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screen printing => Separations => Topic started by: Clark on April 25, 2011, 08:49:43 AM

Title: Epson 4800
Post by: Clark on April 25, 2011, 08:49:43 AM
Anybody using one of these?  I found good deal on one as was thinking of buying it.  Is there are preferred all-black ink system?

Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: shellyky on April 25, 2011, 11:48:17 AM
if I remember correctly, there was something in the 4800 series that is actually preferred over the 4880--however that difference excapes me :)  I use the 4880 and love it with all black inks.
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: squeezee on April 26, 2011, 07:13:47 AM
The 4800 chips got hacked too quickly, Epson replaced it with the 4880 and changed the chips.  A commercial decision.  The 4880 has been hacked since.
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: blue moon on April 26, 2011, 08:48:37 AM
what's a good deal? I seem to remember seeing brand new 4880 for under a $1k after rebates . . .

pierre
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: squeezee on April 26, 2011, 04:32:37 PM
That's a very reasonable price.
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: Clark on April 26, 2011, 07:05:23 PM
if I remember correctly, there was something in the 4800 series that is actually preferred over the 4880--however that difference excapes me :)  I use the 4880 and love it with all black inks.

What all-black ink system are you using?

Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: Clark on April 26, 2011, 07:06:06 PM
what's a good deal? I seem to remember seeing brand new 4880 for under a $1k after rebates . . .

pierre

I haven't seen them that low..this one is $650..light use.
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: blue moon on April 26, 2011, 08:03:43 PM
I've seen them for $1450 new and epson had a $500 rebate about a month ago. I just checked, not there any more . . .
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: DraginInk on April 26, 2011, 08:47:10 PM
Love my 4800... most of the time, like all the inkjets I own or have owned.  I run with 220 ml. carts from GDS in it. Four blacks on the right hand side. I'm to lazy to set up a bulk system. I output film for a few of my friendly competitors that are to lazy to bother outputting film. From that little side gig, I pretty much cover my film & ink costs and even have some beer money left over once in a while. ;D
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: squeezee on April 27, 2011, 03:27:00 AM
It isn't necessary to use an all black system, the original inks work perfectly well.
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: Clark on April 27, 2011, 10:10:09 AM
It isn't necessary to use an all black system, the original inks work perfectly well.

Yeah, but Epson ink is too high dollar for my cheap ass.  I have been using the Film Direct Ink with great results on my 1400, and it's super easy to refill the carts. I'm hoping there is a similar system for the 4800.
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: shellyky on April 27, 2011, 11:04:03 AM
if I remember correctly, there was something in the 4800 series that is actually preferred over the 4880--however that difference excapes me :)  I use the 4880 and love it with all black inks.

What all-black ink system are you using?



blackmaxx from ryonet, in the 110ML...i bought the 220ml kit recently but im waiting for the others to run out, they're on the last leg i believe since i keep having to chip reset a couple of them every week or so LOL....there are alot cheaper options out there for refilling them, but i havent had the time to look into it or research what i need, etc so i just bought the blackmax.
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: Clark on May 03, 2011, 03:52:23 PM
Well screw that 4800.  Just bought a 7800 for $300.  Hasn't been used in awhile, so will probably have to clean the heads....But sure will be nice for oversize stuff.

Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: ZooCity on May 03, 2011, 04:10:17 PM
Nice grab on the the 7800, I hope the heads come clean for ya.  If they don't, it's actually not as hard as you think to do some back alley printer surgery and replace the heads.  I did it successfully with some guidance from Brian at FilmDirect on our 4800.

I use the big carts and just pour more ink with funnels as needed, don't even pull the cart out half the time.  Why anyone would need a bulk feed and all that hassle is beyond me, especially if yer running multi-black, you just won't run out of ink all that often unless yer printing 16"x22" solid black rectangles or something all day. 

