Printer Ink

Chappers

Chappers

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It seems to me a bit of a waste when the ink cartridges on my Epson Printers run out and I throw them away, and replace with a brand new one.

Over the years I've tried a number of refillable options from various sources only to be disappointed with the printed results.

The main selling point seems to be cost. And it apears to me that something has to go. Typically the amount of pigment in the ink. I recently tried again with refillable cartridges. Again disappointed. The cartridges gave a weak image compared to the genuine Epson ones. I tried several prints thinking it may need time to bleed through, but no improvement. Replacing the original Epson ones, quality prints first time

Has any one found a supplier of refillable cartridges and more importantly INK, that approaches that of the original manufacturer.:shrug:
 
I just find it so expensive to print my own that I use the web to get mine printed now
 
I've been using Projet cartridges from Burn Media and was quite pleased with the results - even on cheap paper. I couldn't notice a great difference from manufacturer carts. Plus, a set of 6 inks for a fiver is pretty hard to beat! At that price, it has to be worth a go.
 
I have just received a CISS - continuous ink supply system - not fitted it yet, as I am still using the cartridges I have, but value for money is fab - not much more than a set of Epson (in my case) carts, but it contains many refills-worth of ink. Several others here seem to use them so may be able to help more, but I have to guess the ink is slightly lower quality than Epson, but for everyday stuff, it has to be as good as Jettec or whoever (BUT, this is my opinion without having tried it yet !)
 
I've not found anything that works as well as the Epson ones but I haven't looked around for a while. I'm paying £30 for a set of Epson (R360) carts at the moment which isn't too bad, certainly a lot cheaper than they used to be.
 
Steve

let me know how the CIS goes. And if it's OK let me know who makes it
 
I have been using a CISS on my R300 for about 8 months and have just opened my second set of bottles of replacement ink. It is my second CISS as the first one which I bought from SVP was awful and packed up, filling my printer with ink then after being replaced the replacement didn't work. The new one which I bought from a shop just outside of Leyland is superb and has worked faultlessly. The biggest problem with CISSs is that the ink supplied is not EXACTLEY the same ink that the manufacturer supplies and so you get a slightly different output. To correct this you really need to use a colour checking device (just like the ones a lot of us use for our monitors) you can then create a profile based on your preferred paper and your CISS. Some of the best CISS suppliers will actually supply you with a replacement profile for free when you get your system. I have just bought a gorgeous new R2400 and will be getting a CISS for it later this month, this seems to be the best :

http://www.marrutt.com/lyson-contin.php

They also do some for other printers too.

There is another option if anyone doesn't want to go to the cost of a CISS. You can buy refillable cartridges then buy the ink in bottles and fill them with a syringe.

I find that filling from a syringe is best for the CISS too. Just draw up the correct amount of ink into the syringe and squirt through the breather hole then draw up and squirt some hot water about five times then pull the plunger out and shake it a couple of times. Because the water is hot any remaining evaporates and you are ready to do the next colour! If anything its as easy as changing a cartridge and a lot less messy than attempting to fill the reservoirs using the ink bottle.

Oh yes the CISS for the R2-- and R3-- series printers that I use costs about £45 with one set of ink bottles (equivalent of 14 cartridges each!). It is not the absolute cheapest but it is remarkable value. I will be paying nearly £400 for the R2400 CISS !
 
Cowasaki

Can you let me know the name of the Leyland shop. It's not a million miles from me so may be worth a visit.

I've investigated the cheaper ink options and to be honest those tend to be the ones that disappointed me. I'm not after saving a lot of money , just it seems a waste to throw away cartridges. I've investigated the Lyson ink option which I think is probably one of the best ones on the market, but I really don't produce enough hard copy to justify it. Most of my work goes straight to repro. I just need some prints as high quality proofs.
 
I have been using the CISS from http://www.marrutt.com/lyson-contin.php on my R1800 for over a year now without to many problems as long as you don’t leave it more than a week without printing, I think the only problem I seem to have is the nozzle on the cyan blocks a bit more than I would like the others are fine.

The colours looked pretty good to me then I got a custom profile done from http://www.simplyicc.com/index.php and the colours are really good I’m very happy with the system.

The system is a bit pricy for the initial outlay but after that, 125mm bottle of ink is the same price as an Epson original cartridge
 
Chappers said:
Cowasaki

Can you let me know the name of the Leyland shop. It's not a million miles from me so may be worth a visit.

I've investigated the cheaper ink options and to be honest those tend to be the ones that disappointed me. I'm not after saving a lot of money , just it seems a waste to throw away cartridges. I've investigated the Lyson ink option which I think is probably one of the best ones on the market, but I really don't produce enough hard copy to justify it. Most of my work goes straight to repro. I just need some prints as high quality proofs.
Click to expand...

