Epson 7880/7890

Kelly, Dana, Jon:

I have been using very successfully WN, Carbon, and now Special Edition P2 with my Epson 7880 printer. I am considering adding an Epson 7980. Setting aside for the moment (it is a very big set aside) some of the significant user problems with this printhead technology, I am trying to verify that there is some demonstrable improvement in resolution and transitions beyond what the 7880 is already doing so well. I am aware that you use the Epson 7880, and wonder if you have any experience with the Epson 7980. Also, if anyone is reading this and wishes to share any experience my email is: rvfarm@sover.net.

Thanks

John

…oops…should read Epson 7880/7980

…well…oops again…right the first time…Epson 7880/7890…is there any gain in resolution and transitions by acquiring the Epson 7890 using the new, sometimes troubled printhead technology beyond what my current Epson 7880 is doing so well…they are now selling for less than the 17 inch 4900…expect Epson will end the manufacturing of this printer soon…

John

Hi John,

It’s always a good plan to know what you are getting yourself into when it comes to “upgrading”. One thing I can say for the new x900/x890 printers is they are much faster then the old 7880/9880’s. There is no difference in print resolution though and they do tend to be “troublesome” with frequent clogging nozzles.

BUT, we have several customers who have reported good success rates with these printers, these are customers who use their printers daily, keep the humidity levels stable, agitate their carts once a week & perform regular cleaning on the flushing box, Capping Station, Wiper blade and bottom of the print head. We do recommend avoiding Power Cleanings on this print head, too many in a short amount of time can damage the head, it is best to keep the printer printing on a regular basis to avoid clogging.

In addition we always recommend purchasing the extended warranty with these printers, it’s a good chance you will have to use it after the 1 year manufacture warranty has expired.

We use the 7880’s & 9880 in our studio and they are remarkably reliable, we are always on the look-out for used ones, if you do decide to replace yours, we might be interested in purchasing it from you.

Hope this helps in your decision making process, Kelly

Kelly:

Thanks for the response…you have answered my question…There is no difference in print resolution though and they do tend to be “troublesome” with frequent clogging nozzles. I am quite pleased with the performance and output of my Epson 7880…and printing speed is of little consequence…wish they would resume production…

John

Kelly;

Has the issue with 7890 and GO coating been solved?

by some - but not all - there are various fixes on the threads in the forum. the issue is resolved differently by different people…

Wasn’t there some talk of a software fix instead of a workaround?

was a hopeful RIP coming to market but it did not.
So its left to the particulars of your own printer model.
Why some can print and others can not - is still a mystery…

Yes, I see that. I just ran a test overprint on my 7890. I took a dark, borderless print and tried to print over it. One half of the over-print was successful, then the printer stopped printing with an “out of paper” error. I saw this very behavior previously reported on a 7890 when attempting GO overcoat. As we know, the 4880 and I assume all xx80s don’t have the problem.

Since I love GO on everything, I am fine up to 17" wide. While I don’t (yet) have much demand over that, I am hoping that I will. Assuming that I can work-around the paper recognition problem is solved, would the following be feasible:

If I had the need for a 24" wide print, could a dummy the black channel for GO? My idea was to take out the matte cart and put in a cart filled will flush. Then switch from Photo to Matte and flush out the black. Then pull the gloss black cart out and put in a cart with GO and then overcoat.

My concern of course is affecting the print head, but is that real? Am I missing something?

Thanks.

I have been using the 7890 with the Warm-Neutral matte/gloss ink sets and -aside from making some weird workarounds to the GO process, have had no issues. In fact I took a gamble and let the printer sit idle for a bit over three weeks. When I got back from vacation and did a test, I didn’t even have a clog.

That is great news Raphael, I am pleased to hear you have had good success with your 7890. Can you please share with us your work around for the Go process, any and all insight is always helpful.

Kelly