3880 not seating properly

Just installed a new set of inkjetmall carts and the LK is leaking. Will not hold seal. Do I reorder or can it be replaced?

Thanks

We’re sending you out a new LK cart ASAP!

best,
Walker

So here’s where I am now. Replaced LK cart and it seems tone seated properly. Went through reset procedure
Pulled all carts and maint tank
Powered down for 3 minutes
Message: Maintenance cover open, close cover
Inserted Maint cart , closed door
Message: no ink cartridge
Pushed carts in left to right
Message: ink cover open
Closed ink cover
Message: no maintenance cart

First time with new maint cart. Had 2 others that I reset with the resetter successfully. Now none of the 3 will reset at all.

Repeated half a dozen times with the same results.

If the only thing you changed is the LK cart you need to ensure that the OEM chip from the original LK cart is properly placed under the control chip of the new LK cart. If still not working, take the old LK control chip and put on new LK cart.

-Walker

Than was the only change. I still can’t navigate around the No maintenance cart error message. It reappears at every step of the way, and precludes even getting to the ink cart status. I did manage to get to read the ink status one time in 20 tries and it still had a line through the LK bar.

So did you do my suggestions and put the LK OEM and control chip from the old cart into the new cart.

It won’t work without and Epson original chip in there . . .

-Walker

Yes, I’ve tried the original epson chip with both the chips from the old and new carts.

sorry for the late reply.

Because your previous cart was leaking and your new cart is not set properly there’s a good chance that something in the ink bay channel is messing with these carts.

Check that there isn’t anything wedged in there that could get in the way. If you are sure that everything is good, put the LK cart back in, fold a thick bit of paper in half and slide this under the cartridge between the cartridge and the ink bay. This will hold the cartridge in by about 1/2 to 2mm and will usually fix the issue. Old ink bays can exhibit a “push-out” behavior over time where you lock the cart in but then the ink bay pushes it out of place by a MM or so.

We’ll send a replacement if no-go but it might not solve the issue if the ink bay is a bit off.

-Walker

Thanks Walker. I’ll try that today. Just to be clear, is the ink cart causing the no maintenance cart error message, and should I just ignore that?

Yeah, the INK cart can create the NMT error.

-W

After placing shims under the LK and LLK carts the printer recognized all carts. My euphoria was short lived, as half way through my first test print I got a Service call error of 131B. Powered down, waited an hour, same error on restart.

4 hours later, powered up and made 2 4"x6" test prints. 131B error message returned after the second.
Not loving the 3880.

Yikes. There is something deeply wrong with this printer.

From the maintenance manual:

Code. 131B. Description. Head driver (transmission gate) temp. error. The temperature of the head driver has reached the upper limit.

This is entirely un-related to cartridges miss-reading (different boards separated by fuses, etc). Usually a thermistor error like this is due to ink getting into the ribbon cable connected to the head. Has the head on this printer been removed and put back?

-Walker

Walker,
It was an epson refurb. I suspect whatever damage done was caused by the initial leaking cartridge.
I’ve pulled some beautiful small prints. The 131B message returns intermittently after leaving the printer on for hours. This pinter head doesn’t heat the inks does it? On inspection internally, there was a fair amount of ink that had seeped out. Who knows where that ended up. I’ve cleaned it up as best I could, and it does not visibly return. I’m going to continue printing and see if it deteriorates.

Looking forward, have you guys solved the p6000 for piezo pro? All I’ve found in the forum so far is that it looks promising.

It’s a matter of molding new cartridges that can take the extra ink pressure on the SC-P series printers.

They have been molded, modified, molded again, tested, and are in production. When we release this cartridge/chip solution it will be the first viable one in US market. In short. Yes, we’ve solved it and will go to market soon.

best,
Walker

My 131B error has worsened in the last 24 hours. Looks like it’s toast without a new print head estimated at $800-1,000. That was a pricey exercise in futility. I’m on the fence now about getting another 3880 (since I have the carts set up), or moving to the p800 for about the same price and starting over. Are there advantages to the p800 , and is piezo pro viable in this printer?

Thanks

Pro is viable for this printer. The P800 takes the same carts so you would not have to change the carts at all.

We have 2 running at Cone Editions.

best,
Walker

Also, because it’s intermittent, I suggest that you take the head out and clean the contacts with contact-cleaner. This could solve the problem permanently. I will private message you the maintenance manual.

-W

No luck on the attempted repair. Just succeeded in adding another error message. I’ve ordered a p800 refurb from Epson. Is there anything I should know about the driver for this? Am I okay to download the current driver from Epson?

Thanks,

Allen

Download the driver only (not the combo package).

best,
Walker