Epson 4800 Stylus Pro... help?

Harlequin565 · 4 Apr 2016

Hi folks,

I've been given this printer by a friend who's had it sat in an office gathering dust for a while and was grateful for the space. I'm experimenting with it at the moment, and am struggling to find help information on the internet.

My first hurdle that I can't seem to overcome is figuring out why the printer always prints out what appears to be a nozzle check type of thing before every print. 8 squares of each colour (one for each cartridge by the looks of it), followed by two larger rectangles - one yellow then one magenta. It cuts this off the roll, then goes on to actually make the print. Anyone know why this is, and how to make it stop!? It seems like some sort of self-test, but I can't figure out using the menus or the online manual what's going on. Google-fu has also failed me.

I'm printing on roll proofing paper at the moment while I get the hang of how it all works.

Any help would be sorely appreciated.
Thanks,
Ian.

mho · 4 Apr 2016

Its a setting in the menu system its called Nozzle check, you can disable it, its probably been set to print first because the 4000, 4800, 7600 series of printers were notorious for blocked nozzles if not used for a few days, so if your doing a big print after its been stood a week or so its worth doing the test sheet, instead of wasting the very expensive epson ink and paper on the large print.
Hot dry atmosphere is the 4800 enemy its better in a cool room, we used to put a margarine tub (empty) with a sponge and small about of water under the lid to help the nozzles stop drying up, but remember to remove it before printing, or its total disaster.

to get the best out the printer the Imageprint or shiraz RIP work very well with the printer, and worth it if you find one second hand.

i have a service manual somewhere i will have a look see if i can find it.

Mark

Harlequin565 · 4 Apr 2016

Thanks Mark.

mho said:
Its a setting in the menu system its called Nozzle check, you can disable it

You sir, are a star.

My mate wants £50 for it which is a bargain I think because there's a full set of unopened inks came with it and the current tanks are almost half full. Need to have a play with different papers now and find out what I want to go with. My initial prints seem to lack a lot of contrast and depth but I'm assuming that it's down to an uncalibrated monitor, proof paper (& profiles) as well as speed print settings. Going to try and get hold of some proper photographic paper and a 2nd hand monitor calibration device before digging deeper.

Had to lol when you mentioned Imageprint. Was looking at it the other day and thought it would be great until I saw the price.

I just want to get that darkroom "feel" of creating a photograph from start to finished product. Printing at A3 size is wonderful. The detail is incredible - even on flat proof paper.

Thanks again for your help.

mho · 4 Apr 2016

Imageprint is superb for Epson printers if you print a lot its worth the money.

You may find an older version for sale on ebay,
its sometimes cheaper to upgrade an older version for a larger printer (7800), than buy a new version outright.

send an email to imageprint support.

B1ts · 11 Apr 2016

Qimage.
50 quid is a steal with no ink so with the Included ink you cannot really go wrong.
Spare carts alone would easily more than get your money back on ebay.

Harlequin565 · 12 Apr 2016

Thanks folks - and thanks for your PM Mark.

I got some 2nd hand paper off ebay and it's delivered some amazing prints. I've now just printed off a couple of 40x12" panoramas on proof paper and they look flippin' amazing. There's nothing quite like seeing it come off the printer - apart from watching it appear in a dev tray. Got a couple of test packs of proper paper on their way. Canson, Ilford, Hahnemuhle and a couple of others.

QImage look like they do a trial which I'll probably give a go once the proper paper arrives. Bit more reasonable - although I was watching a YouTbue video where the fine art photographer said he did all his printing from LR now. That's what I'm using (Print module) and it seems pretty good. But if QImage is better - I'll stump up the cash.

Now I just need to keep an eye out for tanks on eBay. Gosh they're pricey!

B1ts · 13 Apr 2016

Price per ml beats the smaller ones though by miles, also bear in mind with up to 100 years light fast these days out of date carts are not a totally bad idea and cheaper on ebay.

The other plus for qimage is the devs attitude, he realised an ongoing payment model was needed to continue development but has done so in a very fair manner, the twenty dollars renewal is not compulsory you simply pay it when you want/need the updated features and it then gives you a year of updates you can then let it lapse and repeat when suits you.

Harlequin565 · 13 Apr 2016

Thanks B1ts. My test papers arrived today. What a huge difference between them all. My B&W images render completely differently on different papers. Some green, some more traditional "silver" which is what I much prefer.

mho · 16 Apr 2016

Have a look at buying your inks from the USA via ebay, a full set of 12 inks for my HP Z3200 cost approx £600 to buy in the UK,
I purchased my last full set 12 inks from the USA and with the cost of ink, postage and customs vat and tax, they cost me £165.
They ranged from use by dates 12 months to 6 months in the future so plenty good enough for us, we will have used them by then.

Harlequin565 · 17 Apr 2016

I'm picking up occasional carts on eBay that are out of date. General thought seems to be that the K3 inks are fine out of date and the ones in the printer at the moment are dated 2010 and still look better than DSCL prints of the same image.

They're all 220ml carts and one hit the 5% warning on Friday. 10 A4 prints later and it's gone down to 4%.

A full set would be way out of my price range, and the first few pages on eBay aren't showing any anyway. What I am confused by is that the 4900 cartridges are a lot cheaper. I'm guessing it's a more common printer?
Either way, I think if I try and source one "most-near-to-empty" cartridge every month I should keep on top of it. That's a cost I can manage.

B1ts · 18 Apr 2016

Harlequin565 said:
I'm picking up occasional carts on eBay that are out of date. General thought seems to be that the K3 inks are fine out of date and the ones in the printer at the moment are dated 2010 and still look better than DSCL prints of the same image.

They're all 220ml carts and one hit the 5% warning on Friday. 10 A4 prints later and it's gone down to 4%.

A full set would be way out of my price range, and the first few pages on eBay aren't showing any anyway. What I am confused by is that the 4900 cartridges are a lot cheaper. I'm guessing it's a more common printer?
Either way, I think if I try and source one "most-near-to-empty" cartridge every month I should keep on top of it. That's a cost I can manage.

Just keep an ebay alert going and cherry pick the best price vs dates, did that with my older 4000's and had 4 full sets cheap built up within 6 months easily enough. Bit trickier if you only try for those you feel are running low in order. Fwiw you will likely find the cyans get used up fastest.