PiezoFlush, has it worked for you?

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
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This question is for the general user with a small to large print shop that has used PiezoFlush with a 3880 or x890. Have you had a clog that in a channel that you haven’t been able to clear and resulting you trying Piezoflush? Has this attempt with Piezoflush worked for you.

A bit of insight with my problem. In the past couple of years I have went through five 3880 printers, with the clogs always being in Magenta or Yellow. I was using ConeColor Pro K3V with all said printers. Four out of the five models were Epson OEM refurbished. I tell you that because it could possibly play into the fact that these printers had problems from the day I received them and just took a little time before it came out. That said it could also be the inks due to this next bit of experience from my side.

I had a Epson 9890 from late 2012 till early 2015 (it was two years and a couple months old) bought brand new, that used only ConeColor Pro inks. The Light Cyan went, but I was able to get it back for a short period (about a month), but finally it became a 75" 200lb paper weight. Move onto the 7890 I decided to replace it with (bought brand new). Same set up with the inks from ColorColor Pro. It was a full year that I had it and once that full year hit, the Magenta clogged. I didn’t even bother with trying Piezoflush because it was still under warranty. They replaced the “capping station” and print head, worked great! Fast forward another year, same problem, same color. In between all of this those five 3880 were having problems in the Magenta and Yellow, same inks I was using on my 7890 and 9890. Well after this most recent head replacement on our 7890 I decided I can’t keep using ConeColor Pro inks and just went for Epson inks in our 24" machines (one because they’re more costly to replace and two I can’t get a warranty extended past a third year)

After giving you a little insight to the build up of my problem, I had a 3880 replaced back in October (I have two, and both were replaced, due to the same issues, Magenta and Yellow just wouldn’t come back). Already the first one that was replaced in October, the Yellow dropped out. Not sign of it coming back. I flushed Piezoflush through the lines and still haven’t been able to get it back. I have followed said instructions with no luck. As stated, I would like to hear from other customers if it has worked for them.

I know there is no guarantee, I’m not here to bash Inkjet Mall, or post a passive thread that I’m not using their ink with our pro line of printers anymore. Inkjet Mall has been more than helpful and when I inquired about said problems in the past, were quick to respond and more than willing to help out (they replaced said carts I had problems with in the past, and never questioned if it was a user error, asked about ink and how old it was). I might just be having horrible luck with said printers. Just bought a whole bunch of lemons, but since it was a little to much of a coincidence with the same colors of ink from the same bottles, I couldn’t keep making that same expensive mistake.

Last thing, the ink I used would never sit around long and was always used up within a couple months. The machines run daily.

Thanks in advance.

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There are many factors that can lead to nozzles dropping out and only 1 of them is a clog. The key to making PiezoFlush work is to determine if it’s a mechanical error (cleaning assembly, damper assembly, pressure system, or cartridge block) or if it’s a clogging issue (pigment stuck at the intake manifold spike of the head or inside of the nozzle channels). PiezoFlush is only for clogs, not mechanical fixes (springs, pumps, circuit boards).

What many people fail to realize is that most often with a x890 and x900 series printer, it’s a co-failure of the damper and cleaning assemblies together that will purge air up into the print-head during a clean. If these “airated” nozzles are not noticed and the user prints with the head in this state, those nozzles can short out very easily.

The other common mis-conception is that dampers last forever. They don’t. They need to be changed out every year or so because they have filters in them (just like the oil filter in your car) that will inevitably fill with crud even using OEM ink. PiezoFlush can bring back a damper somewhat but only for a short time.

When epson “re-manufactures” a printer, they usually just replace the dampers, cleaning assembly, and sometimes the head and put it on the re-furb site for sale. 90% of the time when an Epson tech comes out to fix your printer, they replace these three parts and call it a day (essentially they do what the refurb team does).

So, PiezoFlush is there for two reasons. To bring back a printer that has sat for a long time and simply dried out (but which still has functioning head and cleaning units etc), and to let a printer sit gracefully for a long time off (if you are going away for several months to a year and don’t want the printer to dry out).

Before I came to work here at IJM about a year ago, I worked at several non-profit photo centers as lab manager (and before that as a printmaker). I would take free “dried out” Epson printers and bring them back to life with PiezoFlush. But if their heads died during frequent use this was an indicator that something else was wrong with the printers and not just ink clogs.

