Nozzle check pattern suddenly crashes on one channel Epson 7880

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
1

Hi, I did the right thing and put one of my 7880’s into storage with PZF, and sent it off for damper and capping station replacements, as well as general tidying up while away for 5 weeks. I had been cleaning the wiper blade and capping station regularly.
The printer came back with the note that it needed a power clean ( test pattern from service agent image 1 ) Arrgh!
After 3-4 staged power cleans and several staged nozzle checks, it came to almost good ( image 2 )
The next nozzle check ( image 3 ) shows something has crashed badly.

Any thoughts? I am 450km from the service agent and this is REALLY annoyingimage1IMG_2IMG_3

2

Oh, and before I put it in for servicing, all except the yellow channel were firing O.K.

3

it is a bit odd that you would send the printer to a service center for parts replacements - one of which affects the ink delivery system - but they would ask you to do the final check by doing power cleans, etc…

anyways - what they did replace would permit air to enter the system - and curious if you ran the INK CHARGE or just trying cleans

4

Hi Jon, and thanks for the prompt reply.
I ran about 3 power cleans to get the majority of the air out, then repeated nozzles check until I got to the pattern in image 2, then the next nozzle check gave image 3. Nozzle checks were done at intervals just in case I was putting too much stress on the nozzles.
I think that the service agent bailed out of doing more cleans as the carts were running low on PZF ( hard to get around here…) the service invoice says he did “multiple cleans” but it would need 1-2 more power cleans.
Also noted that only 2 of the carts register on the front control panel as having ink ( no flashing bars, just no ink levels ) although clearly there is at least 1/3-1/2 full. The carts that DO register could have chips I’ve scavenged of Epson carts and reset.
Hope this all helps, where do I go from here? Now I’M running low on PZF.

5

Somehow you need to energize the ink lines once they’ve been unscrewed from the dampers. What can happen is that the fluid can drain back into the carts. If we changed the dampers we would draw fluid from the carts into the damper by using a leur tip syringe from the bottom of the damper. If you did not have enough fluid in the carts, the tech may have been hesitant to do that? I don’t know. Did you check the ink lines to see if there is air in them (especially the one that is not printing?)

Outside chance is that if the lines were screwed to hard into the damper the o-ring gets crushed; expands and cuts off the ink supply. They should be just barely finger tight.

Maybe wait until Monday to hear from Walker for a suggestion on how to deal with this with very little PZF on hand… I’m assuming you’re going to eventually charge it with ink. He may have you install the inks and run the INK CHARGE.

6

Thanks Jon, I will wait for Walkers expertise. I can’t see any air in the lines- it was one of the first things I checked. There is about 1/3-1/2 of a cart left of PZF in each cart, I could scrounge some out of other printers, but it looks like another order will be coming your way.
There is ink in all the lines all the way to the dampers, after that we get into the “L” elbow which is a different opacity plastic, so I’m not so sure.
I have also sent the test print images to the service technician- being Easter I am not expecting a reply until , say, September…

7

My guess is that you have something up with either the cartridge spring/prime area or your damper.

Do these things.

  1. Turn auto-nozzle check off on the control panel of the printer (it’s not doing you any good and just wastes ink.)
  2. Take the cartridge out of the channel that is “clogged” and switch it with another cartridge from a channel that is not clogged (anything but a K cartridge). These cartridges are interchangeable on this printer model. You don’t have to switch chips. It may show up with a “NON OEM” warning though, just hit pause and it will continue.
  3. Do a few regular cleanings. If the offending channel comes back you know it’s in the cartridge outlet and we’ll send out a new cartridge ASAP. If the offending channel does not come back you know it’s either in the ink bay, air pressure tube, or more likely the damper. (These dampers are easy to over-tighten.)

** Be gentle pulling and replacing carts.

Best regards,
Walker