Replace or repair an Epson 9900

[jwittes]

Looking for recommendations from the collective group as to whether it makes since to replace my Epson 9900 or take advantage of the Epson one time service plan (https://epson.com/Accessories/Printer-Accessories/One-Time-Service-Plan---EPWPSP1R44/p/EPWPSP1R44).  My fear in servicing is that, given the age of the machine, it will be "end of service life" by Epson.  Ideally, if fixed I'd like to get 2-3 more years out of it.  Additionally, I'm wondering if anything new/better is coming in the near future.  I know Dan Wells mentioned in his September article that he has a 44" 12 color printer in for review, just not sure what it is or if it would be a suitable replacement.

[dgberg]

I had a 9900 and its head went bad. Replaced the bad head at full cost at the time because the One Time repair was not yet available. I have since purchased 2 P8000's and am extremely satisfied with both. One is converted to dye sublimation. I looked at the P9000 and newer P9570 but just not enough of a difference to justify the additional cost. I also received a really good deal on the first P8000 for $3495. Everything is much more expensive now of course. If your 9900 is 5 or 7 years old I would take advantage of the One Time repair. If it is 10 years old I would replace it.

[langier]

Had the same dilemma two years ago, a newer 9900 from eBay or have my printer guru replace the head.

I've had this second-hand 9900 since 2011 and for sure got my money's worth. There always seemed to be one nozzle that was an issue but the prints were still perfect until 2020. Despite several cleanings, including using the service menu, the head had it.

I didn't even go to Epson for advice and went directly to my expert after I did some on-line shopping for a second hand 9900.

I looked on eBay and found a couple of candidates though each would have taken a day or two to drive and pick them up. But after a call to me printer guru, the choice was clear: replace the head and have the printer serviced on site with the assurance that it would be good for a few more years. He told me that the replacement head was a new design and new part number and in his experience, a much more reliable print head.

Despite the cost, the best thing was not having to dead with removing the 9900 up a narrow flight of steps and then having to dispose of it and then bring a newer 9900 down those same set of steps....

It took about ten days to get the part and schedule the service call, but I can tell you it prints better than ever now, a good call for me!

Since the replacement, I've left it sitting for a couple of times for up to 4-5 weeks on its own. When I'm home and ready to print, I just run a cleaning cycle then it prints just fine. The newer head just doesn't seem to need cleaning as much as the old one did, even when I print canvas which usually leaves a lot of lint to need to clean out of the printer after a couple of days of running it.

I figure if I can get 2-3 more years for this repair, I'll be quite happy. Not having to run a bunch of new profiles, change to a different set of inks and best of all, not having to deal with the moving and disposal of my 9900 was a no brainer for me!

[deanwork]

The only suitable replacement from Epson in my opinion is the P 9000. These days it’s about the same price as the P 8000 with less inks and less gamut. It has the same exact print head as the 9900.

NWith you,  the deal is you should absolutely replace the damper unit, called ink selector unit at the same time. If you haven’t kept your cap station clean all this time, you might need to replace the pump/ cap assembly also. These are the three things that keep the printer functioning correctly.

I did all this on my 9890 because I’m using Third party inks in it. If not I would have bought the P 9000 , which I should have done anyway for about the same cost.

Before you even dream of buying a 12 ink 9570, read all the horrific posts about it on this forum and others. That one is a disaster and a money pit.

John

Looking for recommendations from the collective group as to whether it makes since to replace my Epson 9900 or take advantage of the Epson one time service plan (https://epson.com/Accessories/Printer-Accessories/One-Time-Service-Plan---EPWPSP1R44/p/EPWPSP1R44).  My fear in servicing is that, given the age of the machine, it will be "end of service life" by Epson.  Ideally, if fixed I'd like to get 2-3 more years out of it.  Additionally, I'm wondering if anything new/better is coming in the near future.  I know Dan Wells mentioned in his September article that he has a 44" 12 color printer in for review, just not sure what it is or if it would be a suitable replacement.

[Paul Ozzello]

The only suitable replacement from Epson in my opinion is the P 9000. These days it’s about the same price as the P 8000 with less inks and less gamut. It has the same exact print head as the 9900.

NWith you,  the deal is you should absolutely replace the damper unit, called ink selector unit at the same time. If you haven’t kept your cap station clean all this time, you might need to replace the pump/ cap assembly also. These are the three things that keep the printer functioning correctly.

I did all this on my 9890 because I’m using Third party inks in it. If not I would have bought the P 9000 , which I should have done anyway for about the same cost.

Before you even dream of buying a 12 ink 9570, read all the horrific posts about it on this forum and others. That one is a disaster and a money pit.

John

Hi John - can you go over your preventive maintenance routines for the printer ? I remember you mentioning cleaning the capping station after each print session and filling it with distilled water. Can you explain that in more detail ?

To the original poster - we just replaced the head, ink selector (dampers) and capping station and it’s a pretty painless procedure if you follow the service manual. Well worth it in my opinion and like Dan said you save the hassle of moving 2 printers !

Paul