My 8 year old 3880 is toast

[rasworth]

I think.  Ran a print, console showed low black ink and none appeared on the print.  So I turned it off, ordered a black ink cartridge from B&H, three days later put in the new cartridge.  Seemed to start up ok, but on the nozzle check no black dots appeared AND there were black ink dribbles all over the sheet.

Went thru the cleaning procedure, paper towels under the head.  Still copius black ink dribbles, and both black and yellow heads show very few dots.

Don't know what else to try, can't really complain since it's given me 8 good years.  I have a Canon Pro-100 that does a good job on selected media.  Not sure when I'll jump back into a 17" printer, will have decide P800 vs. PRO-1000.

Anybody have any suggetions as to anything else to try?

Richard Southworth

[Mark D Segal]

Have you called Epson ProGraphics Support yet to discuss the problem over the phone - that's free and they can often provide useful guidance because they've seen possibly just about everything.

[rasworth]

Good advice, but at this point, after several unsuccessful cleanings (continues to drip black ink everywhere), I think I'll just give up on it.  In order to proceed I would have to invest in a maintenance cartridge.


Richard Southworth

[Mark D Segal]

Amazon Canada sells them for about 27 bucks, probably cheaper still in the US. Not worth the risk? Maybe what Epson tells you wouldn't even involve a new maintenance cartridge. Can't be sure till you ask. But perhaps you figure it's time for a new printer anyway :-) The P800 and the Pro-1000 would both be very good replacements, the main advantage of the P800 being more feed options for a broader variety of media.

[Wayne Fox]

Good advice, but at this point, after several unsuccessful cleanings (continues to drip black ink everywhere), I think I'll just give up on it.  In order to proceed I would have to invest in a maintenance cartridge.


Richard Southworth

What you describe seems to come up with old 3800-3880 printers.  The common part that fails I believe is the Ink System Assembly but I’ve also seen discussions regarding the MK/PK ink switching system.  I’ve never been through this but have seen some discussions online and it seems the fix might not require a new head. I would call as Mark suggested, it might be a reasonable fix, although after 8 years it seems you’ve gotten your money’s worth and moving to a new printer would avoid the problem of something else failing soon afterwards.

As far as the p800 I’ve had one running since they were introduced, and it has been as reliable as my 3800 followed by my 3880 were.  Output is terrific and the roll feed option as proven useful a few times.  I’ve sold some pro 1000 and buyers are quite happy with them, output is also terrific. 

[Mark D Segal]

If both the ink system assembly and the damper need to be replaced, he's looking at over US300 for the parts plus the labour, easily another 200, so at that point it would be advisable to replace the printer. But he should call Epson first.

[rasworth]

Mark and Wayne, thanks for all the advice, I think I'll stick with my 13" dye printer until the urge grows too strong, then jump for one of the two aforementioned printers.  With some persistence the 3880 might be fixable, but as mentioned it has several years usage, probably not going to last that much longer regardless.

In the meantime if anybody wants a 3880 carcass, and its associated ink cartridges (several near full) stop by my house in San Antonio, TX and they're yours.

Richard Southworth

[Wayne Fox]

So I just chatted with my partner who fixes Epson printers all the time, and I noticed we had a 3800 with the same problem that just came in yesterday.

He says the most common problem in these printers is failure of the ink selector unit.  Symptoms are printing with one black will leak ink all over and most of the nozzles are blank, if you switch to the other black ink the printer usually works fine. One suspected cause of this is rare or non switching of blacks for an extended period of time, triggered by a switch to that black.

The one we have in is a 3800 and they don’t offer a replacement part for it.  Current retail for this part for a 3880 is $170 and it usually involves about 1.5-2 hours of Labor.  he has fixed several for around $300-350, guessing Epson would charge more than that as he is pretty reasonable with his hourly rate ($80/hr).

[rasworth]

I'm certainly in the mostly one kind of black category (photo).  I have printed matte in the last year, but only a couple.

Probably a factor in choosing my next printer, I assume the Canon doesn't have the switching issue.

Richard Southworth

[Mark D Segal]

I'm certainly in the mostly one kind of black category (photo).  I have printed matte in the last year, but only a couple.

Probably a factor in choosing my next printer, I assume the Canon doesn't have the switching issue.

Richard Southworth

No, the Canon has a separate channel for each kind of Black ink, which is really convenient, but if any channel goes unused for a longish period of time the printer will initiate self-cleaning, which depending on the usage details, could consume from very little to quite a bit of ink.

Perhaps more important for you is to be certain about whether the media feed limitations of the Canon would be a problem down the road. It has no roll capacity, nor can you feed through any media that can't be bent. If those two limitations are of no concern, it's certainly a viable contender. Both make gorgeous prints, with the Canon having slightly wider gamut, something that only gets noticed in a limited variety of prints. You can check my reviews of both printers.

[rasworth]

I've read your reviews, followed the discussions, and am aware of the differences.  I was able with a couple of minor exceptions to feed all my media thru sheet feet or manual feed.  Probably as much as anything else I'm interested in working with the Canon, since I've never had a large Canon pigment printer.

Again, thanks for all the input.

Richard Southworth

[mandodude]

I know you already have a PRO-100....great printer.  I have one as well as a Pro-10.  I was at Durys Camera in Nashville this week, and they have a deal on the Pro-10.  Out the door for $449 (plus tax) including a 50 sheet box of Canon paper.  There's a mail in rebate from Canon ($250) that brings the final price down to $199.  Heck, the ink in it is worth $135! They also have Ilford Gallery Prestige papers, buy 1 get 2 free.  Limited selection, but some nice stuff.  No financial interest....but I'm tempted to buy a spare.  Use the ink now, have a complete spare printer.

[Gordon Buck]

My own 3880 died the death a few months ago.  After wasting several hours on (similar) attempts to fix it, I replaced it with a P600 and decided to use an outside service if I really want a larger print.

[rasworth]

Sounds very reasonable.  I think I'll do similarly, at least until the 17" urge overwhelms me.

Richard Southworth

[smthopr]

I think.  Ran a print, console showed low black ink and none appeared on the print.  So I turned it off, ordered a black ink cartridge from B&H, three days later put in the new cartridge.  Seemed to start up ok, but on the nozzle check no black dots appeared AND there were black ink dribbles all over the sheet.

Went thru the cleaning procedure, paper towels under the head.  Still copius black ink dribbles, and both black and yellow heads show very few dots.

Don't know what else to try, can't really complain since it's given me 8 good years.  I have a Canon Pro-100 that does a good job on selected media.  Not sure when I'll jump back into a 17" printer, will have decide P800 vs. PRO-1000.

Anybody have any suggetions as to anything else to try?

Richard Southworth

I had this issue with a 3800.  And I had a full set of replacement inks already paid for.  So I had someone do the repair of the black ink pump or something like that.  $350.  In the end, I discovered that I had 3 missing magenta nozzles.  Heads need to be replaced to fix that.  From my experience I'd skip an expensive repair and buy a new printer.

BTW, after profiling the printer, it does print ok and I can't see the missing magenta nozzles.  But I still should have bought a new printer...