Piezoflush Not Reaching Inkheads?

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
,
1

Hello! We purchased the Piezoflush cartridges for our Epson 9900 to try and clear some stubborn clogs in our O, Y, & VM. We have run 2 initial fill cycles with several regular cleaning cycles (and a few power cleaning) in between and I’m not yet seeing any progress. I’m still seeing orange, yellow, & magenta ink printing on the nozzle checks (although very lightly) and the clogs are still apparent on the nozzle checks. How many initial fill cycles do I need to run before I start seeing pink staining on my nozzle checks? Would it help to run a test print maybe to move more PiezoFlush into the printhead? I have been following all instructions and letting the fluid sit in the lines for 48 hrs between fills. I’ve also scoured the forums for information on what to expect and I’m coming up empty. Any tips, help, or insight?

Thank you!

2

Because the clogs are still there but the piezoflush has entered the head (aka, faint color), it means that both the dampers and the cleaning assembly are working. Because your clogs are not changing (at all?), it most-likely means that the nozzles in those areas had shorted out when they were appearing clogged in the first place. This is common to all x900 heads.

One never wants to actually print anything when nozzle clogs are happening because that is actually what shorts them. At this point it is probably confirmed that your head has burned nozzles.

The way these nozzles go is gradually (most often). You will have one stubborn clog and then it will widen around the surrounding nozzles. The one thing you can attempt at this point (last ditch effort) is to do a SSCL cleaning from the maintenance mode (google it). This will fire the heads while sucking with the cleaning assembly vacuum. This is generally not recommended unless you are pretty sure the head is toast. If you see a change in even two or three nozzles, this may mean a failure of the damper assembly filters that let particulate and air into the head inlets. (I doubt it).

regards and sorry for the bad news,
Walker
R&D (and wrestler of x900s) IJM

3

Oh dear. That is not good news! Thanks for the quick reply. What is your recommendation for the next step we should take? This machine is owned by a small company and we use it for production purposes. (We purchased it 4 years ago and I’m guessing with the problems I’ve read about with 9900s this might not be unexpected?) I’m the only person in the company who knows anything about large format printers. What do you suggest we do next? Does the head need to be replaced?

4

Do an SSCL cleaning. If this doesn’t fix it, yes, it needs a new head. I’m so sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

regards,
Walker

5

One final question (hopefully): Should I do the SSCL cleaning with the Piezoflush cartridges still loaded or should I load in the regular ink carts, do an initial, and then run the SSCL cleaning?

Thank you for all of your assistance!

6

Do with Piezoflush loaded.