1. Purchase & Installation . . .
Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:00 pm
Written by Peter Spring 22 April 2009
( but posted by Mike Hynes)
The Continuous Inking System
In February 2009 I finally lost patience with the increasing of cost of Epson R2400 inks. So I started thinking again about Permajet’s continuous inking system.
Fortuitously, Permajet had a stand at the 2009 Focus exhibition in Birmingham so with enthusiasm I gave them my credit card. Yes, they said, we’re out of stock here but we will despatch it from Warwick “in the next day or two”. Days turned into weeks. Very sorry, they said, but we’ve sold so many systems we’ve run out of ink.
About 3 weeks later it turned up. With advice from those who “knew of someone who had one and they weren’t happy” ringing in my ears I opened the box. It was like a bran tub. Plenty of polystyrene packaging and lurking in odd corners were the bits of the system. The instructions weren’t too clear and contained lots of warnings but I pressed on. I found all the bits and set to work.
The first job was to remove the printer’s injector lid. This was not easy and I’ve now got a broken lid held together with sticky tape! Then everything went smoothly, despite the warning from Permajet
“Please take care when doing this as if connected incorrectly there is NO turning back”. Needless to say I checked, rechecked and checked again before proceeding. In truth, apart from the broken lid, the system was very easy to set up.
So, on to my first test print. Using Epson paper I got results as good as with Epson inks. Cracked it, I thought. As I wanted to print 40 images of my Venice trip I immediately loaded Permajet’s Oyster paper and started printing. On the third print I noticed a distinct magenta colour cast. After a quick conversation with Permajet, I downloaded their test pages, printed them and sent them off by first class post to Warwick. By midday the next day a special profile had arrived.
This profile removed the colour cast. A far as I can see the results on Permajet Oyster with Permajet inks are as good as those on Epson ink/paper.
On the cost front, continuous inking seems a no-brainer. Currently 125ml of Permajet costs £25.95 or 21p per ml. The cheapest I can find for Epson ink is £9.99 for 13ml or 77p per ml which is 3.7 times more expensive than Permajet’s.
So, at the moment I think its been a very good purchase. I don’t worry (so much) when the ink reservoirs indicators go down and I don’t need a stock of cartridges “just in case”. If the system does fail I can always disconnect it and go back to Epson.
I’ll keep you updated but I’m a happy at the moment.
( but posted by Mike Hynes)
The Continuous Inking System
In February 2009 I finally lost patience with the increasing of cost of Epson R2400 inks. So I started thinking again about Permajet’s continuous inking system.
Fortuitously, Permajet had a stand at the 2009 Focus exhibition in Birmingham so with enthusiasm I gave them my credit card. Yes, they said, we’re out of stock here but we will despatch it from Warwick “in the next day or two”. Days turned into weeks. Very sorry, they said, but we’ve sold so many systems we’ve run out of ink.
About 3 weeks later it turned up. With advice from those who “knew of someone who had one and they weren’t happy” ringing in my ears I opened the box. It was like a bran tub. Plenty of polystyrene packaging and lurking in odd corners were the bits of the system. The instructions weren’t too clear and contained lots of warnings but I pressed on. I found all the bits and set to work.
The first job was to remove the printer’s injector lid. This was not easy and I’ve now got a broken lid held together with sticky tape! Then everything went smoothly, despite the warning from Permajet
“Please take care when doing this as if connected incorrectly there is NO turning back”. Needless to say I checked, rechecked and checked again before proceeding. In truth, apart from the broken lid, the system was very easy to set up.
So, on to my first test print. Using Epson paper I got results as good as with Epson inks. Cracked it, I thought. As I wanted to print 40 images of my Venice trip I immediately loaded Permajet’s Oyster paper and started printing. On the third print I noticed a distinct magenta colour cast. After a quick conversation with Permajet, I downloaded their test pages, printed them and sent them off by first class post to Warwick. By midday the next day a special profile had arrived.
This profile removed the colour cast. A far as I can see the results on Permajet Oyster with Permajet inks are as good as those on Epson ink/paper.
On the cost front, continuous inking seems a no-brainer. Currently 125ml of Permajet costs £25.95 or 21p per ml. The cheapest I can find for Epson ink is £9.99 for 13ml or 77p per ml which is 3.7 times more expensive than Permajet’s.
So, at the moment I think its been a very good purchase. I don’t worry (so much) when the ink reservoirs indicators go down and I don’t need a stock of cartridges “just in case”. If the system does fail I can always disconnect it and go back to Epson.
I’ll keep you updated but I’m a happy at the moment.