Replacement for Epson 760

[Paul B]

My Epson 760 had been depositing black ink over output for some time,
necessitating printing ~5 copies to get an acceptable one. It then got to
the point where it printed more black where it shouldn't have than it did
text or graphics. I therefore just bought a (huge & noisy!) Samsung ML-2251N
laser for 93UKP delivered. This will sort 90% of my needs. I now want an A4
colour photo printer.

The Epson's failure probably had more to do with its very intermittent use
than old age, so am uncertain I should be entertaining the purchase of
another fixed head printer. HP's 8250 is around the top end of the price I
want to pay & if you pardon the pun - looks good on paper. However, it's
fixed head & I've not heard good things about HP's bloated driver s/w. I've
also seen a few complaints about appalling paper handling. Anyone have
further comments on what to buy?

Text quality, scanning, displays, card readers or speed are less important
than photo quality & the fact it just ain't going to be used that often.
Epson's R240 is at the right price & is also on my shortlist.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Although it is difficult from your description to know exactly the
nature of the defect your printer is manifesting, if you are interested,
if you can scan a part of an example that shows the defect (an area
about 2" x 2" or equivalent, at 300 dpi) and send it to me at the
address shown below, I can try to diagnose what is happening with your
Epson printer, and I may be able to suggest a cheap fix for it.

The older Epson printers were actually pretty robust, but require some
TLC to keep them going well.

The permanent head, in general, can last literally billions of dots, and
although they can fail, many of the printing defects reported can be
reversed with a bit of proper cleaning.

If you would like to send the above mentioned sample as a jpegged
attachment (jpegged to high quality) please do so to the address shown
below:

e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org

(at) = @
(dot) = .

Art

 

[Paul B]

Thus spake Arthur Entlich:

Although it is difficult from your description to know exactly the
nature of the defect your printer is manifesting, if you are
interested, if you can scan a part of an example that shows the
defect (an area about 2" x 2" or equivalent, at 300 dpi) and send it
to me at the address shown below, I can try to diagnose what is
happening with your Epson printer, and I may be able to suggest a
cheap fix for it.
The older Epson printers were actually pretty robust, but require some
TLC to keep them going well.

The permanent head, in general, can last literally billions of dots,
and although they can fail, many of the printing defects reported can
be reversed with a bit of proper cleaning.

If you would like to send the above mentioned sample as a jpegged
attachment (jpegged to high quality) please do so to the address shown
below:

e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org

(at) = @
(dot) = .

Art

<My original post snipped>

OK thanks!

I'm not adverse to rejuvenating 'old' equipment even if I replace it but
take it to work. Please give me a couple of days before I reinstall the
drivers & I'll scan as requested as the 760 can produce fair photos on
decent paper. I suspect all that is needed is the head & rollers be cleaned
with distilled water (or alcohol) as the ink marking was periodic
vertically - consistent with ink on the rollers & missing ink, blocked
nozzles . A question if I may, the cleaning cycle fires ink onto a recessed
pad, can this end up being a problem?

One thing I didn't like about this printer & the 740 before it was that it
was all too easy to set a smaller than A4 paper size, close the properties
dialogue, go back into it double check a particular parameter then print to
find that the paper size had been reset to A4, thus spraying ink over the
left hand section of the printer's internals. I hope more modern mid to
upper range inkjets detect paper sizes (or have foolproof drivers)!

I have an Argos branch a quarter of a mile from my home. They stock the
Epson R240 for 70UKP & the HP8250 for 75UKP - both very reasonable with more
easily obtainable cartridges than the Stylus Color 760.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Hi Paul,

Regarding your question about the cleaning cycles:

Although some head firing does occur, the main method the head is
cleaned is through a vacuum that is provided by a small pump below which
works similarly to a milking machine used on cows. There is a rubber
dam on the cleaning station which is supposed to press tightly against
the head, and then the vacuum is supplied which literally "sucks" the
ink out of the nozzles in the head. This ink is then further pulled
down a small hole through a tube and out into the waste ink pads at the
base of the printer.

In most cases, the ink just flows down and out to the pads, but
sometimes the tubes get clogged with ink, or mixes of ink dust and hair
in a dusty environment. The inks in the C and CX printers often clog
this tube, but not most dye inks used in printers like the 740 and 760.

I'll await the sample scan to look it over and then I can supply more
responsible advice.

Art