Finally, an Ink Change (Temporarily)

To print the series of painting files I mentioned a couple of posts back, I did a PK/MK swap. These prints will be made on Epson "Ultra Premium Presentation Paper", formerly known as Enhanced Matte Paper. The driver installation for the 7900 includes profiles for this paper for both PK and MK ink. When I printed my profile test image on this paper some time ago, the result was clearly superior with MK ink, just as one would expect.

I pressed the button to initiate the swap. The process takes only a couple of minutes; the printer's LCD displays a progress bar while this is happening. However, it's not really finished when the progress bar reaches 100% and the printer returns to its ready mode. After the ink swap, I inserted a piece of plain bond paper and ran a nozzle check print, as usual. Instead of printing as one might expected, a full cleaning cycle ran.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that my LK ink has been showing 1% remaining for some weeks. After the cleanings I ran earlier in the week to clear the clogs in the LLK channel, that ink too dropped to 1%. When the cleaning cycle started today, the printer displayed this.

The display alternated between the two screens. Notice it does not specify which ink is too low to clean. I assumed, since LK had been showing 1% for some time, that it was the one to change.

The procedure is simple; press the button to open the ink bay (you can choose to open the right bay, the left bay, or both). LK is in the right bay. Making the choice from the control panel pops open the appropriate cover(s). I opened a new LK cartridge (150ml) and shook it as indicated on the package. I then pressed in to unlatch the old LK, slid out the cartridge, and inserted the new one, pressing it in place to latch it. When I closed the bay cover, the printer started the cleaning. This took several minutes to complete. There were no further complaints about low ink, despite the LLK being at 1%.

   The right ink bay, with the LK cartridge unlatched and ready to remove.

When it finished, the nozzle check printed on the sheet I'd inserted previously. The nozzle check looked fine. I then opened the right ink bay cover, removed the new LK, and inserted the old one. I put a piece of tape over the opening on the back of the new cartridge. It's probably not necessary, but it can't hurt. I've no way to know how long this cartridge will sit on the shelf before being needed again.

I ran the print job, which required five Super A3/B sheets (13 x 19 inches), and 27 inches (69 cm) from a 17 inch roll.

In the next day or two I'll make a number of prints of my snowy owl images to fill orders that have come in recently. While all of these look good on my preferred gloss papers (GGFS and EEF), several look very nice on the softer surface of mat papers. I'll print those on mat, but to complete the orders I'll have to switch back to PK for the prints I'll make on GGFS.

  --Jay