[hayyyyydos]

Former printer tech here - waste ink pads are common in inkjets, and definitely not an issue exclusive to Epson. After all, the ink that it sucks through priming on start up/shut down/idle has to go somewhere.

It's not that straightforward to modify the machine to make the parts user replaceable. I know in Canon inkjets, at least, this was my least favourite job - the entire printer has to be disassembled from the top-down (including a number of springs and the decoder strip) to get to the pads. Most of the cost is in labour, not the parts.

[edf13]

So why would the scanner also be disabled?

[hayyyyydos]

> So why would the scanner also be disabled?

I'm not aware of that happening.

Looking at the video linked in the article showing Epson waste ink pad replacement, it actually looks like a pretty simple process with a couple of screws. Much easier than Canon's procedure of disassembling the whole unit from the top down.

But if you add in even just 20 minutes of (messy) labour in the Epson scenario, that's where the cost becomes more than replacing the unit.

It's unfortunate, but at least they don't do what HP does with their inkjets... if we're accusing anyone of malice when it comes to inkjets, it should definitely be HP.

[rambojazz]

They should simply make the part easily replaceable in a way that does not require a complete disassemble of the printer from top to bottom.