Digital BW, The Print

I’m looking for some advice from people who have experience with the Epson 7600 or 9600.

I have an opportunity to buy an Epson 7600 (Ultrachrome version) with stand. It’s described as being in good working order. Obviously I won’t touch it unless I see it printing a clean nozzle check right in front of me, and if the status report is good. For purposes of this post, let’s assume everything checks out fine and the cost is low.

The printer would have to live in my basement. It’s a dry basement, and humidity is not a problem in my house. This is probably not ideal, but there’s no other place to keep the thing.

I’d load the printer up with Eboni in Paul Roark’s “Variable Tone” formulation. It would only print on matte paper with this ink. I realize that this will require cleaning and flushing the Ultrachrome inks it’s currently using.It would never go back to color.

Here’s the thing: I’d rarely print 24” wide. Frankly, it would make a lot more sense to get a 3880. However, I’m thinking that a 7600 could work on the assumption that I’d print larger than 17” sometimes (OK, rarely), and that I’d print between 13” wide and 17” wide more often (but still not a lot). For printing less than 13” wide my Artisan 1430 is performing very well.

The only way this would make the slightest bit of sense is if the printer could go without printing for long stretches. For purposes of this post, let’s assume it makes one print a month – and sometimes less frequently. The day before I plan to use it, I’d agitate the carts to deal with sedimentation in the carts. In between prints, if I remember, I could turn it on once a week and run a nozzle check (but let’s assume that doesn’t always happen).

And finally, I’ve already found lots of good repair tips and sites, and I’m reasonably handy. So basic maintenance and repairs are do-able.

OK, with all those caveats… what do you think? Can this work for me? Keith Cooper has a great web page dedicated to answering this question (and that page says No way man, not a good idea!) However, I live in hope that maybe it could work anyway… Rob

I have owned two 7600 and currently have a 9600. I set one of the 7600 for color printing and had Eboni inks in the other 7600. The problem I had with these printers was not using them enough. I made a habit of running a test print every two to three weeks and that did not help. I still would get a clog on one or both of them. But I also am handy and was able to clear the clogs up without issue. The prints from both of them were very nice. I got those 7600 for about $100 each so the money I spent in ink was my biggest cost.

Qimage now has a automated way to send test prints to the printers. You should look into using that.

Dwight

Keith is right - not a good idea!! Buy a 3880 instead but do run weekly nozzle checks
 

    On Tuesday, March 15, 2016 2:26 PM, "rdeloe1@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint]" <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@...m> wrote:
 

     I’m looking for some advice from people who have experiencewith the Epson 7600 or 9600. I have an opportunity to buy an Epson 7600 (Ultrachromeversion) with stand. It’s described as being in good working order. Obviously I won’ttouch it unless I see it printing a clean nozzle check right in front of me, and if the status report isgood. For purposes of this post, let’s assume everything checks out fine andthe cost is low. The printer would have to live in my basement. It’s a drybasement, and humidity is not a problem in my house. This is probably notideal, but there’s no other place to keep the thing.  I’d load the printer up with Eboni in Paul Roark’s “VariableTone” formulation. It would only print on matte paper with this ink. I realizethat this will require cleaning and flushing the Ultrachrome inks it’scurrently using.It would never go back to color.
 Here’s the thing: I’d rarely print 24” wide. Frankly, itwould make a lot more sense to get a 3880. However, I’m thinking that a 7600could work on the assumption that I’d print larger than 17” sometimes (OK,rarely), and that I’d print between 13” wide and 17” wide more often (but stillnot a lot). For printing less than 13” wide my Artisan 1430 is performing verywell. The only way this would make the slightest bit of sense isif the printer could go without printing for long stretches. For purposes ofthis post, let’s assume it makes one print a month – and sometimes lessfrequently. The day before I plan to use it, I’d agitate the carts to deal withsedimentation in the carts. In between prints, if I remember, I could turn iton once a week and run a nozzle check (but let’s assume that doesn’t alwayshappen). And finally, I’ve already found lots of good repair tips andsites, and I’m reasonably handy. So basic maintenance and repairs are do-able.  OK, with all those caveats… what do you think? Can this workfor me? Keith Cooper has a great web page dedicated to answering this question(and that page says No way man, not a good idea!) However, I live in hope that maybeit could work anyway…   Rob

One huge caveat to reading this thread listed below. There is a TON of information. Think of it as a totally raw un-whitebalanced everything goes historical document. (kindo’f how we roll at IJM forum-land right now). A little over half way through, it changes topics a bit.


//

In my 12 years of printing professional with Piezography inks I have had sedimentation issues crop up only once. That was when I left the printer sitting idle for 4 or 5 months (I think the main poster had let his printer sit for 3 months on this thread). A shake of the carts and purge of the lines fixed the issue and I printed the rest of the ink perfectly. I kicked myself and then compared it to if I had let an RA-4 sit for that long.

These inks produce differently than epson inks. What they produce is of higher quality but they are not as adept at lying dormant in a printer "forever" (partly I think this is due to the fact that the carts feed from below instead of wastefully from the middle but this is a research project of mine). They are not far from epson OEM though in my considerable experience. At IJM we constantly tell people to agitate their inks but I can almost bet that more than half of our customers don’t even do this before they pour their ink in their printers! We can only hope the fedex truck did it for them.

