R3000 clogging issues

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
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Hi there. I have an R3000 printer that has developed clogging issues due to lack of use. it is several years old but I do not use it very much and wish to start using it again. I promised myself once this issue has resolved I will not make it get clogged again. Please help. I bought some piezoflush, and blank ink cartridges to try and solve the problem. Also installed the waste ink bottle. I filled the empty carts ( all 9 carts) with piezoflush using the vacuum method, installed the adjustment software and did an initial fill cycle. Printed nozzle check (see first row in image). Performed head cleaning and manual nozzle check from printer. Left the printer for 24 hrs, came back and performed manual nozzle check from printer, not much change, left for 48 hrs, came back and performed manual nozzle check and head cleaning, not much change again. After doing this I decided to clean the head and wiper blade and capping station once more using the technique in your video. Performed head cleaning, no change. Realised I should have performed ink charge instead, and decided to do so. However the printer showed error message that it was not recognising the cartridges while the adjustment software said “out of ink”. I figured this was likely due to not having enough ink in the carts for full ink charge cycle. Am I correct? Also, I decided to fill two of the cartridges to see if the ink levels for those two would change on the printer, but it still displayed the same error that it was not recognising the ink cartridges. when I turned off the printer and switched it back on the error messages disappeared but the ink levels did not show an increase on the display screen. Once I tried ink charge from adjustment program the same errors came back again. Is this because the printer needs to recognise as empty first before it can be filled and recognise that it is now full? So for example, if I had 1/4 level of piezoflush in the cart and I went and filled it with more, the printer will still think its 1/4 level even though Its in fact full? So I should try to empty the carts first before I fill them? Should I just keep doing nozzle checks and head cleaning from the adjustment program to try and empty them? Please see diagram with the head cleanings and nozzle check results. I compiled all of them together. I am not sure if there is much improvement, but I guess compared to the first one there is a difference. Also based on my photo could you explain why there is no pink in the vivid light magenta channel? why does it look so discoloured, and also what causes the ink blotches on the paper, as well as the striations in the nozzle checks.
Please please I hope you can help me fix my printer clogging issues, I desperately would love to solve this headache and start printing again.

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The nozzle checks are too small for me to judge them very well. However, from what I do see, some missing nozzles appear to be “moving” from check to check which suggests that some air has been introduced into the system. This is not an actual clog, just that a pocket of air reaches the nozzles as it ejects the ink.

I think you have got, for the most part, piezoflush down to the nozzles. If you have real clogs, (I can’t tell from your attached image), you may have to leave the piezoflush in for a long time. I did an experiment with an old clogged R2880. The ink was so dried in places that even the nipples that poke into the carts had clogged ports. These clogs would not free up even with piezoflush carts sitting on them for several days. I never did find out how long I’d have to let it sit before the clog would finally dissolve out, but I’m sure it would eventually.

Do you have any old carts with battery chips? If so, swap the battery style chips to your piezoflush carts and reset the battery chips. Then you can refill the carts with piezoflush and do several repeated ink charge cycles. Be aware, this will use a lot of piezoflush. You’re probably better off doing one more ink charge then letting it sit for a week or so. NOTE: you should also do matte/gloss black ink change to get piezoflush through the matte black lines.

Physically emptying the carts will not make the cart think it’s empty. The printer keeps track of how much ink is used during printing and cleaning cycles and deducts the amount of ink from the chip. If you physically empty the cart, the chip will not be updated with this information. This is a huge disadvantage to the autoreset chips.

Here’s one other thing you can try. I already asked Walker if this would work and he said it would, but the timing has to be right. Turn the printer on and pull the plug just at the point when the head sits over the capping station. I presume you can watch and see when it begins to pull ink through the waste lines. If you stop it right here, I believe you can pull the waste lines out of the waste container and use a syringe to manually apply a vacuum to the print head. This way you could simulate an ink charge without the headache of the printer telling you it can’t be done because there’s not enough ink.

Again, if the clogs are really bad, it may have to sit with piezoflush for a week or more before the dried ink inside the head is softened up enough to pull through.

Larry

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I just had another thought, but this would be time consuming and labour intensive. If you use the paper towel under the head trick, the paper towel will draw ink through the head using capillary action. You’d have to keep an eye on it because the paper towel would become soaked after a certain time and could start flooding the inside of the printer as it becomes soaked. But, the slow continual movement of the piezoflush through the head this way just might free up the clogs a little faster than letting it sit for a few weeks.
Larry

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The main issue with the R3000 is that there is so little ink in the cartridges compared to other printers. This makes the carts only able to run one purge at a time. A second set of chips is needed for a second purge. (Epson’s devious plan with this printer.)

After a chip has 1 init-fill, one must actually print with it to reset it it (second init-fill will show an error because the cartridge chip is reporting not enough ink left in cart.)

Because you have PiezoFlush in your system, I would let is sit for a while, put a fresh set of color carts in there in 48hrs and do an init-fill with color. This will most likely get rid of the remaining nozzle issues. Make sure the room is very humid over the next 48hrs (like in the 70 to 80 percent range).

From the history of this thread it looks like you simply have dried stuff on the output end of your print-head nozzles. The piezoflush takes a while to soften this ink. It doesn’t happen right away: it’s meant to sit in there.

best,
Walker

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Thanks Larry and Walker for your responses. I appreciate them. I am a little confused. Walker, are you saying that I can refill all the carts with piezoflush and then print an image and the chips will all reset to full? Also, you mentioned that I should purchase another set of chips to do a second purge, are you referring to another set of blank carts and fill them with the piezo to do a second ink charge? If so, do I still need to buy these carts if I can just refill the ones I have and print an image to reset it?

Also are the ink blots on my paper due to the “dried stuff on the output end of my print head nozzle” ?
Looking forward to your response.

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Rose. The only way to reset a chip (to full) is to print with it until it resets. But I don’t suggest printing with a channel that has clogged nozzles as this could burn the head.

I suggest getting a set of spare chips and doing another init-fill and see where that gets you.

Walker