Korean Job Discussion Forums

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

Today at a crucial point, my printer finally ran out of ink. Since it is a major ink hog it was time to replace it with a printer that is cheaper on ink. the_beaver has had this external ink type printer for several months now and did not need to replace the ink cartridges until this week. The thing is he prints like he's running a professional print shop so clearly the ink lasts a long time.

I got the_beaver to show me the shop in Yongsan where he got set up. While there we found out the ink refills (100ml) are only 5,000. Yes, only 5,000 won. My old 3-in-1 printer would run me 30,000 for black ink and that was approximately 30-40ml.

This is a printer, scanner, copier, fax combo unit and it also has a special slot for 4x6 photopaper. I printed up a picture strait from the memory card - no photoshopping - and the quality was as good as taking it into a print shop. I did the same with other pictures already on the hard drive and photoshopped and was equally impressed.

The HP C6180does not come standard with the external ink solution and in fact has really tiny built in cartridges which I'm sure would be expensive, but with the external kit this is a steal. Total cost with kit 300,000. Since I was spending about 120,000 to 150,000 a year on ink this printer should pay for itself in 2 years.

here it is in all it's glory

SHANE02 · Joined: 04 Jun 2003

A very timely post, thank you to both of you for sharing this info.

I am about to buy a new combo printer and it sounds like this setup will be great. I've been reading and checking printers out for a few weeks, and have seen the external setup on Gmarket with your printer.
http://gen.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/html_goods/goods_108183302.asp?goodscode=108183302&pos_shop_cd=SH&pos_class_cd=111111111&pos_class_kind=T&keyword_order=hp+c6180&search_keyword=hp%20c6180

I like the idea of plugging it into a wireless hub and printing from any pc in the house, but it's the ink thing that made me look twice at this printer setup.

Do I need get the sales guys at Yongsan to fit the external inks, or can I do it at home?

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

The shop had everything already set up. The guy was really freindly and professional.

Confused Canadian · Joined: 21 Jan 2003

Is this something you have to buy new, or can current printers be 'modded' (for lack of a better term...).

the_beaver · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

Confused Canadian · Joined: 21 Jan 2003

How about an HP PSC 1350?

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

Yeah, please post his business card. There are sometimes shops showing these printers in their windows, but I never needed a printer when they were displaying them, and I forgot exactly where they were, or the shop moved. There used to be a store across from Icoda that displayed these, but haven't seen any recently (wasn't looking hard for one, though).

Thing I was worried about was that the nozzle would go bad somehow. I'm not sure how this thing is wired-in, but if they somehow just modified a cartridge, the head of it could go bad, right? I guess I was a bit skeptical, but if one of you have had one for a long time, and they work OK, then it must be fine.

Confused Canadian · Joined: 21 Jan 2003

Much appreciated, Superhero.

Just bought two black cartridges for about 30,000. Rarely print in color, just because of the cost. However, with a cheaper alternative...who knows?

Thanks again!

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

Here is the card as promised

Confused Canadian · Joined: 21 Jan 2003

Thanks!

Working late tonight, but I might get my wife to call tomorrow!

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

Was surfing this morning and saw a google adsense ad for continuous ink solutions - exactly what I bought and now I know what it's called.

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

I just bought this setup from another store near there (outside along the sidewalk) for 290,000. Just setting it up. Amazed how long the setup disk is taking.

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

Ok, mine is up and running... a few questions for ya:

I noticed that in your photo (and on my system) the ink lines do not fully fill with ink entirely on the way to the print heads. Is that they way it's supposed to be, or should the lines be totally filled with ink with no air pockets? I was afraid I messed something up because I didn't know it would attempt to suck ink into the printer immediately when I turned it on. I noticed it was doing so, and worried, that there would be a problem, so I immediately pulled the little rubber ends out of the top of the ink cartridges (the small plug). I was hoping that I didn't screw something up by not having them open when I first turned the printer on. It seemed like a vacuum sucked the ink back up and into the cartridges.

The Korean guy at the store I got it from had horrible Korean. My lady could barely understand him (and she's Korean). I tried to get him to explain it all to her so I'd do it right, because I couldn't make squat out of what he said.

I suppose demo got the 7280? model... the one that does double-sided printing? I think we can upgrade to that if we buy the extra part to do it, but I figure I don't need it. I got the 6180 model.

I've been printing some stuff out on some 2 year-old photo-paper that's been sitting up in a stuffy room. A few sheets in the pack got wet at some point, and smells like moldy paper. The pics are coming out a bit green, but it's probably the paper's fault. That or these inks aren't quite as vivid. Not a big deal to me anyway, as I plan on using it for printing web pages and such, mostly.