Help!

[Craig]

Newbie to this wide format stuff, I have a question for you vets.

Getting an Epson 7900 installed next week, of course it comes with starter ink to charge the tanks. How do you know how much of what colors to buy??? They have 150, 350 and 700ml ink tanks, do I get the same amount for all 10 colors or are some used more than others. Common sense would lead me to believe that Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black will be used more than... Orange or Green. Or am I wrong?

Also why I'm asking, is there a way to estimate how much ink is used to print a job?

Thanks!!!

[Mike F]

Not sure about Epsons, but Roland wide format printers run off of their VersaWorks RIP and that tells you how much ink will be consumed when you RIP.

[mglouis]

It depends on your subject matter (foliage vs flesh) and whether or not your icc profiling package uses O,G in gray balance builds. Use aggressive GCR and you can count on using more black and less 'colorful' inks in undercolor.

Matt Louis

[mglouis]

The large cartridges "should" fit the unit although the door won't close so you can get a better price per ml. I suppose you could use different sizes per color but I have never seen anyone do this before. It is easier to keep one type of inventory. Ask your rep.

Matt Louis

[Happyprinter]

Craig,. We have ran an Epson 7900 for about a year. We initially bought one 350 ml cartridge for each color. As expensive as they are to replace we thought that would be a good way to start. After running for a year now, we have found that if we keep 1 of each color, 350ml, it gives us ample time to reorder when we run low and have to replace a color. Now of course it will depend on usage, but, I think you will find that the inks last a long time. Initially, when we were asking the same question we had all sorts of recommendations that were going to cost me a fortune in reserve ink. Such as, 5 cartridges per color or 10 etc.. But only having one in reserve has worked just fine. And later as you grow then think about the larer sizes. As for C,M,Y,K being the most used, you are correct, but, you will also be surprised on how much of the other inks will also be used, again depending on your projects. Hope this helps. By the way, GREAT MACHINE. We run canvas, some scrim, thru it and it works great.

[Craig]

Thanks Happy! That's what I was looking for!!! Can't wait to get it up and running.