I have recently upgraded from an Epson1290 printer with bulk feed system using artanium inks to an Epson 9600 printer with 220ml cartridges using nazdar lyson inks. I have noticed that i do not get any where near as many a3 prints from my new system with cartridges, than that of the old 1290 on bulk feed. This in part seems to be that the chip on the cartidge is telling me it is empty, when on taking the cartridge apart, there is over half the ink left.... a full 110 ml of ink unused. Has any body else come across this, and what have they done about it?
There is a little ink left in the cartridge because to empty the cartridge would introduce air into the system or cause a vacuum. Any suggestion that Epson make ridiculous amounts of money from their ink is unworthy.
First thing is to buy refillable cartridges from Sawgrass then buy 1 liter bottles of Artainum ink which are really close to what you are most likely paying for 220ML cartridges. If you are running a wide format printer and still buying cartridges you are defeating one of the key reasons to upgrade to wide format.
Hi Dave, I understand the concept of leaving some ink in the cartridge to stop any air bieng sucked into the system...but there is, and I have weighed it, 110ml of ink left in a cartridge which is supposed to be 220ml, that is alot of ink to throw away....cheers
Hi thanks for your response..... My objective originally was to bring the cost of my dye sub printing down but also to speed production up, as one of the contracts we are doing at the moment requires us to produce 1000 A3+ prints per week. The original cost of sawgrass for my 1290 printers was around £54.00 for 125ml bottles. Step by step we have bought the cost down, first by buying a large format printer, which can handle our production. To ease the initial outlay of the printer, we chose to opt for the cartridge system (220ml) which on paper looked like a considerable cost saving at £30.00 +vat for a 220ml cartridge. (Lyson inks). Our next step is to buy a bulk feed system for this printer, bringing our ink cost down to £70.00 +vat for a litre.
My original post was to find out if anyone else had experienced this loss of ink in their cartridge systems and what they had done about it. To me, losing half of a 220ml cartridge, because the chip says it is empty is nothing short of criminal. I dont know what you guys think?
The issue is not how much ink is left in the cartridge but how much ink you use. The cartridge can not go completely empty or you would potentially get air in the lines and have to do a major purge to get ink in the lines again. Thus there has to always be ink left in the cartridge. just because there is ink in the cartridge when it says empty does not mean you did not use 220ML of ink. All resolved with refillable cartridges.
Hi Dave, I understand the concept of leaving some ink in the cartridge to stop any air bieng sucked into the system...but there is, and I have weighed it, 110ml of ink left in a cartridge which is supposed to be 220ml, that is alot of ink to throw away....cheers
I have actually extracted and measured the ink left in a 110ml cartridge, It was 40ml. That's a lot of ink!!
Get the refillable carts.
Hi Auggieboy...well the answer to your question is very simple. There is something we called a chip resetter which i bought in Singapore for $25 sg . It does miracles. I have used every drop of leftover ink in both my 9600 and also 9800. it also rests the ink dump bin. But you should only do it once as the cotton might get too wet and might get ink overflow. You can set it as many times but the cotton will need to be changed if you open the casing. Its also worth while investing in a bulk ink system better in the long run. Just to set up will cost you around $600 us...1 hope i was helpful..cheers.
Hi Auggieboy...well the answer to your question is very simple. There is something we called a chip resetter which i bought in Singapore for $25 sg . It does miracles. I have used every drop of leftover ink in both my 9600 and also 9800. it also rests the ink dump bin. But you should only do it once as the cotton might get too wet and might get ink overflow. You can set it as many times but the cotton will need to be changed if you open the casing. Its also worth while investing in a bulk ink system better in the long run. Just to set up will cost you around $600 us...1 hope i was helpful..cheers.
Thank,
It really was not me asking the question though.
But I do agree with you about the chip re setter, I use one I got from e-bay. Also refillable carts are a must.
Epson 9600 
