R3000 utility Software

Does anyone here have experience with the utility program for the R3000, sold by 2manuals.com? Is it worth the 20 bucks? I’m looking for some feedback. Thanx.

   Dustin

I have no first-hand experience of it, but have you seen this?
http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?151-Initial-Fill-Procedures-for-Epson-Pro-Model-Printers

I’m sure that someone posted a link where you could download the Epson program direct from Epson seemingly for free, but I can’t find that link now. Looked legit to me.

The other option is to try the free WIC reset utility (free if you don’t want to reset the waste counter). Recent versions have some of the features of the adjustment program include. I think power cleaning is included for some printers, but not sure about initial filling.

I’ve tried looking for a free version of the adjustment program on-line. But, Epson doesn’t offer it. Seems that the adjustment program is strictly third-party. I need to run the initial fill, as I am trying to flush the system with Piezoflush.

I have searched the forum for info on this. I have found plenty of references to the adjustment program. But, no posts from anyone who has actually used it. To me, that is a bit of a red flag.

I had a search and I think my memory was partly faulty. It may have been this option to download a program that will do a reset of the waster counter. Sorry. I’ve never tried it either. The Pro printers are not included since they mostly have a removable waste tank. The R3000 doesn’t, but despite this doesn’t seem to be included. Can’t help re the adjustment program. Perhaps the lack of bad reports is a green flag?

No one here, has actually downloaded and used the service adjustment program, that gets so much discussion?

  Dustin

What do you want to know about it?

Yes, we use the adjustment programs from 2manuals.com on a regular basis. I just recently charged one of our R3000 printers with ink to test, then flush to store, If you are asking if the $20 spent on the adjustment program is worth your $, in my personal opinion, YES! It saves time & paper which all add up to more then $20 if you are trying to introduce ink into your system and push the unwanted inks out. Hope this answered your question? Kindly-Kelly

Thanks Kelly, for your response. It pretty-much answered the question I was asking.

  Dustin

Does anyone have the link for the Service Adjustment Program? I know that I have came across that link, both on this forum, and on the Inkjstmall site. But, hours of searching have produced zip. I tried the 2manuals.com site. But, their search takes me to a different program, than the one discussed here. is it no longer offered?


I’m a bit worried from checking this site often, that they are in the process of editing the Adjustment Programs they sell to REMOVE certain features related to waste ink reset and other features in their WIC program. It seems that they are trying to steer people to their one-time-use keys. It may be time to fine a different seller for the adjustment programs… :frowning:

That’s the same issue that I ran into. I’m looking for the other service utility—the $20 one with the unlimited WIC reset feature. I have a great aversion to being gouged.

I too would prefer to have the service program so I can have complete control over my printers. The 3880 for example has some other counters and will stop working after a certain number of ink cartridges are removed!!!
That said, how often does the waste tank get full, vs how long will the other parts last? Epson implies that it should be rare to need to reset more than once…

Yes, but my recent experiences with the R3000 have shown me, that the ink lines need to be completely flushed once a year. Epson did not see fit, to give the R3000 replaceable dampers. So, yearly flushing seems to be the only practical alternative. Such flushing could run up the waste ink counter quite quickly—even though I am using an external waste bottle.

Of course, i could just flush the system, by printing pages of color patches. I estimate that it would take about 8 8x10 photo sheets of solid swatches, to fully recharge all of the lines. And, using prints, I would not be running up the WIC, or placing stress on the heads with cleaning.

Still wondering—does anyone know where I can get the old version the R3000 Service Adjustment Program? I need the one that includes both the initial ink prime and the no-key-required waste reset utility. The real irony is, I wouldn’t need the waste reset, if i wasn’t flushing the lines. And yes, I am using an external waste tank.

I just purchased the service program to flush several nonfunctioning heads. I am having difficulty with the program itself. I am using an old dell running windows xp. I downloaded the appropriate drivers and can get a test page to print. When running the utility program, I get a communication error and can’t get the ink fill function to work. Any advice out there on settings for the utility program???
( please excuse me if this should have been another thread)
PS. Just realized my error. Must use USB connector. My bad

Are your cartridges reading Full on the status monitor? The program won’t run an Initial Fill if your cartridges read any thing less then Full. Also, sometimes you may have to reinstall the printer driver, I have run into this before with communication errors between programs. Re-installing the print driver is always the easiest solution when you run into communication errors, I actually do this frequently for various reasons. Let me know if this helps, if not you may need to contact the software company you purchased the program from.

I just downloaded the new WicReset utility. It seems to have the clean and ink charge function, and check the counters for free. If you want the reset key, you have to purchase it separately. My waste ink counters are 10%, 10%, and 3% since January of this year. It seems I won’t need a reset key for a few years. For me, I would probably ever use the reset key once because I’m sure I’d want to update the printer before then. However, if I had to do a major cleaning, or use the ink charge to clear a stubborn clog, that would ramp up my waste ink counter pretty fast.

I’m not sure what I’m missing from the previous utility. I might have preferred it, but I won’t know now.

Larry

Larry (and others)

Larry’s post made me think: does the initial ink charge run up the waste ink counter? I use an external waste bottle. So, I wouldn’t be filling up the internal pads. The answer to this could greatly affect my future plans for printing, seeing that I would need to completely flush the system once a year, to keep the dampers clear.

I have another question, which might be the flip side of preaching to the choir. Are the Cone pigment inks actually a better quality, than the Epson factory inks? Specifically, are the Cone pigments less likely to cause the damper-clogging issues, that I have been facing with the Epson inks?

When I looked at http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/ I compared Epson with Cone on the same paper. I seem to recall that one Cone colour faded faster than the worst Epson colour, but by the end of the test I don’t think the worst Cone colour was much different than the worst Epson colour. I’m assuming that fading in an album will be far more dependent on the paper used. For my purposes, longevity of Cone ink is just as good as Epson ink.

There was a good discussion at the Nikonian website about clogs in some of the pro inkjet printers and I recall one guy had almost no clogs with Cone inks, but terrible trouble with OEM inks. This is the reason I switched to Cone inks as soon as I used up the Epson inks.

As for colour and print quality, I’m not an artist, so I can’t comment except that I’ve always heard good stuff about Cone.

Larry

Thanks Larry. The discussion on the Nikonian website, was the answer that I was seeking. Somewhere, I recall reading that the Cone inks slightly less density on the prints, than the OEM inks (the difference was less than switching between brands or grades of paper). I was hoping that that might also translate into fewer clogs and damper problems. Do you have a link to that discussion?