Soon: big test of refillable Epson Pro 3800 cartridges + resetters

[nikolaii]

Hello.

Thanks for this topic, it was very useful for me.
But here I didn't fine any opinion about Inkrepublic inks. So, I would like use CIS for printing a photos, but Inskystem dealer in our region said, that they can't guarantee same photo quality as using the original Epson inks. What about Increpublic, is photo quality printed with Increpublic inks the same as with original inks?

Thanks

PS! My question was about pegment inks, because I want to buy Epson R2880.

 

[pharmacist]

Hi Nikolaii,

Actually I am still using Image Specialists K3 ink in my Epson Pro 3800, but I recently refilled my LM-cartridge with the Inkrepublic.com's IRK4-nano pigment ink and there is no noticable difference, but the gloss of the LM is better, so I from my first impression the ink is very good indeed. So I can only conclude about overall performance when all the ink cartridges are converted to the IRK-4 nano pigment ink, but the LM IRK4-nano ink performance has suprised me, so I am pretty sure the rest of the ink will perform accordingly.

What I surely can confirm is the IRK4-nano pigment subset for the Epson 1400 printer, for which I had a CISS-system installed. The ink is performing pretty good and especially the PK (Photo Black) is extremely good. The ink is optimized for the Claria line of Epson dye ink printers and the ink is so good, most people won't need custom profiles to have similar printouts compared to the original Epson Claria ink.

 

[pharmacist]

Just to update this thread:

There were some people asking me how to deal with the resettable maintenance tank, because removing the upper grid and replacing the felt material can be a bit cumbersome, but there is an alternative to this. You can put a piece of paper towel folded and wrapped into a bal and press it firmly into the central hole of the maintenance tank:

I remove this bal of paper towel every 2 cleaning cycles and also put a bit of paper in the smaller cavity on the left, because I experience som dripping of ink as well in this area. And this how the maintenance tank goes into the printer:

About the printing quality of this printer, after so many pages of printing I am still amazed by the printing quality. The pigment ink produces vivid and very saturated colours on one of my favourite photo paper (Sihl-X, swiss made high glossy paper). The next pictures shows some thumbnails of real life pictures and some test images and have a look the vivid reds of the strawberries and the deep blues of the blueberries. The picture is maybe a bit small, but not edited and shot without flashing in day light conditions:

This is the famous swiss-made Sihl-X high gloss photo paper. It is fully PE-based, ceramic coated instant dry coating (microporous) with a very nice and beautiful glossy shine and thick (280 gsm). I think this is the EU-equivalent to the anglosaxon Costco photo paper, which seems to be very popular in the USA and the UK. The price dropped this year with 1 euro and now cost only 4.99 for a box of 50 sheets (A4-size), which is pretty cheap. It can be purchased here in Belgium at the Aldi discount supermarkets:

About the shaking of the cartridges every few months to resusicate the pigment particles evenly into solution: besides taking out the cartridges and give it a swirl, on can actually be much more inventive by just lifting the front side of the printer a bit and put it back and repeat this a few times. The printer will be at an angle and the ink will migrate towards the front and will come back when you put the printer back on the table surface. This will cause a "mini Tsunami" inside the carts, so the ink will be well swirled inside the carts and mixed without causing foam.

 

[cwphoto]

I have been reading this thread for some time, but this is my first post. I just received my CIS from Ink Republic yesterday for my Epson 3880. I had asked Amanda prior to ordering if it is possible to mix and match Epson with InkRepublic carts, so that I could use up my old ink. I was told this is possible, but found that when inserting the two control chip carts it resets everything. The new control chips supposedly allow individual resetting of carts--this remains to be seen. So far, I have only three of the nine carts installed. Two of the carts showed problems with nozzle checks, but several power cleanings solved that problem. I would suggest to anyone using these carts to allow a good 2 to 3 hours for the air bubbles to settle before putting them in the printer. Refilling at the end of the day would probably be a wise idea if possible. Other than that, everything is working well.

As to the maintenance carts material. I suggest using women's tampons or sanitary napkins! Yes, something guys never think about, but they work extremely well. I will report back with more info as I use the system more.

Troy

 

[pharmacist]

Hi cwphoto,

NEVER execute power cleanings in a row: the problem is just air bubbles. The more you execute power cleanings, the more frothier the ink inside the tubing becomes and you will execute even more cleaning cycles. The ink in the bottles must settle after refilling the carts for several hours to let the air to escape.

One thing: did you prime the cartridges before installing into the printer ? The problem is that inkrepublic.com did not mention this very important step. The ink will travel up a slope tubing before it exits the ink valve port, but the first time this space is filled with air, so the ink lines will be filled with air the first time you install those carts. I think I have to report this back to Amanda, because this is note worthy to tell them. This is the reason you will have to execute so much power cleanings to push away the air from the tubing system.

