Want to buy an Epson AIO and refill

[ocular]

I contacted Epson re the spewing yellow ink issue and this was reply

Thank you for contacting Epson Support.

There was an issue that affected some of the earlier models which has since been resolved. The WP-4530 has been in the market for over a year and is a very popular model.

However, for your situation I would recommend the Workforce Pro 4590 as these are more suited to heavy business use. They also provide a 36 Month Onsite warranty when you register the printer online, at no additional cost. (There are terms and conditions. Please see our website for details). They come with 36 Month return to base warranty as standard.

Only time will tell if this si the case. The WP-4590 is marketed at the business world and is a sleek white with a plain box. It is not heavily discounted as the WP-4530 and can be bought for about twice the price (AUS$400-$499) of a WP-4530 . These printers are of the same physical dimensions and have the same printer units, but have a few different features, surprisingly the cheaper WP-4530 has wireless connectivity and the WP-4590 doesn't.

The different firmware on the printers allows different ink capacities in the same physical sized cartridges. The cheaper WP-4530 (676XL) yields 2400 pages from 45 mls of black and the colours yield 1200 from ?22mls (yet to be measured). The WP-4590 (711XL) yields 3400 pages from both black and colours, suggesting 65 mls for these cartridges. The US epson site shows both the 676XL and the 711XXL cartridges can be used in the WP-4590 but only the less ink 676XL can be used in the WP-4530

So the more expensive WP-4590 allows longer intervals between cartridge changes, has extra print emulations PS3,PCL6, ESC/P and has an optional extra 250 page tray feed that can be added under the printer and comes with three year warranty, but has no wireless. Sounds like an interesting marketing exercise - tweaking features on the same basic machine to target the busines user with a business price.

We wait to see if the yellow ink spewing issue has been resolved.

 

[websnail]

Here's the yellow ink problem these Workforce WP-4511 WP-4515 WP-4521 WP-4525 WP-4530 WP-4531 WP-4535 WP-4540 WP-4545 AIO suffer from documented

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIVNTMt0ua8

looks like the clear membrane over one of the chambers breaks.

I watched that video and looked hard at that membrane when it came up... I can't believe they've used what amounts to cellophane to act as a seal and part of a basic ink pump.. Not possibly the best design approach. You have to wonder if the design was intended to act as a lifespan limiter but miscalculated...

That said, allowing for the fact that a few people will have posted twice, it doesn't look like this is a huge problem hitting a majority of users (yet), and indeed they may well have solved the issues in later models. Be interesting to see if complaints will increase in volume as these machines get older and more folks start finding matching symptoms.

All that said though, there's this little part of me wondering if a moulded silicon rubber part could be created to replace the duff seal material and basically solve the problem... If only I had the time, tools and knowledge to figure it out!

 

[cls]

I sold or suggested too many customers of mine an Epson Pro, thank god all of them have the 3 year warranty

all of them are either WP 4535 AOP
or even the smallest WP Pro : Epson WorkForce Pro WP-4025 DW

Is a perfect printer for high yield printing, since the Epson Business Inkjet B-510DN starts in germany at 500 ... the smaller Business Inkjet doesnt come with duplex..
plus the 510DN refillable cartriges are like 55 per Set
and the WP Pro Refillable Cartriges are 25 per Set

at the University of Hamburg the B-510DN is distributed as "local" standalone printer for employes, since they banned laser printers due health risks out of all "working" rooms, only in dedicated printing rooms you'll find and
laser printer.

Thats like shooting with cannons on sparrows. Most of the employes would even print more than 100 sheets per month... and the monthly cycle based on 20k pages yield ...

