I just purchased a new Epson 7880, and this is my first large output printer. I am upgrading from the 2200, and don’t know much about the workings of the 7880. I have read the manual online and I am not sure of a few things with ink consumption.

1. The ink that comes with the printer I have heard is not a full tank, rather starter tank. This starter would only supply filling the lines in the printer and not provide as much ink as a new cartridge purchased separately.
2. The owner’s manual references the ink provided will fill the supply lines and they recommend buying additional ink right away. I can understand from a marketing and sales approach why they would make this claim. Does anyone have first hand knowledge or experience with this?
3. As for the shelf life of this ink, can anyone comment on your experience with the expiration dates and how valid they are?
4. The matte black ink change seems excessive in the fact you need to fully empty the ink lines before loading the new cartridge. Any thoughts on how much ink is truly used in this process?
5. Any other advice would greatly be appreciated!

Regards,
DC

I just bought a 7880 and have made about 10 20x30's and 5 or so 16x24's and my ink monitor still reads 1/3rd full... it started out reading at maybe 2/3-1/2 full. so there's a substantial amount of ink there. I have full 210 ml cartridges on standby though. The printer comes with 110 ml cartridges.

Dan,

Epson can't ship your printer with ink in it fully charged, so they give you a full set of 110ml cartridges and it takes about half of them to fully charge the ink tubes. You'll use a chunk of the rest running tests and getting up to speed. That's part of the cost of ownership, but it will quickly be offset by the much lower cost of larger roll papers, and when you graduate to the 220 ml cartridges (as you should), ink costs less than half of what you're used to paying with the 2200.

You're going to see the printer LCD panel recommend that you do a Power Cleaning on a fairly regular basis. Unless you are having head clog problems, don't do that Power Cleaning, as it uses a fair amount of ink. Do, however, run nozzle checks every time you are going to print, and get in the habit of opening up the front of the printer, sliding the head unit to the left and wiping any drips of ink that might be hanging off the small vertical wiper blade. That alone will save you many problems throughout the life of the printer.

I have heard of people having problems using ink carts that are too far out of date. Slight color shifts, which could drive you nuts. Epson says for installed carts you should use them up within six months.

I'm not exactly sure how much a black ink swap costs, but I've heard somewhere between $60 and $100. That seems about right to me. I try to do it only a couple of times a year, when I've got a lot of the other type to print. Also, try and time it, if you can, either when your other carts are full or when they are so close to empty, you'll have to replace them anyway. The printer won't let you change carts if there's not enough ink in all carts to accomplish the changeover. This is an area where you end up losing some ink once in a while. Don't forget to have extra maintenance tank or two, as when you need to replace them, it's the last thing you think to have spares.

I'd like to ask a few related questions. Has anyone figured out what the cost per square inch or per square foot is on the 7880 (both Ink and paper)? I have been printing like mad the last two days and did about 20 larger jobs from ganged 8x10's - 16 x20's and a bunch of 2' x 3-4" prints. My cartridges are about 35-40% full still, but the photo black is much further down...about 20% full. The output has been spot on since it's very first print, but I do have one issue. The luster paper has such a good memory that it springs back to it's roll induced curl. I reverse roll it on a 5" cardboard tube...wait 24 hours and it lays flat. Then, a few hours later the curl starts coming back. Does anyone have a method to flatten the paper better than this?

Floris,

I appreciate the first hand feedback, as I am expecting to use quite a bit of ink on the initial loading. This gives me a good understanding of real life use.

Peter,

Thank you for taking the time to detail your experience with this printer! I think it makes total sense to buy the 220ml ink, I want to get an understanding of how much I will actually print. As for the cleaning and maintenance tips, that is great info. I will do my best to keep this printer in top shape, as I expect top quality prints. I don’t plan on swapping the ink until I get a handle on the papers to get best results for me. I rely on the Premium Luster paper today, as I think it’s good for color prints. I don’t have a lot of experience with B & W, but want to take advantage of it with the 7880. Again, thanks for the tips!

James,

I don’t have any answers for you, as I have no experience with roll paper. I do expect that the paper will go flat.