We use the FilmDirect ink, the pink cleaner solution and, believe it or not, just one head running black.  After testing I was happiest with the the single head under a loupe.
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: yorkie on May 03, 2011, 04:10:46 PM
Do you have a rip yet?
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: alan802 on May 03, 2011, 04:26:51 PM
I agree with Zoo, I think you just need one black to get great film.  I know you got a 7800 but we have a 4800 modified so the left side is sublimation inks and the right side is used to print inkjet film.  We have only one black cartridge on the right, 220ml Black Max from Ryonet, with 3 cleaning fluid cartridges in the remaining 3 slots.  This has served us very well and the films are darker than our R1800 films were.

Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: Clark on May 03, 2011, 06:37:51 PM
I have been using the FilmDirect ink for a couple years and love their stuff.  So will probably go with their system.  I have accurip currently, but will need to buy the EX version for the big printer.  Would love to try out FilmMaker, but I refuse to have a PC in my shop, so until they make a version that is compatible with OSX, I'll be running accurip.  So why do you have the cleaning soultion in three slots Alan?  I hope I'm not going to have to be cleaning heads alot.  My Epson 1400 and 3000 before that hardly ever needed a head cleaning.  Actually, thing I have only done the 1400 once in 3 years.
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: blue moon on May 03, 2011, 06:49:10 PM
I have been using the FilmDirect ink for a couple years and love their stuff.  So will probably go with their system.  I have accurip currently, but will need to buy the EX version for the big printer.  Would love to try out FilmMaker, but I refuse to have a PC in my shop, so until they make a version that is compatible with OSX, I'll be running accurip.  So why do you have the cleaning soultion in three slots Alan?  I hope I'm not going to have to be cleaning heads alot.  My Epson 1400 and 3000 before that hardly ever needed a head cleaning.  Actually, thing I have only done the 1400 once in 3 years.

if you have a windows box laying around somewhere you can turn it into a print server and keep your mac. . . they have a special on competitive upgrade, but I am not sure if the discount applies to wider printers. I would drop them a line.

pierre
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: Clark on May 04, 2011, 08:00:04 AM
So would I have to have illustrator and photoshop for the PC?  I have a fairly new PC laptop that I bought for a shipping computer, but the mouse went out in the first week so I never used it. 
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: blue moon on May 04, 2011, 08:11:44 AM
So would I have to have illustrator and photoshop for the PC?  I have a fairly new PC laptop that I bought for a shipping computer, but the mouse went out in the first week so I never used it. 

nope, but you will need to connect the printer to the laptop. make sure you have the right ports . . .

pj
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: alan802 on May 04, 2011, 10:03:20 AM
I have been using the FilmDirect ink for a couple years and love their stuff.  So will probably go with their system.  I have accurip currently, but will need to buy the EX version for the big printer.  Would love to try out FilmMaker, but I refuse to have a PC in my shop, so until they make a version that is compatible with OSX, I'll be running accurip.  So why do you have the cleaning soultion in three slots Alan?  I hope I'm not going to have to be cleaning heads alot.  My Epson 1400 and 3000 before that hardly ever needed a head cleaning.  Actually, thing I have only done the 1400 once in 3 years.

We use the cleaning solution to fill those 3 unneeded slots for real cheap.  I don't touch the 4800 at all but I don't think we have to do many, if any head cleanings.  I think it does a mini purge/cleaning or something on startup everyday so any major head cleanings should be few and far between if you use the printer on a regular basis.
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: ZooCity on May 04, 2011, 01:46:55 PM
The cleaning carts are there so that, when the printer runs cleanings (which is does whether you leave it on or turn it off at the end of the day) yer pumping cheap cleaning fluid instead of spendy ink.  The _800 series seem to be waaaay better than the old epsons in the clogged up heads department so it's rare that you need to run a power cleaning or anything, it's mostly just to flush lines when you need to switch inks or something. 

For a rip station why not just put vmware fusion on one of them macs (they're intel right?) and rip away.  XP sp2 runs like a jackrabbit as a virtual machine and, aside from the couple hours of trimming windows down into an actually functional operating system, you don't need to worry about stability as much because fusion lets you take and automate "snapshots" and if crap gets weird you just revert back to a snapshot.   

