3880 quit printing

InkjetMall Customer Support General Discussion & Misc Support Questions
1

I can’t get my Epson 3880 to print film after refiling the black cartridge. I had unfortunately let the photo black cart (the only one I use) go empty, after refilling it and running several cleaning cycles to get ink flowing again, it has quit printing completely. I’ve done this a couple of times in the past 4 years, and running cleaning cycles always worked. This time it started with a very streaked print but actually got worse to the point of printing nothing. I’ve cleaned capping station, scraper and print head using the methods in your videos, but no change. I had to install a new maintenance cart and notice on the new one that black ink is deposited if I run a cleaning cycle which would indicate to me the black nozzles are working, yet i get no black printing at all. Note I have tried printing directly from CorelDRAW (usual method with no halftones) and from my rip, no difference. I’m at a loss.
Rick Brown

2

I think you have the dreaded black ink switch leak (common on this printer and a hardware failure). It kills the PK.

To fix you will most likely need to switch to MK only, put the PK ink cart in the MK slot (switch chips too), and purge that channel to PK. This will enable PK printing but not MK.

Long fix: change the ink supply unit.

best,
Walker

3

Thanks Walker, that seems to have done the trick!

Rick