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#1: On the Fence: A Home Depot analogy Author: notasperfectasyou,

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:49 pm
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First, thanks for having this forum for folks who are interested in CIS. I know enough to be concerned about self-inflicted ignorance. I also know what it's like to be an expert at a message board and to have a newbie come along and ask for the impossible. I hope I'm not asking the impossible, but I hope I can contribute to the discussion.

I have a CIS. I have an Epson Photo Stylus R300 and I bought the system on Ebay. It took me 2 hours to set it up and after about a month or two the yellow stopped working and nothing I did could get it back going. I've been running this on 5 colors for over a year now and I'm tired of it.

So this is where the Home Depot analogy kicks in. I do the Home Depot thing. I pretty much do my own plumbing and I won't pay for someone to come out and fix somthing unless it's definitely something that I can really mess up, like a garage door spring or a heat pump. So I imagine others here have this mentality, "I can save a ton of money doing this myself".

I have been rattled over the CIS I have for sometime. I can't fix it, but I don't want to buy expensive cartridges either. I'm obviously not so invested that I spent time over the last year determined to fix it. But, I find today that I want to have a 6 color printer and not a 5 color one anymore.

I don't want to become a CIS expert. Maybe I need to be to do this. Maybe I just need to say, this wasn't my best choice of places to save money. I'm wondering out loud.

What do you think?

Should I buy a new CIS for my Epson?
Should I buy a new printer that works better with CIS?
Should I bag the CIS idea and do off-label cartridges?

This question isn't entirely technical, it's moreso behavioral. Meaning, perhaps I'm just not well suited for the personal effort that is required to save money with CIS. Thanks for you thoughts.

Ken

#2: Author: Martin, Location: South Yorkshire, UK

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:51 pm
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Mod Note: Just a quick apology as your post got caught up in the spam filter and I just spotted and unhooked it for you.

#3: Author: Martin, Location: South Yorkshire, UK

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 3:47 pm
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Right... got some time to catch up on things so this post gets to the top of my list and you get a reply Smile

My advice, honest advice is to start over... You've probably wasted a huge amount of time and energy trying to figure this out with no luck and I'd imagine haven't really kept a detailed log of what you tried, when, etc... so unless you want to go back and start empirically testing each variable I'd stop, take a deep breath and approach the bin/garbage meaningfully Wink

There are other options available but my experience with commercial kits is with Rihac's CIS systems. The documentation and support is top rate and you aren't left hanging.. the actual product, whilst very much of Chinese origin in parts works well so you can't really lose. You can purchase from the UK branch (rihac.co.uk) too and whilst shipping can be a little steep... IMHO it's worth it when you see the level of documentation.

The next thing is identifying a sensible and local (as in, your country) ink supplier. I personally use and supply Image Specialists inks myself, purchased from a reseller but others that get good press are formulabs and OCP. Taking the time to find a decent ink and reliable supplier is well worth the time so my advice is to not skimp or try mix n' match... it's just not worth it... You still save a ton.

Hope that helps

#4: Author: notasperfectasyou,

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 4:08 pm
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Thanks Martin. I'll check out those products. I'm definitely on the idea of scrapping what I have. I'm thinking I ought to pick a new printer first. Wouldn't that makes sense? Or should I query the CIS seller about the printers that work best with CIS, or would these forums have the threads on the best 6 color pritners to do CIS with? Ken

#5: Author: Martin, Location: South Yorkshire, UK

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 4:17 pm
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notasperfectasyou wrote:
Thanks Martin. I'll check out those products. I'm definitely on the idea of scrapping what I have. I'm thinking I ought to pick a new printer first. Wouldn't that makes sense?

Actually I'd keep your printer to be honest... It may be slower but the R300 has a very long shelf life compared to many of the newer models coming out now. Resetting the chips is also much simpler (no button presses required) and the ink is all tried and true so no surprises.

I understand the draw of "new" but that doesn't equate to better nowadays.

Quote:
Or should I query the CIS seller about the printers that work best with CIS, or would these forums have the threads on the best 6 color pritners to do CIS with? Ken

In all honesty this forum hasn't really taken off as I'd originally hoped (which is fine Smile

) as forums with greater depth provide more of what people naturally want in terms of general printer help, reviews, etc... CIS's was probably one specialism a bit too far..

If you're looking a bit further afield to maybe A3 formats then you could think about the Epson 1400 but given what you're using the printer for, I'd say you'd be ok with what you have... just my opinion though so take it with a dose of salty stuff Smile

#6: Author: notasperfectasyou,

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 7:56 pm
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Thanks Martin, this is helpful. I can work on finding a new CIS for the R300 I have. Do you have a best vendor for that particular CIS? Ken

#7: Author: Martin, Location: South Yorkshire, UK

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 2:22 pm
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notasperfectasyou wrote:
Thanks Martin, this is helpful. I can work on finding a new CIS for the R300 I have. Do you have a best vendor for that particular CIS? Ken

I always recommend Rihac.com.au / .co.uk due to the level of support and thorough documentation. There are others though...

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