Problem producing a complete Cyan nozzle check

InkjetMall Customer Support Piezography Inks & Printing
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I recently returned to NYC and bought a used Epson 3800. Obviously I do not know the history of this printer.

There is a problem producing a complete Cyan nozzle check. See here. I have done about half a dozen power cleaning cycles and many normal cleanings. I am left with one segment that does not print. There do not appear to be any other issues with the printer.

I have also used the nozzle cleaning function in Qimage and printed just the Cyan channels (I think) which you can see here. It is difficult for me to see anything obvious revealing the missing segment in the nozzle check pattern.

I hesitate to burn through any more ink for the time being.

How serious a problem is this when making prints? Any suggestions on additional things to try to clear the remaining nozzle(s)?

I plan to use the Special Edition inks in this printer. I have some from a previous order but will be ordering more during the summer sale. Would it make sense to turn this printer into a K6 printer to bypass the Cyan (Carbon Shade 2) cartridge and have the appropriate curve(s) made?

I like using Epson Exhibition Fiber. Is there an existing K7 curve for Special Edition + Exhibition Fiber on a 3800?

Thanks for any assistance.

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Hi ausdlk~

Have you followed our instructions for cleaning the printer’s capping station, wiper blade and bottom of the print head? If not, I recommend manually cleaning your printer, and instructions can be found here: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?133-Printer-Cleaning-and-Preventative-Maintenance

We also have a helpful document explaining how to evaluate the health of a printer by examining the printed nozzle check, here: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?167-Evaluate-a-Manual-Nozzle-Check-to-Determine-the-Health-of-Your-Printer

After manually cleaning the printer, if the one cyan nozzle continues to not print, but the rest of the cyan channel, and other channels are printing well, then I recommend making a test image with dark shadows (to use the cyan/shade 2 channel), and closely examining the print to see if you have noticeable print defects (white banding) due to the missing nozzle, or if the print looks good. Sometimes, a single missing nozzle won’t show obvious problems in the print, but that’s dependent on several things, including the printer model and how many nozzles per channel it has, the paper you’re printing on, and overall health/condition of the printer.

We have several Piezography glossy curves available for download, here: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?158-Piezography-K7-GLOSSY-Curve-Resource
If you don’t find a curve specific to the exact printer/ink/paper you’re using, then you can try one for another ink tone to see how the results look, but if you’re not totally satisfied with the results, we can make custom curves to optimize the output for your specific printer/ink/paper combination.

I hope this helps.
Warmly~ Dana :slight_smile: