Epson 9600 Printer Question

[Pali K]

I have an opportunity to pickup an Epson Stylus Pro 9600 printer in good working condition and wanted to get some feedback on these.

I will be using it for occasional printing and can't imagine printing more than 2-3 prints a month and probably no bigger than 20x24.

Would love to know if these are reliable units and how much do you think it's worth it it works and has about 50% ink remaining.

Regards,

Pali

[J. Fada]

If you only do two or three prints a month it will be a nightmare of clogged heads and wasted ink. You would be far better off spending your money getting the prints made for you.

[Bruce Watson]

If you only do two or three prints a month it will be a nightmare of clogged heads and wasted ink. You would be far better off spending your money getting the prints made for you.

Yep. This.

[interneg]

Actually, the x600 printers are pretty easy to unclog - I recently resurrected two 7600s that had been idle for several years in about a couple of hours. They're not complicated machines compared to later Epsons & generally better made. That said, unless you want to run K7 piezography via QTR (or similar) on matte papers or work out a solution to let you run newer than K2 inksets (realistically via a fairly expensive RIP), I'd suggest not going for it unless the price is really low (or they'll pay you to take it away!). If it matches what you need, go for it!

[Pali K]

Thank you everyone for the feedback. I have decided to pass on the printer.

Pali

[Pali K]

The seller made me an offer I could not refuse. He offered to give me 6 rolls of mixed paper which I would say are worth about $300 alone. I got the printer, with rolls of paper for less than $200 and in return, I offered him drum scans if he needs them in the future.

Anyways, I got the printer setup and it's making amazing prints. However, two bars in the light magenta are clogged but worked intermittently. I did some windex cleaning after watching youtube videos and the printer is coming back to life. I am not 100% sure if this was a good decision but I can already make amazing BW prints for what is practically free so I won't complain much.

Will keep you posted! Any tips on maintenance and regular use you can offer will be greatly appreciated!

Pali

[Pali K]

Looks like all but one line on the printer head is back to life now. Made some test prints and I can't even tell that there is an issue with the head. I do see banding in low res (300DPI prints) but not in high resolution ones.

http://www.netsoft2k.com/Docs/Media/Pictures/Epson9600/20170904_144722.jpg

http://www.netsoft2k.com/Docs/Media/Pictures/Epson9600/20170904_145333.jpg

http://www.netsoft2k.com/Docs/Media/Pictures/Epson9600/20170903_235948.jpg

I have a few questions for someone with more experience with these printers.


What is Super X microweave and should I be using it?
I got a "backprint film" roll that I believe is for printing transparencies. Does anyone know what's the best way to print on these? It has a dull-paper side and a glossy polyfilm side. I would love to print some of my velvia scans to see how it turns up but don't want to try to mess things up.
How do I print in 2400 DPI? The scanner seems to only offer 720 and 1440 in the paper settings under the driver.
Would love to hear what settings are recommended for ideal quality and ink consumption. Posting my test settings below.


http://www.netsoft2k.com/Docs/Media/Pictures/Epson9600/Epson9600 Settings.jpg

I am really impressed with the printer. Seems to be in fine condition even after years of use.

Pali

[Jim Becia]

I have an opportunity to pickup an Epson Stylus Pro 9600 printer in good working condition and wanted to get some feedback on these.

I will be using it for occasional printing and can't imagine printing more than 2-3 prints a month and probably no bigger than 20x24.

Would love to know if these are reliable units and how much do you think it's worth it it works and has about 50% ink remaining.

Regards,

Pali

Pali,

I'm late to this thread, but my 9600 has been going strong for 15 plus years. I've put over 200 ink cartridges through it and calculated that I have run 336,330 running inches, or 28,000 feet through the printer so it has paid for itself many times over. A piece of advice, run a humidifier in the same room, it really helps keeping the heads from clogging. I've shut the printer down for several weeks while traveling and upon return, I'll run the humidifier for a couple days before turning it back on. Seems to help a lot. I've had routine service done a few times over the years. I'm probably looking at replacing within the next year only because one part needs replacing and parts are no longer made. I did pick up a used 7600 for the replacement part, hopefully so that will work temporarily. Good luck, I think it's a great printer.

How much ink and paper have been put through the printer, that can have a major effect on how long the printer will run. Has it ever been serviced? Like I said, mine has been a workhorse.

