Epson 3800 printer issue/question

[ray .]

I was thinking smaller ink cartridges on the P600 in a way would be better because I don't print a huge amount, and go without printing at all sometimes for a year or more.

But looking at it more closely, even not printing that much, I'd need to replace 25.9ml cartridges pretty soon, so I may as well order another full ink set with the printer. At that point the difference in price between the 2 printers is not much, and I'd still have less than the quantity of ink the P800 comes with.

 

My thought too was the P600 would be a little more compact, but that's probably not enough reason to choose it.

[Nick D.]

You know if you not use those printers, print-heads got clogged and you actually wasting way more inks on cleaning heads, than on printing itself:)

[2Oceans]

Ray, I replaced my 3880 with a P800 December of last year. I think the P800 does a little bit better job with greens. I think the improvement between the 3880 to P800 is incremental and nothing to justify replacing the earlier generation if you don’t have to. I imagine that the 3800 is probably neck and neck with the 3880. I replaced my 3880 because the dampers were messed up. Repair cost for replacing all the dampers would be about $800 because of the work unless I did the work myself and then it would be around $200 not including the time to take the printer apart repair/replace the head and dampers and put it back together correctly not to mention recharge all the inks. There are YouTube videos on how to do it. The black smearing along the edges of the print you showed us looks to me to be damper related and given the age of your printer its time to start having damper problems. My yellow 3880 cartridge was sucking black ink into the cartridge that would show up on test prints. I chose to buy a new printer. The P800 is $895 dollars with the current discount. The 3880 I had for 9 years was amazingly reliable. The P800 so far seems to be good to go. I print for myself and friends. Something to consider is that most printers are made of plastic and metal. Plastic just sitting around will outgas and become brittle and friable even if its seldom used. There is a good argument to replace your 3800 that I believe was in its day one of Epson’s home runs. Good hunting.

[ray .]

The P800 should arrive at my doorstep this week.

 

I hope the bottom feet are made of something more durable than the plastic/rubber/whatever material the 3800 had, that left a gluey residue on the table top.

[ray .]

Just started printing with the P800 yesterday and have made a few thumbnail 3 inch prints and a couple of prints on letter size paper.

 

The screen just popped up with a message 'Install the maintenance cartridge'.

 

I'm wondering now if they sent me an open box printer. The outer box looked normal but I had noticed when I opened it the thick semi-opaque plastic around the printer looked a bit dented up. Also it came with two 7 page booklets that apparently explain the warranty, but neither of them are in English.

 

The exterior of the printer looks new though, and it had 20+ pieces of tape that Epson puts on to protect parts in shipping.

[digitaldog]

So does the maintenance cartridge look like it's wet/full of ink?

[ray .]

I removed the maintenance cartridge and ink is just soaked into the central portion of it- front and back are dry. Replaced it back and the menu came back to normal, so maybe it was just a message error. The printer hadn't been shut off for over 48 hours (now 72+) so maybe that could have something to do with an error?

 

I've made a few prints with it since the issue and it seems fine.

 

None of 3 people on the phone at BH photo could tell me yes or no if they'd sell a printer as new that was returned with the buyer taking it out of the box without ever setting it up. I'm going to figure the chances of that happening aren't likely, but even if it did, the printer I would assume would still perform as new. I've got the 1 year warranty in any case, and will be exercising it enough to see if the problem arises again.

Edited August 8, 2019 by ray .

[ray .]

One other thing- and I may make a separate post on it- Is that the front feeder seems a little awkward and problematic to use. I've followed instructions with it and out of 4 pieces of letter size paper only one was printed without problem. The others had the front corner of the paper dented in the process.

 

I've found that with Ilford Gold Fibre Silk (12.5 mil) the top sheet feeder works fine. I want to order some Canson Platine Fibre Rag (15.6 mil) but I don't want to have to use the front loader….. So far I've only printed on letter size.

[ray .]

Reading now on Luminous Landscape that people having trouble with the front load is typical. I've read a description of how to get the hang of it, with the writer saying it's a design flaw but not a fatal one. I've read it twice and don't quite understand it, so I'll have to work on it some more. Also apparently using something as thick (but not really a thick paper) like Ilford Gold Fibre Silk from the top feeder might not be good for the printer long run.

 

Unfortunate this is an issue. I suppose if I figure how to work with it I won't be worrying about it, but for now, it's disappointing.