Epson 1400 or R280 CISS for 1000 pages/month

twinkle

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I work at an elementary school and I'd like to replace our expensive color laser printer with an inkjet + CISS. Mostly printing throw-away artwork and such from kids and teachers. I'm thinking about getting a slightly used 1400 or R280 or similar. Would appreciate a suggestion for a dye-based CISS that someone who knows little about printing can reset and refill. Which of these would you pick:

inkjetcarts.us http://store.inkjetcarts.us/epson-damper-ciss-sp1400-p4507.aspx
inkrepublic.com http://www.inkrepublic.com/1400.asp
inkjetfly.com http://www.inkjetfly.com/product_info.php?cPath=194&products_id=126

Unless I misunderstand how it works, inkjetcarts.us seems to have advantage of resetting all cartridge positions at once, thus reducing the amount of resetting and cleaning cycles many times over the others. I realize there are many other issues around reliability, ease of installation etc. Any recommendations appreciated.
 

jtoolman

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I am not familiar with Inkrepublic CIS products but have used both CIS of the other two companies.
The Chip bar from inkejetcarts does reset all positions at once. It is a separate chip bar with an on and off switch that you use in the resetting procedure. The inkjetfly unit is an integrated unit ( Attached the the damper carts ) but you reset one position at a time. Resulting in many more purging cycles as each color is detected as " Empty " Regardless, the inkjetfly using runs flawlessly.
The Inkjetcarts.us one can sometimes be tricky to install as the chip and damper carts are not connected. The chip bar has to be perfectly aligned so it makes perfect contact with your printer's chip contacts, The chip bar is held tightly in position with some spacer bars. Once it is installed, it works great.

I no longer use CIS on my two 1400 but use Inkjetcarts individual dampers and the reset all to full chip bar.
OutOfTheInkwell here in the forum uses them and loves them. He and his wife print lots of art wrok and images on their 1400 and love their system.
 

jtoolman

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Yup! The very ones. I would go for whoever sells it for less as they are pretty much the same. I do not know what inks inrepublic uses.
 

OutOFtheinkwell

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Yes! We do use the damper/chip bar set up. The dampers are the type that have the flip top refill openings with positive O rings. You just pop them open and refill and pop them shut. Very easy to use and the dampers almost prime themselves the first time you install them. I ordered 6 extra dampers just to have them around if needed. They were $4.00 each and I paid $39.00 for the original set of 6 dampers plus the chip set.
I buy the inks in 240 mil bottles and they are $10.25 per bottle. 240 mils of ink last me a very long time. The lite magentas and lite cyan are always the first inks to need replacement so I have an extra bottle of those two colors. I print a lot of full color photographs usually in 8 1/2 times 11 inch size and I buy the Costco brand Kirkland Professional glossy inkjet paper. This combination works very well for our needs. I find it amazing that I can print a full color page with this set up and immediately run water over the print in the sink with no effect, no running or damage. And I have noticed zero fading problems over the last 6 to 10 years. I hope all this helps you in your quest for affordable printing. Happy Printing, Outoftheinkwell!
 

qwertydude

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The Workforce 1100 might be better suited to that throw away art work, those 6 color printers tend to only use the LC and LM for photo printing on photo paper unless you need that capability the Workforce 1100 would be a better value. And can be had refurbished for only about $120.
 

OutOFtheinkwell

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We have both an Epson 1400 and an Epson Artisan 725 model. Both use Claria ( Type),( not OEM) inks. Both produce really nice full color photographic prints. I paid $99.00 for the Artisan and that was brand new. As of today, July 2nd 2012 I see they are still selling the White version for that price. The Artisan works faster than the 1400 and the results seem identical. Hope that helps you!
 
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