I need to decide whether my Epson 2100 is dead at last, or whether I just have some faulty carts.
Here is the background:
. my trusty old 2100 just passed its tenth birthday a few months ago. Despite all the difficulties I’ve had with it, I’ve kept it going and it’s served me well.
. For the past few years I’ve used K3 Conecolour inks and some refillables I got from Honk Kong.
. the carts and inks were getting old, the inks were low, I’ve been getting more frequent clogs, and so I replaced both.
. I got the latest version of ConecolourPro K3 and some new carts.
. the carts were from a local supplier and have manual reset chips, but otherwise look identical to the earlier HK carts. I don’t think that there’s been any new types of carts for the 2100 for some time. I also did the standard desktop maintenance routine - clean under the head, capping station, etc.
Things worked well for a short while, but it didn’t take long for problems to develop. The short version is that the PK cart seems to be leaking. Black ink was dropping on the page and the other colours were coming out all or partly black, both in nozzle checks and purge patterns. If I did enough purge patterns and head cleans then the problem may clear, and if I then printed continuously it would continue to work, but if I stopped for a short time, perhaps only half and hour, then it would return. I can tell it was PK rather than LK from the fact the PK ink level was falling faster, and from purge patterns.
Now I recall Jon saying on a forum somewhere that ink dropping on the page is a sign of a cartridge problem. Perhaps a vent / flow issue. I thought perhaps I had a faulty PK cartridge. So I inserted the PK from my backup set of unused cartridges. It worked well, and so initially it seemed that I had found the problem. However after only about 18 hours the problem returned. Same deal.
So here is my question. Have I had really bad luck and have a second faulty cartridge, or has my 2100 finally died? Is this a symptom of a cartridge failure or printer failure? I don’t have any spare PK carts, but I could stick in another one from my backup set with a PK chip and see, assuming it’s not a completely bad batch. It shouldn’t be as there aren’t any other positions displaying this problem.
Sorry Brian, I wish I had experience with the problem and some advice, but I don’t. The only times I’ve experienced ink drips is with the large format models. It’s usually paper guck and ink build up on the bottom of the head, which then drips when enough ink collects. Then it’s the under head cleaning time.
With carts on top of the heads and nozzles like the desktop models, different potential problems can occur I suppose, like a cart as suggested.
Wish I knew what to advise.
T
Sorry Brian, I wish I had experience with the problem and some advice, but I don’t. The only times I’ve experienced ink drips is with the large format models. It’s usually paper guck and ink build up on the bottom of the head, which then drips when enough ink collects. Then it’s the under head cleaning time.
With carts on top of the heads and nozzles like the desktop models, different potential problems can occur I suppose, like a cart as suggested.
Wish I knew what to advise.
T
Thanks Tyler for taking the time to comment. Normally I’d assume the problem was caused one of the usual factors, but this seems different and intractable. One option is to continue to think it’s ink buildup or the cart and burn through more ink and new carts. The other is to decide that the printer head has deteriorated to such an extent that it needs replacing, if I can still find one. Perhaps Jon or Dana will have a view.
Have you manually cleaned your printer’s capping station, wiper blade and bottom of the print head?
If not, and your printer is 10 years old- then waste ink and paper dust build up from over the years is likely the cause of your current problem. You can go here to read and follow our cleaning procedures, then see how things look before concluding if it’s printer or carts: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?133-Printer-Cleaning-and-Preventative-Maintenance
*Since you have the 2200- make sure to be VERY careful not to drip any liquid into the printer between the capping station and printing path, or overflow the capping station, as this model was built poorly with important electrical components exposed under that area, and many people (including me) have fried their 2100/2200 printers by getting the part wet. If this area gets wet, the printer will act like it’s printing but absolutely nothing will print on nozzle checks or images (it’s the control that tells the print head to fire ink when printing).
Please let me know if you have questions, how things go, or if there’s anything else I can help you with.
I hope this helps, best regards~ Dana
Dana - I have watched your video, many times. I have done these things, several times over the years and once just before inserting the new carts and inks. Cleaning the wiper blade on a 2100/2200 is not easy - the only way I’ve found to do it is to pull out the power chord at precisely the right moment in a head clean.
Of course it’s possible that one faulty new cartridge has caused so much leakage that it needs to be done again, and the second new cart can’t work properly because of the build up. I just wanted some assurance that it was more likely to be something like this rather than printer failure. I.e. that in your experience this isn’t usually a symptom of printer failure.
It’s also possible that fibre from the paper towel has lodged under there somewhere during the cleaning process. We don’t have “Bounty” brand here, and I use the best quality I can find. I have wondered about using soft, absorbent, non-fibrous kitchen cleaning cloths. A common brand here is Chux Super-Wipes, < http://www.chux.com.au/the-chux-range/chux-cloth-range/superwipes-range/ > - I assume you have the same thing by a different name. I can’t see that these would be any worse than paper towels for cleaning under the head with piezoflush, and may be better since they don’t have fibres. It’s a little more expensive, but it’s not something you do every day.
Thanks again and thanks for the video.
Oh, and thanks for the warning about leakage and shorting. It’s a wonder that mine is still working given the problems I’ve had over the years!!
p.s. I’ve reread that support page you linked to, and I noticed a point of detail that you didn’t mention in the video. You say "Look at the cap, using a flashlight if necessary. It should be horizontal to the print path (depending if it’s a desktop or Pro model printer), not tilted at an angle. If it tilted, there may be a problem with the fixture supporting it. This can cause ongoing problems due to ink drying out in the print head. This problem usually requires the printer to be serviced professionally. " On my 2100 I would have said that my capping station was not perfectly horizontal, it’s fairly close, but not exact. The slightly lower end is the end closer to the paper path. Now I’ve hard this printer for over 10 years, and it’s been like that for as long as I can remember. I don’t recall dislodging it. You don’t have a 2200 any more, but can you recall if the capping station was exactly level? (I don’t think that this is the cause of my current concerns, as my problem is dripping and not clogs due to drying out.)
That was a long post from me, but in it there were two questions:
. What do you think about using Chux Super-Wipes (or whatever you call them) for printer heat cleaning? They are soft and absorbent, like paper towels, but open weave cloth rather than paper. I assume they’re synthetic, given they’re not expensive.
. Do you recall whether the 2100/2200 is a printer that is supposed to have a perfectly horizontal capping station (since your comment on the support page “should be horizontal to the print path (depending if it’s a desktop or Pro model printer)” read to me as if it’s not always the case)?
I’m not sure about the cleaning wipes you’re asking about- I’ve never tried using them for this purpose.
All desktop printer models should have a flat/horizontal capping station (the pro model 24’+ printers have angled capping stations, which are horizontal to the printing path and print head).
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