[Jim Becia]

Pali,

You can only print at 2880 with luster type papers using the photo black inks, I believe. Mat papers are limited to 1440 if I'm not mistaken. Seeing that I'm set up for luster/glossy papers, I know that 2880 is available to me. I also generally leave the SuperX checked on under microweave. Have you tried the power cleaning feature of the printer? That might help clear the remaining head clogs.

[Pali K]

Jim, you are absolutely correct that I cannot print in 2880 with Matt inks. Just caught up on the manual for it and it talks about different media setting available under each black ink types. I currently have Matt installed and apparently changing it wastes quite a bit of ink. I think it must flush everything in the long tube that carry the ink when you change the settings.

I can ask the seller about it's history and load that it was used under. All I know is that it has never given the previous owner any problems and they did it to replace it with a new unit. Ill be sure to keep it near a humidifier.

The printer is a joy to use and I now have everything unclogged. I made a 40 inch wide test print and can't believe that I have this beast sitting in my house :)

Thanks again for the information.

Pali

[sanking]

I can ask the seller about it's history and load that it was used under. All I know is that it has never given the previous owner any problems and they did it to replace it with a new unit. Ill be sure to keep it near a humidifier.
......

Pali

You can check history of use, as well as the current status of the components of the printer, from the control panel.

Go Menu>Printer Status, and from there check the status of such things as Usage Count, Job History, Total Pages, etc.

Sandy

[Pali K]

Thank you Sandy. Here is the info on the printer.

Usage Count: 12632.5 cm
Total Prints: 2799 PG
CR Motor: E***__F
PF Motor: E****_F
Cutter: E*****F
Head Unit: E*****F
Cleaning Unit: E***__F

Looks like this printer has seen good use in it's life. I don't know what to make of the end of life on Head Unit because I can't see anything wrong with the prints.

http://www.netsoft2k.com/Docs/Media/Pictures/Epson9600/20170909_223547.jpg

http://www.netsoft2k.com/Docs/Media/Pictures/Epson9600/20170909_223327.jpg

http://www.netsoft2k.com/Docs/Media/Pictures/Epson9600/20170909_223128.jpg

Pali

[bob carnie]

Pali,

I'm late to this thread, but my 9600 has been going strong for 15 plus years. I've put over 200 ink cartridges through it and calculated that I have run 336,330 running inches, or 28,000 feet through the printer so it has paid for itself many times over. A piece of advice, run a humidifier in the same room, it really helps keeping the heads from clogging. I've shut the printer down for several weeks while traveling and upon return, I'll run the humidifier for a couple days before turning it back on. Seems to help a lot. I've had routine service done a few times over the years. I'm probably looking at replacing within the next year only because one part needs replacing and parts are no longer made. I did pick up a used 7600 for the replacement part, hopefully so that will work temporarily. Good luck, I think it's a great printer.

How much ink and paper have been put through the printer, that can have a major effect on how long the printer will run. Has it ever been serviced? Like I said, mine has been a workhorse.


Jim hits it on the head... Running a humidifier near a inkjet machine is a really , really , really good idea. These machines like to be run as Jim points out and if you are not producing a lot of work they could be frustrating.

I use a Canon 9400 and we run quite a few prints through it... Just last week I had 6 of the 12 ink cartridges go low and $1400 later back in operation... I am not sure about long term storage and using it once in awhile, the lines may clog up and create a nightmare for a casual user.

Most of the top labs worldwide have a Bulk printing service (as do I) where the person who wants to manage their printing can control every aspect and pay only as they go and not worry about maintaining a machine.. In Jim's case he is really making top usage of his machine, thats a lot of prints over the years when you calculate that he is probably paying about a buck and half per foot for ink and paper.. I am impressed Jim. Where the hell do you store all your prints, I hope you are selling a lot of them.

IMHO the two top of the line machines from either Canon or Epson are killer machines and these 12 ink sets are really quite beautiful.. I am considering to downsize to a 44 inch Epson next, as there seems to be more support in my neighbourhood for Epson products.. I will have no hesitation going with a different machine as they both lay down the ink equally well.

[sanking]

Thank you Sandy. Here is the info on the printer.

Usage Count: 12632.5 cm
Total Prints: 2799 PG
CR Motor: E***__F
PF Motor: E****_F
Cutter: E*****F
Head Unit: E*****F
Cleaning Unit: E***__F

Pali


Just to clarify, each * between E and F represents 20% remaining of expected life. So all measured components of your printer are at least 60% remaining.

