Here's how I have started to approach the cost of personal/home printing:
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/p600-part-ii/The data presented is for the Epson SC P600 using the Epson OEM ink. I'm also working on a similar study for the Canon Pro-1, and Canon Pro-100 printers as well but have not yet published. I hope to add the Epson P800 and Canon Pro 1000 into the mix this year as well but still raising funds to purchase those new models. I am using my delivered cost of the printer (B&H Photo price with no rebates, shipping was free) and inks in the plotted amortization curve. The current rebates on this printer would, of course, get you to a lower point on the amortization curve in fewer prints, but the curve is also slowly going asymptotic to the eventual minimum cost per print level which will be essentially independent of the original printer cost unless of course the printer breaks soon
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I am now up to about 160 prints on the P600 and the curve is still coming down as projected in the graph when less prints had been made. I'm still not completely out of all the original inks, but nevertheless, I am well into the second set I purchased for this printer. To date, the printer has caused two reject prints (equivalent to three 8x10 inch borderless prints). They will get accounted for in the next update of the graph.
One rejected print was caused by a dropped wifi connection. The other was an ink dribble about .5 mm in diameter in the margin of a 13x19 print. I could have saved that print for personal display but not if it was intended for sale or for gift where only perfect prints will do. Rejects are realities in home printing as well that often don't get considered. Using good color management practices, I don't have a high personal reject rate, but I'm only accounting for the costs of rejected prints when the printer operation is to blame. One can multiply any point on the graph by a personal yield factor to end up with your own actual final cost per print. My personal print quality yield is over 95%. So far so good with the P600. It has been pretty reliable so far, but the ink dribble I mentioned on one recent print may be a sign that some DIY printer maintenance will have to occur in the not too distant future.
Lastly, with the P600 PK/MK ink switching conundrum, one can waste lots more ink than the Epson specs account for if one is not careful. The printer will not allow the switch if any cartridge is low (not critically low, just low with the ink level indicator registering about 5% remaining). One cartridge almost always seems to be low on this printer, so the end user will have a tough time switching without wasting more ink than the specification says unless you are willing to remove the low cartridge(s), add new ones, switch, then remove new cartridge(s) and replace with old ones until fully consumed. That approach doesn't seem particularly practical to me, but I'm about to find out
My wasted ink will get accounted for in the study, but others may waste more or less than me depending on how often they wish to switch and how much hastle they are willing to put up with when setting aside and then reinstalling ink cartridges. I also worry somewhat that reinstalling the older cartridges may invite clogging issues, but I don't really know. I will be discussing the ink swap issue at length in the next update of the cited article.
I hope to post more updated information on this project in the next couple of weeks, so check back if you are interested in this approach to home printing costs.
best,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com