3880 Nozzle clogs with K7 Selenium?

InkjetMall Customer Support Piezography Inks & Printing
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I haven’t used the K7 ink printer for maybe 5 days.

I decided Sunday would be my “Printer Nozzle Check Day” for 4 different printers.

So I ran “Nozzle Check” for the Selenium K7 Epson 3880 unit and two nozzles were not working right after 5 days of non-use: The Matte Black and the Cyan (Second most dense black?) were not firing right.

I ran the new Qimage’s Unclogger pattern routine (I’m using Windows 8.1) and it printed out a normal pattern. Also, fwiw, the other 3880 using Cone Dye inks showed a good pattern and no nozzle clogs at all after almost a week of non-use.

Back to the K7 3880, it still shows the same two MK nozzles (stagger formation) showing nothing as was the first prior to the Qimage unclog pattern run, and same one in the Cyan showing a blank as well. The blanks are in exactly the same place both prior and after the Qimage unclogger run. Guess I will let it sit for a day and run the Nozzle Check again and maybe a Cleaning routine and see if those two inks regain the pattern.

Right now I am somewhat fearful the Photo Black may also be clogged as well if the Matte Black is clogged - if that is how the Epson works. Not crazy about doing a wasteful ink switch unless necessary.

So how often should I check these and should I also run some sort of Matte as well and Photo Black ink check?

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Did a Matte > Photo Black nozzle check. Same two nozzles in the Matte & Photo Black stagger line are missing, as well as the same one in the Cyan ink cart’s stagger line. Puzzling, and I don’t know if it is a full blown head failure or just some nozzle clog since it is always the same spot in the nozzle check pattern?

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Problem solved. Dried ink in the MK/PK head, and same for Cyan head as it was in same spots for each nozzle check.

I put some head cleaning solution on the capping station sponge where the head parks when off, maybe 8ml out of a 10ml syringe. Prior, I let the head sit in the middle of the printer over a place where I dropped maybe 2-3ml of cleaner onto that sponge used for catching borderless ink spray for maybe 30 minutes. I then turned it back on and off so it parked over the capping station that had the cleaner put into its two sponges. Three hours later and nozzle check is all good again. Yay! :slight_smile:

Maybe fumes of the cleaner or the Qimage “Unclog” print image routine did the trick? Don’t know which, but at least the problem is solved now.

Mack

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Hi Mack~

Sorry for not responding sooner, I was out of the office yesterday after getting married this past weekend.

I would have suggested manually cleaning the capping station, wiper blade and bottom of the print head, so am glad that solved your problem! :slight_smile:

What cleaner solution did you use to clean your printer?
Did you do a regular cleaning cycle by holding down the printer’s cleaning button for a few seconds before printing the Qimage unclog image, and other things you did?
The MK and PK channels have separate ink lines and dampers (that go into one channel, controlled by the black ink selector unit), but share the same print head channel. It is a good idea to do a black ink change and few regular cleaning cycles occasionally if you don’t switch between MK and PK mode for printing at least every few weeks, to avoid settled pigment in the unused black line and damper, which can effect output density and/or cause restricted ink flow. If you ONLY print with one black, and never use the other, it’s best to install PiezoFlush in the unused black channel to keep it moist and in good working condition if you decide you want to use that cannel in the future.

Best regards and happy printing~ Dana :slight_smile:

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Ugh! BBS timed out on me for third time.

Cleaning stuff says “Cleaning Solution. Keep away from flame and light. No child touch.” Sounds Chinese? Light blue color. Very sweet smelling. No alcohol or ammonia smell. Light sudsy look if shaken. Came with a Canon 9000 II refill kit I picked up in LA along with some 10cc syringes I used to flush the capping sponges and few drops on that foam strip under the print head where I parked it. It’s old, and I don’t know if the refill outfit is still in LA either since I moved to using OCP ink in the Canon 9000 II as it costs only 35 cents per cart refill and works well enough for office printing and some photos.

Ran Qimage Unclog routine twice on the discovery of the dried nozzles in the 3880. Dug out the blue stuff and let it sit while off and parked for 3-4 hours over the capping station with it. Turned back on and ran one more Qimage Unclog and a nozzle check and it showed all good.

Congrats on the marriage too!

Mack

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Hmmm, that does sound Chinese… I’m glad it worked for you, but it’s an unknown and old cleaning solution that was originally intended for Canon (Epson and Canon printers have different mechanics and print head technology), so I can’t give you any guidance on using this cleaning solution, and just say we carefully formulated PiezoFlush to be tough on clogs, but gentle enough to be used as long-term storage fluid, so that’s what we know about and recommend using.

All the best~ Dana :slight_smile: