So Blink you sayin you dont like epson , seem a little on the fence .

That is one of the problems with Epson printers along with inevitable paper jams. The recent lawsuit Epson lost may account for the way they build ink cartridge waste into their printer design.

They also build the print head into the printer itself and make it too expensive and difficult to replace unlike HP that builds the print head into each cartridge or Canon that has an inexpensive print head that you install when you buy the printer and is easily and inexpensively replaced.

Combine that with their anti-trust violations in terms of CD/DVD printing in the uS and you begin to get the printer.

I have owned four of them. Never again.

John

"So Blink you sayin you dont like epson , seem a little on the fence ."


It was my first Epson printer..... and my last. I bought it because I needed a cd/dvd printer fast and my local store was only carrying the epson. I didn't know about Epson's little ink tank tricks... but I do now, and I will NEVER purchase an Epson ANYTHING again.

I've got a regular canon printer (i950).. and it's been going for years... haven't changed the print head on it yet and it works fine... 6 separate ink tanks which I manually refill... costs me about $25 a year in ink (universal ink refill packs) From here on in, I won't ever be turning my back on canon again.

if there's a misfeed, the printer monitor should tell you. it should tell you to pull out the tray & re-set it & click continue (or ok) to try again. You can also hit the "paper feed" button on the printer to do that. It doesn't re-charge.

that must be something weird with the r260 too. My r200 & 220 don't re-charge often at all. In fact, I haven't used it in days, just turned it on & the "low ink" light cam on because my black has less then 5% in it. It's has less then 15% in it for a month now & it hasn't recharged. In fact, I've only had it re-charge when the ink carts get replaced.

sometimes it just misfeeds, but if you do what I said (re-set it & hit the paper feed button) it should be fine.

I don't remember the name, but I've used generic ink from Abacus & Super Media Store. Both looked the same but the ones from Abacus has less issues when putting the cartridge in (one from SMS wouldn't register until ~the 10th time I put it in).

"So, here's my question: For those that are experts, is there a way to clear those lights when the CD/DVD tray gets ejected due to a misfeed, but without turning off the printer and causing the printer to waste ink? Also, is there a way to reduce or eliminate misfeeds? I am very careful about aligning the little arrows on the tray and the printer in-feed."

Once in a while I have this problem, but what you do is wait until it goes through the rejection and the software print montior says there was a feed problem, then move the printer tray back to the arrow and press the paper feed button. It feeds the tray back in properly and prints properly without recharging the cartridges. I have used Epson printers since 1996 and found that most people who complain of problems have never read the manual. Sometimes I wonder if people who have problems with Epson might be professional victims. If you have always used HP you have my sympathy.

I've got two Epson stylus photo 900s that I had to import from the USA as Epson AU wouldn't sell them. Apart from having to buy a 240/110V tranny been working fine for years, printed more DVD slick, Vegas manuals and DVDs than I care to remember. Two of my friends bought Canons for printing DVDs, both have problems and will go back to Epsons.

Simple solution, when I next get a big order for DVDs I'll buy the Epson 800 and a CIS, don't get much cheaper than that, <5% of the cost of cartridges AND you get a choice of ink types. A little expensive at first and fiddly to setup.
How does it pan out long term, well my DVD supplier has been running one of the systems for ages now, no problems.

Once in a while I have this problem, but what you do is wait until it goes through the rejection and the software print montior says there was a feed problem, then move the printer tray back to the arrow and press the paper feed button. It feeds the tray back in properly and prints properly without recharging the cartridges.
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The problem is the little plastic flap in the front of the tray. It is designed poorly (too thin). I bought two aftermarket feed trays that work much better from National Parts Depot in Chester, NY. I drove there to pick them up, but they do mail order. For Epson R200/300 - part # 1274077.
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I have used Epson printers since 1996 and found that most people who complain of problems have never read the manual.

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Which manual? I have two. The owners manual and the factory service manual.

John

"The problem is the little plastic flap in the front of the tray. It is designed poorly (too thin). I bought two aftermarket feed trays that work much better from National Parts Depot in Chester, NY. I drove there to pick them up, but they do mail order."

Nah...

The problem is these big ugly letters on the side: E P S O N

I have the R320, for about the past 18 months/2 years.

I have only used the Meritline 6/7 packs, no problem. There was a problem once when I didn't print anything for a couple of weeks, took forever to clean out and get it back to normal. Someone mentioned just to print at least one thing full color weekly to keep things cleaned out.

I'm not familiar with the r260, but if mine jams, I get one "maintenance" light that I push to get things going again. I hardly ever reboot my printer, it is always on, only when the power goes out does it get turned off.

Also, for disk printing, experiment with the saturation a bit. For many runs, I can reduce the amount of ink used by quite a bit, and still get acceptable results.

John, i haven't used an Epson in 12 years, thankfully, and intend to never use one again. However, back then i remember finding out that if you hold in the Select button while turning it off, it won't go into the priming/cleaning phase when you turn it back on. The problem is, you have to do this while turning it off. If you already have it off then it's too late and there isn't anything you can to do prevent the priming.

The R200/R300s I owned drove me batty with the poorly designed tray (not just the plastic flap).

