Short read on acquiring a used printer for the 4-inkjet direct to plate process

Piezography 4-inkjet direct to plate photogravure uses only four inkjet inks. Yes, you can use a few more shades of Piezography Pro inks to produce digital negatives and a few more still to produce both matte and glossy Piezography prints. However, this short read is about acquiring a printer just for use as a Piezography 4-inkjet ink direct to plate printer.

Four inks are used in our process. We provide a customized software that rewrites our turnkey Piezography Direct to Plate media profiles according to what channels you can place these four inks into. 

We offer support on the following large format printers SureColor P6000, P7000, P8000, P9000, Stylus Pro 7890, 7900, 9890, 9900. All of these are now discontinued with the exception that the P7000 sometimes pops up for sale. While smaller than these 24 and 44 inch printers, we also offer support on the 3800, 3880, SureColor P800 and for European purchased P900 and China region purchased P908 printers. Unfortunately, the USA version of the P900 cannot be used with your choice of inks and we do not offer any support. For all the others InkjetMall can provide refill carts/chips and the inks.

When using a SureColor P6000, P7000, P8000 or P9000 printer that has been used with 3rd party inks it is critical that you know which 3rd party chip series numbers have been used or you will be unable to use this printer because you will not be able to order chips from us. Chips are not returnable and a series # can not be used more than once in an ink channel on these four printers. CRITICAL! Is there a workaround? Possibly, but the expense of ordering a huge supply of $50 chips to trial and error may become futile let alone very expensive. Do that only as a last resort or if the costs are not of concern. Chips are not returnable.

Because only four channels need be working you can usually pick up someone else’s misery when their color printer fails. Sometimes just for carrying it downstairs you can acquire a free large format printer. I say this because I have. Otherwise for a small fee you can buy one locally or on one of the many classified sales websites like Craigslist and eBay. Only 4 channels need be working. You will load the others with InkjetMall’s PiezoFlush to keep them cool and potentially available for other shades of ink. A minimal investment in comparison to a new printer and EPSON no longer offers new printers in North America that can be used with your choice of inks.

We do have a good relationship with a vendor who refurbishes to new condition, SureColor P6000, P7000, P8000, P9000, Stylus Pro 7890, 7900, 9890, 9900 printers. They can also provide a refurbished 3880 or P800. But one word of caution is that using a 3880 or P800 or a P900/P908 does require the use of making a front loading carrier for the plates. I wouldn’t want to do that. We prefer loading the plates directly into the other models listed. Much easier. No pizza cutter wheels to deal with. 

A 24” or 44” printer with a bad printhead will cost about $2,000 to $2,500 to repair. If the printer is in perfect condition they would have a value from $1500 - $3000. You should probably not pay more than $500 for a printer that has a bad print head even though it more than likely that only one or two of its channels have gone bad. The entire print head needs replacing to use for color inks. Hence, if the owner has not refurbished it prior to selling it the deduction of $2,000 - $2,500 from their selling cost is justified. Make the offer! No one in their right mind would pay more unless they are planning on using it for our 4-ink process!