I have an Epson Stylus Pro 4800 printer that I basically love.\u00a0 Having a high quality printer like the Epson really unleashed my creative potential by giving me the ability to fine tune my photographs.\u00a0 Sending proofs off to labs and even waiting only a couple of days to get them back (like some of the better labs do) just wasn\u2019t working out.\u00a0 Realistically, I could only do a couple of proofs.\u00a0 But with my own printer I can run scores of proofs if I need to.<\/p>\n
There is one thing about the Epson that\u2019s been bugging me though.\u00a0 I have nozzle clogging problems.\u00a0 It\u2019s from two things \u2013 the relatively dry atmosphere here in Southern California and the fact that I don\u2019t print every day.\u00a0 It gets so bad that I would sometimes have to spend an hour repeating the nozzle check and head clean before I could start printing.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t fun.<\/p>\n
But last weekend I heard a tip from two people.\u00a0 Musical instruments, especially the kind made from wood, suffer from the wood drying out in low humidity conditions.\u00a0 And that affects the quality of the sound.\u00a0 So musicians purchase a humidifier device to put in their instrument cases.\u00a0 It maintains the humidity inside the case at an optimum level which keeps their instrument sounding its best.<\/p>\n
The suggestion was to purchase one of these and place it inside the 4800.\u00a0 Well, the advice made total sense but I took a different tack.\u00a0 We had a Starbuck\u2019s shot glass sitting around.\u00a0 I took a kitchen sponge and cut it into four strips.\u00a0 Two of these fit perfectly in the shot glass.\u00a0 Moisten the sponges, insert them in the glass, add a little extra water (not too much), set it inside the printer way out of the way where the print head wont hit it, and cross fingers.\u00a0 After one day I\u00a0 ran a nozzle check.\u00a0 Wow, it was almost perfect, good enough to try a print.\u00a0 I printed a proof and it was just great.<\/p>\n
Since then I\u2019ve printed more and it\u2019s working perfectly.\u00a0 I check the water level every other day or so and am amazed at how quickly it goes down.<\/p>\n
So, while time will tell, it seems the nozzle clogging problem may be solved.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t have go to through the onerous chore of unclogging nozzles before I can print.\u00a0 I\u2019m cranking out proofs and feeling productive and creative again.\u00a0 I\u2019m a happy camper.<\/p>\n
Join me on an upcoming workshop.<\/a><\/p>\n