

It will tell you how much ink used and costs as long as you supply the approiate data.

Cheers
Jim Doyle
http://www.shadesofpaper.com
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photomike

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Epson 9900 Questions
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2009, 01:16:54 pm »

Would love to, unfortunately it will not allow me to register as the only country option is the US and I am in Canada.    

Quote from: jdoyle1713
Why dont you use the Tool Epson provides with that printer..

www.myepsonprinter.com

It will tell you how much ink used and costs as long as you supply the approiate data.

Cheers
Jim Doyle
http://www.shadesofpaper.com
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photomike

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Epson 9900 Questions
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2009, 01:59:17 pm »

Thanks for the information.  I tried looking up the costs that are on the forum but it always seems to get off topic very quick or they go back to an older printer that has no relevance on the 9900. I will go with the $3.00 per sq ft for the canvas and $2 for the matte, lustre and gloss.

Labor cost is easy to calculate, my concern is for the cost of the ink and paper.  If I print 100 images a day (average) and I am out by $1 per image in my estimation of the cost of the ink/media then I am loosing $100.00 per day/ $500 per week/ $2000.00 per month/ $24,000.00 per year.

With our old printers the main cost was wait time as it took so long to run off a print.  With the new printer I am actually making more money as I can now run off on two printers, and one is a lot faster so I can put through a lot more work in the same amount of time.  BUT - the 9900 is using more paper as it is sending out more blanks and it looks like it is using more ink.  So I want to make sure that I am not doing more work and making less money, that is why I am concerned about the ink/media costs.  That 10% can be a huge number and it will effect the cost of the final print and my profit.

Quote from: Dan Berg
Ink and paper costs for this printer have been discussed here quite a bit. These costs should be less then a $1.00 a foot for ink and between $1 and $2 a foot for canvas based on the quality you purchase. Paper will be much less. Thats less then $3.00 a square foot and as low as $2.00 a foot average for canvas and ink. My canvas wraps start at $43.20 a square foot and sell for as high as $57.60. If you are printing canvas and gallery wrapping more attention should be paid towards controlling labor costs as they are probably around 90% of your project total.  My basic prints on good paper for just the print sell for around $20.00 a square foot. Again ink and paper account for less then 10% of the sale.  What you actually sell your work for drives this whole issue.
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mikev1

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Epson 9900 Questions
« Reply #5 on: November 30, 2009, 04:44:15 pm »

Quote from: photomike
Would love to, unfortunately it will not allow me to register as the only country option is the US and I am in Canada.  


Look for LFP Job Monitor on the Epson sites.  I don't have the exact link but this will contain the ink use.  Someone posted a link here awhile back so you can probably find it in a thread as well.

Mike
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Wayne Fox

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Epson 9900 Questions
« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2009, 05:06:58 pm »

Not sure about the paper problem you mentioned, but ink cost should be easy to figure out. Print a job report from the printer. It shows paper size and each color of ink used down to two decimals. Unless your printer is over cleaning ink costs should be less than other epson printers except for the 11880.

If your printer is using too much ink to clean there are ways to manage that. Several threads offer suggestions about this.
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