My new Epson SC-P900 printer: terrible amount of ink down the drain

[pharmacist]

Yesterday I installed my Epson SC-P900 cartridges that is supplied with an extra waste ink tank inside the large box.... I now understand why:

Above the weight of the new and unused waste ink tank: about 100 grammes

But after the long priming and purging the tubing system and print head after installing the first set of cartridges (50 ml):

In total 274 grammes of ink and fluid down the drain for nothing and waste ink tank almost completely full:

Only about 17 ml's of ink left per cartridge for real printing, when I extrapolate the ink level towards 100% (50 ml). The additional extra waste ink tank is really necessary, because the installed one is almost full....

Does the printer really need that amout of ink to prime the tubing and the print head or is this intentionally done to sell more cartridges ???

Fortunately I already order the necessary refillables, chip resetter and waste ink tank resetter.

 

[The Hat]

Does the printer really need that amout of ink to prime the tubing and the print head or is this intentionally done to sell more cartridges ???

That printer is like the National Blood service.. Always looking for that bit extra..

Fortunately I already order the necessary refillables, chip resetter and waste ink tank resetter.

Now you’re in safe hands, Happy printing..

 

[Tony4597]

...
In total 274 grammes of ink and fluid down the drain for nothing and waste ink tank almost completely full:

....

Does the printer really need that amout of ink to prime the tubing and the print head or is this intentionally done to sell more cartridges ???

274g (=274ml ?) does seem to be large amount of ink and would be a huge chunk of change if you had to buy the ink on top of the purchase price of the printer without ink supplied.
I do think that there is a case to be made that they do this intentionally to sell more ink.

A quick calculation based on 1gr equal to 1ml (I believe that is correct for water only ?) and ink cost of £35 (UK) for 50ml gives 70p per ml? Therefore £192 for 274ml has gone into the toilet _- WoW . I know that the calculation is not really correct but still...
Then you are expected to buy more ink at £294 for Epson original 10 colours !

 

[The Hat]

I do think that there is a case to be made that they do this intentionally to sell more ink.

Maybe it would be cheaper to cut your losses and take it up the high street and leave it tied to a pole and walk away..

 

[Tony4597]

Maybe it would be cheaper to cut your losses and take it up the high street and leave it tied to a pole and walk away..

Well I dont have a SC P900 but I do love my P800, no clogs, no mess, no fuss .

Well TBH that is after I got over the initial shock of ink takeup and priming and the miserable barstewards giving you 64ml cartridges instead of the full size 80ml.

Still better than getting one of those Canon thingys and PC's are better than Macs, and my Dad is bigger than your Dad and Russia makes the best cars in the world!

 

[pharmacist]

Well TBH that is after I got over the initial shock of ink takeup and priming and the miserable barstewards giving you 64ml cartridges instead of the full size 80ml.

So that is about 16 ml loss per cartridge....The tubing system towards the print head should be about the same distance and some ml's needed to purge and clean the nozzles to properly prime the print head with the ink. The P800 needs to prime 9 tubes with each 16 ml, makes 9x16= 144 ml's. The P900 has 10 channels: let's suppose the same distance to the print head, that would make: 10 x 16 = 160 ml's, Still alot of ink =down the drain.....but it uses: 273 ml's ink to flush....about 11 ml's per channel extra. Unless the P800 has empty tubing with air when the printer is pristine and the P900 tubing system is filled with clean fluid I can understand the difference.

 

[The Hat]

So that is about 16 ml loss per cartridge....

When I first started up my old Canon Pro 1 with 12 cartridges, it primed and flushed everything out and spent ½ hours doing so, I ended up with 30% of the remaining ink left in the carts, plus the ink in the CISS tubing..

So the printer used up 160 ml of ink to flush out the stored fluid and replaced that with 180 ml of fresh ink, which left 28 ml in each cart, I reckon that wasn’t bad..

 

[pharmacist]

When I first started up my old Canon Pro 1 with 12 cartridges, it primed and flushed everything out and spent ½ hours doing so, I ended up with 30% of the remaining ink left in the carts, plus the ink in the CISS tubing..

So the printer used up 160 ml of ink to flush out the stored fluid and replaced that with 180 ml of fresh ink, which left 28 ml in each cart, I reckon that wasn’t bad..

That is way better compared to my Epson SC-P900 primary initialisation process. I have read it is even worse with the P700: only 10% left in the cartridges. I don't understand: the P800 is similarly built, pressurized too, flushing also needed to prime the tubing system/print head, but I ended with about 60 ml's left after priming. Considering the P900 are 30 ml's smaller, I would estimate the amount left should be around 30 ml's left in the carts. It only has 18 ml left....Where is the rest ?

 

[The Hat]

That is way better compared to my Epson SC-P900 primary initialisation process.

The ink that the printer used to prime the tubing is still in there and it can be used to print with, so at least it’s not all wasted..

 

[pharmacist]

The ink that the printer used to prime the tubing is still in there and it can be used to print with, so at least it’s not all wasted..

I know that, but guess what: to harvest this ink you will need to install new cartridges that pushes that ink towards the print head, so the ink "invoice" will be delayed towards the new cartridges.