Epson 3800

I just picked up a freebie Epson 3800 from a friend of a friend... I am 99% ignorant on how to begin to operate it, but it seems OK at least in that it turns on and seems to print ok.

Looks like the ink is way over its expiration date... and it says it may not have enough for a power head cleaning...

should I fork out the $ and buy all new ink cartridges?

I would on inks that old - those look like the original inks. I have not noticed significant deterioration of colors up to about 2 years past the date. After that some problems do begin to show.

Yes, I would burn up those inks at best on cleaning cycles or tests of various kinds. I don't buy into the fast expiry time that Epson officially puts on ink, but the ones you've got are 5 - 6 years old. I wouldn't trust them for any "real" prints. Whatever you do use them for, pull the cartridges out and gently shake them side-to-side to remix the inks; after this amount of time some settling may have occurred in the pigments. But shake gently, you want to stay a long way from frothing what remains in the cartridges.

Don't do a power clean if you can avoid it. Power cleaning burns a colossal amount of ink and may not be any more useful than normal cleaning cycles. Instead do a head alignment and a nozzle check run, if you haven't already. If those are looking okay, try some small test photo prints.

Meanwhile, plan to buy new inks. But only when you're relatively confident you can actually get the machine into working order. Note that when you install new ink cartridges, a certain amount of the old ink remains in the lines inside. It will take a little bit of use to finally work through all the old remaining ink in each line.

Thanks E. J.

I don't have any photo paper here - printed these on regular cheap paper... are these lines a sign of heads needing power cleaning? I tried to do a power head cleaning, but it says there is not enough ink for that procedure...

Sorry,... I ask because it is like $450 to buy a set of cartridges...

thanks

Royce Howland wrote:Yes, I would burn up those inks at best on cleaning cycles or tests of various kinds. I don't buy into the fast expiry time that Epson officially puts on ink, but the ones you've got are 5 - 6 years old. I wouldn't trust them for any "real" prints. Whatever you do use them for, pull the cartridges out and gently shake them side-to-side to remix the inks; after this amount of time some settling may have occurred in the pigments. But shake gently, you want to stay a long way from frothing what remains in the cartridges.

Don't do a power clean if you can avoid it. Power cleaning burns a colossal amount of ink and may not be any more useful than normal cleaning cycles. Instead do a head alignment and a nozzle check run, if you haven't already. If those are looking okay, try some small test photo prints.

Meanwhile, plan to buy new inks. But only when you're relatively confident you can actually get the machine into working order. Note that when you install new ink cartridges, a certain amount of the old ink remains in the lines inside. It will take a little bit of use to finally work through all the old remaining ink in each line.

Thanks Royce! I'll do that...

Those lines very likely show at least some clogged nozzles, running a nozzle check should tell you if so. And you may need to do a head alignment as well, if the printer has been sitting unused for a super long period of time. Both of these are common maintenance tasks you can do in the printer driver. Download the PDF manual for the printer if you haven't already, and it should give you the details you need.

As I noted, don't do a power cleaning to start, if you can avoid it. (You can't do it now anyway because the printer will refuse the operation given the ink levels present.) But there's no avoiding that fact that putting this baby back into use is going to burn through some ink doing cleaning cycles and other tests. You're likely going to need those ink cartridges sooner or later -- probably sooner. Printing uses ink, and it's a fact that it also consumes (some would say "wastes") a certain amount of ink to keep the printer operating correctly.

You can save about $3.00 per cartridge at LexJet.com.

What you have there is likely severely clogged nozzles and probably some ink that hs solidified in the cartridge.

For sures, you should try a print on photo paper. My printers will often print a photo with lines like that on plain paper. The paper makes a lot of difference!

SFJ

Yes, I tried some presentation paper matte after doing a nozzles check and head alignment, and the lines are gooone. I am actually very impressed. Cant wait to try some real photo paper... Thanks for your help!

Enrique, this is an opportune time to utilize 3rd party carts and inks in your 3800. Visit Jon Cone, InkRepublic, Inkjetfly for reliable choices. Stay with the 80 ml carts, direct replacement size for the OEM and easiest to handle. Check additional posts on Dpreview and Inkjet Printer forum.

http://www.inkjetmall.com/wordpress/ jon cone

http://www.inkrepublic.com/IRK4-nano-3880.asp

http://www.inkjetfly.com/

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4746 inkjet printer forum

dpreview.com

I have been using the Inkjetcarts system for B&W and Color on my 3880 with excellent results. In fact I purchased the 3880 only after feeling confident with the 3rd party carts & inks. You are free to mix and match carts & inks, buy the carts from A,B or C (they are identical!!) and pick your ink anyone. Your cost to refill an 80 ml cart will be from $9-15, Epson has just increased the 38xx cart cost -->$50+. A full set of 3rd party carts and inks will less then 1/2---after this it's only ink!

good luck irv weiner

Thanks Irv, that looks like something worth looking into...