Switched to R800 and its, vastly, nay VASTLY, better designed tray that seems to always work, is quick to install and get out of the way both, and has full instructions in relief on the tray itself. And the ink consumption is a fraction of what it was on the R200/300...

Not bad for $199.00.

(eBay refurb from authorized Epson dealer, with a 1 year factory warranty.)

Just another tip. If you own an Epson with individual tanks you can get a syringe like gizmo to give the heads a proper clean. According to the guys that sell these most times the head isn't faulty, just badly clogged.

Bob.

One more thing about the Meritline ink: don't buy several cases before you try it out to see if it works. I think someone else on the forum had trouble with an R320 with generics, but it was more of a driver/sortware issue if I remember.

Our family has gone through a C80, a C84, two C86s, and a C88. I bought the C80 because of the pigment ink advantages when printing labels for CDs and DVDs (no smearing and UV-resistant). But it became clear after a while that these little printers would begin to show nozzle problems after about a year or so, and nothing was a permanent fix. As mentioned, the nozzle assembly was not a simple user-replaceable item. Never had luck with trying to clean out the nozzles with solvent.

Finally decided to try Canon last year, and bought a non-chipped 4-cartridge IP3000. What a great machine! Case looks crummy, but it just runs and runs, and I can use inexpensive cartridges or do the refills myself to make the cost effectively about $0.50 a cartridge. Another thread discussed how to activate the CD/DVD printing tray feature in the USA. With the new watershield Taiyo Yuden printable disks, a great combination. The nozzle assembly runs about $40 if ever needed. Reviews on the Internet show the 4-tank printer does color photos almost identical to the 6-tank later models. The 4x6 snapshots I've tried look every bit as good as the ones from Costco or elsewhere.

I, too, noticed the aggressive ink charging on the Epsons we had. I took one of the C86s and the C88 to the Goodwill Store a few days ago, and sold off the remaining Epson ink on eBay recently. I bought another IP3000 on eBay a few weeks ago, and they've become a bit of a collector's item. You can still get new-in-box 3000s, but expect to pay $200 for them!!!

Anyway, sorry to hear about your tray issue. At this point I think Epson makes good products, but should have allowed for a cheap nozzle replacement. I don't think the droplet-counter issue is that big a deal, as Epson engineers probably just wanted to make sure the tanks never ran dry, as such an event would probably disable the nozzles. You're paying X dollars for Y pages of ink; it shouldn't matter how much is left over in the tank when it comes time to change cartridges.

I have been using Epson printers now for about 4 years, having at one time years ago hearing about HPs miss use of ink.

I have been very pleased with the R200 and R220, creating hundreds of DVDs / CDs with generic ink. Very rarely ever had a problem. It is fair to say that the original disc tray in the R200 was a poor design, but has since been corrected. I believe Epson was even giving free replacements.

To address the original post... pusing the maintnence button after resetting the tray should by pass any recharging.

I feel that no matter the brand, if you are getting two years out of a sub $100 printer that is used daily / weekly then we're getting our money's worth. I still am not sold on the idea of a Primera because of price.

Chad

I have the first Epson Stylus Color purchased in 1995 which is still working but getting a little long in tooth. I also have the first Epson Stylus Photo which is fine. I also have the Epson Photo 960 for printing DVD's which works just fine and have never had a jam and never had to replace the feed tray. The feed tray is manually placed into the rollers with the cover open and prints perfectly centered (+-.005) every time. You need two hands to set the feed tray before you set the rollers down. Runs on the newer software just fine, better than the older software. No problem with inks at all. I get about 150 to 200 prints before running out of ink. I also have an Epson R-1800 which is the finest Ink jet printer ever made bar none. It gives a low ink warning first that I ignore, then when it runs out the printing stops. Push the little red blinking light button and it goes to the cartrideg that is out of ink, replace the cartridge, then it cycles, then continues printing not missing a beat. I also had the Epson 1520 which worked fine until the feed pickups wore out then I got rid of it. I have printed over 2000 dvd's with the 960. I use Hub to edge Verbatim discs with 21mm (hub) to 19 mm (edge) settings in the software. Depending on what you are printing on the discs I have exceeded 350 discs per cartridge replacement.
JJK

Maybe the great yellow father who art in Rochester (Kodak) can bring some pressure to bear on the competiton with their new printer technology with archival print quality and low cost ink. You can read about it here.

Ed B

I thought at one time the Great Yellow Father was pushing the Die Sublimation stuff.
JJK

Wow. I woke up this morning and found all these responses. Thanks to everyone!

A few thoughts on your replies below:

... move the printer tray back to the arrow and press the paper feed button.

I don't know why I didn't try that. That will be the first thing I do the next time this happens.


The problem is the little plastic flap in the front of the tray...

One of the other posters mentioned that this was fixed in a later revision, and that must be the case because the tray on this model is reasonably solid.


I have the R320, for about the past 18 months/2 years. have only used the Meritline 6/7 packs, no problem.

That's good to know. I'll check the r320 to see if it uses similar ink to my r260. I'm pretty sure the r260 ink is different from what was used in the ubiquitous r200.


