Digital BW, The Print

Paul,
For the same reasons as you have quoted re ink costs, I made a 
decision to switch on my R2400 to the Quill system about two months 
ago, taking 
advantage of the some offer/inducement.The individual quantities of 
ink supplied are however round about 60-65 mls rather than the 125 
mls of volume of replacement inks.
I have been using the Fotospeed EG glossy paper to print a panel 
destined for an attempt at the UK APRS distinction later this year.
I am delighted with the results with good Dmax, and a lovely texture 
to this fine art paper. It definitely needs profiling but Fotospeed 
will do this quickly and efficiently at no charge. Ray Grace at 
Fotospeed is very helpful.
With regard to the Quill system, I have generally been pleased. 
Fitting the inks takes about an hour and, with me at any rate, is a 
little messy, but the process is straight forward enough.Everything 
you need is supplied (ignore the ink container marked 'empty' which 
is for a different printer).The pipe feeds to the printer head can 
impact on the frame of the printer as the printer head moves back and 
forth, and I was concerned re abrasion to the pipes over a period of 
time. Fotospeed's advice was to stick some of the supplied Velcro at 
the appropriate 
place, soft side towards to the cabling, and, while a little Heath 
Robinsonish, seems to work.
I have to say that it is important to do a nozzle check before any 
serious printing, and a head clean if needed, since I have had some 
blockages, but these seem to clear. I by no means print on a daily 
basis, and this may be the problem. I am also trying leaving my 
printer switched on permanently, since I read somewhere this helps 
with nozzle blockages, though I do not understand why!
All in all, I would recommend the system. Les Maclean at a recent 
club visit was also very pleased with the system, and uses it all the 
time, though I am not sure whether he is sponsored by Fotospeed; I 
think he may be.
It is certainly great, having made the approx £180 outlay on refill 
inks , to not have to replace another and different cartridge 
seemingly with each print produced.
Hope this helps
John Fontana

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "reynoll_2000" 
<paul.reynolds@...> wrote:
>
> I bought the 2400 a couple of months ago and while it is an 
> excellent 
> printer which I would recommend to anyone, particularly for B&W 
> work, 
> the big downside is the amount of ink it uses, or probably more 
> accurately the cost of it. As everyone on here probably knows, even 
> in 
> B&W mode it uses a certain amount of colour ink.
> 
> Here in the UK Fotospeed are offering for around £200 their Quill 
> CIS, 
> which is being well publicised in UK photo mags. For the money you 
> not 
> only get the system, inks, but also 50 sheets of A3 art paper and a 
> 25% voucher of your next purchase of ink, an offer they say worth 
> potentially £147! When I called Fotospeed with a few questions they 
> told me that the inks used are imported from the US and although 
> they 
> may have a slight colour shift compared to Epson inks, this could 
be 
> corrected with the use of their paper profiles.
> 
> The question is whether anyone has tried this system, or any other 
> CIS, in the 2400, and what the pitfalls might be. It has to be the 
> way 
> to go IMHO. This offer is open until the end of April if anyone 
else 
> in the UK is interested. See www.fotospeed.co.uk, although for some 
> reason it doesn't specifically mention the offer currently avaiable.
> 
> I wonder whether Epson will ever offer a CIS, although I suppose it 
> may not be in their interest!
>