We have owned the Epson R3000 for almost 2 years back in 2016. We have printed way more and way larger than ever thought. Recently we had an issue when we switched to matted black ink which had not used for 2 years! Getting the printer back to work with the photo black ink did take about 2 days and lots of cleaning cycles and frustration. I was ready to give up all the printing and get it done in the lab.
Our print habit is usually a few A4 and 13x18cm prints every month and every 2 month an A3+ print. We have also used the printer at events to actually print pictures of the guests and hand them out by the end of the event. These make up for some real stress and requires quiet a bit of ink. While searching for ways to get my printer back in working order I did come across continuous ink solutions.
There is not much documentation or details, looking at what I could find I decided to give InkRepublic a chance and ordered their system. With 900ml total ink it was less than 2 sets of all cartridges for my Epsom which each hold 25.9ml. Meaning a total of around 460ml of ink and I get a complete system with no more worries to recharge the ink. This should lower the cost dramatically for new prints and reduce the number of re-orders for new prints.
Fast forward to 2018, why 2 years you may ask ? Well it did take a while to move from the classic cartridges to the almost complete continuous Ink solution. The good thing of this gradual process was that I moved to continuous when ever new cartridge did run out of ink. I know different manufacturers, quality, … sorry I am a penny pincher and why throw away just fine ink. The benefit of this is that I was able to see after every switch if I did see any changes in quality, color, …. So far nothing.
Recently we put the system to the test with 70 A3+ prints. That put the system to the test and it was crazy to see the 100ml bottles gradually go down and see just how much money and disposable cartridges we are saving.
Another great news in since the issue in 2016 we have not had a single issue with clogging it just works flawlessly.
2018 was the year of the prints I never thought I would print that much. I got many last minute requests for A+/Super B size prints or A4 prints.
We also print Super B with our selection to narrow down the selection. We then print the selected pictures on A4 and like in the good old days we find issues and what needs to be corrected before we finalize the pictures.
Work drying
