77fixer
Neighbor's Nightmare
TLDR: EPSON printers now won't allow the use of any third party ink. Similar, apparently, to what Tesla and John Deere do to prevent anyone from working on their products, which you now own, because you bought it.
We started a business a few years ago, embroidery and screenprinting. As we grow our skills and offerings, we seem to upgrade constantly.
First you need to understand a little of the process we use.
There is a photosensitive emulsion which we apply to our screens. This emulsion dries and when exposed to UV light, becomes resistant to washing out.
We print a positive of the image we want to print on a coated, clear, plastic film. The printer ink has to be black enough to block the UV, so the image area doesn't expose and can later be washed out. That is where the screen printing ink transfer happens during the process of printing on the shirt, hoodie, whatever.
There is software which allows for quick separations of colors in a design. The software company only supports certain printers, most of which are EPSON, which have been used for years.
Epson has discontinued many of these printers and replaced them with one model. It is the Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 Wireless Color Wide-format Printer. We purchased one of these printers and started using it. The films it print are OK, but there is an ink alternative that uses black, uv blocking ink in every cartridge. This provides a darker image, using less ink. These cartridges are only available from third party vendors.
As I used up the original black ink (while using none of the other colors), I ordered an All Black Ink system, of which I only found one company, out of the few who offer these ink sets, which had a set for this printer. As soon as I installed it, I found out that Epson has denied owners of their products from using these inks. Our 4 other Epson printers have allowed the use of various ink brands/types by simply acknowledging that it is not genuine Epson ink.
I emailed Epson and received a simple canned response, basically, Tough Shit, use only our ink.
I am now going to return this piece of shit Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 Wireless Color Wide-format Printer and try the new offering from Canon, the Canon Pixma Pro-100 Wireless Color Professional Inkjet Printer, which is supported by the software company and for which I can get all black ink. Unfortunately, while talking to another business owner, the Canon is experiencing shipping delays and he is waiting for his third printer, because the previous two have been defective, he waited 8 weeks for his first to arrive.
Yet another issue with allowing all of our stuff to be made in China, nothing is in stock any more.
We started a business a few years ago, embroidery and screenprinting. As we grow our skills and offerings, we seem to upgrade constantly.
First you need to understand a little of the process we use.
There is a photosensitive emulsion which we apply to our screens. This emulsion dries and when exposed to UV light, becomes resistant to washing out.
We print a positive of the image we want to print on a coated, clear, plastic film. The printer ink has to be black enough to block the UV, so the image area doesn't expose and can later be washed out. That is where the screen printing ink transfer happens during the process of printing on the shirt, hoodie, whatever.
There is software which allows for quick separations of colors in a design. The software company only supports certain printers, most of which are EPSON, which have been used for years.
Epson has discontinued many of these printers and replaced them with one model. It is the Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 Wireless Color Wide-format Printer. We purchased one of these printers and started using it. The films it print are OK, but there is an ink alternative that uses black, uv blocking ink in every cartridge. This provides a darker image, using less ink. These cartridges are only available from third party vendors.
As I used up the original black ink (while using none of the other colors), I ordered an All Black Ink system, of which I only found one company, out of the few who offer these ink sets, which had a set for this printer. As soon as I installed it, I found out that Epson has denied owners of their products from using these inks. Our 4 other Epson printers have allowed the use of various ink brands/types by simply acknowledging that it is not genuine Epson ink.
I emailed Epson and received a simple canned response, basically, Tough Shit, use only our ink.
I am now going to return this piece of shit Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 Wireless Color Wide-format Printer and try the new offering from Canon, the Canon Pixma Pro-100 Wireless Color Professional Inkjet Printer, which is supported by the software company and for which I can get all black ink. Unfortunately, while talking to another business owner, the Canon is experiencing shipping delays and he is waiting for his third printer, because the previous two have been defective, he waited 8 weeks for his first to arrive.
Yet another issue with allowing all of our stuff to be made in China, nothing is in stock any more.
