Digital BW, The Print

Gentlemen -

When I first started investigating this whole digital-printing procedure, I
soon became persuaded that the Epson 1160 printer was the one to have. It
proved difficult to find one, so I ended up reserving a couple of them, one
refurbished (through RefurbDepot) and the other new (from an outfit that
had bought up a bunch of them). The two of them became available on the
same day, and I ended up buying both.

The new one is working fine, happily generating nice prints using only the
black cartridge (despite assurances from some list members that this is
impossible). No banding, no nozzle clogging, no paper feed problems, no
nothin' (knock on wood).

The other one, however, is the one I unpacked first, and used right at the
beginning to try out the Piezo BW software and inks. This may be
coincidence, but: from the moment I replaced the OEM Epson inks, following
a perfect nozzle check, with the Piezo inks, I could never get the nozzles
completely clear. I soon gave up on Piezo (at least with their inks) for
other reasons, but the printer had started behaving oddly in other ways as
well. Right now, whenever I switch it on it it blinks its lights to tell me
there's either a paper feed problem or an improperly removed tape on one of
the cartridges. Since I can't get the cartridges to move to the left so I
can check them, I can do nothing about the latter. I have tried the
full-reset procedure from the MIS web site (several times), but nothing
works. There is no paper anywhere near the thing.

I do not really need this second printer: if my functioning 1160 goes bad I
will either get Epson to fix it or replace it with whatever the latest
model is. I have not yet sent in the warranty card for the sick one. I
don't have the patience to disassemble it to get the cartridges out, nor
the time to argue with Epson; besides, if I returned it in its present
condition it would contain the Piezo cartridges and poof! goes any
warranty. So:

Does anybody want this unit in its present condition? What I'm asking in
return is not even money but paper samples: there are certain papers that
look interesting but that I haven't tested yet; some are not available in
printable size, others are not included in sample packs, etc. What I need
are:

	Epson Archival Matte
	Crane Museo
	Hahnemuehle Structure 150
	Hahnemuehle Schoellershammer Velvet 225, and
	Hahnemuehle Photo Rag.

A couple of 8.5x11" sheets of each would be just right. Any takers? UPS
shipping included, along with a bunch of paper samples that I know I
_don't_ want to use.

If nobody wants it, any ideas for at least getting the cartridges over to
where I can change them would be appreciated.

Thanks,

-- Nick

NICHOLAS HARTMANN                                +1 (414) 271-4890
611 N. Broadway, Suite 509                  fax: +1 (414) 271-4892
Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA                       polyglot@...

Technical and scientific translator:  German and French -> English