Epson 1400 sleep or off? Swellable puddling?

[wlachan]

Hi! This is my first post and please bear my ignorance as I just got my 1400. So, I have installed the Precision Colors dye ink (not CIS) and re-routeed the waste ink to ext bottle. Everything is working fine but as been said before, this printer drinks ink. I have noticed how much ink is being deposited in the ext bottle and makes me wonder, should I just leave the printer on and let it sleep (1.2Watt?), or should I turn it off (0.2Watt?) when not being used. Is the print head parked the same either way? My Brother MFC will self-clean so clogging is never an issue. Does 1400 do that? The puzzling part is that the printer doesn't seem to clean the nozzle every time being turned on, just some times, and I have not figured out a pattern.

I have been profiling (Spyder3Print) with a few glossy papers that I have and "Ultra Premium Photo Paper Glossy / Photo RPM" seems to work best. Some old Fujifilm Premium plus Glossy 250gsm swellable papers have serious puddling issue with this printer when not using "Photo RPM" which helps a lot but still puddles slightly with some darker colours but this is as slow as I can make it to print. When doing alignment, it becomes clear the paper is unable to absorb bigger drops of ink and bleed (like non-RPM mode). Also, I have found this issue is greatly affected by room temperature. If it drops below 20C, it can be quite bad. Maybe that's the reason swellable papers are being phased out? Can swellable paper age?

Also, anyone using Canon PP-201 (Plus II) or PT-101 (Pro Platinum) papers with this printer. How are they compared and any extra tips on using this printer? My biggest concern is fade resistance but I do like glossy and don't print often enough to justify expensive pigment printer, or run the 1400 with pigment ink which is said to clog more often if left unused. These 2 papers are on special right now and I might stock them up if they don't age like swellable with good fade resistance with dye (I know that's not ideal). Any advice is appreciated.

 

[johnpeeay]

I leave my 1400 turned on all the time, I use carts filled with OCP ink and the last time I did a check I had printed over 80 full colour A4 from a set of carts. Fade resistance? Dye ink will fade, how fast depends on a number of factors, just search this forum. For far greater longevity use pigment ink. Other contributors are using pigment ink in the 1400 very successfully.

 

[OutOFtheinkwell]

Hello! I use Claria type ink from a third party supplier and Costco Pro Photo Glossy Photo Paper which is just under nineteen dollars for 150 sheets and that combination seems to work great for our full color prints on our Epson 1400. We have had some of those prints for over 5 years with no noticeable fading and I have printed full color prints and then deliberately ran water over them in the sink while scrubbing them at the same time with a paper towel with no problems. Looked perfect after air drying. We really like the Epson 1400 but it recently shut down because Epson counts the number of prints and electronically shuts the printers down and they do not make it easy to get them going. They want you to buy another printer even if the old one if perfect. My plan is to become an expert on dealing with that Policy! Time will tell if I will be successful or not! Either way, we've saved enough money using CIS systems on the 1400 to pay for 10 more of them. Happy printing and let my know how the printing is going. Regards. outoftheinkwell!

 

[websnail]

Just to note I answered your query on the whole waste ink counter thread you posted on, so hopefully you've got what you need there..