[filmscanners] Re: OT - Epson 1280 ink "monitor"...

["" <nick.grasso@hrads.com>]

Austin:

I own a 1270, the predecessor to the 1280, and am also on several Epson mailing
lists, so I can tell you that you have guessed #3 correctly. I'm not sure what
prize you win for this however <g>. (Also, we cannot totally rule out #1.) I'm
surprised it lets you print even black when the color is out. My 1270 doesn't
let me do this. Does it say it is completely out or just low? There is a way to
fool it into thinking the cartridge is full if it decides to not let you print
at all. In fact, there is usually 25% ink left in the color cartridge when it
says it's out, so I do this all the time.

Another thing to consider is that if you are printing a grayscale picture
(something with no color but many shades of gray), you should not tell it to use
black only. It will use the colors to give you finer shades of gray, although
you might see a slight color cast.

Nick






"Austin Franklin" <austin@darkroom.com> on 02/14/2003 04:06:42 PM

Please respond to filmscanners@halftone.co.uk

To:   Nick Grasso/MIS/HO/NAS/GBE@GBE
cc:

Subject:  [filmscanners] OT - Epson 1280 ink "monitor"...



Perhaps someone here can explain this...  I have an Epson 1280.  I have been
using it to print documents that require only black ink, and selecting in
the driver for it to print black only...and the documents are word
documents, that have black text only.

Well, the color ink has been steadily going down, according to the ink
monitor!  Again, I haven't printed a THING that doesn't use black ink
only...and in fact, I can keep printing, even though it claim the color inks
are out, because the documents I am printing only use black ink.

So, where did this ink go?  I see three options:

1) the ink "monitor" has a bug.
2) the printer still uses color inks even though black only is selected.
3) since it decides on its own to do cleaning cycles every now and then,
it's basically using the colored inks running cleaning cycles.
4) it takes evaporation into consideration ;-)

I'm skeptical of #2, as I can still print black only documents.  I'd guess
#3, but really, that's a LOT of ink to just piss away on cleaning cycles,
literally 1/4 of the cartridges and the black has gone down 1/4th, which is
being used.

Hum.  Anyone else notice this type of thing, or have any other theories?




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