Advice please - Epson 1400 or r1900 second hand?

Antennina

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Hi
Hope you may be of assistance in providing some advice - I am looking at getting a second hand printer that can handle pigment ink - i am going to use it mainly for hobby/craft purposes a few times a week (and mainly for vintage ornamental /graphics prints not photographs), so no real need for top photo quality and multi ink needed (if it can achieve it then nice...but not needed) - but has to be pigment ink for being waterproof for the paper as I may be using it to print end/cover papers for for bookbinding projects and preferable for being washproof/fade resistant for printing on fabric etc.

From reading around I am aware that the Epson 1400s can be converted fairly successfully to use pigment with custom profile tweaking, also there may be a cheap r1900 available to me for which i can bet a ciss system fitted and i found through reading around that it is a bit of an ink guzzler and the gloss ink gets used even when not gloss printing (is that correct?). So am just asking for advice for any of you who had a r1900 vs a 1400 if i should even consider the r1900 or stick with looking for a 1400 and convert to pigment (got to say, for an old printer they still command high prices second hand, so assume they are still rather popular!) I know there are issues to look out for when buying second hand, such as if it is still in working condition (or ie when it was last used as printheads could be clogged and if it needs working on or is beyond help)...
What do you say? Or have you got any other suggestions for a cheap A3+ pigment printing set up? Will be either using refillable carts or ciss & waste ink tank

Thanks in advance!
 

pharmacist

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The Epson 1400 has been replaced with the Epson 1500W (in the US: Artisan 1430). You can buy it for €219

I use Inktec Powerchrome K3 ink in this printer and the results are really good and printing is quite fast.
 

Antennina

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Hi,

Thanks for your replies so far - probaly should have mentioned I'm in the UK...

The Hat - thanks for suggesting the ix7000 - not many on around second hand and a bit pricey new...also dont seem to be able to find many sources or refillable ink in the uk for it - reason i was looking for epson is that as far as i am aware (and i could well be wrong on this) is that their ink/system is more forgiving with different aftermarket pigment ink varieties types than hp, canon etc...especially when using cheaper inks (and as far as i can find on the 1400 it appears especially forgiving at using differnt types of ink, ie sublimation, pigment, textile etc)

Pharmacist, thanks - am aware the 1500 is the model superseding the 1400 and also as such tend to be more expensive, even when available second hand. thank you for your ink suggestion however I'll take that into consideration should i go down that route.

Probably should have said that with cheap secondhand printer i mean in the £50-100 bracket...for what i am wanting to use it for there is no point in me spending loads in getting a new printer (already have a decent photo printer, but it's a dye inks one, pixma ix6850 which i darent even attempt to convert to pigment inks in for fear of a clogmageddon) - i am currently deliberating if i should spend £50-90ish for a usable 1400 to convert to pigment or similar for a still working r1900 which probably will cost more in inks in the long run or had considered to up it to £170 for a new epson 7110 workforce which is really too big for my needs and not sure if its paperfeeding is suitable for the crafts stuff i print (has got top loading option i believe but not sure if the feed route is more complex than on the others) - and assume print quality is just about acceptable (ie ok, obviously not photo quality which i dont expect and need)....
 
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The Hat

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Antennina said:
The Hat - thanks for suggesting the ix7000 - not many on around second hand and a bit pricey new...also dont seem to be able to find many sources or refillable ink in the uk for it
There are not too many iX7000 printers around second hand but you could try EBay that’s where I got mine from.

They are very easy to use and refill and you can get ink for them in the UK too.
http://www.octoink.co.uk/index.php
 

Antennina

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The Epson 1400 has been replaced with the Epson 1500W (in the US: Artisan 1430). You can buy it for €219

I use Inktec Powerchrome K3 ink in this printer and the results are really good and printing is quite fast.
Hi pharmacist - you kindly suggested using inktec Powerchrome inks - think I found the site you got them from listed on a different post, but can you advise if I need to specify a particular printer model for the pigment ink, as of course the 1500w is dye ink or is it one type of pigment ink for all pigment epson printers?
Many thanks!
 

pharmacist

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Epson printing technology (piezo) enables the usage of both dye and pigment inkt, even in Claria dye based printers, without the slightest problems. So any dye based Epson printer can print pigment ink. However the latest Expression series use a particular cartridge design with sponges, which doesn't feed pigment as good as compared to printers like the Epson P50, R2xx, 1400, 1500W printers. The refillable cartridges should be spongeless.

Canon and HP printers use bubblejet technology and using pigment in a dye cartridge can severely clog your print head.
 

Antennina

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Epson printing technology (piezo) enables the usage of both dye and pigment inkt, even in Claria dye based printers, without the slightest problems. So any dye based Epson printer can print pigment ink. However the latest Expression series use a particular cartridge design with sponges, which doesn't feed pigment as good as compared to printers like the Epson P50, R2xx, 1400, 1500W printers. The refillable cartridges should be spongeless.

Canon and HP printers use bubblejet technology and using pigment in a dye cartridge can severely clog your print head.

Hi, thanks for advising this - apologies I should have said that I have now an epson 1400, and since they take the same ink as the 1500 assumed that the inktec ink you suggested would be fine - going on their site they list various epson printers for their ink - as they are not sold as a set but individually i guess any of the versions they list (4000/7000) are suitable?
I am just asking as for currently am using some cheap pigment sold for Epson P50 and it works ok for my crafts needs - to test I also got small quantities of ocp ink for a R2400, but that didn't work so well as I had black crossing onto yellow & also kept getting ink blotches. So assume i can't just use any epson pigment ink, but it has to either say compatible with 1400 /P50 or a specific model? Am mainly experimenting at the moment, but was considering inktec for later if they are proven to work well, just a bit pricey.
 

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Hi Antennina: I see you are in the UK. Octoinkjet.co.uk does sell this fantastic Inktec ink in smaller quantities. Until now I had more clogs with dye ink compared to this Inktec ink in my Epson 1500W (virtually none). Yes the 1400 is the same as the 1500W in terms of print head and features.
 

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@pharmacist If I wanted to experiment with pigment inks without spending too much money, would you suggest the 1500W as first choice?
 
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