 

[mikling]

Epson appears to have engineering offices all over the place and they don't agree to one design for some reason. The item in questions appears to be a simplified pressure pump/damper arrangement. Looks to be a new design. But did they reinvent the wheel?
For example, take the Pro3800/3880 these models have a remote printhead with a pressurized ink system..the whole system is pressurized all the way back to the cartridges. Then there was the Epson Artisan AIO series, no pressure in the cartridges, the printer worked well. Then they also had a rethink and brought out the R3000. No pressure system again, even without these pressure systems, clogging was not an issue. Then they have these business models and these Workforce Pro models that appear to have a hybrid non pressure cartridge but internally inside the printer they want pressure. Now if you look at the complications they introduce you'd have to seriously question why? What was wrong with the R3000, also remote printhead, non moving cartridges and no pressure. I can see why the R3000 was a major breakthrough because it totally simplified its bigger brother...the 3800/3880. So why change the concept?
These same design distinctions have always existed within the Epson printer line, it's as if there were separate design departments who were not on speaking terms. What was always visible was that the photography based printers appeared to be better designed than the office side ones. The real photo printers offered up in the office section had always seemed better designed as well. Take for example the RX series compared to the NX and CX series...Worlds apart but sold side by side at Staples.

Even in the electronics section, the engineers of the 3800/3880 put in far more complicated chip logic than the pro wide format printers of that same generation. We have not seen similar chips since the 3800/3880 even with newer models. Makes you really wonder.

 

[mikling]

Now when you compare the printers amongst the Epson line, you'd really have to wonder. Why can't they reuse the same parts amongst different printers?..like what Canon does.
The stocking of different model cartridges for Epson is a nightmare. They all have the same bodies but just different chips..but the same ink. Why? Compare this to Canon. We are not talking regional issues. Again the distinctions appear to come from different design offices.
What that tells you is that Epson printers are not all alike. Some appear to be needlessly complicated and maybe trouble prone?

 

[Smile]

Epson appears to have engineering offices all over the place and they don't agree to one design for some reason. The item in questions appears to be a simplified pressure pump/damper arrangement. Looks to be a new design. But did they reinvent the wheel?
For example, take the Pro3800/3880 these models have a remote printhead with a pressurized ink system..the whole system is pressurized all the way back to the cartridges. Then there was the Epson Artisan AIO series, no pressure in the cartridges, the printer worked well. Then they also had a rethink and brought out the R3000. No pressure system again, even without these pressure systems, clogging was not an issue. Then they have these business models and these Workforce Pro models that appear to have a hybrid non pressure cartridge but internally inside the printer they want pressure. Now if you look at the complications they introduce you'd have to seriously question why? What was wrong with the R3000, also remote printhead, non moving cartridges and no pressure. I can see why the R3000 was a major breakthrough because it totally simplified its bigger brother...the 3800/3880. So why change the concept?
These same design distinctions have always existed within the Epson printer line, it's as if there were separate design departments who were not on speaking terms. What was always visible was that the photography based printers appeared to be better designed than the office side ones. The real photo printers offered up in the office section had always seemed better designed as well. Take for example the RX series compared to the NX and CX series...Worlds apart but sold side by side at Staples.

Even in the electronics section, the engineers of the 3800/3880 put in far more complicated chip logic than the pro wide format printers of that same generation. We have not seen similar chips since the 3800/3880 even with newer models. Makes you really wonder.

And after this design nightmare they can't put together a top of the line scanner 750 Pro without major dust inside it, they can't make non out-gassing plastic for some reason. They can afford to assemble it in some garage in china without most basic dust control. Most hepa dust filter stuff is made in Asia. Strange...

 

[Smile]

Now when you compare the printers amongst the Epson line, you'd really have to wonder. Why can't they reuse the same parts amongst different printers?..like what Canon does.
The stocking of different model cartridges for Epson is a nightmare. They all have the same bodies but just different chips..but the same ink. Why? Compare this to Canon. We are not talking regional issues. Again the distinctions appear to come from different design offices.
What that tells you is that Epson printers are not all alike. Some appear to be needlessly complicated and maybe trouble prone?

It's like in Adobe those who make Photoshop no nothing about those who make Indesign, etc, etc. All big companies do that to prevent the employees to steal stuff. But bad management makes it possible to not know who is making what. And because of greed for money the managers do not care as long as they get money !
They do not care if one system is better or worse. In fact only engineers might know this, but they do not have a decision voice I suppose.