Yes it's a company called "Ink Jet Direct" on 01772 456777.
 
zeb said:
I have been using the CISS from http://www.marrutt.com/lyson-contin.php on my R1800 for over a year now without to many problems as long as you don’t leave it more than a week without printing, I think the only problem I seem to have is the nozzle on the cyan blocks a bit more than I would like the others are fine.

The colours looked pretty good to me then I got a custom profile done from http://www.simplyicc.com/index.php and the colours are really good I’m very happy with the system.

The system is a bit pricy for the initial outlay but after that, 125mm bottle of ink is the same price as an Epson original cartridge
Click to expand...

Fantastic, that is the system I am buying later this month for my R2400 I will check out the about profile.

What paper does everyone use? I love the output from the R2400 on Epson's archival matte with the matt ink it is as good as the photography shop as far as I can see
 
I've been using the Lyson CIS frm Marrutt on my R2400 for about a year now - and I love it. It's saved me a fortune!
 
-Oy- said:
I've been using the Lyson CIS frm Marrutt on my R2400 for about a year now - and I love it. It's saved me a fortune!
Click to expand...

I hope you don't mind answering a few questions for me then! What paper are you using? How long does the ink last? Are problems at all? Are you using any extra print profile? Are you using a PC or Mac?

Thanks
 
Anyone tried Cartridge World. They seem to be doing a lot of advertising. Also why wont my Epsom printer print properly on other than Epsom Glossy paper?
 
Shogun said:
Anyone tried Cartridge World. They seem to be doing a lot of advertising. Also why wont my Epsom printer print properly on other than Epsom Glossy paper?
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I've had this problem before trying to print using an Epson on some HP paper the ink seems to sit on the surface! My cure was to buy paper designed for the Epson. There are lots of them out there but you need to check the compatibility.
 
Should you be interested in a continious ink system which for my money is far cheaper than cartridges, myself and a good few friends use Fotospeed, if you buy their papers and inks then your profiles are free.
I bought a replacement set of pigment inks recently (125mls per bottle) for my 1290 at a cost of £25.00 per bottle, there range of papers is very good and the ink colours are lovely, they are also really good and helpfull company to deal with.
Should you want to check them out go to

www.fotospeed.com
 
photoden said:
Should you be interested in a continious ink system which for my money is far cheaper than cartridges, myself and a good few friends use Fotospeed, if you buy their papers and inks then your profiles are free.
I bought a replacement set of pigment inks recently (125mls per bottle) for my 1290 at a cost of £25.00 per bottle, there range of papers is very good and the ink colours are lovely, they are also really good and helpfull company to deal with.
Should you want to check them out go to

www.fotospeed.com
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Which paper are you using and how does the print compare with the original Epson cartridges on their paper?
 
Which paper are you using and how does the print compare with the original Epson cartridges on their paper?

I personaly use Pigment friendly Lustre which suits me for what I want, and I would say that the quality is equally as good as Epson inks/paper
 
cowasaki said:
I hope you don't mind answering a few questions for me then! What paper are you using? How long does the ink last? Are problems at all? Are you using any extra print profile? Are you using a PC or Mac?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I have two setup - bot R2400 and both the same CIS.

Work - From a Mac pro. I use Epson Premium Semi-gloss and Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl. I use the ICC profile from Marrut for the Epson paper - on both Epson and the Ilford. It works great. Black and white tends to have a slight magenta cast which is easily tuned out.

Home - PC and Macbook Pro. Just the Ilford paper. Same results.

The only problem I have is that sometimes I have to run a few cleaning cycles if the printer hasn't been used for a while. Other then that - I'm very happy with the results.

When using genuine Epson carts at home I was spending £40-50 month on ink. I bought the CIS at home in Feb 2007 with 125ml bottles - I've used about 75% of that over that time - costing about £150 at full price (£25 per bottle) for about 10 months use!
 
No experience of refill systems but I've tried many, many alternative cartridges - the only ones I've found comparable to the original Epson ones are Jettec, which I now use all of the time

simon
 
-Oy- said:
I have two setup - bot R2400 and both the same CIS.

Work - From a Mac pro. I use Epson Premium Semi-gloss and Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl. I use the ICC profile from Marrut for the Epson paper - on both Epson and the Ilford. It works great. Black and white tends to have a slight magenta cast which is easily tuned out.

Home - PC and Macbook Pro. Just the Ilford paper. Same results.

The only problem I have is that sometimes I have to run a few cleaning cycles if the printer hasn't been used for a while. Other then that - I'm very happy with the results.

