Digital BW, The Print

Hello from a Nooby(more or less). Five years ago I retired, closed my
wet lab and started  printing black only with an Epson 1160. A year
later when an illness and two household moves doused that passion the
1160 was a lightly used printer that was put in a box  without
flushing or cleaning it in any way. It has been there for over two years.

Is there any hope for it?  Will Epson refurb it even at any price? Is
there a clean printer head in a repair shop drawer someplace that
would bring it back to life? I have been watching eBay for a while now
hoping to see one of those "new in the box " listings where someone
died after it was ordered,. Can I recapture that golden time in my
life or just give up. Even after reading everything I can find by Paul
Roark and Clayton Jones, I can't figure out how to get back on the
merry-go-round. 

This Rip van Winkle is rapidly approaching 80 years old with 3 great
grand kids to shoot and 100s of  real Tri-X  negatives - some medium
format and many 4x5 landscapes to scan and print. I'm Ok with the
scanner. I have no need to print glossy or color, only matte paper 13
inches wide. I don't have time for a steep learning curve.

I will listen to every idea presented.
Thank you for your help.

Steele in Texas

Ardito's might be a good option for you to consider. Cone studio's used 
to reccomend them for rebuilding 1160's. Also if you would like I can 
send you (for free) the old Cone Pizeo driver software which can be 
used with Epson FS neutral inks. This inkset and softwareworks very 
well with the 1160, however it is limited to neutral toned prints only 
but they look great.

Here is the Ardito's link:

http://www.arditos.com/rates.nxg 

Contact me by e-mail if you are interested in the software.


Don Bryant

Steele
I reconditioned an 1160 for one of my customers who used the printer 
for Blackandwhite he printed some great pictures with it.
 just to give you idea about cost the print head is $125.00 the Cap 
and Pump are about $30.00 labor about $80 to $100 plus shipping.I 
could rebuild it for you.if you want contact me offline
Joseph Cettina
http://www.lagunaservice.com


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "k5cad" 
<k5cad@...> wrote:
>
> Hello from a Nooby(more or less). Five years ago I retired, closed 
my
> wet lab and started  printing black only with an Epson 1160. A year
> later when an illness and two household moves doused that passion 
the
> 1160 was a lightly used printer that was put in a box  without
> flushing or cleaning it in any way. It has been there for over two 
years.
> 
> Is there any hope for it?  Will Epson refurb it even at any price? 
Is
> there a clean printer head in a repair shop drawer someplace that
> would bring it back to life? I have been watching eBay for a while 
now
> hoping to see one of those "new in the box " listings where someone
> died after it was ordered,. Can I recapture that golden time in my
> life or just give up. Even after reading everything I can find by 
Paul
> Roark and Clayton Jones, I can't figure out how to get back on the
> merry-go-round. 
> 
> This Rip van Winkle is rapidly approaching 80 years old with 3 great
> grand kids to shoot and 100s of  real Tri-X  negatives - some medium
> format and many 4x5 landscapes to scan and print. I'm Ok with the
> scanner. I have no need to print glossy or color, only matte paper 
13

> inches wide. I don't have time for a steep learning curve.
> 
> I will listen to every idea presented.
> Thank you for your help.
> 
> Steele in Texas
>

Get Art Entlich's Epson cleaning manual and try those methods first before you try a repair shop.  You have to email Art directly to request his free cleaning manual.  Go through back posts on this forum and you will find one with his email address.



