When I printed on my Epson 3880 this weekend, there were big black blobs of ink outside the image area.
After researching it on the internet, I saw this is a common problem with the 3880, caused by a defect in the PK/MK switch assembly which is inside the print head assembly. Repair is ~ $500 (and the printer is too heavy for me to deal with shipping somewhere, too).
I see that if I use the matte black ink, I don't get blotches. So I'm thinking of keeping the printer and using only for printing on matte paper, especially considering I recently bought a whole set of ink cartridges.
But......when I wanted to do a nozzle check today, the printer wouldn't let me do it until I replaced one of the cartridges that was empty (a magenta one). Am I going to run into that problem with the photo black cartridge? If printer won't let me do nozzle check if a magenta is out of ink, would it do the same if photo black is empty? Or maybe if the photo black is not in position to be used at time of nozzle check, printer would not stop me from doing nozzle check?
If I put a new photo black cartridge in after the current one is empty, I think it will just drain again because of the switch assembly problem. It's very low on ink now.
I'm asking here rather than just waiting to see what happens, because I see there's a $200 rebate right now for the replacement printer (P900), and I'm wondering if I should jump on this deal (if the 3880 won't even be usable for matte printing).
Also, I'm kind of wondering if Epson is about to come out with new model. Seems companies do rebates on older models when they're about to release a new one. Have you heard any rumors?
I've seen some discouraging complaints about the P900.
Thanks.
After researching it on the internet, I saw this is a common problem with the 3880, caused by a defect in the PK/MK switch assembly which is inside the print head assembly. Repair is ~ $500 (and the printer is too heavy for me to deal with shipping somewhere, too).
I see that if I use the matte black ink, I don't get blotches. So I'm thinking of keeping the printer and using only for printing on matte paper, especially considering I recently bought a whole set of ink cartridges.
But......when I wanted to do a nozzle check today, the printer wouldn't let me do it until I replaced one of the cartridges that was empty (a magenta one). Am I going to run into that problem with the photo black cartridge? If printer won't let me do nozzle check if a magenta is out of ink, would it do the same if photo black is empty? Or maybe if the photo black is not in position to be used at time of nozzle check, printer would not stop me from doing nozzle check?
If I put a new photo black cartridge in after the current one is empty, I think it will just drain again because of the switch assembly problem. It's very low on ink now.
I'm asking here rather than just waiting to see what happens, because I see there's a $200 rebate right now for the replacement printer (P900), and I'm wondering if I should jump on this deal (if the 3880 won't even be usable for matte printing).
Also, I'm kind of wondering if Epson is about to come out with new model. Seems companies do rebates on older models when they're about to release a new one. Have you heard any rumors?
I've seen some discouraging complaints about the P900.
Thanks.