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Author Topic: Third party inks with an Epson 3880  (Read 12437 times)

Praki

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Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« on: January 28, 2013, 05:48:28 pm »

Hello:
My 3880 has run out of ink in many cartridges and I am looking at about $500 for replacements. I did a search of this forum for any comments for use with Cone refillable inks and the search hit I had was for a 9000 series printer and that was not very useful. If folks who use the Cone inks with 3880 or another Epson printer can reply and give any info about their experiences, specially referring to clogs and head cleaning, problems with chip resets, or custom profiling for Epson or non-Epson papers or any other issue to watch out for, that would be very useful. If Epson had a reusable cartridge and ink bottles for a semi-reasonable price, I would not look elsewhere.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Praki.
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Ludwig Nobel

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2013, 08:24:18 am »

Hello Praki,
I don't have the 3880, but the R3000 which has the same inks.
I use ConeColor inks with Canson Baryta Photographique most of the time. I even use the canned profile from Canson for the Epson inks. The results are, for my eyes, indistinguishable from the origninal Epson inks.
I do have some minor clogging problems, but I don't print too often and had this with Epson inks also, so I think there is no difference here.
Support is very good, I had a problem with priming the cartridges (I'm not exactly what you call a fine craftsman...), my mail was answered immediately with detailed information.
Go for the ConeColor inks, save a lot of money and enjoy your pictures.

Greetings from Switzerland

Ludwig
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aaronchan

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2013, 09:32:32 am »

I used to run the ConeColor on 4800, but actually I used the VM and LVM for it. So that means basically I changed my 4800 to 4880! Good result with canned profile but I also make my own profile as well. I know there are few more companies sell ink for epson printers and ConeColor should be the most expensive one. But I think for the quality, I think it is worth for it.

aaron

RachelleK

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2013, 10:32:02 am »

Over the last six months the price of Cone inks have increased by 50 percent.  Another option to consider is buying just the refillable cartridges and OEM inks in 700ml cartridges and refilling the cartridges with the OEM ink.  Right now it looks like the Epson ink on Ebay is about $160 and Cone inks are about $110 for 700ml.
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Sal Baker

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2013, 10:59:22 am »

If you don't need both blacks, an 8-cart set of Epson ink is $407 w/free shipping at B&H.  I guess I'm superstitious, but I haven't had any clogs for 3-years using OEM inks in my 3880, so I'm sticking with what works for me.

Sal
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chaddro

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2013, 12:40:03 pm »

Over the last six months the price of Cone inks have increased by 50 percent.  Another option to consider is buying just the refillable cartridges and OEM inks in 700ml cartridges and refilling the cartridges with the OEM ink.  Right now it looks like the Epson ink on Ebay is about $160 and Cone inks are about $110 for 700ml.

This is what I did. I have refillable sets for both my 9890 and 3800. I only use OEM ink, but sometime you can find 700ml carts that were "damaged" .... also, I have a PILE of 220ml carts from my 7800 which work just fine (except for Vivid Magenta!) in the 3800 and even the basic colors for the 9890.

I've only had one issue that I'm still trying to "diagnose"... I have what seems to be a problem with my PK cart in the 3800. Hard to describe, but when the printer is idle or off, it seems to be allow black into to continue to flow into the capping station. All the ink contaminated my yellow nozzles, and it took a while to clear it. With the PK cart HALF full, I haven't seen this occur again.

OR, it could have been related to a PK > MK > PK ink switch. Remember, these refillable carts DO NOT USE a bag like OEM. You fill up a chamber and this chamber empties as you print. So air much find a way into the chamber as ink is use.  In the OEM bags it's different. The bag reduces in size and no air is introduced into it. I personally think this provides some back pressure (think finger on straw with water in it) that prevents ink from just draining out the head when not in use. Just speculation at this point...

Lastly, you have to realize that the auto chip re-setter keeps the ink levels at 100%. So you need to be mindful of the ink levels when you print.

