Resurrecting EPSON 7600----Worth Attempting and How to go about it?

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
1

Dana-

I have an EPSON 7600 that has been in storage for 8 years. It was not purged at the time that it was boxed up but it was in almost new condition at that time. I have run a nozzle check and it does not show any colors. The ink indicators show half empty.

Is it worthwhile to try to do a flush or some other process in an attempt to make it work or is it a lost cause?

If it is worth attempting what procedure/process should I do?

I did not see any threads about this particular type of problem relating to a 7600.

David

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Yes it is worth restoring. Get a large bottle (700 ml) of Piezo flush and a roll of Bounty paper towels. Get a set of empty ink cartridges and fill them with Piezo flush (need not be completely full and you may want to get more than 700 ml of flush). You can reset the cartridge chips or turn off the ink counter. Replace the ink carts with these so, when the nozzles do clear, you can flush the lines (see comment on magenta ink below). Fold a section into a long narrow pad (3 to 4 layers). Open the front of the printer and release the feed rollers, then tuck an edge of the strip up under the rollers and secure the rollers again. Push down on the paper cutter and move the printhead slightly to the left to release it. Slide the printhead over the pad (if it doesn’t want to slide over easily the pad is too thick). You also need a 35 to 60 cc syringe with 6" of 1/8" plastic tubing on it. Fill the syringe with Piezo flush. Move the printhead to one end of the pad then soak the pad with flush fluid, slide the printhead over the saturated part and saturate the other end of the pad. Leave it there to soak for several hours then slide head to the other end of the pad. 8 years? It may take several days more likely several weeks of doing this, keeping the pad saturated. Eventually you will see ink on the pad. When the pad starts to get soaked with ink do a cleaning cycle and a nozzle test. Do it all over again until all of the nozzles are printing. It may take a while. Also magenta ink can get gummy in the line if left for a long time. Good luck!

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You can certainly try cleaning it as Robert suggested above (I always like to try cleaning/fixing printers before giving up on them), but if nothing is printing from any channel, and it sat unused for 8 years, then I suspect the print head is totally dried/clogged, as well as the internal ink lines and dampers. It will be a major project to try cleaning and you will likely need to replace several parts (including the print head, dampers, capping station, and possibly the ink lines if they’re clogged solid with dried ink). In the end, it may cost you more in time and parts (not to mention Epson stopped making parts for the 7600/9600 years ago, so you’ll have trouble finding quality parts that you need) than it would be to get a new printer.

Best wishes!
~Dana

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Mendo and Dana, I should have mentioned the flush kit “Small Format Flush Kit Item SKU#: ACC-110-FLUSH-KIT”. I use it every time I take off dampers. I have a post of what I go through for a complete cleaning on that part# page. If the inks aren’t exposed to air they can stay liquid for a looong time. I found that out when I took apart an Epson 3000 last fall. I wasn’t prepared for ink draining out.