Also, for disk printing, experiment with the saturation a bit. For many runs, I can reduce the amount of ink used by quite a bit, and still get acceptable results.

That's a good idea. The Epson program doesn't have any quality controls, but I think there is a way to change saturation. I'll try that, although my problem isn't the ink being used on the disk, but the tremendous waste from all these bogus priming/charging cycles. The heads are definitely not clogged (the printer is less than two weeks old).


i remember finding out that if you hold in the Select button while turning it off, it won't go into the priming/cleaning phase when you turn it back on.

There are three buttons on this printer: On/Off, Ink, Paper. I'll try holding the Paper button if I have to turn this off again, and see what happens.


One more thing about the Meritline ink: don't buy several cases before you try it out to see if it works.

Good advice. I was tempted to buy a 24-pack because it is MUCH cheaper than the 6-pack (i.e., one complete set), but didn't want to get stuck with useless ink.


Finally decided to try Canon last year, and bought a non-chipped 4-cartridge IP3000. What a great machine!

I love my HP printers (I used to be in the DTP business and the printer companies gave us dozens of printers -- HP was always the best). However, if I hadn't been given this printer, I'm pretty sure I would have purchased a Canon for disc printing.


To address the original post... pushing the maintenance button after resetting the tray should by pass any recharging.

This is similar (perhaps identical) to the earlier suggestion, which is good because it reassures me that this might work. This would be a simple solution to the problem.

Depending on what you are printing on the discs I have exceeded 350 discs per cartridge replacement.

That's what I would expect to get, based on coverage, and experience with other pritners.


Maybe the great yellow father who art in Rochester (Kodak) can bring some pressure to bear on the competition with their new printer technology with archival print quality and low cost ink.

I lived in Rochester for two years, and feel bad for all those people up there. What great technology and what lousy marketing. It would be great if they could make a dent in this market.


One last update. The "client" who gave this to me is actually a long-time friend and he is staying with us this weekend. He brought with him a 6-pack of genuine ink which he got at Frys for $74.99, the best price for the real deal that I've seen anywhere. We split the cost (since all the disks so far were for him), so I will be able to start with a "clean slate," with genuine Epson ink and see if I can't make this last for more than ten days and 50 discs.

Once again, thanks to everyone!

Just another datapoint: I picked up an HP Photosmart D5160 for disk printing. At $75 USD I thought what-the-hell, and I had read enough stories about the Epson ink tricks that I decided to steer clear of Epson.

So far I have printed 90 disks without a single problem. It is very easy to use; you just drop the disk in the caddy, push it into the printer, and press the "OK" button. If I'm paying attention I can average printing a disk every 1:45. I wouldn't call the photo quality great, but it is good, and text is razor sharp. (I personally don't feel that a disk has to have great photo quality, considering most people won't do much more than glance at it as they drop it into the player.) I can't currently comment on the quality of printing after the printer has been idle for an extended period of time -- I may have another batch of disks to do in a few weeks so I will know then.

i cant fault my canons
i used to be on teh HP farm, but the cost of ink far outweighed the versatility of havin seperate ink tanks..

to save ink, go grab a small lil app called "inksaver" its a driver embeded within ur printer drive and u can tweak ur ink usage by percentile..

works a treat

Over the last 15 years or so have discovered one truth -- there is no ideal printer, & tech support [& often driver support] is abysmal. Serious design flaws are common: Canon had problems recently with head design, Epson had *big* problems with LCDs, & I'll never forget the HP that spit out parts!

Epson is still considered by many who make their living printing to be the best overall -- you'll also find more 3rd party support for supplies I think. Inksupply.com has info and special cartridges/inks for refill etc.

Factory ink is overpriced, but you have to be realistic with generics -- at $3 vs. $30+, can you really expect anywhere near the same quality? The ink will clog if you don't regularly print at least every few days. Using quality ink & refilling yourself is one [messy] alternative. I got my Canon bulk ink for years out of a small place in Canada without a problem, & Inksupply seems to get rave reviews, so quality ink does seem to make a very big difference. In fact my biggest hassle has been getting local drug stores to sell me the occasional box of syringes. =?} If you do a LOT of printing, the extra hassle of modding or adding a continuous ink feed can be worthwhile -- no one claims refilling is fun.

When buying a printer, *If* you can avoid the latest technology, check out earlier models of the same printer for design faults -- if there's a big one, you'll find it googling. Sometimes, like with the Canon print head problem, you'll see a major move to new cartridge/head design & feel fairly safe. Other times you just see problem reports taper off & disappear, like with the 1st Epson Dura Bright inks.

One thing to look at before buying a printer is the ink cartridges used -- if they use the same cartridges for a fair number of models, you're probably OK. When they use a different cartridge on the higher end models, there's a good chance their cheaper models guzzle ink from lower capacity cartridges that are much less cost effective. You can buy some Lexmark & HP printers for much less than the replacement cartridges -- not a terribly bad deal if you buy extras, and consider it an ink purchase that comes with free spare parts. *Expert* reviews will often criticize the quality of prints -- user reviews often differ -- use your own judgment, remembering that the users aren't paid by anybody.