Ricoh 3300 ink levels

[AJLA]

How accurate do you think they are??? Adam with his Ricoh (a diffrent model) said they were quite a way off.

My printer is telling me my yellow is low but there is a lot of everything else, it would be interesting to know if anyone feels there is less or more in than the status monitor thinks.

Mandy

[ASO Embroidery]

Hi Mandy,
well we have had our Ricoh 7000 about 6 months and although we do not use it everyday I think i have printed out a fair bit with it and my status monitor is still sitting at the same point it did when we first got it as you have probably heard before when you first set it up it takes quite a lot in to the lines so although it may look as if it has used a lot there is still the same amout in it. Bearing in mind the 7000 has larger ink cartridges but up till now im quite happy with it.

Regards Sammy

[logobear]

We always keep a spare of each colour, but i believe that my 3300 showed low levels for ages before actually saying it was empty.
You only need to change when actually told to do so, the printer wont print when it is out.
P

[AJLA]

Thanks folks i wont panick today then but i'll get some ordered next week.

[John G]

I used to keep a full set of carts spare until I was told that using out of date inks is the cause of most of the problems we're hearing about lately - apparently the gel starts to separate and effects the head.

Cheers John

[AJLA]

I had the same issue with my Artanium inks John which is why I thought about asking the question, the Artanium ink thickened quite a bit.

[John G]

Just had a thought, since these gel inks have a shelf life, how long have they been sitting on the suppliers shelf before we get them?

[JSR]

I've noticed the "ink separation issue" with bottles of ink on my shelf. You get a kind of "transparent" layer of ink over the coloured ink - most noticeable in the yellow. I have dregs of Artanium ink in an old CISS sitting on my shelf, and you can see the separation very clearly.

However, I've filled cartridges by drawing the ink from underneath the transparent layer and have had no additional "head block" consequences from my Brother printers. The only real issue is that the inks seem to lose/change colour as a result of this separation and over time, but reprofiling easily solves that issue.

YMMV with Ricoh and Epson, though.

[bms]

Just had a thought, since these gel inks have a shelf life, how long have they been sitting on the suppliers shelf before we get them?

Normally anything from a few hours to a few days. Also bear in mind the suppliers don't put the date on, Sawgrass do, so you'll get a sense of slow moving stock if your use by date is close!

[John G]

Thanks for the reply Martin, I had problems with my prints and contacted Sawgrass direct who checked my cart numbers and informed me they were out of date. :redface: I didn't know they had a date on but will now check the best before dates when I buy a new set.

Cheers John