Digital BW, The Print

I think I bought the very last new 1160 in existence... there were so 
many 1280 "clog from hell" posts and chip resetting problems that I 
went with a new 1160 and the original VM mix inkset.  Looking back, 
other than a few photos that made it to my gallery, the 1160/MIS VM 
inkset never paid for itself... it was more just the first step in 
seeing the potential of inkjet printing... oh well, we all gotta get 
there by some path.  My HP 7660 churned out many, many prints for my 
gallery or that I sold directly to collectors.  Top print size of 
8x12" was kind of limiting, but for b&w size is more a subjective 
choice than with color IMO.  It seems that you sell photos like color 
landscapes to replace paintings so they have to be painting sized, 
but b&w art prints can be any size.  I showed with a LF photographer 
who only sold 4x5" and 8x10" contact prints, so in comparison my 
8x12s were "large"  ... 12x18" is my prefered size though...

With respect to my 1160 and UT-FSN, it took sitting for 24 hours with 
new Epson carts before I could get any dye out of any of the color 
nozzles... I figured it was gone... don't know if I even want to risk 
the printer again since it is a great cheap printer for my school 
aged kids to use for their class projects etc.

thanks,

mark

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "lyonscox" 
<lyonscox@c...> wrote:
> With all the comments lately on 1280s with CIS / CFS or spongeless 
carts I
> wanted to add an observation or two.
> 
> The Epson 1280 model is at least ~ 4 years old now!
> 
> I have a 1280 that has had a CIS (from InkjetArt) with MIS GP Color 
inks
> (pigments) for over two-years and it worked well for a long period 
of time
> (over a year with no hassles, just occasional cleanings).  
> 
> Eventually I developed a 'clog' in my M ink and wasn't getting ink 
out the
> heads.  I tried various cleanings and eventually the tube line went 
empty.
> I used gravity, and siphoning, to refill and charge the cartridge 
and tubes
> and it would work for a little while.  Eventually I quit bothering 
since I
> was mostly printing letters and the M went blank all together.  I 
wondered
> if the pigments had settled and clogged the ink heads (Has anyone 
really had
> that experience)?
> 
> I figured it was 'time for new carts' BUT before I did, I really 
looked at
> the system and it turned out that one of tubes had developed a 
micro hole
> from rubbing against the edge of the cart area!!!  All of the tubes 
were
> showing signs of this developing under a small amount of black dirt
> developing at the contact point.  I found this only because I was 
going to
> try to force ink into the carts one more time before ordering new 
carts/ink
> etc., and decided to examine if I wanted to get new tubes in case 
there had
> developed a pigment / mildew chain in the tubes (something I've 
read about
> but don't believe I have experienced).  
> 
> So the gist of it is, my 'clog' was a micro air leak that wasn't 
big enough
> to leak on the print head itself and may have only exercised its 
ghostly
> problem when the print head extended fully to the opposite side of 
the
> carriage.  
> 
> It did not occur to me to, and I would not 'complain' to InkjetArt, 
or any
> other CIS / CFS maker, about this problem because of the 
experimental /
> developmental nature of inkjet printing with Alternative inks and 
because it
> sort of falls under the concept of simply wearing out your parts!
> 
> I have switched to spongeless carts recently and the change went 
over well.
> It's taken a bit of time for the Magenta ink to work its way fully 
into the
> print head - something cleaning cycles weren't doing, but regular 
printing
> use seems to have helped and probably a series of purge printings 
would do
> it if I were 'in a hurry.'
> 
> On re-filling spongeless carts - I find it a (little) hard to get 
the little
> rubber stoppers out with a pin, and I'm sure I would slice them up 
if I used
> a Xacto blade - but I manage to do it easily enough.  The chip re-
setter
> worked easily enough and paying some attention to the Epson utility 
to
> remind me about filling is working (I use black and yellow at 
greater speeds
> than anything else).
> 
> FWIW.  Thanks all for contributions and questions over the years.
> 
> Best regards,
> Cleavis