DSF

i cant say just yet Justin but will show pictures once is done

Hmm
Looking at the same sort of thing .... now I suspect you and I might be looking at the same thing!

Janners.

the 7600 is a bargain and i can get the inks for it from my usual supplier also i can get the texprint xp hr rolls for it as well, its a low cost no brainer for me. I am all for keeping costs down! it takes 7 inks if memory serves me well.

crap iam after 4 ink system but if cost is right i may swap for more

We've been exhibiting at a trade show at Harrogate, so not been on here for a few days. The 7600/9600 are essentially the same printer, just the 7600 is A1 width and the 9600 A0. Both roll feed, but you don't have to load them up with a full size roll - both will happily take an A2/17" roll which can be more convenient/economic. Both are 7 colours, so you have CMYK + LC, LM and Light Black. We moved from 4 colour wide format to the 7 colours, and there's no way that we'd go back, as we get noticeable y better colours from it (and this is with us producing custom ICC profiles for them)
Being the 'same' printer, they share a lot of components - so if you say, started with with 7600 (or even the 4000/4400) you could trade up to the next size, and keep your refill carts for instance. On second hand market (like on Ebay for instance) there is not really much difference in cost of buying a 17", 24" or 44" (ie, Stylus Pro 4000, 7600, 9600 era models) so if you can afford the space, you may as well go for the 9600. They go for around £300-£500. They are built like tanks, (apparently by Mutoh for Epson) so, a completely different ilk to the domestic/office printers churned out by Epson normally used for small sublimation. One recommendation I would have for buying one of these second hand, is go and see it working- you want to see a complete nozzle check pattern ideally. We've bought some in with a few apparent blocked nozzles which have cleaned up fine, and others that haven't printed a drop of ink, or ones which no matter what you try won't unblock (save for removing the print head and replacing it) run them into the ground, and then buy another one is what i'd say, as they are relatively inexpensive, and it's possibly cheaper/quicker/easier to do that than get it repaired.

My only real complaint on these models, is due to their age, is they are slower than the more current range of wide formats, and so we may need to either upgrade to a newer one, or buy another 9600 if orders keep coming in. But I do love that we can fill up the carts with 250ml of ink, put a 100m roll of paper on the spindle, and just let them print 24/7 when we're busy!

Am sure I'm missing some points, but am knackered after the show, so may come back tomorrow and add some bits.

Ink options?
Looking at a used epson 4880, every search I do brings me back to sawgrass for sub ink, no problems there, but is there another supplier of sub ink cartridges that isn't a cheap chinese pot luck ink?

The other thing is cleaning down before putting sublimation ink in involves what? I have found some basic maintenance info on cleaning, but I assume a cleaning cartridge has to be put in for each colour to fully flush everything as well, or am I wrong there?

All info welcome

Janners.

We had a 7600 for about 7 years until we sold it 3 years ago. brilliant printer, but is it possible to re-ink with Sub inks, I would have thought you would have to replace the print head, which is not cheap, probably as much as the prices quoted above again.

No need for flushing of any sort in my opinion/experience. Just put in the subli ink and power clean. Easy to work out when the ink is through.

We've changed them (stylus Pro wide formats of various models) straight over from Epson carts to sub ink. In the service menu there is "INIT FILL" which purges the current ink, and refills the head/dampers/lines with the new ink. Had no problems going straight from standard Epson ink to sublimation inks.