Epson P6000 to Piezography Set Up Questions

[NortheastPhotographic]

I'm thinking about converting my P6000 to a Piezography Pro ink set.  Just curious about the pre-installation.  Looks like one of those flush kits is a whopping $600+?  I'm sort of guessing that's a must-do but....really?

Has anyone else made this conversion?  Are you happy you did so?  No, I will not require color prints at any time.  I work with a print specialist and we have a 44" Epson for that.  I'd like to offer the finest monochrome pigment prints I'm capable of making.  These carbon inks seem pretty impressive but of course the whole thing is a bit daunting from the outset.

[KeithR]

I've been a Piezography user for a number of years, first with the K7 and now with the Piezography Pro inkset, but I've only had 17" printers (4800 & currently a P800), one of which has always been a dedicated B&W printer. If you are converting your printer from one that used color inks, then I would HIGHLY recommend the Piezo Flush to clear out the lines before you install what every flavor of Piezography you choose. You can, of course, install the ink right away and go through a number of cleaning cycles to clear out the existing ink, but the ink is Way more expensive than the flush, and you'll go through a lot of ink. Also, the carts you use for the flush can be reused when you want to clean the lines and/or dampers periodically. You have to consider this (purchasing the flush and carts) as a one time cost. Ink & Paper on the other hand....
I have always had a set of carts with Flush along with a separate set of carts with only ink. If you get the chance, since you're in the NE, I highly recommend one of the Piezography workshops in Vermont with Jon Cone (inventor of Piezography) and Walker Blackwell at Cone Editions. If you care, there is a Youtube video of Jon creating a print on a 9900.

[deanwork]

Yea, I’ve converted a number of large format Epsons to Piezography. I’ve never wasted all that money on flush fluid. I just did an initial fill. When I did once have a printer in moth balls with flush fluid in it, it took me forever to get the bright pink color out of the light channels when I put the grays in. I mean I went through a lot of expensive ink to get that reddish color cleaned out.

I've been a Piezography user for a number of years, first with the K7 and now with the Piezography Pro inkset, but I've only had 17" printers (4800 & currently a P800), one of which has always been a dedicated B&W printer. If you are converting your printer from one that used color inks, then I would HIGHLY recommend the Piezo Flush to clear out the lines before you install what every flavor of Piezography you choose. You can, of course, install the ink right away and go through a number of cleaning cycles to clear out the existing ink, but the ink is Way more expensive than the flush, and you'll go through a lot of ink. Also, the carts you use for the flush can be reused when you want to clean the lines and/or dampers periodically. You have to consider this (purchasing the flush and carts) as a one time cost. Ink & Paper on the other hand....
I have always had a set of carts with Flush along with a separate set of carts with only ink. If you get the chance, since you're in the NE, I highly recommend one of the Piezography workshops in Vermont with Jon Cone (inventor of Piezography) and Walker Blackwell at Cone Editions. If you care, there is a Youtube video of Jon creating a print on a 9900.

[Paul_Roark]

I use my generic, clear inkjet base, diluted with 50% more water, to flush printers.  It works and is very cheap.  See https://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Ink%20Mixing%20Generally.pdf for the generic base formula.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

[MfAlab]

I just run a initial fill, that will fill inks though the tubes and heads. If you use a desktop printer that did not have initial fill function, alternative plan is multiple power clean. That you might need flush kit.