refillable cartridges one at a time? (Epson 3880)

[Roshaw7]

Hello,

I'm new to this game, and am looking at getting refillable cartridges and ink for my 3880. I'm Europe based so, from looking around the forum, I'm led to believe that octopus inks are a good quality ink for the 3880 ...I remember a pharmacist post saying that you can use these inks with original epson profiles.

I'm wondering though if it's possible to use these cartridges one by one along-side epson inks. I don't want to have to waste the remaining epson inks just because one cartridge needs replacing, and also I'd prefer to buy the inks one by one, and not have to buy a starter set.

Any info would be appreciated

 

[Roshaw7]

Ok just realized from further post readings that OCP inks are different from Octopus Inks...I have a bit to learn

 

[jtoolman]

I am using OCP for my 3800. I am not aware of which carts allow you to run refillable alongside OEM. I think the ones that require ALL the individual OEM chips to ride along the cart's Controller chips may allow that. Otherwise, as with my carts, I have to install the whole set.
OCP's magenta is very low in gloss. So anything printed on Glossy - Luster or Satin will really display quite a lot of gloss differential.
So my 3800 with OCP is only used on Matte and fine art papers. The only way aorund that has been for me to buy large Magenta and Light Magenta Carts for like the 4800 or larger K3 perinters from Eaby ( cheap ) and extract the Magental inks and substitute the OCP Mag so I can print on papers with sheen. OCP has now launched it's own version of Vivid Magenta and Vivid Light Magenta, my friend and I recieved a liter of each from OCP to test it out on various K3 VM using printers such as the R2880 R3880 and R3000 PRO4880 but the results were the same. Large amount of Gloss Diferential. Of course the colors after profiling were excellent but onloy suitable for Matte and simmilar Art papers.

The trick is in the Magenta for both color and for gloss properties.
The only Magenta I have found to be as good as OEM is from JON CONE at inkjetmall.com at about $27 per 100ml I believe.

Since you are in Europe I cannon suggest any suppilers so I apologize.

Joe

 

[pharmacist]

Hi Roshaw7,

Welcome to this forum. One thing: the tested ink was with the Pro 3800 (not the Pro 3880 with the Vivid Magenta and Vivid Light Magenta cartridges). Yes I had very similar results using this ink (OCP K3) with the original Epson profiles....but Octopus still does not has a Vivid refill ink for the Pro 3880, so please be careful. Using the normal OCP K3 ink in your vivid magenta Pro 3880 will give suboptimal results.

 

[jtoolman]

Pharmacist, OCP will have Vivid Magenta either now or very soon. Other than the fact that the gloss is dismal, but then so is IS Magenta Pigment ink. Apparently magenta is the most difficult pigment to maintain gloss as far as 3rd party inks go. However when profiled and when used with Matte type papers, my results have been phenomenal! Even which I have had to replace the OCP K3 Magental with OEM ( Purged from 220ml carts ) the over all price of OCP can't be beat.
You gave me the idea to substitute Magenta in your earlier research.

 

[Roshaw7]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

As far as using inks alongside original epson inks, looks like you might be right jtoolman. Cone cartridges can be used along side, and they do require original epson chips along with the re-setting chips on the cart. The cartridges seem to be quite expensive, but I might be willing to pay if they are good quality carts ie. don't leak and long lasting, unless there were more affordable options on cartridges out there that people were will to share.

I was slightly confused re OCP inks. Am I right in presuming that octopus.de distribute ocp inks? I had presumed octoinkjet in the uk were distributing ocp inks, just because of the 'octo' in the name and because Pharmacist seems to interchange the names 'oct' and 'octo' inks, but it turns out that they distribute Image Specialist inks. How do Image specialist inks compare to ocp? I've had some good corrospondance with Martin there...

As for the magenta problem. I'll probably order magentas from Cone if they have good results, mixed with the ocp inks.

Thanks for all the help otherwise. I feel I have a good understanding of it all now..

 

[jtoolman]

I've used both IS and OCP for my R3800 and after profileing each K3 ink set I get totally excellent results.
AGAIN,,,, you will se gloss differential with your Magentas of either brand. So ANY color / Hue that utilizes Magenta will display gloss differential in varying degrees depending on the proportion of M and LM that was used to creat that particular Color /Hue.
I live in the USA so I get my K3 OCP inks from Rjettek and for the record I can thus by a pint of each of the 9 colors for a total or around $130 shipping to my state included. I simply cannot come up with a single reason why I would not continue to use these inks, since at least on my PRO3800 and R2400 printers I get Zero Clogging, Ecellent color, neutrality and gamut after profiling with my Colormuinki. I am printing at a cost of 3 cents per ml without a single quality issue other then the stated gloss differential. On Matte and art papers it is outstanding.

Jon CONE carts are top quality. Remember that many carts LOOK the same as everybodey in China "Borrows" every one else's design but there are internal quality differences not so easily detectable. The welds of the seals to the ink chambers is one big issue. The fit of the resetter /controller chips is another which can cause jamming of the cart in the printer.
So the way I look at it, I am saving a ton of money on the ink woth out a single compromize in quality, so I will spend a bit more money on quality carts to make sure that at least the mechanical aspect of a 3rd party cart system is up to snuff.
Make sure your OEM chips are not allowed to read empty before you tranfer them. Accept the fact that yes, you will be loosing some of your ink.
In fact even if you let a 3800 cart run till it is empty, it wil still contain about 8 to 13 ml of ink that normally gets tossed out with the cart.

Joe

 

[Roshaw7]

So chips will be void if they have read empty? that's not good news...

 

[jtoolman]

Yes they will.
To add to the pain, just guess what Inkjetmall will charge you for a set of chips for their refillable carts?
$20 a piece!!!!
So if you do go the refillable cart route just think about the money that you will ultimately same and look away when you dispose of the OEM carts, after removing the not yet spent
"Very Valuable" chips.

Joe

 

[Roshaw7]

okay so I will need to buy two OEM carts....is there any way around this? Are there any refillable carts don't need the original chips?