New Epson HD ink in 3880 with refillable cartridges?

[mkihne]

I’m looking for a discussion on reclaiming HD ink from “empty” cartridges from my P9000 Epson and wondering if anyone has tried using this ink in 3880 printers. I would assume that it would require me to make new profiles. Of course I could purchase K3 inks such as 220ml carts and use refillable carts as I do now in my piezography setup on a 3880.

I also elected to buy a P800 to replace/upgrade an R3000 with failed black ink switching valve used for notecards and other non critical printing. This also brings into the discussion the possible addition of an outboard PC Card now available for P800 to enable refillable carts in this printer. On that issue, I plan to wait for feedback before possibly voiding my warranty.

I have no interest in using third party inks as I sell my work and wish to remain as archival as possible. I am not aware of any third party inks that come even close in preliminary aging reports. This is specific to color printing as I am well aware of excellent discussion elsewhere on the forum regarding black and white printing alternatives.

Based on my piezography experience, refillable carts are not an issue to deal with at my level of production and if I desired to do so I could set up a continuous system with reclaimed k3 or HD ink or pirated from larger carts.

I will add that I have not extracted ink from any of my expended P9000 carts so it would be interesting to hear from others who have done so, regarding residual volume in these carts.

Mike

[smthopr]

I’m looking for a discussion on reclaiming HD ink from “empty” cartridges from my P9000 Epson and wondering if anyone has tried using this ink in 3880 printers. I would assume that it would require me to make new profiles. Of course I could purchase K3 inks such as 220ml carts and use refillable carts as I do now in my piezography setup on a 3880.

I also elected to buy a P800 to replace/upgrade an R3000 with failed black ink switching valve used for notecards and other non critical printing. This also brings into the discussion the possible addition of an outboard PC Card now available for P800 to enable refillable carts in this printer. On that issue, I plan to wait for feedback before possibly voiding my warranty.

I have no interest in using third party inks as I sell my work and wish to remain as archival as possible. I am not aware of any third party inks that come even close in preliminary aging reports. This is specific to color printing as I am well aware of excellent discussion elsewhere on the forum regarding black and white printing alternatives.

Based on my piezography experience, refillable carts are not an issue to deal with at my level of production and if I desired to do so I could set up a continuous system with reclaimed k3 or HD ink or pirated from larger carts.

I will add that I have not extracted ink from any of my expended P9000 carts so it would be interesting to hear from others who have done so, regarding residual volume in these carts.

Mike

I have not done this, but I recently had my old 3800 serviced.  The pump valve was leaking and needed to be replaced.  Now it's all clean and works (but missing 3 magenta nozzles.  To fix this I need a new head I'm told)  But the prints look pretty good all considered.

At the shop though were a number of Epson printers that had used refillable carts.  The chips had dislodged from the carts and shorted out the circuit board rendering the printers useless.  So, if you go this route, be very careful about the chips as they can come loose and destroy the printer.

[mkihne]

Thanks Bruce. I am using those from Inkjet Mall and have had no problems in my piezo system. I’m guessing, but I’m sure quality control is all over the place, although like papers there are probably a few (or single) manufacturers with rebranding.

Carts are stubborn to eject if the controller chip is not seated flat over the oem chip. If you force the cart out the printer’s mating contacts can be ruined and render the printer useless.

To update my original post, I aspirated from two of my P9000 carts with a priming tip used on my refillables for my 3880. The tip fit and I harvested about 3ml of ink from each cart. Visual inspection of the others suggested the same results. I can’t say I recall having ever experienced relief and disappointment simultaneously.

Others have reported significant residual ink in carts for X900 and earlier printers. Maybe an improvement by Epson regarding their carts?