Opinion - Epson 3880 Head Unclogging

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
1

I received an Epson 3880 printer today that has clogged heads. The printer was working fine until it hadn’t been used for a while. I’m thinking that I might start with replacing the dampers, as the original dampers are still in the printer. A good flushing out the bad ink with Piezo Flush would also be in order. What is everyone preferred way of cleaning the head. A reverse water fall? Had any one had luck with ultrasonic cleaning?

Here is the current nozzle check:

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2

I replaced the dampers and purged the head both with a waterfall and reverse waterfall flush after soaking the head for 24 hours. After doing all of that, it appears it made absolutely no difference with the results.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this problem?

3

Maybe electronics.

If the PiezoFlush can easily be expressed into thousands of tiny streams, and you can run an INITIAL FILL and ink moves through the system, but the print head can not print anything whether as nozzle check or image file - then you may want to begin replacing electronics - because the pressurization system is working as is the ink selector unit and ink can freely pass through the print head… the potential is that no electrical stimulus is going to the print head and its just not going to print.

I do not know if the EPSON Field Service Manual for the 3880 walks you through the potential electronics test but it is worth the download at 2manuals.com

4

Hmmm… there are a lot of electronics. Is this a problem with the electronics in the head itself?

5

the piezo crystal on each of the tiny jets is stimulated by electricity - and that electricity originates as a signal from the main board and travels through successive other boards until it reaches the cable connecting to the print head. So a lot of electronics to trace…

But you have confirmed you can run an INIT FILL and ink is expressed into the maintenance tank. And you can waterfall the head. So the dampers and ink lines are not clogged. Ink is moving…

So the potential is for the electricity to not be flowing (somewhere)

6

Sounds like I’m having to do too much to get this working. Let me you this, for the purpose of using your inks, is there any advantage using a 3880 vs 3800? I already bought a set of 3880 inks, but figured I was going to get some custom profiles anyway.

7

Same print head. 3880 is a bit faster and has a more thorough cleaning cycle to prevent foaming of the OEM inks. Uses same inks with exception of Vivid and Vivid Light magentas. Those are chipped differently

8

It doesn’t like it prints any better than the 3800. BTW… Do you know a way to purge just one channel using adjwiz2?

9

There is no way to do a single channel initial fill.