How to prime the cartridges:

-Refill the carts with ink outside the printer, so BEFORE YOU INSTALL THEM !!!
-close the cartridge with the stopper
-have a can of pressurized air ready and a piece of paper towel wrapped together and a blunt awl or thick tooth sticker
-put the tube of your can with air in or around the pressure inlet valve of the cart and give it a few sprays of air to pressurize the cart
-take the paper towel around the ink outlet valve and make sure you put it on a few newspapers/magazines, because it can become messy
-with the paper towel tightly wrapped around the the ink outlet valve, use the blunt awl or tooth sticker to push in the valve, but only a short time each time you press it in.
-a sizzling sound can be heard when the air is pushed out from the cart and after 2 of 3 pushes the ink will escape and stain the paper towel.
-stop immediately when you see the paper towel becomes stained with ink and clean the ink valve with the paper towel.
-now install the carts into your printer and you will not suffer from "clogged" nozzles forcing you to execute cleaning cycles.

The practical problem with the tuning chips is the fact all the carts will be registered as full: a good way to weight an empty cartridge and write down the weight and after each printing job, take out the original Epson cart -which is registed as full by the two tuning chips- and register the weight and compare it to the empty cart.

 

[cwphoto]

Hi pharmacist.

I run a digital photo finishing lab for a living, so well aware of the dangers of running too many cleaning cycles in a row. I just needed to run two, and that solved the problem. Thanks so much for the tip about pre-priming the inkjet carts. I used a 60 mL syringe with a small tube that fits over the inlet port. Seems to take about 40 mlls to build up a little resistance. Not sure what I will use to release the pressure and get a little ink to flow, but doesn't sound too difficult.

We are also thinking the same thing about the Epson carts. I have a triple beam scale here that I used to weigh the Epson carts. I'm just annoyed to have to do this to begin with, as Amanda told me I could reuse my old carts. The control chips as mentioned reset everything to full. We shall see if individual resetting of the carts is possible as the inks get used up. Overall, a good system, just needs better instructions.

I am using ink republics ink and it's close, but not perfect to Epson's. Gloss seems similar. Again, I am only using three out of eight at the moment, but that has already thrown off the color balance. In the long-term I think this is going to work out fine.

Troy

 

[pharmacist]

Hi cwphoto,

Thanks for confirming my suspicion that the gloss is similar, because on my system I am still using Image Specialists IM-K4 (large stock, which need to be consumed first) and only the LM and PBK is using Inkrepublic.com's IRK4-nano ink. Can you tell me about the colour balance: it is muted compared to the Epson K3 ink or more vivid ? In what sense ? The gloss seems to be better than my IM-K4 ink, especially the black, which is even blacker and glossier than my IM-K4 ink and also a bit more blacker than the Epson K3 photo black.

Did you receive the right types of vivid magenta and vivid light magenta for your system, since you have an Epson Pro 3880 ?

About individual resetting: no forget this, as all carts will be reset to full, so you have to keep an eye about the real ink level, but since the carts are semi-transparant, this is not very difficult. Refill accordingly and do not rely on the ink level by the driver or your printer display. I think this is a disadvantage of this system, but the built quality and ease of refill compensates this more than enough to me.

 

[leo8088]

I had some Sihl photo paper before. I thought it was USA made. It was distributed by a USA company. Well, I tried it and I wasn't impressed. It gave a much darker photos than most other papers I have used. You really will need a custom profile for the paper.

 

[pharmacist]

Hi Leo8088,

actually I did try using the same Epson Premium glossy photo paper profile on original Epson and on this Sihl paper and I could only see a warmer cast on the Sihl paper (Epson has a slight cooler cast), but same darkness. Can it be that in the USA they sell a different batch paper, was it also 280 gsm thickness ? Sihl produces several types of glossy photo papers with different characteristics and thicknesses.

 

[cwphoto]

Hi cwphoto,

Thanks for confirming my suspicion that the gloss is similar, because on my system I am still using Image Specialists IM-K4 (large stock, which need to be consumed first) and only the LM and PBK is using Inkrepublic.com's IRK4-nano ink. Can you tell me about the colour balance: it is muted compared to the Epson K3 ink or more vivid ? In what sense ? The gloss seems to be better than my IM-K4 ink, especially the black, which is even blacker and glossier than my IM-K4 ink and also a bit more blacker than the Epson K3 photo black.

Did you receive the right types of vivid magenta and vivid light magenta for your system, since you have an Epson Pro 3880 ?

pharmacist:

It's too early to really comment on the overall quality of the ink's. As mentioned in my previous response, I am only using three of the eight inks. I believe I'm using the PK, LK, and then one LM; the rest installed are still Epson inks. With just those three inks installed in the printer I see no difference in gloss whatsoever. Prints looked just as rich, but color did shift a few points yellow. As I replace more of the Epson ink with ink republics ink, I will know better and report back. Yes, I did receive the vivid magenta and vivid light magenta. I use Monaco's profiler platinum, along with the I-one spectrophotometer UV model. I would say the inks are different enough to require new profiles for critical work. I also do fine art reproductions, so a new profile was essential for me.