--- On Tue, 7/29/08, k5cad <k5cad@...> wrote:

> From: k5cad <k5cad@...>
> Subject: [Digital BW] hope for Epson 1160? If not what next?
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Tuesday, July 29, 2008, 11:34 AM
> Hello from a Nooby(more or less). Five years ago I retired,
> closed my
> wet lab and started  printing black only with an Epson
> 1160. A year
> later when an illness and two household moves doused that
> passion the
> 1160 was a lightly used printer that was put in a box 
> without
> flushing or cleaning it in any way. It has been there for
> over two years.
> 
> Is there any hope for it?  Will Epson refurb it even at any
> price? Is
> there a clean printer head in a repair shop drawer
> someplace that
> would bring it back to life? I have been watching eBay for
> a while now
> hoping to see one of those "new in the box "
> listings where someone
> died after it was ordered,. Can I recapture that golden
> time in my
> life or just give up. Even after reading everything I can
> find by Paul
> Roark and Clayton Jones, I can't figure out how to get
> back on the
> merry-go-round. 
> 
> This Rip van Winkle is rapidly approaching 80 years old
> with 3 great
> grand kids to shoot and 100s of  real Tri-X  negatives -
> some medium
> format and many 4x5 landscapes to scan and print. I'm
> Ok with the
> scanner. I have no need to print glossy or color, only
> matte paper 13
> inches wide. I don't have time for a steep learning
> curve.
> 
> I will listen to every idea presented.
> Thank you for your help.
> 
> Steele in Texas

-Hi K5cad-
I think you should forget about the 1160-in ink jet printer years 
it's actually older than you! If you are willing to have it fixed at 
any cost you can just pretend that it costs as much to fix as a new 
2400 and buy the 2400 instead. Printing hi quality couldn't be 
easier than on the 2400 ( once you get past the photoshop learning 
curve that is)

-- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "k5cad" 
<k5cad@...> wrote:
>
> Hello from a Nooby(more or less). Five years ago I retired, closed 
my
> wet lab and started  printing black only with an Epson 1160. A year
> later when an illness and two household moves doused that passion 
the
> 1160 was a lightly used printer that was put in a box  without
> flushing or cleaning it in any way. It has been there for over two 
years.
> 
> Is there any hope for it?  Will Epson refurb it even at any price? 
Is
> there a clean printer head in a repair shop drawer someplace that
> would bring it back to life? I have been watching eBay for a while 
now
> hoping to see one of those "new in the box " listings where someone
> died after it was ordered,. Can I recapture that golden time in my
> life or just give up. Even after reading everything I can find by 
Paul
> Roark and Clayton Jones, I can't figure out how to get back on the
> merry-go-round. 
> 
> This Rip van Winkle is rapidly approaching 80 years old with 3 
great
> grand kids to shoot and 100s of  real Tri-X  negatives - some 
medium
> format and many 4x5 landscapes to scan and print. I'm Ok with the
> scanner. I have no need to print glossy or color, only matte paper 
13

> inches wide. I don't have time for a steep learning curve.
> 
> I will listen to every idea presented.
> Thank you for your help.
> 
> Steele in Texas
>

Thank you for your advice and different points of view of my problem.
The good news is my 1160 is repairable, albeit at a cost. Even the cost 
is good news because I now have other alternatives.  I guess' if I can 
do this without being overbearing, I will ask one more question about it.

Here are the criteria for making my decision:
1. I am primarily interested in Black Only printing on matte paper.
2. It might be nice to print color occasionally. A want - not a must.

Alternatives:
Rebuild my 1160  - about $200 (its old tech but I loved it - how much is 
nostalgia   worth?

Used 2200 - about the same cost - (I am watching eBay)  but newer tech 
and I could print BO and color in same machine.

An Epson 1400 - right now about the same cost refurbed from Epson. I am 
reading Paul Roark's ongoing work with 1400. But can I print Black Only? 
Will it print from Epson driver or must I use a RIP?

The issues with the 1400 are fuzzy to me. Even though its interesting, I 
was drawn to BO printing in the beginning because of its unique 
characteristics of high d-max and what we called smooth tonal 
transitions. That is the way my prints looked for 50 years. And that is 
the nostalgia I am interested in.

I'm leaning toward a used 2200.
I know this is rather basic and mundane for this group but I want to get 
the basic part right. What am I overlooking?

Thanks again,
Steele
Brenham, Texas