epson advanced b&w and color clogging

[stump4545]

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trying to use my epson 4900 often to avoid clogging issues.

 

i do print in advanced b&w most of the time for b&w prints.

 

will my color inks clog since i don't use them often since I am printing in advanced b&w and not utilizing the colors?

 

thanks

 

and thanks for everyone's help here on the forum for helping me decide to make my own prints rather then send them out.

 

truly awesome.

[hoppyman]

The advanced B&W mode actually does use small amounts of some of the colour ink anyway. That is normal.

You can exercise all of the cartridges by doing a regular nozzle check and clean if you like. This is a good idea before committing to new large prints on expensive stock in any case.

You could also just make an occasional A4/letter size colur print on plain paper ?

The cartridges have a "Best by" date on the packaging. Generally they should be fine in your machine for 12 months or so. I never have that problem with my 3880

[stump4545]

didnt know advanced b&w uses some color ink.

 

so i guess then running advanced b&w only could in theory keep me from color clogging.

 

 

btw. spoke to epson and they said running manual nozzle checks does not prevent clogging it only lets you know if you have a clog.

[hoppyman]

Note that I said a nozzle check and clean

Also while all BW prints with conventional inks do use some colour that does not say that every colour ink is used in significant quantities. You will find in any case that the different carts are consumed at different rates and hence need replacing at different intervals.

Not a bad plan to have replaced all of your carts within a 12 month period (for each individual cart), as mentioned. With my previous printer the MK cart was used little and eventually settled out to an unusable state. These days I regularly print on Matt as well as glossy papers anyway and as mentioned my carts never die of old age in the printer ;-)

 

Just make an occasional colour print too, do that nozzle check/clean cycle and you should be fine.

[stump4545]

cool. thanks.

 

how do you know when your inks are too old to use?

 

clogs or you can see it in the print?

[hoppyman]

Both of the above

Worse is that a severe clog might kill your print heads permanently (as happened with my 3800) Not worth skimping for that reason.

 

I recommend that you routinely do a nozzle check and then clean cycle if needed first every day that you start to print. If you think about it the cost of a wasted sheet of high quality paper and the ink for a spoiled print (and your time) far out weigh what you use in those cleaning cycles.

I forget which printer you have but in my 3880 (80ml carts) I easily would go two or three each of the high usage carts (LLK, LM and LC for example) in a year. Ink going "off" on you is no problem if you print regularly .

[Jeff S]

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Your 4900 has 200 ml cartridges compared to 80 ml for the 3880, so print volume is a potential issue. I regularly advise folks to consider this aspect when choosing a printer. The good news is that recent Epson printer series (compared to my 3800) have better anti-clogging mechanisms, and inks last longer than the manufacturers suggest. Just run a test print, say of a color chart, now and then if you're not putting it to good use. Like Geoff, I go through at least 2 replacement cycles per year with my 3800.

 

ABW mode indeed uses some color inks; some say less than color mode, depending on the source. Here, for instance, is one article, while this one presents a somewhat different view. If you choose archival papers and follow good handling and display techniques for your prints, I wouldn't worry too much about longevity for all practical purposes.

 

Of course you could go nuts and choose third party inks like Cone, with 7 shades of black/grey, which offer better longevity claims. But that's a whole different discussion, with many other considerations.

 

Jeff