Epson XP Premium/Photo Printers - Starting over

There was a LOT of discussion about the Epson XP Premium printer series in this thread back in 2013-14 and due to lack of time I never really had a chance to spend a proper amount of time on the different options.

The design of the cartridges really threw things in to something of a loop and for myself at least, I found myself buying into a number of assumptions based on experience with Canon CIS system and the design of the Epson printhead/ink receiver system.

In the last month the opportunity to return to this properly has presented itself, so I've had one of my motley crew working on an XP-600 and XP-520 and taking a more empirical approach to the printers and the different ink supply options available.

So, a fresh start and a fresh thread...

Refillable Cartridges

I'll put in a disclaimer here that we've only tried one particularly brand of these so there may be a design out there that's more reliable, but to be blunt we've had nothing but problems with these.

The pigment black in particular (OCP BLP115) has leaked and dripped throughout such that we were left with very little left in the printhead, ink droplets soiling the underside of the printhead and the subsequent cross contamination + head cleaning required.

It's entirely possible that the ink we're using (OCP's pigment 115) is unsuited for use in a refillable cartridge scenario although that's not based in any intel we've seen. So it's important not to rule that out as some inks may work better.

In terms of potential workarounds to leakage we found some suppliers for these refillable carts were recommending that the cartridge vent holes be plugged while the cartridge was being installed into the printer. This had a small impact but we found that if the cartridges were left for any length of time the same issues with blobbing, etc... still took place so it seems that leakage was still happening.

Tried with two different sets, including one that had been filled for a couple of months and there was no difference between the two.


Discussion point:
We're aware that there are a number of compatible inks on the market where the cartridge design and component materials can't be all that different so while there is evidence of compatibles also leaking, there must be a design and/or ink that does not suffer from these issues so someone else may well have a different experience they can add.


For ourselves we ruled them out as an option we'd use, let alone sell.

Refilling Originals Cartridges

There are a number of different approaches recommended on this and we're still early days with this but the more we've looked at it the more it seems likely the cartridges will fail over time. Epson really did their homework with these.

So, work in progress and we'll return with some observations there in due course.

Continuous Ink Systems

This is where things get a bit more interesting. Because of experiences with Canon CIS systems I had discounted these are a viable alternative and assumed (yes that word!) that they were a half baked notion based on existing solutions. I genuinely believed we hadn't got a prayer...

I was wrong.

Almost all of the input, feedback and relayed experiences we've had from people who've opted to buy a CIS system for this series of printers was positive. Most of the problems discussed seemed to relate to poor installation and particularly with regard to initial setup (ie: priming) of the cartridges, ink lines, etc... For the bulk it was a classic case of "Instructions? I don't need no stinking instructions!!"...

So far we've only installed a single CIS system in two different printers (a clogged up XP-600 and a fresh XP-520) so this is a limited result but our experience mirrored that of the information we'd received.

These systems work better than anything else we've tried but there are some points to note.

1. In standard print mode there is some indication of banding but it's consistently at the border between each laydown so it's actually more likely to be an issue with alignment, possibly tension/pressure on the printhead from tubing or similar.
   
   
2. Printing in higher quality mode resolves the issue above...
   
   
3. Also worth noting that there are no leakage issues, no dripping, blobbing or similar

Setup Notes:

• Primed cartridges to ensure all full, sponges saturated
• Primed CIS reservoir to correct pressure (ie: Marriott vent tube purged of ink)
• Minor adjustments to tube pathway to reduce 'tube slap' and stop issues with catching on case moulding.

We have an Expression Photo XP-750 that'll be next on our list once we have the correct CIS system here so will update if we have any new data.

CIS has always worked wonders with EPSONS ! Glad you resolved the dripping problems.
My friend here has dripping problems with his HP T120 and third party refillable carts too, but I don't think CIS would work wonders for HP?

Thanks for coming back and doing work on the XP printers. Do you have a recommendation on a particular CIS?

@websnail any news about the CIS you were testing or about refilling original OEM cartridges?

A almost finished the starter cartridges and I have to make a decision if to go for a CIS or refill the starters.

From what I saw on the internet, resetter are widely available and also CIS or even ARC chips but are they reliable?

@websnail your setup notes are the most important steps and are the corner stone of successful CISS function .
Setup Notes:

• Primed cartridges to ensure all full, sponges saturated
• Primed CIS reservoir to correct pressure (ie: Marriott vent tube purged of ink)
• Minor adjustments to tube pathway to reduce 'tube slap' and stop issues with catching on case moulding.
  I want to add one thing that after the first priming leave the ciss to sit over night ,don't install it immediately, next day prime it again for at least 2 times to remove all air bubbles which will be released in the tubes due to dissolved air in the ink (shaking of the ink bottles) during transportation. especially for those who are new to CISS. this is what i saw after installing CISS to my friend's printers.in the beginning most of them call me because they saw air bubbles in the tubes and one or more colors are missing . after multiple priming technique these complains disappear.
  any body who want to install CISS please adhere to the above notes and your troubles will be the least.

@Sherden I didn't get a chance to complete the work as our printer died not long after we started testing when on of the team installed refillables that flooded the electronics and blew the printhead.

We may revisit refilling the original carts at some point as we've identified what's required to make it possible... but to be honest we're up to eyeballs in Printer Potty related kit and rehashing the Canon refill bundles to make them more effective so I'm not sure when we'll find the time for anything else.

The short version is that the CIS systems seem to work really well on 6 colour XP-750/760/850/850 and possibly 950/960 printers as they don't use the larger pigment cartridge and are more forgiving. It's that pigment cartridge that always creates the headaches for us...

Sorry I can't be more help... *puts time-machine on his chrimbo wish list again*