Problem with new piezography HD black ink in Epson 1430

InkjetMall Customer Support Piezography Inks & Printing
1

I am very happy the piezography k6 inks will be continued however:
I cannot get a good nozzle check on the black channel since starting to use the new HD black ink. I have tried repeated flushing and just got a new black cart. It is not the printer because an Epson black cart works fine with a normal nozzle check. Has anyone else had this problem? I am about to try cleaning out the Epson cart and trying the piezography ink in that cart. I can’t think of anything else to do. Any ideas? Thanks.

2

hmm . . . this so far has not been reported in well over 3000 1430s that we sell into . . . it seems to me that you have air flow issue. The 1430 cart air vent filter could be full of ink. Remove the fill plug, tape over it, and put a tiny pin-prick at the top. This will let ink flow properly. Then do a few nozzle tests.

-Walker

3

I tried your suggestion. Then I did a nozzle check, followed by printing a 2 x 2, 21 step block (which looked ok) followed by a cleaning. There are still 4 blank non contiguous spots in the black section. A few days ago a different area in the black was affected. I had this problem with the previous old black cart also. I am wondering whether the print head and or the ink exchanger is getting old. I sure would like to know before I go through the time and expense of trying to replace them. This all started around the the time I had to reset the ink pad counter and install a printer potty. Any ideas would be appreciated. Many thanks.

It seems us folks with small printers are in for a bad few years since the new epson printers won’t take your ink. Finding used printers is always a gamble. Is there any thought about adapting the new epson printers with ecotanks instead of carts?

4

Sorry, but I have one other question. The recent newsletter implied you still print with (black and white) piezography inks even if the nozzle checks are not perfect by adjusting the images (pushing the black in our case.) Is this something people have tried ? Thanks again.

5

In our recent letter we talked about entirely bypassing channels that are partially blocked, not printing with partially blocked ones. The 1430 does not have enough channels for bypass/remap. I suggest purging your channel (both backwards and then forwards) with our small format cleaning kit. This will enable pigment ink printing. I also suggest a set of backup carts.

regards
-Walker

6

Thanks. I have ordered the cleaning kit today. As of today the black ink is now showing in most of the other areas of the nozzle check. I have read that this indicates the print head is delaminating. If this is correct do you think it is a good idea to install a new print head if your cleaning kit does not help? I would clean all the channels before ordering a new print head. The only other thing I could think of is the printer electronics are dying in which case I would give up and send it to the graveyard.
Thank you again

7

It may very well be giving up the ghost . . it’s really hard to tell. These particular printers don’t de-laminate though, their internal channels go bad over time . . . but it’s not surface delam. It’s more that you need to flush the channel regularly.

-Walker

8

Much improved after flushing per the instructions which came with kit. All the channels are more distinct (darker, but different shades of grey) ) but not all black like before. The black channel has only one missing spot which we hope will clear once we start printing a large photo. I try to avoid doing multiple cleanings because of the waste and the mess. I also updated the firmware in the printer which may have helped. Thanks.