Epson Vs. Canon

[chirantha7777]

Hello,

I've had some problems with Canon printers. Basically, from experience with my IP3500 the ink tanks tend to lose thair ability to feed the print head correctly after say around 20 refills... is this true?

Secondly, when I investigated I found that Epson ink tanks don't have the sponge so the ink tanks don't degrade and then I found that Inktec does not provide Ink for Epson because the default carts cannot be refilled. Then I found this http://www.imex-intl.com/leaflet_cartridges.html which means I can buy the Epson T10 printer for USD 45... and the refillable+resetable tanks for round USD 30 with ink.

But my consern is that I've been so pleased with Canon dye based 2pl prints that I'm afraid that I might be disastisfied with the Epson T10 output.

Is it possible for someone to post a scanned picture of a photo printed with a Epson T10 because I want to see how big the dots are in photo's... because I'm running a small photo printing business to make some pocket money.

Also I print photo's daily... 4X6... also can the Epson T10 print borderless A4? I want to use the print head for at least an year without dead nozzels... is that possible because if one nozzel dies....... the 4X6 prints will look stupid.... me = broke

Thanks

 

[websnail]

Very quickly... an Epson T10 is the equivalent of a C64 of old... Nothing fancy, certainly not photo level printing and it uses Durabrite inks which do clog.

I'd look higher up the chain if you want something of the iP3500 ilk... possibly an R285 or similar.

 

[chirantha7777]

I need something that will print 1 year under 120 bucks

 

[websnail]

I need something that will print 1 year under 120 bucks

Sorry, but that's impractical and unrealistic...

Cheap printers cost very little for the printer and are very expensive on ink... Medium cost printers are obviously more expensive, waste slightly less ink but generally have better output.


My advice would be to get a refurbished Canon iP4300 or similar from somewhere like eBay, get a redsetter and then learn to refill using a reasonable quality ink. You'd probably be looking at something like $200 but you would be able to print 10 or 20 times more than you would with a cheap crappy T10.

Just my opinion but it's a lot more realistic and honest than you'll get from a computer sales employee.

 

[leo8088]

Hello,

I've had some problems with Canon printers. Basically, from experience with my IP3500 the ink tanks tend to lose thair ability to feed the print head correctly after say around 20 refills... is this true?

All you need to do is to give your PGI-5bk a purge once every 5 to 10 refills. It is not a problem with the printer or the ink cartridge. It is because the pigment ink does dry up in the sponge over the time it turned from being full to near empty. When air enters the sponge it causes the pigment black ink to dry up. It takes the space out of the sponge. After a number of refills there is much less room left for air to move through the sponge. The ink cartridge needs to be able to breath (through the vent at the top of the cartridge). The dried up pigment will eventually choke the sponge and causing ink flow problem which will eventually result in a print head clogging. That is the way it is regardless which Canon printer it is. As long as it uses a PGI-5bk it will have this problem.

But you really should not have to purge your CLI-8 ink cartridges. Each time you refill the fresh ink will dissolve any dried up ink in the sponge. You can purge them once in a long while if you want. I did that only a few times and I did it not because there was any problems.

Just give your cartridges a purge, which flushes out all the crap out of the sponge. The cartridge will work like a new one again. Your ip3500 should be as durable as a work horse. It is not a fasted printer but it does print very high quality text and photos.

 

[chirantha7777]

Hello,

I've had some problems with Canon printers. Basically, from experience with my IP3500 the ink tanks tend to lose thair ability to feed the print head correctly after say around 20 refills... is this true?

All you need to do is to give your PGI-5bk a purge once every 5 to 10 refills. It is not a problem with the printer or the ink cartridge. It is because the pigment ink does dry up in the sponge over the time it turned from being full to near empty. When air enters the sponge it causes the pigment black ink to dry up. It takes the space out of the sponge. After a number of refills there is much less room left for air to move through the sponge. The ink cartridge needs to be able to breath (through the vent at the top of the cartridge). The dried up pigment will eventually choke the sponge and causing ink flow problem which will eventually result in a print head clogging. That is the way it is regardless which Canon printer it is. As long as it uses a PGI-5bk it will have this problem.

But you really should not have to purge your CLI-8 ink cartridges. Each time you refill the fresh ink will dissolve any dried up ink in the sponge. You can purge them once in a long while if you want. I did that only a few times and I did it not because there was any problems.

Just give your cartridges a purge, which flushes out all the crap out of the sponge. The cartridge will work like a new one again. Your ip3500 should be as durable as a work horse. It is not a fasted printer but it does print very high quality text and photos.

How do I purge cartridges....? My black is totally not printing.... in my IP3500 and colors are printing but I'm getting lines in the nozzel check randomly.... the line is there! but its like here and there the head misses... I think that's because the cartridge is not providing ink to the head correctly...

Also the Black head got totally screwed when I mistakenly refilled it with dye ink instead of pigment (*KNOCKS HEAD ON TABLE* Read the ink bottle label BEFORE refilling*.

 

[leo8088]

The black dye ink won't hurt the text print head. It changes the printing quality but it won't hurt the print head.

Water is the main solution for purging a PGI-5bk. What I do is to refill my PGI-5bk with water. Do it in a kitchen sink of course. Then let the water works its way to dissolve the black pigment that has dried up inside the sponge. The mixture of water and pigment will drip out of the large ink outlet at the bottom of the cartridge. You will need to do it a couple of times. This simple purge procedure will not do a thorough purge to the cartridge. But it usually is sufficient to make it work perfectly again. If your print head is clogged (it is according to your post) you can refill your PGI-5 after purging with dye based black photo ink. Use it to print some chunk (block) of black. The dye black ink will blast through the nozzles and clear up the nozzles. It worked for me a couple of times, each time I got slight clogging due to lack of periodic purging of my PGI-5 ink cartridge. I now have a separate PGI-5bk filled with dye black ink set aside waiting to do this trick again if I find a slight clogging. Well, since I also do periodic purging (once every few months) I don't get clogging any more.