I recently acquired a used Epson 9900 with an apparently clogged head. Since I had previously purchased a Piezo flush kit for the transport of my 7900, and the 9900 was very cheap it seemed worth a try to revive the printer. Prior to loading the flush kit I ran some standard and power cleanings. The test prints varied from print to print showing at times a fully printing color, then missing sections in a color, or no ink in a particular color.
A few colors consistently printed at least some solid color, but the missing sections seem random. The prior owner thought some air had gotten in the lines.
Since these results were unsatisfactory I loaded the Piezo flush carts and ran an initial fill. This seemed to clear some areas a bit, but then not. However, even after running a couple of initial fills, the Piezo flush has not made its way to the printhead. Checking the carts, they seem to be at the same level of fill as when installed. Is it possible there is an air or vacuum blockage, and if so how would I clear that? Alternately is it possible that ink has dried in the lines? What else could be preventing the flush rom loading? I can see that the maintenance cartridges have received some ink, and I think every color has printed at at least a couple of lines at some point in testing.
Also, during the various initial fills the VLM cart showed as depleting more rapidly than the others and is currently showing as too empty to run a cleaning or fill (although it still is 1/3 full of piezo flush). I have tried to reset it with the chip resetter but it no longer seems to take the reset.
PiezoFlush should have made it’s way from cartridges to the print head after just one Initial Fill, so if you’ve done a couple Initial Fills and the PiezoFlush level in carts hasn’t gone down, then I suspect something is restricting flow from the carts or thru the printer’s ink lines. Did you prime the cartridge exit valves before installing carts into the printer? Please open the front cover of the printer and examine the length of ink lines inside, are they all filled with colored ink, pink PiezoFlush, or clear/air? If the dampers are clogged with particle build up, this would restrict ink flow thru the lines.
If the VLM chip isn’t resetting, and is acting differently than the others, then that chip may not be working correctly, and we can send you a replacement chip.
After a few weeks of leaving the 9900 alone, I tried working with it again today. I took a look at the Epson field guide and went through their trouble shooting procedure, and printed the stress test image which is supposed to clear any air trapped in the head. It showed that some colors were able to print solidly. After running this a number of times along with cleanings and another initial fill I can see that some of the colors are printing pink.
There are still some colors not printing at all - though those colors have printed at least partially in earlier tests. Since it seems the flush is making its way into some parts of the head I will leave the printer for a couple of days and test it later. I still suspect clogged dampers.
From your description, I suspect clogged dampers too, and recommend replacing both the ink selector unit (set of dampers), and the wiper blade.
Best~ Dana
I bought a 7900 in very good condition for very low cost to attempt reconditioning it to replace my 4900. The Lk and VM channels have clogged jets per the nozzle check. all other channels are perfect. I then ran an init fill and cleaning routines with no luck. So then,
I bought a VM cart, LK cart and piezo flush a few days ago. I am looking for the BEST step to take next, which I think would either be
to run an init charge from the service menu, or to run a pair cleaning (c/vm , pk/lk) with the piezo flush carts in the vm and lk channels
Please advise which step is more effective or if there are other steps in this process that should be taken ahead of these steps to
help make these steps successful. I’d prefer the pair cleaning step since its more economical, but the primary goal is success, not economics.
Thanks for any help,
James
Seems I have exactly Anthony’s issue. Just picked up a 9 year old 9900 from a digital print shop that has seen lots of steady use. Earlier while it was still in the other shop I was able to clean up the capping station pad and run the recommended flush protocol. All that helped. The printer has 7 reliable channels and 3 intermittent channels. I plan to convert this printer for PzDN such that the 3 intermittent (Yl, LK, LLK) channels can be in flush until I can take it off line to replace dampers and capping station. Should I replace the pump at that point, too? How would I know? Related to this are the ink lines themselves. While the lines are disconnected to replace the dampers would it be a good idea to use a syringe to pull flush through over several days to remove any settled pigment before reconnected to new dampers? Do you have another way to do this you prefer?
James. How old is the 7900? And did it print fine the last time it’s previous user used it? Because you have had no luck (not a single nozzle?) on the init-fill it says to me that either the damper or cleaning assembly are bunk (or both).
If the print-head was ok the last time it was used, there is crud in the cleaning assembly. Both the cleaning assembly and damper assembly need to be replace every 2 years (which rarely if ever happens and is why these printers die, including the 4900).
Please let me know if it worked the last time the previous owner ran it.
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