Stupid things we do.

Sanda · #1 08-14-2002, 04:10 PM

I'm not sure if this is for the Hardware or input/out put section, but here goes.
I had a job recently for which I had to design and print 600 double sided flyers, all in full colour. The quality was quite good but both the customer and I knew that only a small percentage of them would even be looked at. The customer wanted me to keep the costs as low as I could. After exploring options of photocopying, professional printers ect and presenting these costs to the customer she was very dissapointed with the expense.
This where my stupid idea came in, I suggested that I print these flyers on my older printer( Epson 760) but to keep costs down I would use "compatable" inks instead of the genuine Epson inks. BAD, BAD mistake.
The 600, or 1200 if you count both sides, flyers printed perfectly with no visual difference between the inks. I used 2 black and 2 colour cartridges to do the job. I continued to use the "compatable" ink on general printing stuff but not for anything important. When the cartridges ran out I switched back to Epson cartridges. This is where I struck problems. All of my ink nozzels had clogged up. I wasted two cartridges trying to clean them out with the head clean utility. In desperation I searched the net to find a solution but there was very little help there. So I used some Metholated Spirit, just a few drops from an eye dropper, and prayed. Finally after almost 2 days I cleaned the nozzels and the printer is back to working properly.So the moral to this long story is "I must not use any other inks in my printer".

fugitive · #2 08-14-2002, 05:02 PM

The color cartridges for my HP Inkjet are $32 each, so I found a place on line that sold refill kits for $12-15 and they work great for me. The brand is Inktec. Oh, and you can get 2 fills from the kit. It's not always bad news.

Ed_L · #3 08-14-2002, 06:32 PM

A friend of mine uses refill kits on his Epson, and he swears by them. I have also heard horror stories like the one from Sandra. I had an Epson 900, that bit the dust (not because of ink problems). So I called my local Epson repairman to see if he wanted mine for parts since I knew he also had a 900. He was glad to get it, and we talked for about 1/2 hour. He told me to never use anything but Epson ink in my printer, and offered to refill a few cartridges with Epson ink. Since he's only a repairman, and doesn't sell Epson ink, I took his advice.

Ed

BigAl · #4 08-15-2002, 12:31 AM

I've mentioned on another thread that I've used NuJet inks to refill my Epson 800 cartridges since about 1998. Must have sent about a pint of the colors and about 1.5 pints thru the black. Had no problems yet (touch wood) and I still use it for general printing as well as for printing CD covers for LPs that I've remastered.

I really think it's got to do with the manufacturer. I did quite a bit of reading in the NGs before I went to NuJet. I know some folks that use InkTec that Greg mentioned, and they're pretty satisfied.

PixelMover · #5 08-17-2002, 12:02 PM

I have the Stylus Photo EX
Tried refills once..
..still have nightmares about the results....
Apparently the refill ink was thinner than 'original' ink, leaving me with a printer that had ink literally anywhere it could creep, seep, drip and spat into INSIDE the printer.
My nozzles weren't clogged..boy do I wish they were...

angue · #6 08-17-2002, 03:30 PM

Sanda,
You mentioned "Mentholated Spirits". What is it? And where can I get it?
My aging Epson Stylus 600 has developed one or two nozzle blockage on the red ink. I have tried the "cleaning cartriges from two different companies.
It would also be helpful if you can post a step by step procedure.
Tony

Sanda · #7 08-17-2002, 06:22 PM

I think you guys call it 'rubbing alcohol but I'm not 100% sure on that. It's a clear alcohol based liquid.
I removed the cartridges and used an eye dropper to drop a few drops on the nozzels. I didn't like the thought of leaving it there for very long so I gave it about 30 miniutes them used a soft absorbent cloth to soak up the inky/metho mess. I did this about three times then replaced the cartridges with new genuine ones and after several cleaning passes finally got an acceptable printout.
A friend of mine said he used pure vodka to do the same thing, I'm not sure I would have tried that.

angue · #8 08-18-2002, 07:21 AM

Thank you Sanda.

I will try it right away. If nothing comes of it or if it gets worse, I have a reason to buy a new one

BigAl · #9 08-19-2002, 12:50 AM

Methylated spirits is methyl alcohol with some other gunk added to make it unpalatable (methyl alcohol is poisonous, but favoured as a drink by hobos). Ethyl alcohol (ethanol) should work as well (can drink it safely too and it's cheaper than vodka

) A commercially available product in the US, which has been claimed to work well on blocked Epson nozzles, is Windex.

Sanda · #10 08-19-2002, 01:48 AM

Thanks for clearing that up Al I wasn't really sure what they called it in other countries and wa stoo lazy to reaad the lable to get the chemical name.

I tried the windex thingy but it had no effect for me. My next try was going to by eucalyptus oil. I use that stuff for so many things around the house.My sons say the house "stinks of it".

pstewart · #11 08-19-2002, 09:19 AM

I am on my second Epson photo printer, and once, just once, I made the mistake of trying bargain ink cartridges to make a batch of cards for a regular customer (no reason other than I was feeling cheap...LOL!) These were cards I printed every few months, so I knew how they "should" look.

Well, the black ink had a brownish cast instead of the bluish cast that Epson black has. So, after printing a few cards and trying to adjust the colors in the original to match the ink, and wasting lots of time for nothing, I replaced both cartridges (yes, the colors turned out to be slightly off too) and finished the job right. In the attempt to save a few bucks I ended up wasting about $40 and a few hours of time. That cured me of trying to be thrifty with my printing!

Phyllis

Trimoon · #12 08-23-2002, 04:11 PM

I made the mistake of trying bargain ink, cost me $3,423.16USD (Epson 9600)
New heads.. Genuine Epson for me

Peter Booth · #13 08-30-2002, 09:08 PM

Hi Folk, regarding the refilling of cartridges . Here in New Zealand the new cartridges are very expensive so I am easily tempted and pursueded to try alternatives. I have found that I have no major problems but must remember to turn off my Epson Photo Stylus 810 or the nozzles do dry up and then I need to go through the laborious proceedure of the cleaning cycles. I read on a previous posted thread here that you can use Windex to clean clogged nozzles. I have been using refills on my Lexmark 3200 for a couple of years now with no problems.

charles · #14 09-01-2002, 04:16 PM

Hi Folks
I have noticed that if I use anything other than Epson paper with my Epson inks, the ink just sits on top of the papers surface and never really dries. I believe there is a chemical bond or reaction between the Epson inks and papers. If you look at the end print closely you can see that the Epson ink does indeed soak straight into the paper, even on the blackest parts of the print.
My only problem is that the Epson 890 + Epson inks + Epson Photo paper tends to lose detail in the shadows, too dark. Any ideas?

jeaniesa · #15 09-01-2002, 11:34 PM

Charles,

First, a belated welcome to RetouchPRO!

As far as how to get shadow details in your prints, I would try this:

1. Create a grayscale step wedge from 0-10% brightness using step increments of 1%. Then add a thick pure black (0%) line down the middle. (I've attached an example of what I'm talking about.)
2. Print the step wedge on your printer (print one on each type of ink/paper combination you use) and wait for the ink to dry.
3. Look at the printed image and determine the darkest shade of gray that you can differentiate from pure black (the thick line doen the middle). This is the darkest shade of gray that your printer can print before losing detail.
4. Now, back in Photoshop (or whatever image editor you use), when you use the black dropper to set the black point in levels or curves, be sure the color of that dropper is set to whatever brightness level you determined from the printed step wedge. (In PS7 and I think PS6, you can double click on the dropper and it will bring up the color picker to allow you to set the color.)

This will ensure that you don't have any tones in your image which are darker than your printer can differentiate between.

Please let me know if this doesn't make any sense and I'll try to explain again.

Jeanie