Epson 2880-Thick paper issues and intermittent, random head clogging

InkjetMall Customer Support Piezography Inks & Printing
1

I am having many issues with my Piezography system on the Epson 2880 (which was purchased from the Sante Fe workshop), and have been unable to resolve the issues by way of support forum information. Here are a list of the issues, what I have done to troubleshoot, and the results.

  • Print heads are continuously clogging on the Epson 2880, or they have air trapped in the lines. I have used a full set of inks (rather a full fill up from my piezo. bottles) to purge the old ink and air from the heads, but the print heads are still becoming clogged/ vapor locked. I will have all but one or two heads printing fine and do a cleaning to free them up, when after the cleaning the other heads will then be fouled. This is very frustrating. One head is not printing at all. The cartridges are filled to the top with no air bubbles and properly vented.

  • I cannot adjust the Platen Gap of my Epson 2880 via the Quad Tone Rip, so I am limited to non thick papers. The Hahnamuhle Museum Etching paper we used at the Sante Fe workshop, on the Epson 2880, is causing the print head to strike the paper resulting in scratching and smearing of the ink. Ive run the same paper through the printer not using the quad tone rip, but with the Platen Gap set to Wide, and the result was a properly printed images with no scratching or smearing. Are there plans to add a Platen Gap adjustment to the quad tone rip for Epson 2880? Do you have a workaround?

Do you have any advice on troubleshooting these issues? Thanks, in advance, for your support.

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Hi Robin~

After reviewing your order history, I see you last purchased Piezography ink and R2880 refillable cartridges from us in Nov 2012, is this the ink and carts you’re using?
Have you cleaned the printer’s capping station, wiper blade and bottom of the print head following our cleaning procedures? If not, you can find our helpful cleaning/maintenance procedures here: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?133-Printer-Cleaning-and-Preventative-Maintenance

Have you had good results with this printer, ink and carts, then recently started having troubles getting a good nozzle check? What channel is not printing at all? When was the printer last used and working well? How often is this printer used vs. how long does it sit unused? It’s possible that your carts don’t have good ink flow anymore due to age, and you would benefit from getting a new set of carts (we recommend getting new carts about once a year for the best results). What are the humidity and temperature levels in your printing environment?

There is currently no way to adjust the Platen Gap in the R2880 with QTR, and I’m not sure if Roy Harrington plans to add that in the future (you can certainly ask him directly). Are you experiencing head strikes on the top or side edges of the German Etching paper, or in the center as well? What size sheets are you printing on? Fine art papers often curl towards the print side, which can cause the print head to touch or scuff on the paper. We recommend flattening paper before printing, which you can read more about here: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?148-Flatten-Curled-Paper-Before-Printing
Are you feeling paper thru the top/auto paper feeder, or the front or rear paper feed slot? We print almost exclusively on heavyweight papers with our desktop and pro model printers, and have great results as long as we keep the printers clean and make sure the paper is flat before printing.

Please let me know, thanks~ Dana :slight_smile: