Printer Waste Ink Tanks

[Ronniebootwest]

I had a problem with my Epson 1290 printer the other day. There were two light flashing alternately on the front of the printer and it just refused to print.

I investigated the situation and found out about the 'Waste Ink' tanks that are housed in the bottom of the printer (it seems that most Epson

printers are made this way. These tanks fill up with the waste ink used when using the head cleaning function of the printer. Of couse,

Epson want you to return the printer for servicing (at a cost of about £95 I understand) and I considered this to be extortionate!

The answer is to fit an EXTERNAL WASTE INK TANK and bypass the internal ones completely. I have done this now and my printer is working fine now.

If you are interested in learning where I obtained the replacement kit (cost £11.75) then visit my web site and read the link found on the

Links page 2 Here:

[Antbrewer]

Hello Ron,

You may remember me from a long time ago where you gave me advice on auto-run CDs.

Strangely enough this very problem of saturated ink tanks on the 1290 came up this week with a pal mine. I've looked at your links and the associated guide to installing the external waste tanks and as it says 'it is not for the faint hearted'. These days I do very little printing and though I'm sure my tanks must be fairly full I will await the flashing lights before embarking on this.

But thank you for this very useful info. I will use it when the need arises.

Anthony

[Nikonos]

I had a problem with my Epson 1290 printer the other day. There were two light flashing alternately on the front of the printer and it just refused to print.

I investigated the situation and found out about the 'Waste Ink' tanks that are housed in the bottom of the printer (it seems that most Epson

printers are made this way. These tanks fill up with the waste ink used when using the head cleaning function of the printer. Of couse,

Epson want you to return the printer for servicing (at a cost of about £95 I understand) and I considered this to be extortionate!

The answer is to fit an EXTERNAL WASTE INK TANK and bypass the internal ones completely. I have done this now and my printer is working fine now.

If you are interested in learning where I obtained the replacement kit (cost £11.75) then visit my web site and read the link found on the

Links page 2 Here:

Epson printers tend to quite wasteful of ink. I have a large format Epson 4000 model which has an enormous waste tank - fortunately it is user replaceable though. But I hate having to chuck away what is s significant amount of ink as 'waste'. A full set of ink for this model costs well over £400 incidentally. My other HP Z3100 printer is far better in this respect - surplus ink is pumped back into the system - a far more sensible idea - although less profit for the manufacturer....

[Ronniebootwest]

Epson printers tend to quite wasteful of ink. I have a large format Epson 4000 model which has an enormous waste tank - fortunately it is user replaceable though. But I hate having to chuck away what is s significant amount of ink as 'waste'. A full set of ink for this model costs well over £400 incidentally. My other HP Z3100 printer is far better in this respect - surplus ink is pumped back into the system - a far more sensible idea - although less profit for the manufacturer....

Why don't you consider reusing the waste ink by refilling the black cartridge?

I think that I might consider an HP printer when my present Epson dies on me.

Ron

[Nikonos]

Why don't you consider reusing the waste ink by refilling the black cartridge?

I think that I might consider an HP printer when my present Epson dies on me.

Ron

Hi Ron,

That would hardly be practical because the waste ink would be a mix of all eight colours (three of which are black or grey). The waste tank is filled with absorbent felt which cannot be removed without destroying the tank. On top of that you would have to re-program the chipped ink cartridges (which are about the size of a VHS cassette). As I don't actually pay for the ink myself I don't think I will bother ;-) I just hate to see such a wasteful process though.

Malcolm