Then again, I'm like you and effing hate microsoft programs, so I'm accurip because of this as well.  I'm sure there's better, fancier rips out there but she works just fine for me, the price is right and Charlies support is excellent and informative.  I was very interested in checking out filmaker but this idea still persists that nobody uses macs for some reason

Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: Clark on May 04, 2011, 02:55:00 PM
The cleaning carts are there so that, when the printer runs cleanings (which is does whether you leave it on or turn it off at the end of the day) yer pumping cheap cleaning fluid instead of spendy ink.  The _800 series seem to be waaaay better than the old epsons in the clogged up heads department so it's rare that you need to run a power cleaning or anything, it's mostly just to flush lines when you need to switch inks or something. 

For a rip station why not just put vmware fusion on one of them macs (they're intel right?) and rip away.  XP sp2 runs like a jackrabbit as a virtual machine and, aside from the couple hours of trimming windows down into an actually functional operating system, you don't need to worry about stability as much because fusion lets you take and automate "snapshots" and if squat gets weird you just revert back to a snapshot.   

Then again, I'm like you and effing hate microsoft programs, so I'm accurip because of this as well.  I'm sure there's better, fancier rips out there but she works just fine for me, the price is right and Charlies support is excellent and informative.  I was very interested in checking out filmaker but this idea still persists that nobody uses macs for some reason


 

To me running Windows on a Mac is the same as owning a Ferrari and never getting about 35mph.  I do have this windows laptop here (that lasted a whole week before it broke) so if I can figure out how to do it, I might just leave it as a RIP Station, whatever the hell that means

I really don't see why they don't make a version for mac.  If you look at auctions of screen printing businesses they are predominantly mac, not to mention most of the shops I know of are mac to some degree.  Oh well, I bet as soon as I buy Filmmaker for PC they'll come out with a version for OSX.

Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: blue moon on May 04, 2011, 03:28:58 PM
The cleaning carts are there so that, when the printer runs cleanings (which is does whether you leave it on or turn it off at the end of the day) yer pumping cheap cleaning fluid instead of spendy ink.  The _800 series seem to be waaaay better than the old epsons in the clogged up heads department so it's rare that you need to run a power cleaning or anything, it's mostly just to flush lines when you need to switch inks or something. 

For a rip station why not just put vmware fusion on one of them macs (they're intel right?) and rip away.  XP sp2 runs like a jackrabbit as a virtual machine and, aside from the couple hours of trimming windows down into an actually functional operating system, you don't need to worry about stability as much because fusion lets you take and automate "snapshots" and if squat gets weird you just revert back to a snapshot.   

Then again, I'm like you and effing hate microsoft programs, so I'm accurip because of this as well.  I'm sure there's better, fancier rips out there but she works just fine for me, the price is right and Charlies support is excellent and informative.  I was very interested in checking out filmaker but this idea still persists that nobody uses macs for some reason


 

To me running Windows on a Mac is the same as owning a Ferrari and never getting about 35mph.  I do have this windows laptop here (that lasted a whole week before it broke) so if I can figure out how to do it, I might just leave it as a RIP Station, whatever the hell that means

I really don't see why they don't make a version for mac.  If you look at auctions of screen printing businesses they are predominantly mac, not to mention most of the shops I know of are mac to some degree.  Oh well, I bet as soon as I buy Filmmaker for PC they'll come out with a version for OSX.



we are off on a tangent here, but I am going to continue . . . If you send me the laptop, I'll set it up for you. All you'd have to do is get it on your network.

pierre
Title: Re: Epson 4800
Post by: Sbrem on May 04, 2011, 04:42:25 PM
You can use an older Mac as a print server too, load AccuRIP on it, and all of your other Macs will be able to print from it. I had a older iMac G5 doing that for the last couple of years, but it just died and was replaced with a new Mac Mini...

Steve