Perfect candidate for the Epson 3880!
Just plain works all the time. Months with no activity and no clogs.
Hate to see you miss out on the craft of printing it is that addicting.
I've looked into that. Only thing is, the only things I have printed at 17" wide or smaller are test charts, and most of the concepts I'd like to test use more than nine heads. Would the Epson 4900 (17" wide, but using the Ultrachrome HDR inkset with 11 available heads) also work? Possibly even a factory second, or one with a damaged box, that comes with no warranty, since I'd be likely to run non-standard inks through it, modify it for thicker papers, install heating elements, and do other warranty-voiding things to it anyway. It'd be mostly for proof-of-concept experiments, that could then be translated to larger Epson printers, as well as Roland printers using Epson print heads (one of the many reasons I'd really like to make HP Vivera pigment inks work on Epson heads).
Also, why is it that the 3880 doesn't clog, but the larger printers, which use exactly the same print head technology (albeit with bigger heads) do?
If I just wanted a regular print made for a client, using standard papers and inksets, it's easier just to outsource that to someone who has multiple printers working and multiple papers in stock at anyone time, and can also spray, and possibly mount or frame, the print at the same time.