Re: Epson 3800 magenta ink clog ...and other weirdness
Let me know if you get that going Peter. I may give mine another try.
On my 3800 I usually print extended sessions twice a year-turned off after. In between I do nothing. It is extremely dry here and it is rare that I even have to do 1 cleaning on startup!
Re: Epson 3800 magenta ink clog ...and other weirdness
I have owned a 3800 for four or five years and the only clog I ever have had with it was with the magenta, and it was very slight (just two short gaps on two lines). But it appears to be a permanent clog as none of the methods I tried, including leaving the printer filled for month with flushing cartridge, worked. Eventually I decided to dedicate it to making digital negatives with one of Jon Cone's K7 ink sets, modified with special profiles that use only five inks to print. With this set-up I was able to modify the profile to bypass the magenta slot by printing the shade that is normally printed in the magenta slot with the LLK slot.
My 7600 prints, which is set up with a Cone K7 ink set, usually gives a perfect nozzle check. But if I don't use it for a few weeks a normal cleaning or two is often necessary. It is also very important with the 7600 to keep the wiper blade and the parking station clean. If the wiper blade is coated with ink the cleaning cycle may just move the old ink around on the head, clearing one clog but causing another one.
My experience with both the 3800 and 7600, for those who might be interested in printing monochrome prints with an all grey ink set, is that the Cone K7 ink sets are no more prone to clogging than the Epson K3 inks.
Sandy
Re: Epson 3800 magenta ink clog ...and other weirdness
Wow, Kirk, that's great! I have a HP DJ130, a dye printer, and it very rarely has any clogging issues, but my Epsons have always been more temperamental.
Sandy, that good info. What's your opinion of the print quality of your 7600 and the Cone K7 inks? I'm considering using them.
Re: Epson 3800 magenta ink clog ...and other weirdness
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Peter J. De Smidt
Sandy, that good info. What's your opinion of the print quality of your 7600 and the Cone K7 inks? I'm considering using them.
Peter,
Print quality with the 7600 and K7 inks is excellent. The main quality advantage I find over printing monochrome prints with the Epson color inks is greater smoothness and detail in the upper mid-tones and highlights, and the ability to get a more neutral tone image. I am currently using a combination of selenium and warm neutral inks, but I prefer warm neutral so as I use up the current inks I will replace the selenium with warm neutral.
I proof on Epson enhanced matte, and make final prints on Hahnemuhle 308 Photo Rag. Physically these prints look more like photo gravures than other photographic prints because the pigment inks are on the surface, not embedded in a gelatin emulsion as in silver or carbon transfer, nor embedded in the paper fibers as with platinum/palladium. People who are accustomed to the sheen or gloss of silver gelatin may not like the look, but I find it very attractive.
Sandy
Re: Epson 3800 magenta ink clog ...and other weirdness
My experience (for the little it is worth) is that the supplied profiles for Piezography K7 Carbon are very good, that the Cone profiles print much smoother than MIS eboni 6 profiles. I like Cones K7 Carbon inkset a lot on Hahnmule Photorag or Canson Rag Photographique, but for an occasional image it looks like puke. Eboni 6 has a very nice tone but to get the best from it seems to require a bit of profiling because the transitions between inks on stock profiles are very poor. In my opinion Epson K3 with MK and a properly linearised QTR profile can make very good prints but I think the tone is too green. The good thing about using these inksets for me is I am not constantly buying ink carts, if you run out you just fill em up again. My favourite thing of all about theese inksets is they have freed me from trying to make matte carbon prints, now I can go back to glossy carbons on gelatine sized watercolour paper, I forgot they look so nice.
Re: Epson 3800 magenta ink clog ...and other weirdness
Thanks, Sandy. With darkroom prints, I preferred making air-dried fiber-based glossy prints. I really hated matte SG papers. With inkjet prints, though, I do really like the better matte papers, although only for some images. Paul Roark is printing a lot lately on Arches hot press water color paper, which doesn't have any ink receptor coating. He's getting a d-max in the 1.58 range or so. I'm not sure I'd be happy with that, but I'll have to make some prints to be sure. I'd love to get back to carbon transfer printing, but the humidity variation in my very old basement was a problem even with a dehumidifier.
David, when I used Carbon-6, a DIY version of Eboni-6, I made my own profiles. When you talk about glossy carbons on gelatine sized watercolour paper, are you talking about inkjet prints? If so, would you describe your process a little more?
Re: Epson 3800 magenta ink clog ...and other weirdness
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Peter J. De Smidt
Wow, Kirk, that's great! I have a HP DJ130, a dye printer, and it very rarely has any clogging issues, but my Epsons have always been more temperamental.
Sandy, that good info. What's your opinion of the print quality of your 7600 and the Cone K7 inks? I'm considering using them.
Seriously, I hadn't printed since last October and I fired it up yesterday and got a clean test on the first sheet I ran through.
Re: Epson 3800 magenta ink clog ...and other weirdness
Sorry, I am busy and meant glossy carbon transfer prints, matte inkjets are the ticket too. I have been making a lot of inkjet prints on Epson Matte HW because its cheap for experimenting and comparing but have tried a number of very nice papers too.
Re: Epson 3800 magenta ink clog ...and other weirdness
I am new in the digital workflow also have three reluctant magenta gaps.
I tried PiezoFlush, Magic Bullet and then Windex, both below the head and in refillable cartridges on my 3800, without success.
I already use QTR and consider going the Cone way (switching to K7 and remapping), which seems to be the best use of a magenta-clogged Epson printer.
What paper are you using Sandy ? Everything mat seems to dull to me, just as mat silver paper was (I loved Agfa Brovira and Ilford Galerie..)
Andreas
Re: Epson 3800 magenta ink clog ...and other weirdness
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Andreas
I am new in the digital workflow also have three reluctant magenta gaps.
I tried PiezoFlush, Magic Bullet and then Windex, both below the head and in refillable cartridges on my 3800, without success.
I already use QTR and consider going the Cone way (switching to K7 and remapping), which seems to be the best use of a magenta-clogged Epson printer.
What paper are you using Sandy ? Everything mat seems to dull to me, just as mat silver paper was (I loved Agfa Brovira and Ilford Galerie..)
Andreas
Andreas,
For printing with the K7 set I use Epson enhanced matte for proofing, and Hahnemulhle photorag 308 for final prints.
As I recall there is a gloss and matte option with the K7 ink set for the Epson 3800. Re-mapping to avoid the magenta clog is a good idea.
Sandy