HP laying off 9000 workers

[mikling]

Also the Pro-1000 has a densitometer for a reason. I've been through the terrible inability of Epson to restore my R2880 when it needed service and they admit they are unable to do it in North America and possibly most other places. Their authorized techs did not even know about that step nor did they understand it.

The issue is REAL, I've been down that road. I've seen the results of purchasing Epson refurbs and did not understand why they did not print consistently from unit to unit until I dug deeper and ran into the issue with my 2880. Back in the day, Epson actually outlined one difference between the R1800 and the Pro-2400. The Pro line was individually trimmed to meet specs.

My P800 developed a dead cyan nozzle and while not viewable in most prints is now a disadvantaged machine. Nozzles that die is a real issue not theoretical. If my Pro-1000 had a deficient printhead and thankfully it has redundant nozzles, I would simply pop in a new printhead and let the machine recalibrate itself. The only requirement I need is to keep stock of the photopaper I stored in memory in the printer. Else, I create a calibration setting with the media I was using and store it away. That way, the ICC I created with that media is immediately perfectly valid when the machine is restored.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Their authorized techs did not even know about that step nor did they understand it.

If that's the actual performance of Epson tech's then this is definitely very very poor. I would expect that they are able to read , understand and execute actions as described in their company service documentation but apparently not, and this could be a good reason not to buy an Epson printer if that is practically unservicable by them later.
Can it be that difficult ? Here are copies from the R2880 manual this time - a link as provided by @PeterBJ
https://www.spsystems.lv/blog/instr...-EPSON-Photo-R1900-R2000-www.spsystems.lv.pdf on p 138



and the full color calibration on pp153-158



The process is not as convenient as with a built in meter in the printer but really not rocket science . I'm afraid that Epson service is not willing to spend the time for this process and rather leave their customers with mal-functioning printers after a printhead or motherboard repair/replacement with a high risk that color profiles are not usable anymore.

 

[mikling]

I took the printer in, and then questioned about whether they would perform the second step and then there was a quizzed look on their face. They had never done it and did not understand why it was necessary. Then I had to explain. Then we checked what they were issued by Epson to maintain. The program to perform the second step was never issued for ALL machines. I then showed them the official service manual. It was subsequently raised to the corporate office in charge of servicing. The response was that they never carry this out.
So here is the scenario. The software was never issued. They do not have the requisite hardware as well.The techs did not understand the functionality of an ICC as opposed to calibration. They also did not know what the second step attempts to accomplish. Hold yourself because these are the same techs sent out to service the BIG machines that cannot be moved easily as well.

They were always thinking that the printed data on the head was all that was necessary, except that piezo behavior varies a lot more than one might think.

With the above episode made me fully appreciate what the Pro-1000 does INCLUDING the management software to accomplish consistent prints across even remote printers. If you understand what is necessary technically to reproduce images consistently, then the Pro-1000 makes a lot of sense.

When the Pro-1000 came out, it was kind of baffling because it was hardly mentioned what the functionality of the calibration was. It is hardly mentioned at all. I had to call Canon to confirm what was in there. They confirmed it. Identical densitometer as to what its big machines carry. Identical printhead and ICC profiles as well. Identical print engines....and it fit on a desk. What was missing was the hard drive to store settings that the other machines had. This machine is a printer maniac ultimate toy to fit on a desk....with vacuum hold down, and GLOP. Wowza and sometimes for less than $500 USD.

 

[Andreas S]

Mikling, your story about the Epson techs is a joke, isn't it? BTW, I know a similar story with apple "techs"…

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Mikling, your story about the Epson techs is a joke,

Oh well, I won't like to continue too much with the Epson bashing, but a few years ago a significant number of Workforce models were delivered, and customers were complaining about vertical lines slightly slanted. First Epson denied any problem, later confirmed some quality control steps being omitted for some time. The errors cannot be corrected with the printhead alignment by the user, Epson was not making any offer to adjust such problem under warranty and denied existence of any adjustment possibility, customer support was not aware of such setting and tech's were not aware of it. And all this is completely contrary to most service manuals since the days of the R265 with the subject 'Head angular adjustment' which easily can be executed in a minute with the resp. maintenance/adjustment program

So much for that - (I'm not using any Apple hardware - am I missing something ? )

 

[mikling]

Mikling, your story about the Epson techs is a joke, isn't it? BTW, I know a similar story with apple "techs"…

It's not a joke. I had a fellow forum member purchase a used R2880 and ship it to my city to get another R2880. I needed it for product development and it HAD to conform to factory specs.
There are times when an Epson is called for principally for the piezo head but I have the whole gamut of printers. Obviously you are so misinformed because you have not checked what you claim to be facts. I would invite you to check for yourself because I went thru the whole routine in a Canada's largest city which houses Epson's headquarters for Canada. It's not bashing it is the fact that you are unable to regain an expensive Epson printer into factory spec if certain work needs to be carried out. Plain and simple. With the newer Canon line, a user is able to carry this out. If it was like a workforce model or an L or ecotank, no big deal but when you're at the level of a serious printer, then you better know the truth. It hurts sometimes. BTW, I own the bevy of Epsons, Artisan 50, 1400, 1430, R2880, R3000, P600, 3880, P800, Workforce and a C88+ in fact more Epsons than Canon. So it is not like I am a fanboy like some.

 

[Andreas S]

Mikling, I forgot to set a smiley. In France we use what we call "the 2nd degree" while talking.
Now without any 2nd degree.
They do the same way in Europe as far as I know. One of my partners is the lead tech at the biggest french retailer for professional digital printing devices. In respect of the european laws they have to collect the replaced printer every time they sell a new one. From time to time he takes a look at devices declared as "cannot be repaired" by the Epson techs. And a lot of time he repaires them just with a simple screwdriver.
I also knows that the softs I mentionned above exist as I used them by myself while working as lead of r&d in industry. I still also knows that Canon printers offers better image quality than Epson and that they are "cheaper" by print as Epson. What is new to me is the fact that they embedded a densitometer in the smaller Printers as the P-1000.
I'm still using Epson printers but only because I've the OEM inks for free.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I must admit that I don't get it all - Epson is providing a technical way , firmware access, special software and a detailed procedure how to calibrate the ink output of a printhead and then the service organisation is not using it, is not even aware of it, does not even understand what it is all about . I'm glad I'm doing my own profiles - with other quirks and problems but something like this is effectively under control. Epson should remove that section from all the service manuals since it cannot be used at all. This case is closed for me.

 

[mikling]

This issue happens all the time in other products as well. The real story is that there is a lack of capable people floating around and access to them is difficult. So the organization has to come down to the lowest common denominator. I ran into this in the 1970s. When I would want to pay to have my cassette deck custom biased to a certain tape brand and model and the tech did not know what I was talking about! - that was like getting a custom profile for a certain brand of tape. All tape decks have this ability but many techs did not understand how recording tape actually works.

 

[Artur5]

Cassette decks ?.. What a blast from the past !. You must be somewhere on the wrong side of forty ... and some.
I recall that my Aiwa deck from 1980 had an autobias function where the machine recorded a series of test tones from 10 to 20khz to find the best bias and equalization for every model of tape.
Nakamichi was the top brand of cassette decks back then and anything lower than a TDK SA metal tape was an offence to that haughty machine.