I have an Epson P600, which I’ve had for a little over a year (about 16 months). It doesn’t get a ton of use, I’d mostly do a several prints on weekends, maybe a couple during the week … but I hadn’t had any problems with clogged nozzles until maybe 2 months ago. I started doing nozzle checks daily (during the week, when I wasn’t using the printer), which seemed to keep things fine for a few weeks, but then I started having issues again. So, this is the main reason that I decided to start using the Cone Color ink.
I just bought two of the refillable cartridges (one for PK ink, one for Piezo Flush), which arrived yesterday. My plan has been to replace the Epson cartridges one-by-one as they run out.
My problem right now is only with my PK ink line (head cleaning wasn’t helping as indicated by sporadic lines on the nozzle checks). I thought that I would put in the Piezo Flush first, and make a print or two and run nozzle checks until I saw the pink Flush coming through. So, I printed 3 or 4 test photos that had a lot of black, with nozzle checks after each. It didn’t seem to be working, because I still didn’t see any pink lines on the nozzle checks, although there were fewer black lines and the black seemed to fade out in the photo prints. So I ran the head cleaning and then a nozzle check … the black still showed in a few spots with the nozzle check, but no pink. I ran another head cleaning and the next nozzle check showed absolutely nothing at all for the black!!!
I’m afraid that I might have run the line completely dry because now, in hindsight, I think the Flush was not flowing out of the cartridge at all for some reason. When the cart was filled with the Flush, it wasn’t filled full. I don’t see why that would have anything to do with it, though. I think it was initially filled with 30ml of Flush.
Any suggestions as to what I should do now? How bad is it to have completely run the PK line completely dry (while, obviously, all my other colors, which are the Epson OEM carts, are just fine).
Yes, the cartridge was primed and the air vent hole was open.
Before I tried the Flush, my husband helped me clean the print heads too.
I thought everything had been done correctly, but perhaps the cartridge just needed more priming? I can try putting more Flush into it and do the priming bit again.
But, what can I do now? How do I get Flush/Ink flowing back into that ink line?
I think what you need to do is fill the cart entirely with PF, switch to MK and do one cleaning, then switch to PK and then do 3 or 4 cleanings in a row (no printing) to vacuum the flush through the line. If this doesn’t work there’s a good chance that all the printing with clogged heads messed something up.
Hi Walker,
I wanted to let you know that the procedure you recommended seems to have done the trick. I got the switch back and forth between PK-to-MK-to-PK done OK (with the cleanings in between). And the PK line has gotten flushed out OK. Nozzle checks are good and I am probably “back in business”, so to speak.
I’ve removed the PK cartridge with the Flush in it and replaced it with a newly filled PK cartridge with PK ink. I’ve only got one problem with the new cartridge though. It keeps telling me that I have installed a cartridge that does not contain Epson OEM ink and asking me if I want to proceed. I tell it yes and it seems to be good for one print (even with just a nozzle check) and then I get the message again. This did not happen with the PK cartridge that contained the Flush. That worked just fine from day one. I wonder if this second cartridge has a bad chip? I bought them both at the same time.
I will search the Forum here for similar issues. Perhaps I should post a new question about this, but I thought that you might know off the top of your head if I have a “bum” cartridge.
Walker, I thought the chips were supposed to reset every time a cart was popped out and then put back in, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. The Flush cart was reading down a bit (and obviously the PK cart was full), but when I swapped the chips the printer said the PK cart was at the level that the Flush cart was. Did I do something wrong?
Nevermind … I’ve read elsewhere that the chip doesn’t reset until the printer thinks it’s empty. Then, I just have to pop it out (refill if necessary) and put it back in. Then it should reset.
Do I need to do a cleaning with the MK? I have never used it, and don’t anticipate ever using it. I know that there’s some kind of switching mechanism involved with the PK/MK. Did you suggest that because it is something that is going to help with flushing the PK somehow?
Ah … I wondered if the reason might be something like that. Would that be the case even though I’ve never used MK? (In other words, would the Initial Fill, or whatever it’s called, when I first got and started the printer for the first time, have taken care of the MK line too?)
If you have no ink in the PK line and you do in the MK line, switching to MK and doing a cleaning can resolve air in the print-head. This will in-turn allow you to switch back to PK and get a better grip/vacuum on the empty PK ink line during the next few cleanings.
Hi Walker,
I may not be able to get to this until the weekend, but I do have one more question about this procedure you’ve suggested.
I’m still concerned about making the switch to MK. I’ve heard lots of horror stories about the dreaded PK/MK switch malfunction in the P600. Plus, the ink in the MK cart is more than a year old (I suppose shaking the cartridge a bit before I do anything with it might be enough to be OK).
But still, the actual switching to MK and back to PK could be risky.
I can see your point about the reason for doing it … it makes total sense. I’m just worried I’ll totally screw it up! =0(
Oh! OK, that makes me feel better! Although, I thought I remember reading that the P600 could also have the problem. Could it be maybe not as prevalent as with the R3000?
I won’t be doing this procedure until the weekend, so perhaps I’ll have some time to research it a bit more before then. In any case, I will take care of fixing it this weekend!! =0)
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