I hope this answers your question about PiezoFlush. It’s very useful, but Epson printers all have different mechanical design flaws from model to model and often those flaws show as “clogs” even though it’s something else entirely.

best,
Walker

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[QUOTE=walkerblackwell;13417]There are many factors that can lead to nozzles dropping out and only 1 of them is a clog. The key to making PiezoFlush work is to determine if it’s a mechanical error (cleaning assembly, damper assembly, pressure system, or cartridge block) or if it’s a clogging issue (pigment stuck at the intake manifold spike of the head or inside of the nozzle channels). PiezoFlush is only for clogs, not mechanical fixes (springs, pumps, circuit boards).

What many people fail to realize is that most often with a x890 and x900 series printer, it’s a co-failure of the damper and cleaning assemblies together that will purge air up into the print-head during a clean. If these “airated” nozzles are not noticed and the user prints with the head in this state, those nozzles can short out very easily.

The other common mis-conception is that dampers last forever. They don’t. They need to be changed out every year or so because they have filters in them (just like the oil filter in your car) that will inevitably fill with crud even using OEM ink. PiezoFlush can bring back a damper somewhat but only for a short time.

When epson “re-manufactures” a printer, they usually just replace the dampers, cleaning assembly, and sometimes the head and put it on the re-furb site for sale. 90% of the time when an Epson tech comes out to fix your printer, they replace these three parts and call it a day (essentially they do what the refurb team does).

So, PiezoFlush is there for two reasons. To bring back a printer that has sat for a long time and simply dried out (but which still has functioning head and cleaning units etc), and to let a printer sit gracefully for a long time off (if you are going away for several months to a year and don’t want the printer to dry out).

Before I came to work here at IJM about a year ago, I worked at several non-profit photo centers as lab manager (and before that as a printmaker). I would take free “dried out” Epson printers and bring them back to life with PiezoFlush. But if their heads died during frequent use this was an indicator that something else was wrong with the printers and not just ink clogs.

I hope this answers your question about PiezoFlush. It’s very useful, but Epson printers all have different mechanical design flaws from model to model and often those flaws show as “clogs” even though it’s something else entirely.

best,
Walker[/QUOTE]

Walker,

Thank you for the follow up.

I know most of this and know a lot can factor into a channel not printing anymore.

It was just a weird coincidence that these colors kept going on my 3880 along with my 7890, over the years.

I know Piezoflush isn’t a cure all. I have in the past taken apart other 3880 and have got them to work again. At this point, I just don’t have the time and wanted to see who has had success with Piezo flush and how they went about it. Sometimes you get a bit of information from someones experience that you either over looked and just didn’t think of that helps.

As for the most recent change on my 7890 when yet again the Magenta just stop working. The tech only changed out the head this time instead of the what they did before where he changed out the print head, ink selector and the capping station. So this time it was the head and not a possible damper issue. As stated a couple of times, its a weird coincidence that it’s the Magenta, that has been the problem, along with the Magenta and Yellow on the 3880s.

Right now I’m about 6 months in with only using Epson Inks on our 24" printers. The 3880 was currently getting through the rest of our ConeColor Pro Ink and my other 3880 has started with a different third party ink. I’m basically working towards seeing if the ink was the problem and I feel like I can make that call after about a year and a half. If my machines don’t show that same problem, I will have to go with the ink is what was giving me the problem. Or again, I just had faulty 3880’s dropped on me.

Just to give you an example of why I see there is a problem.

My first 3880 was purchase in 2010. It lasted for three years. Two out of the three I was using a different third party ink (pigment only). I started using ConeColor Pro Ink, a year later it had an issues with the LC. I sold the machine to someone as is. He actually contacted me back and said he switched out the dampers and the machine was currently working like new again. So that was said damper issue you stated.

I have had techs that have came to the print shop to repair our machines, tell me you should at least get three five years without problems. I agree on this and I also know that’s not always how these machine work.

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Since I wanted to follow up with this and let anyone that is interested or having the same problem with a clog in their print head that has completely falling out and wont come back.

Well I tired a flush from American Inkjet Systems. I did three power cleansing with said cleaning fluid in the Yellow channel and let it sit for a full 24 hours. The next day I did an additional two power cleanings and from a Yellow channel that wasn’t even printing a single notch, I had a perfect nozzle check on said channel!

I have since let the cleaning fluid set in that line for about two weeks now and let it work at dissolving any stubborn ink that might still be in there (since this printer was not functioning for the better part of this year.

I have checked every couple of days over the past two weeks to make sure I’m still getting a good read out on the Yellow channel and I have each time!

I will be introducing pigment ink back into the lines this week along with setting said printer with a big print work load. I will update how it preforms and whether or not I get a clog again.