New Epson 9900- use directly with Cone inks or prime system with Epson ink first

[Sunshine7]

Hi all,

I just received my new Epson 9900 printer as well as a full set of Cone inks. I remember reading something about using the Epson inks first to prime the print heads etc and once the ink lines are filled to switch to the Cone inks. I prefer to just start with the Cone inks, would this cause any problems or issues, what has been your experience?

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated!

[hugowolf]

You may want to try the DPReview printer forum, there will probably be more third party ink users there.

Brian A

[Jeff-Grant]

The IJM folks advise loading the Epson inks first and verifying that everything is working before using their inks. If you go to the IJM site, there is a load of information. I recently set up a new 3880 with K7 inks. I didn't follow the advice, and, fortunately, nothing went wrong.

[Ken Doo]

I have a 9890 converted to K7 piezography.

I also depart from the IJM advice when converting a new printer.  My position is to go ahead and install with your desired inkset rather than install the OEM inkset and be forced to essentially flush out the OEM inks from the printer lines with your desired inkset.  This is obviously much more of an issue with B&W conversions as there will be yellow tainted ink that takes several power cleans (probably more) to flush out the OEM colors.  You might not even be able to detect a color shift since you are planning on using the Cone color inkset.  My belief is that a new printer is less likely to have issues than a used printer (which has wear and tear) in the conversion process.  If, by chance, your new printer does have issues, then you can use the small OEM cartridges at that time to install and "flush" the your inks out of the lines before calling an Epson tech under warranty. (Besides per IJM use of 3P inksets should not void your warranty under the Magnussen-Moss Act, right? ) 

Ken

[Some Guy]

I wouldn't expect to see a big difference as long as you are using their color pigment inks and not their dye ink with regards to profiles.

With the K7, I had a really difficult time of getting rid of the yellow stain from the OEMs.  So much so the first set of $450 K7 inks were pretty much a primer set since I started it with the OEM carts.  Nice way to sell K7 ink though.

SG

[Wayne Fox]

If you go straight to the 3rd party inks, you could probably sell the Epson cartridges for some amount of money.  However, you will probably consume more of the 3rd party inks in the initial fill.  Probably would be money ahead though.

One advantage of loading up with the OEM inks and printing a little is to make sure the printer is performing as expected before voiding the warranty.  Most run just fine out of the box, but there is the random DOA or something knocked out of alignment during shipping.

[Sunshine7]

Great, thanks all!