Epson 7890 first instillation problem

hi Dana, Jon (who might be in an aeroplane at the moment)
Happily got a 3880 running Selenium
Setting up a 7890, its run 400 pages, was printing fine on Epson inks
Installed Piezo flush in carts, used Power clean to get pink nozzle check
Installed WN digital neg in new carts. Ran through until black coming through.
Only problem is I’m getting no LK, LLK. Occasionally after a power clean I get maybe 10% of nozzles on LK,LLK but its intermittent.
I’ve cleaned capping station, wiper blade, print head (from Dana’s excellent video)
Unfortunately its made no difference.

I filled the carts, bleeding them with the syringe and adaptor, I’ve checked and they all have ink at the exit.

What next? Do I reinstall the piezo flush and run an initial fill and start again, or shall I do an initial fill with the Piezo inks, or just run a few more power cleans - which don’t seem to be making a difference.

Thanks

David

Hi David~

Does your printer’s pressure pump turn on while the printer sits idle with the Piezography carts installed?
Please open the front cover of your printer, and examine the length of ink lines inside- do they look black with ink, or do you still see pink PiezoFlush in any (specifically the LK + LLK)?
Which digital negative system are you using: Meth 3, Meth 1, or “P2M” Meth 3 and K6 matte combo?

I’m glad you liked our new cleaning video, and found it helpful (though am sorry it didn’t change your results).

Please let me know, so I can try to help.
Thanks~ Dana

Hi Dana,
I’m using P2M
How can I tell if the printers pressure pump turns on? A slight whir for a few seconds, if so yes.

There’s still some pink, from the left side bank of inks they look mostly grey, from the right bank quite pink still, but they had the magenta and light-magenta in anyway as well as the problem LK, LLK. Interestingly I’m starting to lose the Magenta head now - all on the right bank - not sure if thats relevant.

I’m not sure how to tell the LK+LLK lines - if you can let me know I’ll look.

Anything else to check?

Well Dana, I got nowhere, so did another initial fill to see if I had blocked lines
I’ve now got a worse picture with only C,Y,VLM,LC working - all others are blank
a Powerclean makes no difference
I’ve got through 2 maintenance carts so the ink is getting through the lines and the ink level in the carts is visibly lower

I guess the next stage is to retry the piezoflush? I’m trying to remain positive but its difficult with getting through over $1000 of ink, and a non functioning printer which was fine and dandy a few days ago…

Dana, the lines are still coloured and not black - is that significant? Not sure where all the ink has gone if its not through the lines?

help…

could this be a blocked damper problem?

Hi Donkeydave~

Sorry for not responding sooner, I’m on vacation this week, but occasionally checking/answering emails from home.

If your printer’s pump is turning on regularly while the printer sits idle, then you may have a cartridge that’s not correctly pressurizing. My guess is to check the carts on the right side first: if the printer worked well with the flush carts, then reinstall the flush carts into the right bay and close the door, then wait a while to listen for the pump. If the pump doesn’t come on, then open the door, and replace one of the flush carts with the Piezo carts, and close the door to listen again. If/when the printer’s pump comes on after installing a Piezo cart, then remove that cart and reinstall the flush cart, to check if the pump doesn’t come on- and if it doesn’t, then that position Piezo cart isn’t holding pressure correctly, and we will send you a replacement cart.

Please let me know what you find, or if you have any questions.

Thanks and best regards~ Dana

thanks Dana, sorry to interrupt your vacation (I’m going myself tomorrow) - I’m ahead of you - I went back to the flush carts and again once flush was through the lines could only get C,Y,VLM, LC. No cleaning or priming would help.
I’ve put the Epson carts back in, and the same situation - I phoned several techs, who all said the same thing - basically that they would come out and only really consider replacing the head.
I did your trick of opening the bay door, removing a cart, putting it back in, and then listening for the pump - no pump. Any idea whats going on?

No problem at all, and I hope you have a nice vacation.

If you’re getting the same results no matter what carts you have installed, and the pump doesn’t come on while the printer sits idle, then I have to suspect something mechanical with your printer. I would always start with the ink selector unit (dampers) and wiper blade before the print head, and those things you can replace yourself fairly easily and without any special tools or software. You can get those parts from compassmicro.com, and the repair manual with instructions on replacing these parts from 2manuals.com

Even though this printer is “young” as far as the number of prints it’s made, sitting around unused with ink installed is actually worse for a printer than being used (and maintained) or a regular basis, so if the printer has a low print count because it sat around, then you may have pushed settled pigment into the dampers when you did the first flush cycle, and the clogged dampers are now not letting ink flow (which isn’t for sure your answer, but possibility).

I wish you the best, please keep me posted and let me know if you have further questions or there’s anything else I can help you with.
Warmly~ Dana

Thanks Dana, I’d come to the same conclusion. I’m a thousand miles away from my printer, but with an exhibition in Belgium around the corner, I’d best do what Jon told me to do in the first place. I’ll pick up a refurb 7880, I’ll order the kit off you guys today, whilst you ship quick, packages from the USA tend to languish in uk customs for a few weeks. Thank you for your help, when I have more time I’ll see if I can get the 7890 running, or use it as a rather large GO printer.

Ok, keep me posted, and let me know if you have questions or there’s anything else I can help you with.

Warmly~ Dana :slight_smile: