Digital BW, The Print

My Epson 1400, which I use exclusively for B+W printing, is now six years old. It is not used heavily for photo printing - I don't make more than a couple of prints a week. It does get fairly heavy use for plain paper printing as it is fast and the MIS UT-14 ink is super inexpensive compared to the color ink I have in my 1430. (Which I use for color printing.)

Lately I have been getting micro banding (you can't see it unless you pixel peep) in all my B+W prints and more than a little not-so-micro banding if I do not carefully clean the printer and use only the uni-directional printing. I have done several head alignments to try and reduce the micro banding but it is not helping. Also, as noted, if I use high speed, the prints are usually quite bad. Unchecking high speed and using the uni-directional printing seems to help a good deal. The prints I am getting are not completely unacceptable but neither are they perfect and at one time they were. I should also note that my MIS cartridges are about the same age as the printer.

Is this printer simply wearing out or are there other steps I should be taking to keep the printer in top shape? If the printer is wearing out, what would be the replacement assuming that I want to continue to use the printer as a dedicated, carbon, B+W printer?

Hi Homer

 

Sadly I got the “nearing end of life msg” on my color unit, and it could not be revived by any means..I dropped it off at Best-Buy’s recycle bin, and replaced it with a 1430 from B&H who had it on sale at $269 about 6 weeks ago..Placed the same carts and inks (inkjetmall) into the new printer..Did on nozzle check and I was good-to-go!

 

To answer your question on what would be a “replacement”, I would stay with your UT 14 inks, and just plug them into a new 1430. One thing I do notice as a benefit on the Inkjet Mall carts, is that YOU re-set the chips with a $20 re-setter, and do not seem to get the repetitive and un-necessary cleaning cycles that I got with the MIS carts, which are of the auto-reset variety, and the ink levels showing are pretty true to what’s actually in the carts..

 

I say continue with your 1400, and get yourself a back-up 1430 BEFORE they go obsolete. Epson doesn’t appear to be making many new Claria printers anymore..Just my 2 cents!

 

Eddie

From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] 
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2016 8:33 AM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] Do Epson 1400s Wear Out?

 

  

My Epson 1400, which I use exclusively for B+W printing, is now six years old. It is not used heavily for photo printing - I don't make more than a couple of prints a week. It does get fairly heavy use for plain paper printing as it is fast and the MIS UT-14 ink is super inexpensive compared to the color ink I have in my 1430. (Which I use for color printing.)

 

Lately I have been getting micro banding (you can't see it unless you pixel peep) in all my B+W prints and more than a little not-so-micro banding if I do not carefully clean the printer and use only the uni-directional printing. I have done several head alignments to try and reduce the micro banding but it is not helping. Also, as noted, if I use high speed, the prints are usually quite bad. Unchecking high speed and using the uni-directional printing seems to help a good deal. The prints I am getting are not completely unacceptable but neither are they perfect and at one time they were. I should also note that my MIS cartridges are about the same age as the printer. 





Is this printer simply wearing out or are there other steps I should be taking to keep the printer in top shape? If the printer is wearing out, what would be the replacement assuming that I want to continue to use the printer as a dedicated, carbon, B+W printer?