Regards to all,
DC

James Markus wrote:
I The luster paper has such a good memory that it springs back to it's roll induced curl. I reverse roll it on a 5" cardboard tube...wait 24 hours and it lays flat. Then, a few hours later the curl starts coming back. Does anyone have a method to flatten the paper better than this?

You may want to try a smaller diameter tube. I don't think a 5" tube will do it.

I use the Bienfang de-curler (Pricey I know), and the diameter is more on the order of 1.25". It's design makes it a snap to use ... very fast, no chance of creasing the print. Normally 10 minutes or so and the print stays pretty flat. You can make something similar pretty easily ... even using a window shade has been rumored to work.

There was a thread a couple of weeks ago, I put in some links to info on de-curling, one of which was a detailed do-it-yourself version that seemed very functional. check it out here if you want

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/704408

Thanks Wayne!

Anyone got a rough estimate even of the cost (paper and ink) of the 7880?

Inkjetart.com has an Excell spreadsheet calculator on their website that will tell you exactly what you need to know. You may have to actually call them to find where to look for it. It's very handy.

The inkjetart calculator is a little old, but it can give you some idea of ink costs. Here is a direct link to it.

http://www.inkjetart.com/pro/7600_9600/Pro_print_cost.xls

I believe the sample data comes from tests on a 9600, but the spread sheet is designed for you to plug your own numbers from 10 jobs from your printer.

Epson will apparently have their own website for this very thing soon. I was having a conversation with a friend who works in Epson marketing and she told me this, which is a beta site now:

http://www.myepsonprinter.com/cgi-bin/Store/edm/home.do

For xx80 series and later only though.

Thank you Wayne - That is great...just what I was looking for.

Peter, I downloaded all the beta files, but I am concerned about updating firmware on a printer that is working just fine. It's that old saying..."If it ain't broke don't fix it" thing. So, I don't know if I will try it out, but I will watch for the release version.

I have two more questions about finishing. One large print I did was 2'x3', and while applying the spray mount...one droplet got on the front of the print. Later I tried to roll it up into a ball using a pencil eraser. Well, it took the ink with it...and I started looking into all the finishing options to make the prints more resistant ti abrasion. I haven't found any finish for Epson Luster 260, and I wonder if it is common to add a finish to this paper or not? Second, I was wondering if anyone sold felt tipped retouching pens. Like the old days where I retouched with fine brushes and dye...just fine point felt tips in a boat load of colors?

James Markus wrote:
I have two more questions about finishing. One large print I did was 2'x3', and while applying the spray mount...one droplet got on the front of the print. Later I tried to roll it up into a ball using a pencil eraser. Well, it took the ink with it...and I started looking into all the finishing options to make the prints more resistant ti abrasion. I haven't found any finish for Epson Luster 260, and I wonder if it is common to add a finish to this paper or not? Second, I was wondering if anyone sold felt tipped retouching pens. Like the old days where I retouched with fine brushes and dye...just fine point felt tips in a boat load of colors?

Haven't seen anything like those pens. Wow, spotting colors sure brings back memories (not all of them good )

You may want to coat the front of the print with PremierArt Print Shield before you try mounting ... it might offer some protection.

Thanks for the response, Wayne. I found sharpies in micro fine points, and medium sharp points...only in 24 color shade sets. If I can figure out what solvent they used...then I can make dilute shades using the pen as source color, and apply with my old fine point camel hair brushes. I also found a 100 color shade set of felt tips, but they are water based and doubt their permanence. I'm only looking to fix small spots when they occur, not major retouching like the tons of dust or scratches I encountered with some mal-treated negatives.

Might as well throw this question out as it's related to other inquiries. I'm looking for teh best ink replacement strategy for my 7800. I have 110 ml carts installed now and my L Magenta and Photo Black have run out. The rest of my carts are about 1/8th remaining near as I can guess from the status monitor (which I wish were more informative on calculated amounts). I have a full replacement set of 220's. I know the printer will kick off a clean cycle when I replace the carts which will suck down some ink. I learned that hard way on the smaller Epsons that you just have to bite teh bullet and replace them all if the carts are 1/4 or lower. So being of Scots blood - I hate wasting money and ink. I *want* to try replacing just the two that are out and when the others go dry replace them next. trying to squeeze the last drop so to speak. But - if the printer eats more than I'll save that would be foolish as I would just drain the two replaced carts unnecessarily. I still have and use my R1800 for matte prints and CD/DVD labels. I'm wondering if I can get a chip resetter and use the "leftover" K3 inks from the 110 carts to refill the R1800 carts. Opinions?