Main problem you can anticipate is nozzle clogging so be sure to follow advice and keep plenty of humidity in your room. Some people recommend a moisture pocket (sponge) placed inside the printer near the head. And of course, run a cleaning cycle at least once a week when the printer is not being used.

Also, I believe that you can make better B&W prints with the 9600 using QTR than with the Epson driver. The Ultrachrome ink set in the 760/9600 only has two B&W inks and QTR does a better job of blending them than the Epson driver.

Sandy

[Artman.A]

That's awesome.
I just picked up an old 9600 i'm about to resurrect. may you share with me some info on how you did it?

(three years later, may the force be with us and this reply will be noticed :) )

[Pali K]

I gave up on mine because though it worked great, it required significant effort each time to get all the heads up and running and then that required constant profiling as a result. I rarely print anything over 13x19 which my trusty Pixima Pro 100 does flawlessly without any fuss.

I hope to get into large format again but will be buying a newer printer since I hear the heads on the new ones are painless to manage even with occasional use which is what I do.

Good luck!

[Artman.A]

Thank you so much for replying.

Well, i was offered just to pick it up 100 meters from my place and 3 floors up the stairs, i couldnt resist. it was sitting there for 2 years without use, and it was just handed over to me free of charge.
Plugged it in, most inks are super low level, magenta is completly out and for that reason i cant even start testing it. Figured out it needs a VM of winXP to add to the fuss.
I was wondering, if after sitting for two years, is there any point to try and service it, or its going to be so complicated it is better to print everything in print shops.
Any suggestion of the right procedure to jump start it? just add the missing ink? buy all generic 7 inks and try running it? buy empty cartridges with flusher and cleaner? is it probable i need to replace the printing head?
I'm thinking if it is a worthwhile garage project, or rather just re-gift it and get something more of our era, even a 5 color 36" canon, that sells for 1500$ and might suffice.

Would love to hear your thoughts and suggestion.
Thank you again for you kind reply.




I gave up on mine because though it worked great, it required significant effort each time to get all the heads up and running and then that required constant profiling as a result. I rarely print anything over 13x19 which my trusty Pixima Pro 100 does flawlessly without any fuss.

I hope to get into large format again but will be buying a newer printer since I hear the heads on the new ones are painless to manage even with occasional use which is what I do.

Good luck!

[sanking]

Thank you so much for replying.

Well, i was offered just to pick it up 100 meters from my place and 3 floors up the stairs, i couldnt resist. it was sitting there for 2 years without use, and it was just handed over to me free of charge.
Plugged it in, most inks are super low level, magenta is completly out and for that reason i cant even start testing it. Figured out it needs a VM of winXP to add to the fuss.
I was wondering, if after sitting for two years, is there any point to try and service it, or its going to be so complicated it is better to print everything in print shops.
Any suggestion of the right procedure to jump start it? just add the missing ink? buy all generic 7 inks and try running it? buy empty cartridges with flusher and cleaner? is it probable i need to replace the printing head?
I'm thinking if it is a worthwhile garage project, or rather just re-gift it and get something more of our era, even a 5 color 36" canon, that sells for 1500$ and might suffice.

Would love to hear your thoughts and suggestion.
Thank you again for you kind reply.


I would check out the status of the printer through the control panel, as mentioned in a past thread. If everything checks out there it would probably be OK to proceed and see if you can get a clean nozzle check. You can actually check that also through the control panel. There is a forum on groups.io about Epson printers, you might find get some advice there as well. https://groups.io/g/EpsonWideFormat/topics
You can find information on trying to clear the nozzles on a bunch of sites, but I would not invest the time to replace the printing head as that would probably be more investment of money or time than the printer is worth.

If you can locate an inexpensive set of empty cartridges you could fill them with a good cleaning solution. This one looks pretty effective. https://www.mrprint.com/files/i-screen-cts-supplies-cleaning-fluid-1-liter-msds-9r6BmMVCr20144yr.pdf

Sandy

[PRJ]

Free never means free with Epson. Unless you want to invest the amount of money it would take to get it running, which will be significant, better to just skip it. Ive passed on a few "free" Epsons over the years. Not worth it in my opinion. Just take a look at Pali's result. Epsons just require too much work. Better to get a Canon. Only case to be made for Epson in my opinion is if you want to convert it to a black and white printer. Then Epson is you only choice.

