Digital BW, The Print

Sigh.. spent an entire evening trying to fix/clean it to no avail. I
guess the printer is basically hopeless. The difference is huge
between prints right now. Some with less visible "lines", some with more. 

So.. my question is.. What to do? I have a print job to deliver by
Monday (only 8 8x10s)..

1, Get a new 1280
2, Get a smaller one like C86 and new ink.. and wait for the next
larger printer..
3, Take the prints out to a lab for now.. anyone knows the b/w quality
of Frontier or 7600(UC ink)? (My friendly usual lab has both)
4, Other printers.. HP? 2200/4000 (Not that I can afford it)..
5, Other options?

Thanks
Michael

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Michaels"
<bob@b...> wrote:
> 
> Michael, when I had that problem I eventually concluded it was
> unrelated to the ink. I had the same problems with original Epson
> carts. I'm back to using MIS ink exclusively. 
> 
> I'm convinced the 1280 is a rock solid printer. It's just that we are
> using them to a critical level that 99% of the users never reach. I've
> had four of them. The first I broke by unknowingly inserting a cart
> without a chip (thanks to a supplier other than MIS but still replaced
> by Epson), the second lasted several years, the third developed the
> referenced bad connection problem (replaced by Epson) and the fourth
> I'm using now. 
> 
> Bob Michaels