continuation of: epson S21 with CISS

[smitch6]

yes i have printed out some brill images
and yes they came out really nice lol

all i want to do is offer a cheap printer to a fellow forum member
and its turned into this lol

i'll chuck it in the garage i think and be done with it

[mrs maggot]

oh now im in a dilema, im not going to be using it every day - maybe not for a couple of weeks at a time, so will that cause an issue with blocked heads and things ??

[smitch6]

they always recommend if left for a long period to just do a print out once a week to make sure the heads are ok
and they also say make sure its turned off at the printer switch 1st that way the head can rest on its proper foam thingy
and when its switched back on it'll draw the ink thru

[Ian M]

Thanks Martin as this has explained things in a clearer light. I for one didn't have any idea about the calls you get regarding this subject & as I said it does give us more of an insight from your side of things. I do admit to not using cheap Chinese inks as the inks I use are top quality ones & have had no problems with them at all. I do feel there now seems to be more & more of the inks coming in from China & from what we are seeing there does seem to be an issue over their quality. I would be very wary of these inks as we just don't know enough about them as yet.

As for myself using the S21 I do admit that I had used a couple of supported printers before & I did have the experiance of what I was doing & also coming from an engineering background too always makes you find a solution to things. To be honest I'm a little surprised that nobody has gone down the route JSR has taken with the Brother he has managed to profile with some success.

[Paul]

I am down with you Ian


ps. can any one actualy explain me whats is "quality ink" please???

[bikertec]

Obviously the ones you pay through the nose for Like sawgrass.

[JSR]

ps. can any one actualy explain me whats is "quality ink" please???

I don't think "quality" is the issue. After all, in the large format market, there are other players which helps keep the prices down. If it's this ink that's feeding down into smaller bottles, then there's no reason to question its quality.

I keep hearing about Chinese ink that apparently doesn't need a profile and that got me thinking. Ongoing R&D could feasibly produce an ink that closely matches OEM ink and thereby enable the printer-supplied profile to be good enough - after all, how often is a profile supplied with generic office dye-ink? However, if no work is done on the ink and the ink sold today is the same as the ink sold ten years ago, then it stands to reason that a profile is essential for matching the more modern printers.

There seems to be quite a bit of Chinese sublimation ink leaking out into the world. The patent-owner quite rightly goes to great lengths and expense to shut sellers of this ink down, but I can't help feel that there's an easier way. If, for example, Sawgrass ink was half the price that it is, there'd be less demand for a cheaper dye-sublimation ink. They would sell more, the retailers of Chinese ink would go out of business, and Sawgrass would make more money without waving heavy sticks. It's only the enormous upfront cost of the ink that drives up the demand for cheaper alternatives.

It's the same argument for OEM vs third-party inks for regular dye/pigment inks. If the OEM ink wasn't so expensive, there would be less demand for the cheaper alternatives - the OEM would end up selling more as a consequence, people would print more, and the OEM would make more money.

While businesses are run by accountants and not businessmen, the situation will remain unchanged and demand for cheaper Chinese inks will remain high.

[Ian M]

I have to agree with JSR as he is right about the cost to us all. If you offer something that is cheaper you are going to sell more & the small profit you are making thus turns into a bigger profit because your selling more. You only have to think about how much profit supermarkets make as a very good example to this.

[DREAMGLASS]

I use a large format printer, so am not tied into paying excessive ink prices. I must admit however, that one supplier having complete and utter control over ANY commodity only limits the potential for that market to expand. Without competition you ultimately end up with dictatorial suppliers and who really wants to enter into business with that sort of restrictive market BEFORE you even embark on creating products for sale?

Whilst the savings on ink only relates to pences per item, I believe the whole sublimation market would be a lot more buoyant if the cost of the inks for smaller format printers didn't typically cost far more than the printer itself.

[Paul]

so... JSR Please can you help me explain people that there is no such a think as "quality ink" THIS IS ALL ABOUT PROFILE!!! if you got right profile then you can print with inbk from China, POland, Russia, zimbabwe or Brazil. it does not mater where is your ink coming from