Max. Ink age = ?

[GuidoH]

Hello everybody,

I bought a new 3800 Pro 1 1/2 years ago because EPSON has had a good offer at that time. Until now I'm very satisfied with my choice.

So far I printed a few (0 < x <100) A3+ photos I needed for a few set's of calendars. Currently the ink tanks are filled nearly 1/2 or more, depending on the color.

Now I decided to read more about and begin with fine art printing. So one of the first steps I think (and read) is to get a calibrated printer with dedicated color profile. My scanner and monitor are already color calibrated but the printer isn't so far.

As I know the color profile is specific for on paper type and used inks. Therefore my question is:

Can I use the currently installed original ink tanks with 1 1/2 years old original inks or does the ink (color, other things) change by time? Well, I know EPSON recommends to change the ink tanks after 6 month. But in other forums I read some guys are using the same ink (tanks) for over a year and got good results.

What are your experiences and/or suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Guido

http://www.pix-bavaria.com

[The Crofter]

I have calibrated my monitor but not the printer. Never had too. Much of my work is printing scanned watercolour prints and the key is to have the monitor as accurate as possible. I use profiles from the paper manufacturers and can print colours that are, in my opinion, perfect. Of course a lot depends on what you will do with the prints and will anyone ever see the original at the same time ?. If not then you can afford to be a little innacurate with the final colour balance providing the results are good. I am looking at this from a sales point of view. No idea what the life of ink is but unless your colour matching is critical I would not worry too much. You may find the cartdridges start to timeout at some point so I would get printing

[gcrogers]

I'm with Pat.

I can't even remember how long ago I purchased my 3800, but it is still happily chugging away on the original carts. (knock wood). (and no, I haven't used it as much as I'd expected to. It's a wonder it survived last year of almost no use, but it did. Turned off, heads parked I presume.

I am quite picky and all is well as far as I am concerned.

[bez]

It’s most unlikely the encapsulated pigment particles would change colour as this would have very worrying implications for the longevity of the prints.
The life of the cartridges depends on the thickening (partial drying) of the ink, and Epson’s guideline of 6 months appears to be very conservative and is probably based on worst possible atmospheric conditions, ie. extremely hot & dry. I have printed perfectly with cartridges that are at least 14 months old, before they finally ran out.
It’s probably a good idea to take them out of the printer occasionally (every 3-6 months?) and give them a shake, checking you can hear the ink sloshing about.

As stated above it’s not really necessary to 'calibrate' the printer, although there’s no harm in getting a custom profile for your individual printer (apparently the 3800 is assembled by hand) with a particular paper, once you’ve chosen one (in reference to your other post )

[Paul Holman]

I bought our 3800 in November 2006, it was one of the first available in the UK, and it still has three of the original carts installed.
I pulled them all out last year when changing a cart and gave them all a shake, but I've not noticed any deterioration in print quality since new. I rather hope that the automatic agitation technology Epson boasted of when they first launched the 3800 has a lot to do with it.
I've also only ever had one nozzle clog after a particularly heavy head strike on some thick art paper in the first week of use. Since then it's been faultless despite it's lower than anticipated usage.

If I was bothered could go back to the original profiling targets I printed and compare them with a new set.
When first released Epson claimed a six month shelf life for the 3800 ink carts, but in my experience that's hopelessly pessimistic, or a marketing ploy, keeping carts beyond the six months date is absolutely no problem at all.

With respect to 'calibration';
As the 3800 is one of Epson's professional range, it is accurately calibrated on assembly. It's very unlikely to need re-calibration until you've used several sets of ink carts or several years have elapsed. Calibration can be done with the Colorbase utility, downloadable from Epson, but you'll need a supported spectrophotometer like the GMB Eye-1pro to measure the print outs and generate the calibration file.
In theory keeping the printer calibrated ought to ensure output doesn't change and any custom printer profiles you've made, or bought, should remain accurate. My profiling business(http://www.colourprofiles.com) will support clients with the 3800 by measuring Colorbase print outs if required.
Unless the printer is getting a heavy daily workload it's probably not worth worrying about unless output significantly changes or the machine is serviced (which ought to include re-calibration anyway).

If you're using non Epson papers it's worth getting custom printer profiles made as some of the profiles supplied my paper manufacturers aren't as good as they could be, but Epson's supplied profiles work well for their own papers and may be all you ever need.

Hope this helps

[bez]

Welcome Paul, and thanks for your valuable insights.
So three of your tanks are about 30 months old, which is very impressive (I also bought mine in November 06, moving up from the 2400)
I wasn’t aware there’s an inbuilt agitation system – can you explain how it works?
I find I can print on similar papers (eg. fibre gloss) without the need for separate profiles, although of course I’m not printing and measuring test targets …

[The Crofter]

Thanks Paul, some good information on your site. Colour issues are always cropping up on various forums so I will try to link to your pages when possible.

[Paul Holman]

I wasn’t aware there’s an inbuilt agitation system – can you explain how it works?

Frankly, no, I can't. It was a feature mentioned in some of the very early technical literature on the 3800 before it actually arrived. Since then I've rarely seen it mentioned, maybe it didn't make it to the production models or maybe it was just some opportunist marketing spin on the basic mechanics of the printer or Epson just don't think it's much of a sales feature.

I find I can print on similar papers (eg. fibre gloss) without the need for separate profiles, although of course I’m not printing and measuring test targets …

Yes, the supplied profiles are pretty good and will give acceptable results on many other papers, but to get the absolute best performance from the specialist high quality papers like Harman FB, DaVinchi fibre etc a custom profile will help deliver the full dmax, gamut and add the extra precision in output fine art printers strive for.

[lnbolch]

I suspect the "inbuilt agitation system" is simply the sloshing-around that must take place as the print-head moves rapidly back and forth during the printing process.

As Jerry Lee was wont to sing, "There's a whole lot of shakin' goin' on!"

[bez]

.. sloshing-around that must take place as the print-head moves rapidly back and forth during the printing process ..

This would of course be true if the 3800 was the same as A3 printers, but like the bigger models, it’s the smallest in the range to have static cartridges. Presumably this is because of the weight and size – eight x 80mls would be quite a lot to carry on top of the printhead!

[Paul Holman]

I suspect the "inbuilt agitation system" is simply the sloshing-around that must take place as the print-head moves rapidly back and forth during the printing process.

You may be right, although that wouldn't agitate the ink in the carts especially well, on that basis you'd have thought it would be getting less agitation than printers that slosh the whole ink carts back and forth whilst printing. It's not as if the 3800 is prone to much vibration when printing, I've known some older inkjets almost walk themselves off the desk with vibration when printing!

It's more likely to be linked to the pressurisation system used for the carts. As the carts are pressured on power up and de-pressured when switched off, that may be enough to keep the pigment in suspension.

[GuidoH]

Many thanks

to all of you for sharing your tips, hints and suggestions!

It's great to get so much feedback on my questions!

Thanks again and greetinx

Guido

[mathewdavid]

Thanks Paul for your such an important help.
Your suggestion will very helpful to me.
Thanks again.