Epson 3800 printer issue/question

If it's the ink switching value, the part alone costs about $25. Then you have to do all the work and there's no guarantee that will fix the issue but it's likely it will based on what I see. My 3880 is running strong after 9 years. But yeah, I'd probably consider replacing it with a P800 considering you'll get all new ink cart's after you told us you need to replace two already. But there's no need to keep testing; your printer is broken.

Just checking here:

Looks like something I don't want to get into. Apparently the switching valve can be found on ebay, but otherwise Epson only sells the entire $160 assembly.

 

Seems to be a common issue and supposedly regular maintenance issue with these printers. Are the new Epsons built the same way? Ink for the P600 seems more expensive in smaller quantities than the 800, but I don't need the larger print size and don't do a massive amount of printing. Canon cameras are known for being very reliable- no idea re their printers.

Almost makes me want to go back to the darkroom. If not for exposure to chemicals, I would.

 

Photonet seems to have virtually evaporated. 10 years ago there would have been at least a half dozen people in on this discussion. I had the same experience a couple weeks ago with one person helping me through with a couple of pages of posts on Hasselblad questions.

 

Thanks for your help.

I wouldn’t say it’s a common problem when you consider the tens of thousands of Epson printers in use every day. It is a part that is known to fail and hence we see reports on the web. The valve itself costs only about $25. But you may need to replace the entire assembly which costs as you report $160. Since you tell us you are not mechanically inclined, I think your best bet would be to replace the printer with a new one.

You never had an enlarger break or go out of alignment? ;)

- Not the Leitz Focomat V35 I've had sitting in the garage for years. It's rock solid. I hang onto it for the 10% chance I'll ever use it again.

 

Also, if you get it exactly right, a nice silver print can be more beautiful than inkjet. It's just that it takes 10 to 100 times the time and effort.

Also, if you get it exactly right, a nice silver print can be more beautiful than inkjet.

Let's not go there..... ;)

Can you post nozzle check results? If nozzle check shows all 8 channels OK, it's ether bad ink or color profile mismatch( driver's error :) ).

I can try to post it tomorrow. It looked pretty consistent. Just fairly light color tones on plain paper. I don't know if that's how it's supposed to look.

Someone who wants to buy the 3800 says they want to convert it into a T-shirt printer. Is that possible? Would it use different inks then?

The ink leak along the edge of the paper here has happened at times before since I've had the printer new but this seems more than normal. It's not on the print that's centered on the other paper so I don't know if this is an issue with printing small close to an edge.

 

I've had that problem a few times with my Epson R2400. It was curved paper rubbing on the print head. The paper didn't have to be curved very much to get smudged. Ensuring the paper was dead flat fixed the problem.

The black junk along the right edge of your sample print looks like head strikes and does not resemble the classic failing black ink switching valve dripping spots onto the print. Agree that some nozzles may be clogged. Find some flat paper to test on. Cheap photo glossy 8.5x11" from an office supply store is fine.

No one has yet mentioned head cleaning which is what your printer probably needs. Been there, done that - especially after long periods of non-use. Running your ink tanks to the bottom can also cause issues and have had this happen on my Epson Stylus Photo R2000. Its worth a try. Constantly running nozzle cleanings only runs your tanks down and can muck up things even worse.

 

I've used Printhead Hospital products with excellent results. There's a lot of wait time so be patient. You'll also have to run several prints thru after the cleaning.

 

Step-by-step videos are also offered on YouTube.

 

Hope this helps.

 

- Jeff

Hi Jeff,

 

The description on the Printhead Hospital kit on Amazon says it’s not compatible with Stylus Pro printers.

I emailed the Printhead Hospital to confirm.

So yeah, Print Hospital confirms the solution isn’t effective on the kind of ink the Stylus Pro printers use.

What nozzle check showing?

Ah forgot. I'll get to that today, thanks Nick.

 

I've been checking on the Epson P600 if I end up getting something new.

Did a cleaning by holding the menu button down 3 seconds. Got the same result with a test print with setting on advanced B&W. Where the blacks or dark greys are, it prints a blueish hue. The darker the grey tone should be, the lighter the blue.

 

Tried to do the nozzle check again and instead of getting sets of lines with colors & grey tones (which I think looked pretty normal last time), it gave me the following:

Also couldn't do a cleaning when in the Epson utility menu.

 

Driver version is 9.33

Nozzle check on mine looks like this

You can see individual channels. When inks get too low , you can't launch head cleaning.

Yeah that’s how mine looked a few days ago when I did it, except they were printed in two groups split between the colors and monotones.. There may have been only 4 colors- yellow was virtually empty. Now magenta is empty & cyan almost. I must have tossed the paper- should have saved it.

 

At this point I’d have to spend another $160 for 2 cartridges after spending $60 to replace yellow before doing anything else, with no guarantee it can easily be fixed.

 

Do people expect the P600 model out now to be at least as good and well built as the 3800? Stylus Pro 3800’s aren’t fetching much on eBay.

Based on some limitations, the P600, which I did own will provide print quality as good or better. But you should consider the actual replacement for the 3800 replacement (3880) which is the P800 which I also own.

As I said much earlier, I think your printer is dying and I would move on.

The only significant difference between the P600 & 800 is print size capability & ink cartridge size though, right? $509 vs $895 after rebate.

Ron Martinsen's Photography Blog: REVIEW: Epson SureColor P800 vs P600, 3880 & 4900 – Part I