When using genuine Epson carts at home I was spending £40-50 month on ink. I bought the CIS at home in Feb 2007 with 125ml bottles - I've used about 75% of that over that time - costing about £150 at full price (£25 per bottle) for about 10 months use!
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Thanks for the information.
 
were looking into it to. the guy that owns cartridge world in notts area also has a company called digi ink. which imports some realy good (he claims ) quality inks from lyson. and he supplies some nice media too.
hes on hols at the mo, but on his return were trying out some samples. we,ll let you know how good his inks are.
http://www.printerinks.com/4714/Pri...lack-High-Capacity-Original-InkCartridge.html
we use these expensive beasties . so a saving would be nice.
found this too.
http://www.therecycler.com/viewarticle.asp?article=854
 
markp said:
I've been using Projet cartridges from Burn Media and was quite pleased with the results
Click to expand...

Cheers for that link, three 6 packs ordered to day and looking forward to seeing the results! Only use my printer for proofs so going from £60 odd to £5 is fantastic even if the quality does suffer slightly. :thumbs:
 
The only problem with compatable inks are that the pictures fade after a few months ok if you just want snaps printed off but no good if thee pictures are framed and mounted thats the reason that the epson refills are so dear the ink is guaranteed not to fade for years rather than months also using the correct paper is a must sometimes cheap is false economy:)
 
Steffyboy said:
The only problem with compatable inks are that the pictures fade after a few months ok if you just want snaps printed off but no good if thee pictures are framed and mounted thats the reason that the epson refills are so dear the ink is guaranteed not to fade for years rather than months also using the correct paper is a must sometimes cheap is false economy:)
Click to expand...

There are custom inks and custom inks! Some of the branded custom inks also guarantee longevity and with a big saving over the genuine ones.
 
I hate to admit that i work for one of the biggest suppliers of compatible inks in the UK :eek:

put it this way... i would never use compatibles in our r1800, just not worth it. OEM cartridges contain a type of cleaning fluid that prevents the jets from blocking/drying up. compatible cartridges do not...
most of these cartridges are recycled incredibly cheaply in china and you wouldnt belive how much the cost us to buy...

more often than not the colours are miles out from the originals and if you are lucky enough to get a good colour match, the prints wont last for more than a year or two at most. put a print anywhere where it could catch a glimps of sun and its ruined in a few months.

it really isnt worth risking using compatibles on a decent printer. its cheap enough to have them done professionally these days, saving you enough £££ to buy OEMs for those special home prints.
 
I have an Acer Laptop 5920 and I would like to buy a printer where in I could print good quality pictures. I have several pics saved on my laptop and would like to print them out myself. Could you suggest which printer I could use and are the cartridges too expensive for printing these pictures.
-------------------------------------

mod comment: Now your not a nawty spammer are you? Ive removed the link that infringes forum rules...
 
I have an Epson R800, and I bought a set of Pigment CIS compatables from Hong Kong. I have made some great prints from the CIS cartridges, although it did take quite a few head cleanings until it started printing properly.

I received a full set of replacement pigment ink yesterday from the same supplier and have been pleased with their service and quality of the prints produced. As it is pigment ink, I suspect that there will be little if any fading, and I am just waiting for my new ICC profile to come back from fotospeed to test it out further.

I bought ebay item 280236043755

ebay item number
 
StuntMonkey said:
I hate to admit that i work for one of the biggest suppliers of compatible inks in the UK :eek:

put it this way... i would never use compatibles in our r1800, just not worth it. OEM cartridges contain a type of cleaning fluid that prevents the jets from blocking/drying up. compatible cartridges do not...
most of these cartridges are recycled incredibly cheaply in china and you wouldnt belive how much the cost us to buy...

more often than not the colours are miles out from the originals and if you are lucky enough to get a good colour match, the prints wont last for more than a year or two at most. put a print anywhere where it could catch a glimps of sun and its ruined in a few months.

it really isnt worth risking using compatibles on a decent printer. its cheap enough to have them done professionally these days, saving you enough £££ to buy OEMs for those special home prints.
Click to expand...



Nice to hear it from the horse's mouth (as it were!).

I use Canon printers - an s820 and an iX4000 - and always use genuine Canon inks, 7dayshop bring the cost down a bit but it's still not cheap. I was given a cheap (but apparently reputable - sorry, name escapes me) cart to try, so when it was needed, I put it in the slot. The colour rendition was terrible - possible retrievable with loads of profile fiddling but I couldn'd be bothered. Out came the cart and in went a new "real" one; a page of the colour fading from top to bottom cleared the head of the carp ink and the offending cart went in the bin.

As for throwing away empty carts, many charities accept them as donations - probably flogging them on to dodgy Chinese factories for refilling with the carp stuff! Mine go to the RNLI. http://www.rnli.org.uk/how_to_support_us/other_ways_to_support/at_work/collect4
 
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