I have a 3 year old 3880 that has just dropped a color channel for the third time. This is a complete channel drop (it's always one of the blacks - this time it's the PK/MK line, and neither a power clean nor swapping blacks helps). The previous times it's been in for service, the shop has repaired the pump in the most recent incident and some other piece (I forget what the first service entailed, but it was NOT the head) the previous time. The machine went almost a year before the first service, was repaired under warranty, went about six months, needed the second service (which the shop covered under the warranty from the first service, because I successfully argued it was the same issue), then went about a year before dropping a channel again. Apart from the whole-channel drops, I have had no clogging issues (I've never had a clog that I was actually able to clear - the machine would run clog-free for quite a while then drop a channel and need to go in for a repair)
My use is not extreme, but it IS spotty - I'll tend to go a month without printing, then run off a whole bunch of prints in a weekend. I have made about 200-300 art prints, ranging from 8x10 to 16x24 on the machine (probably averaging 12x18). I have also run off about 1400 Moab Entrada cards. I wonder if the large number of cards has anything to do with the repeated failures? I can't imagine that the art prints are anything like an excessive number, but the cards (which I run in large batches when I run out - I'll print 250 in a couple of days, then not do cards again for months) may be something it's not designed for?
As the printer is nearly 3 years old, I can't imagine I'm going to get warranty service this time, which leaves me 3 basic choices:
1.) Fix it out of my own pocket (not sure what it'll cost, but I wouldn't be surprised if they replace the head), and hope it won't happen again.
2.)Replace it with another 3880 - I'm not very excited about this option, both because I feel like I've had a significant number of repairs, and because the 2007 inkset isn't all that enticing (both Epson's newer 10-color set and the 12-color Canons have significantly wider gamuts).
3.) Replace it with something else - WHY didn't we see any printers at Photokina, apart from 1 13" Epson with 35 ml tanks (I'm not interested in a 13" printer - I'd go 24" except for the fact that none of them will feed cards other than manually)? The only choice I see is a 4900 - no 24" printer will handle my card printing (I'm not going to feed 250 cards one at a time)! I might prefer a Canon printer, but their 17" model (5100) is two generations old, and probably lower gamut than a 3880, plus it costs as much as a 4900! I'd like the roll feed option on the 4900 (and I wonder if the feeder might handle the cards better), but I worry that it might be even more clog prone than the 3880.
-Dan
