Epson 4900 complete lack of nozzle check print out

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
1

About 2 ½ months ago i experienced a lack of nozzle printout in the Black and Lt Black. After doing about 12 -24 nozzle cleanings and checks, I proceeded to have a recommended company clear the problem. They kept my printer for about 2 months while informing me of their inability to solve the problem; all the while completely using up 5 fully filled Cone Ink refillable cartridges. At the end of the 2 months I picked up my printer, purchased new Cone Ink and installed them, ran a nozzle cleaning and a nozzle check. The result was: NOW NONE of the nozzles printed the nozzle check pattern at all. I’m looking for possible solutions to my problem. I have considered The Piezo Flush system as a possible solution. I’ve been using Cone Inks and refillable cartridges in my 4900 with no problems 'til now, and I do not think there is a cartridge problem. Same is true for my 9900 with no problems! I’m using a MacBook Pro Retina Mid 2012 Solid State, running OS X Yosemite v. 10.10.3, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Mac HD, NVIDIA GeForce,GT 650M 1024MB. The 4900 is using Driver Version: 9.17.
If I go the Fush route, I’m aware I will have to use a freind’s PC to download the program to run the Ink Flush/head cleaning. I’m assuming we can connect directly from his PC to the printer?!?

2

It sounds like they may have run your printer out of ink, in turn introducing air into the lines. If you were having issues with clogged nozzles before with the pigment inks installed, then I would recommend starting a new with Piezoflush cartridges installed and running the Init Fill cycle. Yes, you will need a PC to run the adjustment program for this printer. You may have to run 2 initial ink charges to rid the system of air, to do this you will need 2 sets of chips that read FULL, maybe you other chips from your CCPRO cartridges have the old style chips attached that you can manually reset, if so you can use them on these cartridges after the 1st initial fill cycle. If you don’t have the old style manually resettable chips, it would be wise to purchase an extra set of replacement chips for this purpose.

By the way, this has been a very common complaint with the 4900 printers, they clog often and often times it’s impossible to clear it with cleaning cycles. But, flushing the system has proven successfully for many customer and may clear your stubborn clogs so you can start fresh again. If it doesn’t unclog your stubborn clog(s) then you could consider re-purposing it into a Piezography system, you would need a minimum of 6 functioning channels for this conversion.

3

[QUOTE=KellyC;7958]It sounds like they may have run your printer out of ink, in turn introducing air into the lines. If you were having issues with clogged nozzles before with the pigment inks installed, then I would recommend starting a new with Piezoflush cartridges installed and running the Init Fill cycle. Yes, you will need a PC to run the adjustment program for this printer. You may have to run 2 initial ink charges to rid the system of air, to do this you will need 2 sets of chips that read FULL, maybe you other chips from your CCPRO cartridges have the old style chips attached that you can manually reset, if so you can use them on these cartridges after the 1st initial fill cycle. If you don’t have the old style manually resettable chips, it would be wise to purchase an extra set of replacement chips for this purpose.

By the way, this has been a very common complaint with the 4900 printers, they clog often and often times it’s impossible to clear it with cleaning cycles. But, flushing the system has proven successfully for many customer and may clear your stubborn clogs so you can start fresh again. If it doesn’t unclog your stubborn clog(s) then you could consider re-purposing it into a Piezography system, you would need a minimum of 6 functioning channels for this conversion.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the reply Kelly. I know of the problem with the 4900. If I’m not printing, I usually do a nozzle check at least once a week. This is what I do with my 9900. They did run the carts completely out and probably let it sit, for who knows how long! I will reset the chips and reinstall. The feeder lines look full but I suppose there could be air somewhere. Not sure what the dampers look like. I have already seriously considered flushing the lines using the flush kit. This will be expensive for a complete new set of carts and about 700 ml of flushing fluid allowing for about 68 ml per cart. Is 700 ml enough to do a complete flush of all nozzles. I have also seriously considered the Piezography System for this printer since my 9900 will do everything the 4900 does. I hate to loose the service of this printer and had also considered selling it, but now this! Please follow up with a response and advice. Some of your references to using the flush system and setting/resetting the chips is confusing to me. I sometimes need step by step instructions when doing a procedure. Thanks…

4

You will need to determine which channels are dead for sure and which are operational 1st. You stated you had a bad nozzle check on your K & LK channels before sending it to be repaired (after doing 20+ cleaning cycles, which by the way is not healthy for your print and never recommended under any circumstances). Do determine which channels are actually functional you will need to get the air out of the lines, I recommend doing this with Flush carts and running Initial fills until you see flush on your nozzle checks. As I stated this may take more then 1 or 2 Initial Fills through the adjustment program to get the air out of the lines and the flush to the head, because of the amount of air in the lines at this point (and I am certain you have lots of air in those lines because the carts were run dry and the printer left to sit).

Here is a step by step for what I recommend:

1.Purchase a set of cartridges & enough flush to run 2-4 Initial Fills (approximately 30ml per Init Fills) 30MLx4 = 120 mls total keeping in mind you do NOT want to run these carts dry, so leave a bit of wiggle room, I would purchase 2x 700ml of flush
2.Fill cartridges with flush in equal amounts, reset cartridges to full (because the Initial Fill will not run if you do not)
3.Run Initial fill 2x for both sides (you will have to reset your chips for EACH init fill) KEEP AN EYE ON THE FLUID LEVELS
4.Manual Nozzle check to determine the results
5.If you don’t see some of the channels returning, run 1 more Initial Fill
6.Manual Nozzle check-at this point you should have some channels printing fully with Piezoflush
7.If you still see some stubborn clogged channels, leave sitting for 24-48 hours and run another Nozzle Check

At this point you will have an idea as to which channels are dead and which ones are still operating, at which point you will be able to determine if you will be able to continue with color printing or switch over to Piezography. Also, you will know the state of the print head if you do decide to sell making it more valuable then if you were to sell it outright in it’s current state. Chances are you will have a hard time finding someone to take it the way it stands with all the unknowns, so it is worth the investment of flushing to determine the condition of the head.

Hope this helps, Kelly