Do R3000s tend to have a 3 year life span before printing heads need to be repaired?

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
1

I ask this because I ran across a thread at DPReview http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3773605?page=3 in which a number of people have been unable to use the maintenance techniques described in this forum with success and are angrily complaining about Epson not standing by their product. I noticed no mention of the $170 damper replacement option, just repeated references to damaged print heads that require $400 or so pro repair work. Worryingly, many complain of the problem I started another thread with recently, black ink clogging with a tendency for cleanings to be only briefly successful. What does Inkjet Mall staff think? Thanks for your thoughts/conjectures.

2

The R3000 is NOT a desktop printer. It’s a repackaging of the Pro 3880 model using the same internals. But, unlike the 3880 printer, the R3000 should be considered to have a one year life - not just because that is the warranty - they usually hold up for the entire warranty period… But, also because it does not have the maintenance tools of the Pro 3880. Most people get 3-4 years from a Pro 3880 print head. If you can extend your warranty on an R3000 - you should.

3

You’ve always said this, and I’m not in a position to dispute you, but reading the general online discourse there’s a world of difference between them in practice. While there is always the occasional exception, the 3880 seems to be the most reliable and trouble-free printer Epson ever made. The R3000 on the other hand seems to have a serious design flaw, much like the x900 printers. The maintenance tools or lack thereof can’t explain this difference.

4

Yikes. What this suggests is that for me to invest in the $170 damper replacement, should I need it, would likely be a waste of money. Mine’s just over 3 years old.

Looking ahead, what would be a good replacement that uses Cone ink?

5

I like repeating myself so I say it frequently. :stuck_out_tongue:

“If it smells like it, tastes like it, it must be it” - as they say around here when stepping carefully through cow pastures…

The R3000 and Pro 3880 share ink delivery technology in regards to the print head and the ink exchanger. There are actually other components that are the same. The firmware is not. But that’s just the shiny paint job… Under the hood is the same printer - and we actually feature the R3000 and Pro 3800 using the same equipment in our two different maintenance videos. One you lift the hood and put it up on the lift - you see it.

Firmwares are interesting. One of the difference between the X800 and X880 is a difference in the amount of resting time in the cleaning cycle and the amount of suction time. The new VM would foam in the X800 - so this is one of the changes they had to make in the X880. It’s in an Epson white paper on the X880 - in quite detail.

So the tools that you have to interact with your printer are sometimes critical in their operation.

The new LF printers announced are going to give you even more control over how much expensive ink the printer flushes into its box by allowing you to make it purge frequently… That’s the upgrade rather than using the second generation TF head they put in the more expensive ($100,000) label printers.

So the new printers even if almost exactly the same as the X900s will seem different and should clog less. They will be harder to get 3rd party ink into. There is something up Epson sleeve on the P800 and new LF. It will take some time for the consumer choice prevention scheme to be unbound.

The most reliable and trouble free printers were the X000 and X600 platforms. Those suckers you can pull out of a landfill and get them up and running in less than 3 minutes. (i exaggerate) They are the Glocks of the print world (I am not exaggerating.) You really did not have to do much to maintain them…

6

No matter how similarly the R3000 and 3880 should behave because of apparent physical parts similarities, the anecdotal evidence is that they don’t. The R3000 has a frequently occurring fault that the 3880 doesn’t seem to have. Rather than this degenerating into a tussle on this point, does IJM have any advice to offer people like the OP who experience problems like the one reported by many people in that DPR thread, i.e. the black smearing?

7

Jon,
Would the ink charge function in the WIC reset utility be the best substitute for the power clean?

I know it uses a ton of ink (10mL from each cart), but it would be a small price to pay if all it would take is a set of new dampers and new capping/wiper assembly.

Larry

8

Brian,

They do not behave the same. I am not suggesting that they do behave the same. I am suggesting that owners of these two platforms should behave the same. Too often, the R3000 is treated as a desktop printer (which it most certainly definitely without a doubt is not). We advise that they maintain their R3000 printers in a preventative maintenance manner and we produced a video outlining this: How to Maintain an R3000 Printer

But, if no maintenance is ever performed, and inks are allowed to sit,etc… then this video becomes a moot point, doesn’t it? Suddenly brushing teeth will not remove cavities if teeth brushing has never been in practice, right? Common sense… (not that you can’t get cavities if you do brush…but I hope you get the comparison.)

So there are at least two approaches: listen to Epson, or listen to those who espouse preventative maintenance.

The reality is that if the customer is in warranty - this is remedied. If they are out of warranty, Epson recommends the ink exchanger be replaced on an annual basis. That is simply the procedure. Or you can use preventative maintenance to try and keep the printer fresh.

9

I believe its the only way to maintain this model adequately.

[QUOTE=LarryB;9019]Jon,
Would the ink charge function in the WIC reset utility be the best substitute for the power clean?

I know it uses a ton of ink (10mL from each cart), but it would be a small price to pay if all it would take is a set of new dampers and new capping/wiper assembly.

Larry[/QUOTE]

10

Do you have a copy of or a link to this whitepaper? It sounds like an interesting read to those who are interested in how and why the printer does what it does. A web search gives links to buy white paper :wink:

11

I do not have a link to it. At the time I was following a link to a Press Release, and simply followed my way up the URL to find a documents directory that looked interesting. The directory was open (without an index.html or index.shtml file) and it was easy and fascinating to look at the various directories contained within that directory. Each was also open for public browsing. This particular paper detailed the differences in the X800 and X880 printers in reference to service engineers. It may still be available - but I do not have that link or the trail. It was useful information but it has been many years now since the X880 was being released. Probably a directory with notes about the new SureColor printers exists - and if you poke around you may be able to find it by searching for .pdf or .pwt as a starting point. Many of the technical documents are in the form of PowerPoint Presentations.