-chadd
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Praki

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2013, 01:19:49 pm »

Thanks all ... will let you know my experience with the Cone Color System in a week or so.
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KeithR

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2013, 05:44:11 pm »

Over the last six months the price of Cone inks have increased by 50 percent.  Another option to consider is buying just the refillable cartridges and OEM inks in 700ml cartridges and refilling the cartridges with the OEM ink.  Right now it looks like the Epson ink on Ebay is about $160 and Cone inks are about $110 for 700ml.
50%. That's steep! But wrong. I just checked an order I placed last March and compared it to today's(29Jan13)price and the increase is around 11%. That was for the B&W inks, which are more expensive than the color. The color inks(I have a custom ConeColor inkset for my second 4800) were around $38/220ml/bottle when I ordered last year and now they are under $46/220ml/bottle for an increase of about 12%. You are correct about the cost of the 700ml, but I have only bought the 220ml size. However, refilling the Epson carts is very difficult at best(compared to 3rd party like Cone) and the chips have to be reset. I also have not looked at any suppliers on ebay so I won't say anything about them and the quality(age, storage, etc) of the product, but I do know that the Cone inks are formulated in Vermont. If you call them, you will get to talk to a real person. And if you have a question or problem, they will help you. 



 


« Last Edit: January 29, 2013, 05:57:05 pm by KeithR »
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RachelleK

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2013, 08:12:10 pm »

50%. That's steep! But wrong. I just checked an order I placed last March and compared it to today's(29Jan13)price and the increase is around 11%. That was for the B&W inks, which are more expensive than the color. The color inks(I have a custom ConeColor inkset for my second 4800) were around $38/220ml/bottle when I ordered last year and now they are under $46/220ml/bottle for an increase of about 12%. You are correct about the cost of the 700ml, but I have only bought the 220ml size. However, refilling the Epson carts is very difficult at best(compared to 3rd party like Cone) and the chips have to be reset. I also have not looked at any suppliers on ebay so I won't say anything about them and the quality(age, storage, etc) of the product, but I do know that the Cone inks are formulated in Vermont. If you call them, you will get to talk to a real person. And if you have a question or problem, they will help you.  


Yes, I must have made a math mistake.  In July, 2012 I paid $30.40 for 220ml bottles of all 3880 inks.  So now they are $46.  Let's see, an increase of $16 from an original price of $30.  That can't be a 50% increase from $30!  

Here is another.  How much of an increase is $8 when you start from $38.  $8 divided by $38 then you make it a percentage and you get 12%.  Wow.  Guess this is some type of new math which is beyond me.










« Last Edit: January 29, 2013, 08:39:38 pm by Rprt »
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2013, 08:26:05 pm »

The color inks(I have a custom ConeColor inkset for my second 4800) were around $38/220ml/bottle when I ordered last year and now they are under $46/220ml/bottle for an increase of about 12%.
Switch of digits? $38 to $46 is an increase of $8, which is just over 21% increase.
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irvweiner

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #10 on: January 30, 2013, 01:12:11 am »

Praki, you will be very satisfied with the Cone refillables. I started with Inkjetcarts ~20 mos ago using the large 150+ml carts that stuck out from the printer. Excellent performance, no real clogging, just cleanups for a few nozzle checks. I switched to the Cone setup  for 2 reasons:

1: bumped into protruding carts to often

2: I print as a serious hobbyist and for club competitions. 'Finally' when my 150+ml carts ran low I noticed slight banding occurring in heavily inked areas. especially so in my B&W prints. I  don't believe the 3880 pressure pump can follow the ink demands of a large 'almost' volume. It may be possible that some air is finding its way into the ink feed under these conditions, the banding is just barely visible.

The Cone system also performs excellently, there several other vendors offering the 'same' 80 ml carts; to me they appear identical and share a problem of major concern. You will be mounting the OEM chip under a control chip assy that is spring loaded. There is a tendency for mini PC board to lift up (experienced on my Cone and Inkjetfly carts)--read about these details on DPReview and the Inkjet Printer Forum. Then place a strip of Mylar tape over the rear of the PC brd to hold it down.

