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Author Topic: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????  (Read 9206 times)

elolaugesen

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Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« on: September 26, 2012, 10:28:04 am »

according to the service manual there are some interesting items that will kill the machine  ie self destruct.   does anyone know something about this?  have you run into this?   Mine is now 4 years old.   that is if the counter started the day I loaded the first cartridge!!!!

see attachment

« Last Edit: September 26, 2012, 11:28:06 am by elolaugesen »
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dgberg

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2012, 11:04:39 am »

I can confirm at least with my 3800 that the 5 year estimate was pretty spot on.
My 3800 was 4 years 10 months old when it started having issues with ink oozing out of the capping station and making a mess of everything.
I really wanted the 4900 to go with my 9900 but the remaining 3800 ink carts were just to pricy to discard.
The 3880 is in place and the estimated $200 in 3800 inks is being put to good use.
« Last Edit: September 26, 2012, 11:09:09 am by Dan Berg »
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RFPhotography

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2012, 11:20:10 am »

I've had mine for more than 5 years and it's still going strong.  Made a lovely b&w using a profiled ABW workflow this past Sunday morning.
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darlingm

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2012, 11:56:38 am »

according to the service manual there are some interesting items that will kill the machine  ie self destruct.   does anyone know something about this?  have you run into this?   Mine is now 4 years old.   that is if the counter started the day I loaded the first cartridge!!!!

see attachment

I don't think the machine is watching how long it's been in service, or how many pages, carriage movements, or ink shots it's done, waiting to kill the machine/self destruct.  I think the manual is listing how far Epson expects for the printer to go before it starts having serious issues.
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elolaugesen

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2012, 12:56:22 pm »

My first thought was that this is a Service Engineers instructions.  If any of these conditions are encountered do no waste your time, Epson's or the customers money. 

Also it might highlight to some members that when the five year cycle and other issues come up.   Watch it you may waste your money calling for service.  Many of you have said that an engineers called, charged a hefty fee but did nothing.

I would like find out from the community how many of you have encountered these 5 year issues/problems and then no fix, no service???

chers elo

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dgberg

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2012, 03:13:12 pm »

Others may disagree but my opinion is that this value of printer is pretty much a throw away if you have any major issue out of warranty.
If my 3800 had problems that could be repaired for several hundred dollars or less I would certainly go that route.
Problem is you cannot get something fixed for that amount.
I would get your mind set on replacement then when it happens you will be excited for the upgrade,I was.

Randy Carone

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #6 on: September 26, 2012, 03:35:07 pm »

I had the pressure pump replaced on my 3800 for ~$250, including shipping and a new Maintenance Tank. I knew it was a risk but the printer has performed flawlessly since the repair. BTW, the symptom of the bad pump was that it ran constantly while it was printing, which I knew was not normal. Soon after, no ink delivered on a nozzle check.
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Randy Carone

AFairley

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #7 on: September 26, 2012, 04:46:02 pm »

Others may disagree but my opinion is that this value of printer is pretty much a throw away if you have any major issue out of warranty.
If my 3800 had problems that could be repaired for several hundred dollars or less I would certainly go that route.
Problem is you cannot get something fixed for that amount.
I would get your mind set on replacement then when it happens you will be excited for the upgrade,I was.

Well, you can get something replaced for less than that amount, the real issue is whether you know that will actually fix the problem.  When I had problems with my 3800, I could have replaced the capping station for around $170 (the service center's guess at what was causing the problem).  The problem was that I would be rolling the dice since the problem could have lain elsewhere, so a final repair would have been even more.  Given a rebate available on the 3880, the value of the bundled inks, and the ability to swap the 3800 ink carts (except for magentas, which were pretty low anyway), I wasn't prepared to take the risk. 
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Wayne Fox

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2012, 12:07:29 pm »

When evaluating whether to replace or repair a 3800/3880, keep in mind the actual new cost of one of these units is often only around $600, given that you can almost always get a rebate and after deducting the value of the ink with the new printer.
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mikep_1998

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #9 on: December 10, 2012, 07:46:48 pm »

Hello, where did you get the maintance manual? I need a copy for parts and service.
thanks
Mike
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bill t.

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #10 on: December 11, 2012, 12:40:21 am »

From a strictly mechanical point of view, it's not the number of years, it's the amount of wear and tear on the machine which is proportionate to the amount of media printed, or if you prefer to the amount of ink laid down.  Like mileage on cars.

If you rely on your machine for a living, be sure to replace it well ahead of any serious down time, which can be a lot more expensive than simply buying a new machine now and then.  My wife's lightly-used 2400 is still running great at 7 years, but in that same time I have driven three wide format printers into the early stages of developing problems.
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enduser

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #11 on: December 11, 2012, 02:31:38 am »

The typical ways of measuring the "life" of machinery are numbers of repetitions of particular moving parts or hours of use.   To give a number of years is, on its own, a pretty useless metric. 
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elolaugesen

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #12 on: December 11, 2012, 03:17:39 am »

Hi:  if you look at the original attachments I had included the page with all the measurements including the number of years...   here they are again. 
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elolaugesen

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #13 on: December 11, 2012, 03:20:59 am »

Mikep-1998   need the manual.   cannot remember where I got it from but if you need it give me your email address will send when I get home...

cheers elo
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enduser

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #14 on: December 11, 2012, 06:31:44 pm »

yes, I see that, but this thread is over emphasizing the "5 years" thing.
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mfryd

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Re: Epson Pro 3800 Life Expentancy only 5 years?????
« Reply #15 on: December 11, 2012, 07:50:35 pm »

From a strictly mechanical point of view, it's not the number of years, it's the amount of wear and tear on the machine which is proportionate to the amount of media printed, or if you prefer to the amount of ink laid down.  Like mileage on cars.
...

Inkjet printers suffer from various age related issues.

Ink can dry and /or react with various plastics & rubber.  Once ink is in the system some of these changes start to occur, regardless of print volume.

There's mechanical wear and tear that has to do with amount of paper fed trough the machine, and the number of times the head assembly moves back and forth.

There is wear on pumps and heads that are based on how much ink moves through the system.


The Epson 3800 and 3880 are designed for a lifetime of five years. 12,000 A2 sized pages, or 1.6 million carriage movements.  Whichever comes first.
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