Boba said:
Does anyone know how to print using this printer when the color
cartridges have run out of ink?
I am getting a message on the LCD that says the ink is low and to
replace the ink cartridges. The black ink is brand new and I should be
able to print in black only. The message doesn't go away even if I
remove the empty ink cartridges.
Since this is an "All In One" it is even preventing me from using the
scanner. Would they really make a printer that forces you to buy more
ink (about $80) before you could scan anything.
Yes, they would! And they have been, for quite a while now.
Epson uses piezoelectric printheads, as opposed to the thermal heads used on
most other printers. The enemy of piezo heads is air bubbles. They can
damage the costly head, and that's why you cannot continue to use the
printer if ANY individual cartridge runs out of ink.
In fact, Epson designed its cartridges to signal "empty" when there's still
around 15% (higher by some estimates) ink left! That's to make certain you
can't run the cart completely dry and thereby introduce air into the head.
If you don't believe that, carefully open up a spent cartridge over a sink,
slice open the plastic film covering the various ink channels and rinse it
out -- repeatedly push in the spring loaded outlet valve as well. There's
so much ink left, it will take quite a while before the water begins to
clear!
It's incredibly wasteful and annoying, but it actually saves money in the
long run, because it's even MORE wasteful to run tons of cleaning cycles
just to purge the head once you've gotten air in the system.
Aftermarket carts and ink can save lots of money, but they're a crap shoot.
Fed up with OEM price gouging and scare tactics, I decided to try a
clear-cartridge refill kit for my R200. The RX600 uses the same kit:
http://www.inkjetcarts.us/servlet/Detail?no=8
Only $44.95 for 6 spongeless carts with autoreset chips, 2 syringes, plus 4
ounces of ink for each of the 6 colors. That's cheap! I find the magenta
and light magenta are the only trouble areas with this kit, as they aren't
quite as vibrant as Epson's. All the other colors match. Increasing the
magenta level in the printer driver solved that problem and now I'm getting
beautiful skin tones and perfect grays. Printer test images, such as
http://www.sd9.org.uk/Printer Test file.jpg come out a damn close -- if
not exact (using only my calibrated eyeballs) -- match to the Epson ink.
I'm sure you could get an even closer match, if necessary, by further
tweaking the driver settings.
The drying times seem on par with Epson as is smudge resistance. It remains
to be seen whether they fade over time any faster than Epson inks, however.
It also remains to be seen whether they eventually clog the nozzles any
worse than Epson inks.
The documentation is excellent, but they might have mentioned one more tip.
If your printer was left sitting for a while with original carts, you may
have to run the initial purge cycle as I did, using the
http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml program.
CAUTION: Unless you intend to replace ALL carts, do NOT attempt a chip
test/read or anything else relating to the chips using the SSC program on
certain printers like the R200 -- you will end up with chips indicating near
empty levels! Even if you could manage to fool the chip with a resetter,
you still won't know how much ink is really in the original carts, which
could lead to air entering the system. I took a couple of my Epson carts
down from around 27% to around 3% when I hit the wrong button. Ok, I was
half asleep and shouldn't tinker when I'm in that shape, but it happens.
Fortunately, I had planned to swap all the carts with the refill kit anyway,
so it wasn't a total loss.
Btw, no, I don't work for inkjetcarts.us, and this is my first order from
them. I have no idea as to the lifespan of their ink, either on paper or in
the bottle, or whether it will end up clogging my printhead. I'm simply
impressed with the INITIAL quality and price of the kit, as well as their
customer service. They answered my email questions promptly and included
documentation and image files for review.
If you're not in the USA, shipping cost might be higher than the product, so
you'll probably want to shop around for suppliers in your area.
Or, you could keep buying original carts. I just personally felt ripped off
when I did that.