So. Agitate and fill. If you’re going away for a while flush your printer so your head doesn’t die (with any ink, oem or not although Piezo ink has a much longer decap time than OEM so frankly it’s safer on the dry-out issue than Epson at this point). Gasoline goes bad in less than a few months and can ruin your engine. Don’t assume ink won’t dry on the head or pigment won’t settle. When dealing with epson oem ink in a professional artist lab you still have to re-profile every few months between ink batches or if the lines have settled for too long of a time. When printing QTR with OEM Epson I re-linearized every single time I did a print run with an 80 patch. Back in the day with StudioPrint I re-lin'd my piezo environments every time a printed a large portfolio (at least once a week) and did the same for color every three weeks. I HAD to. When dealing with a professional print tool, an i1 will quickly become the center of everything. I recommend getting one.

You can do this stuff now with various tools. CreateICC, .quad Linearizer, etc.

Nothing beats preventative maintenance and the correct set of expectations and the tools to maintain calibration.

regards,
Walker

> On Mar 15, 2016, at 9:19 PM, jeff.grant@pobox.com [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint] <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> 
> A long read on sedimentation issues with a 3880: Swapping inks and dealing with the residual in the lines <http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/showthread.php?1962-Swapping-inks-and-dealing-with-the-residual-in-the-lines>
>  <http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/showthread.php?1962-Swapping-inks-and-dealing-with-the-residual-in-the-lines>	
> Swapping inks and dealing with the residual in the lines <http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/showthread.php?1962-Swapping-inks-and-dealing-with-the-residual-in-the-lines>
> I haven't printed on gloss for a few months, but I have maintained my 3880 properly, and shaken the printer every few days. Yesterday, I decided to test the t...
> View on www.inkjetmall.com <http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/showthread.php?1962-Swapping-inks-and-dealing-with-the-residual-in-the-lines>	
> Preview by Yahoo 
>  
> 
>

Hi

Unfortunately this a Win-based only software; for Mac users, they have to rely on a different solution. Many tricks have been posted but the "humidity" level of the room is important; I should say that I have been blessed (or I use my printer frequently enough although sometimes it sits there for more than a week) and the only "clogs" that I had were cleared with one cycle of head cleaning. The only time that I get an incomplete nozzle check is when I refill the printer; looks like this is only air getting into the lines. Turning off the printer and letting it sits for 24 hours cure the problem. Printing on a 1430 with the standard Eb-6 inks.

When on vacation, I use the cardboard and timer trick.


Jacques Caron
Photographe
jacques.caron@...



Le 2016-03-16 à 10:52, "Michael-K michael3442@yahoo.com [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint]" <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> a écrit :

> 
> Without the slightest hesitation I recommend the use of the software program Harvey Head Cleaner (http://harveyheadcleaner.com) with which I have no affiliation - but I'm a very satisfied user. HHC doesn't clean the print head but runs the printer's default nozzle check on a schedule of your choice. A nozzle check uses an immeasurable amount of ink so running HHC often is a no brainer. I've been using the program for a couple of years and have not had a clog. Here's how I use it: Using standard letter sized copy paper, I cut these sheets in half providing 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" sheets (4 printable paper edges per 1/2 sheet using both sides). A small stack of these half sheets are loaded in the printer which is set to print a nozzle check daily at dinner time; the printer is left on 24/7. It works. When winter comes and it's very dry outside and in, I add a second scheduled program to run at 7:00 a.m. providing two nozzle checks per day. You could add additional scheduled nozzle checks to run as often as you find necessary. Copy paper is cheap and the ink used for a nozzle check is immeasurable; at $50 for HHC, you cannot find a better solution to keeping your printer in shape. Also, remember that low humidity will give you ink clogs so use a humidifier, during dry periods, to maintain a normal level of humidity. Both of these precautions will go a long way to letting you sleep at night. Add in the weekly printing of a small purge pattern and you'll double your security.
> 
> 
>

There is an automator script someplace for the Macs that sort of does the same thing.  Think it is called “automator purge print”.

Mark
stillrivereditions.com

> On Mar 16, 2016, at 10:52 AM, Michael-K michael3442@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint] <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Without the slightest hesitation I recommend the use of the software program Harvey Head Cleaner (http://harveyheadcleaner.com <http://harveyheadcleaner.com/>) with which I have no affiliation - but I'm a very satisfied user. HHC doesn't clean the print head but runs the printer's default nozzle check on a schedule of your choice. A nozzle check uses an immeasurable amount of ink so running HHC often is a no brainer. I've been using the program for a couple of years and have not had a clog. Here's how I use it: Using standard letter sized copy paper, I cut these sheets in half providing 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" sheets (4 printable paper edges per 1/2 sheet using both sides). A small stack of these half sheets are loaded in the printer which is set to print a nozzle check daily at dinner time; the printer is left on 24/7. It works. When winter comes and it's very dry outside and in, I add a second scheduled program to run at 7:00 a.m. providing two nozzle checks per day. You could add additional scheduled nozzle checks to run as often as you find necessary. Copy paper is cheap and the ink used for a nozzle check is immeasurable; at $50 for HHC, you cannot find a better solution to keeping your printer in shape. Also, remember that low humidity will give you ink clogs so use a humidifier, during dry periods, to maintain a normal level of humidity. Both of these precautions will go a long way to letting you sleep at night. Add in the weekly printing of a small purge pattern and you'll double your security.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Posted by: Michael-K <michael3442@... <mailto:michael3442@...>> 
>