Epson C82 Residual Ink when "empty"

[Sabian Smith]

Hi,
I have been reading old threads about the Epson C82 and chip resetters /
refills etc. I have decided it is too risky to use 3rd party ink since my
printer is brand new and there are many cases of 3rd part ink permanently
clogging the print head.
However, as pointed out, when the ink cartrige is designated "empty" on
the chip, it seems like 20-40% of the ink still remains! I hate throwing out
good ink! I know there are affordable chip resetter available that reset
the ink chip into thinking the cartrige is full again. Is it safe to do
this and re-run the same ink cartrige until it is literally dry?
I read a few posts about thermal overheating if printing when there is
no ink. But other posts discounted this, as the Epson uses piezoelectric
charge to jet the ink, not heat.
Is it safe to run down your ink cartridges to dry with the C82?

 

[Tiscali]

There is always a risk of head damage when resetting old cartridges.
Unfortunately the Epson methods are at best a guesstimate - or counting
cycles instead of a prism measuring ink.
The other risk is that few if any alternate ink suppliers can supply
pigmented ink for the C82.
Possible the jetTec cartridges are a neat half way solution they are half
the Epson price. As below...

 

[Lukasz Spychalski]

I read a few posts about
thermal overheating if printing when there is
no ink. But other posts discounted this, as the Epson uses
piezoelectric charge to jet the ink, not heat.

It's definitely false.
Piezoelectric membranes can seriously overheat if there is no ink
inside the cavities. The amplitude of vibration becames much larger
and energy of electrical pulses is fully converted into heat.
Additionally air is much worse cooling agent than ink. Prolonged "dry"
printing (sometimes even a page or two) can kill the printhead -
especially if the printhead is fast and contains a large number of
nozzles.

For example stc900 printhead has built-in thermistor - in case of
enormous heat inside the printhead the cleaning cycle is automatically
applied as the heat is caused by lack of ink flow.

Is it safe to run down your ink cartridges to dry with the C82?

IMHO it isn't. You should be careful and stop printing just after the
ink ends. Additionally the cleaning cycle applied after the cartridge
change is most probably not strong enough to "prime" empty printhead
and additional cycles must be applied manually.

Best regards
Lukasz