[Artman.A]

I would check out the status of the printer through the control panel, as mentioned in a past thread. If everything checks out there it would probably be OK to proceed and see if you can get a clean nozzle check. You can actually check that also through the control panel. There is a forum on groups.io about Epson printers, you might find get some advice there as well. https://groups.io/g/EpsonWideFormat/topics
You can find information on trying to clear the nozzles on a bunch of sites, but I would not invest the time to replace the printing head as that would probably be more investment of money or time than the printer is worth.

If you can locate an inexpensive set of empty cartridges you could fill them with a good cleaning solution. This one looks pretty effective. https://www.mrprint.com/files/i-screen-cts-supplies-cleaning-fluid-1-liter-msds-9r6BmMVCr20144yr.pdf

Sandy

Thanks. good idea. I found a cleaning cartridge set with the solution for about 130$ and compatible ink set for about another 130$, and 39$ drivers and RIP for windows 10. A new print head sells for another 100$ on ebay and dampers are very cheap. even if it would be a few days of assembly and maintenance i think it is worth the shot for a garage geek like myself.

[Artman.A]

Free never means free with Epson. Unless you want to invest the amount of money it would take to get it running, which will be significant, better to just skip it. Ive passed on a few "free" Epsons over the years. Not worth it in my opinion. Just take a look at Pali's result. Epsons just require too much work. Better to get a Canon. Only case to be made for Epson in my opinion is if you want to convert it to a black and white printer. Then Epson is you only choice.

I do intend to print mainly B&W on that printer.
Hopefully reviving this printer will pay off.

btw, Would you choose Photo black + light black for B&W or Matte black + light black?

[sanking]

I do intend to print mainly B&W on that printer.
Hopefully reviving this printer will pay off.

btw, Would you choose Photo black + light black for B&W or Matte black + light black?

If you plan to print in B&W you might also consider third party all black ink sets and running the printer with QuadToneRIP.

Sandy

[darmat19]

Thanks. good idea. I found a cleaning cartridge set with the solution for about 130$ and compatible ink set for about another 130$, and 39$ drivers and RIP for windows 10. A new print head sells for another 100$ on ebay and dampers are very cheap. even if it would be a few days of assembly and maintenance i think it is worth the shot for a garage geek like myself.


Hello, I recently picked up an Epson 9600. But for the life of me cant find a way to run it on new computer(Windows 10). Could you tell me how you got it to work?

Thanks
Matt

[Greg]

Epson Stylus Pro 7800 experiences...

2004: Purchased to use for getting my MFA. Had to remove it from the back of my Vanagon, haul up a stairway to the 2nd floor, and set it up myself. Was a bear to do but did it all myself. Printer was up and running the next day. Used it almost on a daily basis and had infrequent problems with clogged heads.

2011: Printer was put into storage.

2020: Finally set up the 7800 with my Macbook Pro with macOS Mojave Version 10.14.6. Took me a day to get the Mac to talk to the 7800. Did a test and all but 2 inks were clogged. Ordered ink c cartridges for the ones that were less than 50% full. Started to run the power cleaning cycle. Was told by an IT person to wait a day before running the power cleaning cycle again. I think it took about 4 days for all the heads to be working 100%. That was back in September, 2020. Unfortunately other commitments got in the way of using the printer till now. This weekend I will be able to get back to getting the 7800 working again, as do expect for one or two heads to be clogged up. From then on, plan on running the 7800 for at least 3 sessions per week. I have found it cheaper in the long run to print prints for our town's museum on a weekly basis and just donate them to having to run the head cleaning cycle and watch the inks drain. Main reason for getting the 7800 working again is because I have probably a dozen unopened rolls of 24" paper on the shelf.

[Amy B]

Hello, I recently picked up an Epson 9600. But for the life of me cant find a way to run it on new computer(Windows 10). Could you tell me how you got it to work?

Thanks
Matt

I'm picking up a 9600 as well and have concerns about it working with my operating system. Did you find a solution to this? I did read about a generic windows Epson driver that may work, but I can't try that until I have it hooked up. I do not have any Vista computers laying around. I believe that was the last OS they made drivers for this unit.

[Amy B]

I'm hoping to print large adhesive backed vinyls for indoor use on this. Any thoughts? Do I need to laminate my prints?

[Amy B]

Hello, I recently picked up an Epson 9600. But for the life of me cant find a way to run it on new computer(Windows 10). Could you tell me how you got it to work?

Thanks
Matt

Did you ever find a solution? I need drivers for windows 10 also.