You can just replace the cartridges that you need to, it's not going to 'use up' the ink in the other cartridges, it just keeps going like it was before but now with a full cartridge. I'm pretty sure you can even replace ink cartridges in the middle of a print job (you better be able to.. otherwise imagine finding out your ink is out halfway through a giant print!).

floris wrote:
You can just replace the cartridges that you need to, it's not going to 'use up' the ink in the other cartridges, it just keeps going like it was before but now with a full cartridge. I'm pretty sure you can even replace ink cartridges in the middle of a print job (you better be able to.. otherwise imagine finding out your ink is out halfway through a giant print!).
No cleaning song and dance? Woulda swore that sticking in a new cart triggered a clean.

BubbaJon wrote:
No cleaning song and dance? Woulda swore that sticking in a new cart triggered a clean.


It think it does trigger some pump activity, but not as significant as a clean.

As far as when to switch, here is a quote from Epson's site

Epson Intelligent High-Capacity Ink System

Pressurized ink cartridge technology ensures reliable ink delivery at all printer speeds, while dramatically reducing the physical size of the ink cartridges
Eight individual 110ml (fill vol.) or 220ml ink cartridges
Utilizes both 110ml and 220ml ink cartridges simultaneously to optimize ink usage
On-the-fly ink cartridge replacement for increased productivity

I believe the printer will stop mid print and ask for a new cartridge to be inserted. So just use them till they run out.

Wayne your correct

Chuck Kuhn wrote:
Wayne your correct
Yup - Wayne sounded so damned authoritative that I popped those two in there without hesitation. It did ask if I wanted to do a power purge (hell no!) but did a little whir and click and that was it. Printed perfectly. *whew* I have to add a little bit of info - the two carts it said were empty? Yup - near as I can tell without cutting them open they were dry as a bone. Waaaaay better than my R1800 which always irritates me by making sloshing noises on "empty" carts that sound suspiciously like "Nyah nyah - this is costing you! Love Epson".

thought on spotting..... could you just extract the ink from your spent cartridges with a syringe and mix colors like watercolor and use a small brush?

Ishotharold wrote:
thought on spotting..... could you just extract the ink from your spent cartridges with a syringe and mix colors like watercolor and use a small brush?

You really think the money you would save in not just reprinting it would be worth all that time and effort? It's not like the dark room days... now you can just hit print again...

I dont, but james asked for solutions and that may be one.

Thanks Eric! That is another idea I may pursue. I had another print come out with a tiny spot...a highlight on a gray hair on a brunette model that I missed in retouching in CS4. I just picked the correct shade sharpie...lightly touched the tip three dots, and I can't even see it no matter how I tilt the print in the light. Not only did it save ink and paper...it saved time + it is permanent. The first print is an area about one quarter inch in diameter, and a gradient chocolate brown....I haven't done it yet, but I'm confident I can make an invisible touch up on that one too. Sharpies seem to have a luster type finish to them once dried...so they work really well.

James Markus wrote:
Thanks Eric! That is another idea I may pursue. I had another print come out with a tiny spot...a highlight on a gray hair on a brunette model that I missed in retouching in CS4. I just picked the correct shade sharpie...lightly touched the tip three dots, and I can't even see it no matter how I tilt the print in the light. Not only did it save ink and paper...it saved time + it is permanent. The first print is an area about one quarter inch in diameter, and a gradient chocolate brown....I haven't done it yet, but I'm confident I can make an invisible touch up on that one too. Sharpies seem to have a luster type finish to them once dried...so they work really well.

The only problem I can see is that sharpie ink is probably gonna fade/change colors pretty quickly .. . they might be permanent, but that doesn't make them archival.

I have heard of someone that "claimed" what they did was make a small file from the section they needed to spot, print that out on the backside of a piece of RC paper, and then using a brush they could pick up the colors where the spot was and use the printer ink to spot it. Theory is that sort of "mixed" the correct colors of ink, and the ink is still wet when you print it this way.

To me that sounds like a mess ... don't think I'd ever try it. I'd just reprint it.