Epson 3880 Pro inks issue

1

I recently installed the Piezo Pro Ink set in my Epson 3880. When I print the nozzle check all look good. But when I print one of the flush charts in calibration mode I get a horizontal pattern on the Light black. I have cleaned, power cleaned, wet paper towel etc and still getting this pattern. It goes not look like ink is missing, just a horizonal pattern. Any idea what is going on.

2

Hmm. It looks like you have some deflected nozzles on LK. That indicates crusted ink on the head that needs to be cleaned off.

best,
Walker

3

Walker,
A little background. I have both a Epson 3880 and 3800 using K7 and Pro ink sets. The 3880 will do both Gloss and Matte, but the 3800 only Matte due to damper issues. So I install the Pro ink set into the 3880 did 4 or 5 power clean cycles and every thing was going good. Then I try to print photo black and all kinds of issues start, Yellow has issues I resolve, LK has an issue. I decide to switch the 3880 back to K7 inks. I do a few power cleanings and every thing is fine with Matte, even the LK channel is working right. So I then switch to photo ink and my issues start again(See photo K7 Selenium). Also when I try and use Photo black on the 3800 I get similar issues with various channels messing up. I have reinstalled QTR and the ICC profiles and that did not fix anything. So as i was saying, all is good when using matte but when I try and print photo black everything goes wacko. I’m running a PC with Windows 10. Any ideas on this.

Thanks
John

4

Still really not clear what the issues are. You are mixing your inks/printers, I have no idea what curves are are selecting or have installed.

Please tell me exactly what ink you have in each slot (color) on each printer (3800 and 3880) and also show me screenshots of your workflow when printing and also please show me a nozzle check.

thank you
Walker

5

Walker,
The issue I’m having is when printing matte everything is fine. All the channels look good when I print test charts. But when I switch to photo black the test chart prints have issue like the first picture. The issue is not with MK or PK inks, but with other inks.

Lets talk about the 3880. The ink in that printer is K7 Selenium ink(currently). All my issues come when I switch from Matte to Photo Black no matter which ink set I use. I will print a nozzle check and usually I will have to run a cleaning cycle then another nozzle check.

So first not sure why the yellow channel or light black channel would have an issue when I switch to photo black because on matte the test charts look fine (original photo). When I print the test charts I’m in calibration mode and using the flush charts from QTR.

Ink positions on the 3880 are as follows:
MK = MK
PK = PK
LK = S6
LLK = GO
C = S2
VM = S4
LC = S3
VLM = S5
Y = S7

Note: I have the same issue on my 3800 using Pro inks when I switch from Matte to Photo black.

Any idea why matte prints fine, but when I switch to photo black I get issues with inks other than photo black.

Thanks
John

6

Can you share with me a screenshot of the curve you are selecting when the printer has switched to PK?

And you are saying nozzle check still looks ok in PK on both printers but not in the prints? It seem software-related to me . . .

-Walker

7

Walker, Here is the screen shoot. I even uninstalled QTR and cleaned the registry. Reinstalled and same issues.

thanks
John

8

Try setting the Black ink to “installed” and see if you see it get better. But yeah, it may be a double whammy where your black ink switcher on BOTH printers is dead!

oh no!
-Walker

9

Walker,
I tried your idea and did not help. So I will assume both my 3880 and 3800 have bad dampers. So for now they will only print matte, which i do love.

Thanks
John