Epson and other printers setup these devices to have a "zero tolerance" when it comes to ink. If one ink is out then the printer stops working. If one computer chip on a cartridge goes bad then the printer stops printing. If you get a new set of inks and one cartridge is damaged then the printer will not print.
Frankly, be smart, give yourself a fighting chance. Have stock of inks so you can swap cartridges if needed. Get a refund or replacement later, but keep yourself working now.
You are a screen printer so you make films and films use only black ink so why do you have color ink in your printer? Oh yes, that was Epson’s idea because that is all they sell, but you have different needs.
Color inks that sit idle can and more likely will dry up and clog your inkjet so don’t spend your money on things that not only cost you money, they don’t make you money, and create downtime and clogs.
AccuRIP is the only RIP in the world that handles ALL BLACK printing. It’s the only RIP that makes sense for your job description.
Frankly, running ALL BLACK inks all the time is a part of keeping your inkjet printer healthy and is a proper way to spend your money. Do what you will but this is proper on so many levels. Stop using any RIP that cannot do this for you and switch to AccuRIP.
There is confusion among buyers when deciding what kind of an inkjet to purchase. For the purpose of this discussion we are going to focus on the Epson line of printers. Inkjets share much of the same technology and abilities so why are there so many different models to choose from and which is best for you? Let’s break them into two categories, desktop models and wide format models.
Desktop printers are smaller and generally do not handle "roll" media although a few do come with a roll option that "may" work OK for paper, yet it usually fails to deliver the results needed when printing to heavier film media. If using a desktop model it’s highly advised to print film "sheets". With so many models to choose from and just as many features with each owning the best desktop model for your purpose is easier than you may think.
1. You’re a screen-printer using an inkjet printer to print black ink on film and not color. Remember that, because all the extra ink tanks with orange inks, gloss optimizers and choices of matte or photo blacks mean nothing to you so you don’t need to pay extra for them.
2. Desktop printers do not have a mechanical roll. They are more like a toilet paper roll holder (and just as useful) where the film is tugged through the printer creating wear and situations of "off-registration". Not advised at all.
3. That brings us back to film sheets. Buy the printer that handles the biggest size you will use. Now they are all equal. The least expensive of the present shipping models is the 1400 and it handles up to 13×19 film. So do all the other desktop models up to the 3800 so why pay more than $700.00 for a printer when you can spend less than $250.00?
4. All but one of the present shipping models as of May ’09 use Ultra Chrome K3 PIGMENT inks which are great for archival prints on paper, but not so good for making dense film. The "diamond in the rough" the Epson 1400 is the only Epson printer that ships with Dye and Dye is best for making film. All others printers can and should be converted to Dye to get the best results.
5. There has to be some difference between printers that matters to a screen-printer? In fact, the only other feature that matters is the size of the print head. The bigger the print head the more surface area that will print with each pass and that translates to faster printing – and the difference basically stops at the r1900 model.
Frank Lee Speaking…
My suggestion to anyone buying a desktop printer to make screen-print film positives is to consider the Epson 1400 or the R1900 and nothing more.
Why spend the extra money for a wide format printer such as the Epson 4880 or larger (approximately $1,700.00)? The simple answer – a mechanical roll and knife.
Starting with the older 4000 series printer Epson handles the heavier media rolls of film. With its built in suction that not only holds the media flat and helps advance it smoothly a user finally can make good use of larger film sizes, but there is more to it.
1. Time is money. We all know it and with a larger printer feeding rolls of film that automatically "cut" after each sheet you can finally do "unattended" film output of your separations. This is the biggest and most valuable difference between desktop and wide format printers. With a desktop printer you must send "one" color separation at a time to the printer and feed a single film otherwise films will stick together. That takes "time" away from a valuable employee. With the roll and knife you can send many separations to the printer and do something else while they print. In a short time you will make up the difference in the cost of the printer.
2. These printers have the largest print head so they print faster, too – a lot faster.
3. They also hold a huge amount of ink so that is another bonus as desktop printers with small ink tanks need a lot of attention and usually at the worst time. With both wide format and desktop printers see the All Black Cartridge Based Bulk Black Ink solution visit www.allblackbulkink.com page located on this website to dramatically increase black ink volume for selected models.
4. Rolls of film generally cost less per foot than cut sheets and you can print more than one separation side by side to maximize the films usage adding to its value. Check with your chosen film manufacturer.
5. All the newest Epson printers now come with Ethernet networking as a stock feature making the printer more network friendly and efficient.
Now that you have read this you are educated to make and be satisfied with your purchase. If you are coming from a laser printer or a thermal unit to an inkjet for the first time there are things that you need to become comfortable with so making a less expensive purchase of say a 1400 then deciding to go for the larger format printer such as a 4880 later may work well for you. Using AccuRIP you will not have to purchase a new RIP license to transfer to a new model as other RIP manufacturers would charge you
No. For most screen-printers and their needs running an inkjet at 1440 x 720 will deliver quality results and acceptable print speeds. Inkjets work on a technology of multiple passes. The higher you set the resolution the more often the head will pass in close proximity to the previous pass, increasing the length of time for each print. That time can become quite lengthy. The object of every user is to test their inks and film against the lowest resolutions while achieving the quality they need.
Frank Lee Speaking…
The amount of time it takes you to get your films produced is extremely important. Slow processing over the course of the year will cost you an astronomical amount of time. Time is money!
USB and USB cables:
No longer than a 6 foot USB cable should be used. The longer the cable or "multiple connections" increases the risk for poor communication and failures.
Frank Lee Speaking…
Any time you can use Ethernet over USB you should.
USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a convenient technology but not a "strong technology". Here are things to do to improve performance.
1. Use one cable and don’t patch cables together. Patched cords can cause fatal packet errors. This may cause files to fail to print or to skip when printing. Skips are caused when the USB drivers recover too slowly and the data stream is interrupted.
2. A 6 ft cable (or less) is best. Since USB is a low powered technology the signal strength drops off as it travels over a distance so the longer the cable the weaker the signal.
3. If you must run a long USB cable you may want to investigate a signal booster.
4. "A USB to Ethernet print server adapter" may be a good option for USB only printers that must be located a great distance away. The computer sends the print via TCP (Ethernet) to the print server adapter (hub) that converts the signal to USB at the end.
Ethernet vs USB
USB is a bit easier to setup but if your printer offers you the ability to use Ethernet then it is highly advised to take the time to set it up. Transmitting and canceling print jobs is faster and more efficient than USB.
Epson offers an easy to use free utility called "Epson Net Config" which is located on your Epson installer cd or downloaded from the Epson website which makes this process very easy to manage. If you wish you may also refer to the printer manual to configure the address from the front control panel of the printer.
Larger Epson printers such as the 4880, 7880 and 9880 now come with Ethernet on board but it is configured with odd IP addresses. You will want to lock in a "static" address (one that does not change) that conforms to your local network address range (192.168.0.XXX or 192.168.1.XXX or 10.1.1.XXX). Once you have the number set in the computer you simply use that number in the RIP setup and that allows printing to begin.
