Hi Bakers!

So recently, I decided that I wanted to buy a printer for edible images.  I looked at a lot of different printers and after a lot of hemming and hawing I decided on the Epson L800.  Kopykake advertised it as a great, new printer that Epson currently doesn't sell in the states, but you can buy on Amazon.  There are no sponges or microchips, but rather completely empty tanks that you fill with edible inks.  Your edible ink is supposed to go a lot farther with these new printers.

I bought the L800, but when I received it there was a small amount of greasy clear liquid in the tanks, almost like a vegetable oil (although obviously, I'm sure that's not what it is).  You can take the tanks off the side of the printer, but they remain tethered to the printer by a series of tubes, which makes cleaning the tanks impossible.  I reached out to Kopykake and asked if they had run into this issue and if they had, what did they do about it?  They said they didn't know and that all they know is that the tanks are empty.  I replied that they are NOT empty but rather, filled with a liquid that prevents me from adding the edible inks they told me where compatible with this printer.  They said they were sorry but it was basically not their problem, and to contact Epson.

I just spent close to an hour on the phone with Epson and they are clueless when it comes to this printer, since it does not exist in the US market.  They said they did not know what the liquid in the printer was, and that they could not tell me how to detach the tanks. 

I looked online at the European Epson site and while they claim to have online support, the few times I've tried to reach out to them using it, it always says that Online Chat is Not Currently Active. 

I'll keep trying and if all else fails, of course I'll just return the printer.  I obviously do not want to taint any baked goods with some clear mystery printer substance BUT, I thought, before I do that, let me ask Cake Central!  Has anyone else tried to buy this printer for edible inks?  And if not, then I suppose this post can just be a warning to you all...Kopykake will sell you the inks and tell you that you can use them in this printer but as of now, I don't find that to be true. 

Thanks in advance!!

A little update for anyone who looks at this in the future.  Some of the liquid that was in the tank leaked out without me realizing and fell on the table.  I noticed the next morning, wiped it away, and it had removed the varnish on my table!  The tanks definitely can not be removed, so there is no way to remove the paint stripping clear liquid in them.  While I know Kopykake does not sell the printer, they do recommend that you buy it on their site and state that it is a good printer to use with edible inks. 

I emailed them today again and asked how I could return their inks to them, and included the pictures of the liquid that had been in the tanks, the liquid on the table and the spot where the varnish no longer was.  They responded somewhat unhelpfully with the following:

        Melissa,

       We have numerous customers all over the world purchasing and using our refill ink with the L800 printer and have not had any problems.

So, no help there. 

Good luck with your printer purchasing and if anyone has one they really love, I'd love to hear about it!

Epson L800 is design for large printing printer, which is using Bulking System that continue printing feature. But the down side it not good for edible printing. 

You need to purchase the refill kit from Epson that comes with serial code for you to print.  

leigh, I am sorry you had so many problems.  I would recommend strongly the Canon printers. Epson printheads are not removable and so after many efforts in trying to find success, we could not stand behind them.  The Canon printers have a removable printhead and we have had great success with them. We would be glad to assist you and answer all questions that you have.  You can reach us at [email protected] so we can try to help.  As for the sponges and microchips, that is old and outdated information.  The sponges in the cartridges are not an issue and our company has used all type of cartridges.  Our current models have sponges and work wonderfully. The microchips on our cartridges are completely resettable so the problems of the past are gone. Sometimes you find a lot of old information and at Icing Images, we overcome obsticles and are constantly  making improvements to help our customers have the best product thus being able to serve their customers with quality works of art! Let me know if I can be of any assistance to you!