DO minimize removal of the carts, the ink output port is not as robust as on the OEM cart. Instead of removing each cart to gently shake the pigment ink preventing settling, place a strap under the printer, in front, and gently raise and lower the printer several inches up and down-the mini tsunamis will do the job.
In addition, note that the refill ports are located on the rear wall, not on top of the cart! This almost dictates cart removal for a refill--instead lift and support the printer almost vertically and then refill.
When you do refill, add additional ink to each cart to guarantee that a cart does not run 'dry'--the ink levels shown by the printer will not be accurate and cannot be counted on! Each time you turn the printer OFF and then ON the chips reset to 100% full-empty or not!
A small LED light will enable you to estimate the actual ink level--if in doubt top up!

good luck  irv weiner
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Sal Baker

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #11 on: January 30, 2013, 11:10:17 am »

DO minimize removal of the carts, the ink output port is not as robust as on the OEM cart. Instead of removing each cart to gently shake the pigment ink preventing settling, place a strap under the printer, in front, and gently raise and lower the printer several inches up and down-the mini tsunamis will do the job.
In addition, note that the refill ports are located on the rear wall, not on top of the cart! This almost dictates cart removal for a refill--instead lift and support the printer almost vertically and then refill.
When you do refill, add additional ink to each cart to guarantee that a cart does not run 'dry'--the ink levels shown by the printer will not be accurate and cannot be counted on! Each time you turn the printer OFF and then ON the chips reset to 100% full-empty or not!
A small LED light will enable you to estimate the actual ink level--if in doubt top up!

good luck  irv weiner


I guess it's always good to be cautious, but I've had original OEM carts in my 3880 for 3 years.  I never agitate the carts or printer, and I never have clogs or other problems.  The inks print as well as when they were new.  I don't know if third party inks are as robust.

Sal
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KeithR

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #12 on: January 31, 2013, 06:58:16 pm »

Switch of digits? $38 to $46 is an increase of $8, which is just over 21% increase.

Yep! Transposed digits. Thanks for correcting it.
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philbaum

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #13 on: February 06, 2013, 09:09:50 am »

I've been using cone inks with my Epson r3000 as soon as the original ink carts ran dry.

Nothing but good to say about the Inkjetmall and their support.  When i bought replacement ink in December, it was a choice to buy one set of replacement oem ink for about $300, rounding off. or buy a set of replacement Cone cartridges, 110 mil bottles and syringes for the same amount.  with the Cone package, i got 3 refills for about the same amount of money as one set of ink OEM.  That was a no brainer.

No plugging problems with the Cone inks, until just recently when my printer pulled through 3 sheets of paper at one time and apparently left a bunch of dried ink on the print head as a result.  This wasn't due to the cone inks but apparently an incorrect setting on media thickness on my part.  Using a video from inkjetmall, i was able to clean the print head and resolve the problem.  Love the support i get from Cone Ink staff.
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PeterAit

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #14 on: February 07, 2013, 09:03:30 am »

Not really on topic, but I had to ask - why "third party?" I know what it means, but why third? Who is the 2nd party?
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hugowolf

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #15 on: February 07, 2013, 01:30:46 pm »

Not really on topic, but I had to ask - why "third party?" I know what it means, but why third? Who is the 2nd party?
The second party, or second person, is very awkward to use. You just don't see it that often - you would be the second person or I could be talking to myself:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/secondperson-narrative-enthralling-you,30380/

Brian A

« Last Edit: February 07, 2013, 07:26:18 pm by hugowolf »
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schrodingerscat

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Re: Third party inks with an Epson 3880
« Reply #16 on: February 16, 2013, 10:00:18 pm »

Hello Praki,
I don't have the 3880, but the R3000 which has the same inks.
I use ConeColor inks with Canson Baryta Photographique most of the time. I even use the canned profile from Canson for the Epson inks. The results are, for my eyes, indistinguishable from the origninal Epson inks.
I do have some minor clogging problems, but I don't print too often and had this with Epson inks also, so I think there is no difference here.
Support is very good, I had a problem with priming the cartridges (I'm not exactly what you call a fine craftsman...), my mail was answered immediately with detailed information.
Go for the ConeColor inks, save a lot of money and enjoy your pictures.



I'm using a just purchased R3000 with an inkrepublic CIS, and getting very good results. No clogs and excellent color. In fact, never installed the OEM carts. I also use Red River paper and with a self generated custom profile the first print out was spot on. Also ran an irnkrepublic system for about two years on an R1900  that the 3000 replaced and never had a clog from day one.

The 3000 also has the Advanced B&W function, and the results are pleasing enough that I'm starting to do more B&W printing.
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