Epson R1800 Printing Problem

[karens]

Hi,
I am using an Epson R1800 with ArTainium CISS and now have a real problem with Cyan banding on all prints... I've tried many, many nozzle checks and head cleans (using 'gallons' of ink!), and even re-primed the cartridges twice but nothing is working . All the other colours seem to be ok now, it's just the Cyan.
If anyone has any further suggestions how I might fix this I'd really appreciate it - equally, if it sounds like the whole thing's conked out at least I'd know where I stand!
Thanks for your help,
Karen

[bms]

Next stage would be to put in the original cartridges that you might still have and see if the printer will print with those in. If it won't clear the nozzle then your choices are either to take it to an Epson repair centre and see if they can clean the heads or start trying to clean the heads yourself - there are "home grown" techniques ranging from vodka, window cleaning solutions etc but this means getting this solution into a cartridge so the printer can pull the solution to the printhead (taking it to an Epson repair centre is far easier if there is one locally). And finally if none of these work then it's out with the rubbish .

[Paul]

as far I know you dont suposed to do more then 2 - 3 head cleans as you can flood the printer. after head clean switch the printer off and wite few hours. maybe try next day. this normaly helps. if that wont help you can try nozzle clean solution.

[Paul]

there are "home grown" techniques ranging from vodka, window cleaning solutions

vodka?? what a waste!

[bms]

vodka?? what a waste!

Didn't say it had to be a decent brand!

[karens]

Thanks guys, I have spread the head cleaning over a number of days with no joy so I don't think that's the way forward.. Martin, I don't suppose you know roughly what an Epson repair centre might charge do you? All I'm thinking is that the printer's about 4 years old anyway, I'm not sure if it's worth chucking a load of money at it or whether I'd be better off investing in a new set up. I may try one of the 'home grown' solutions, although certainly not with Vodka - I agree, Paul, that would be an awful waste!!

[Paul]

yes! just try that! have a shot of vodka or two then put some window cleaning solutions in to the printer it does not matter in what order

I dont know about printer but I am sure vodka will work and make you forget about printer problems for few hours


seriosly now... if printer is 4y old I think new setup would be better choose

[karens]

Right, will give the window cleaner and vodka a go over the weekend - must make sure I get the right ones in the printer and my glass!
If that doesn't work I'll look at replacements.. I think I'd probably go for an Epson 1400 set up as I already have one which I still use for photo printing and haven't had any problems with... Unless you have any other particular recommendations?!

[Paul]

B1100 much cheaper A3 and suported by sawgrass.

[JSR]

Right, will give the window cleaner and vodka a go over the weekend - must make sure I get the right ones in the printer and my glass!
If that doesn't work I'll look at replacements.. I think I'd probably go for an Epson 1400 set up as I already have one which I still use for photo printing and haven't had any problems with... Unless you have any other particular recommendations?!

The Epson 1400 is the only supported 6-ink printer at the moment. It's the replacement for the old workhorse, the 1290S. Sawgrass pretty much went down a cul-de-sac with the R1800 - presumably believing that it was replacing the 1290S (no one with sanity believed that it was).

The other supported printers B40W (A4), B1100 (A4), and the two Ricohs, are all 4-ink printers.

As Paul says, the B1100 is the cheaper printer (which doesn't really factor into your buying because you already have the 1400) but, unfortunately, you won't save much on the filled CISS compared to the 6-ink 1400 because, despite being a 4-ink printer, the filled CISS comes with double the capacity of black (because there are five printheads). If you don't see yourself doing a lot of black printing, then it's a bit silly that the CISS is supplied like that.

The 1400 is the only supported printer that has the additional "light magenta" and "light cyan" inks. I'm not sure how good your prints were from the R1800 (given the square peg in round hole arrangement of ink colours). You may not notice a huge difference going for a 4-ink model (because the R1800 didn't have the advantage of the "light" inks anyway).

You could get some refillable cartridges for your 1400 to try out and see if that works for you. You'd need to get the profile (and, of course, the light-cyan and light-magenta ink), but it might be the cheapest way to give it a go.