Yes, I understood your differing luck with the two printers. You were lucky in one respect. The 1400 apparently (and in my experience) was the one recent desktop printer from Epson that doesn’t have the micro-banding in the first and last inch problem, unlike the 1430. I really wish I had kept mine.
To repeat what I’ve already said, I really don’t understand your reticence to use the cleaning kit on the 1430. A lot of people have done so with success. If you’re facing the prospect of junking the printer then what have you got to lose? If you’ve had a genuine clog in one or more channels for a month or more, then I’m not so sure that time is on your side. By the time that you decide that nothing else has worked, it may well be too late for the cleaning kit. I speak from personal experience here. I would use it immediately after unsuccessfully trying everything else in that IJM maintenance video. My view would be that if leaving the flush carts in doesn’t work after a couple of days then it’s not going to, and it’s on to the cleaning kit. Your call.
Yes, I’m happy with that 1400… I’ve heard that about the banding top and bottom, too.
Well, your message got me going, thank you. I did my first syringe method and didn’t feel like I had to exert excessive pressure. It was a firm but smooth and even push all the way. However the results were not encouraging, you may be right in that I waited too long.Not only was the K position cart totally blank, but also the Y cart next to it.I went through three cleaning cycles and nozzle checks with same result, but I’m hoping that letting it sit over night may help.
Thanks for the push… it was a relief to finally do it.
I’m pleased to hear that you finally took the leap. You’re right that it’s one of those things that turns out to be simpler than you feared. That said, there are a few tricks to using the cleaning kit not mentioned in the IJM video. In my experience, and also JeffG, if you push the little syringe all the way to the bottom it’s easy to inject air into the head, which could be your current problem. One suggestion I’ve read is not to push the syringe all the way down. The idea is that this should leave the head full of flush. You may find that the cleaning kit drips when you remove it, but this is easily cleaned up and is the lesser of two evils. Beyond that, it’s worth experimenting with how you use the cleaning kit. IIRC, in the video Dana recommends gently pulling and pushing on the syringe to try to dislodge a clog.
It has been some time since I’ve had to use the kit, but my recollection is that your situation does happen sometimes - that is, getting the ink flowing again after using it can be a struggle, and requires a little patience and perhaps purge patterns to get it going again. This is one of those situations I alluded to above, where it’s really hard to know what the best next step is - head cleans or patience & purge patterns. Head cleans often exacerbate air in the system, but ultimately they may be needed to pull the ink through and get it flowing. I’ll see if I can prod JeffG into sharing his more recent experiences.
I can’t add a lot to this. Since Walker gave me the tip to cover the air hole with tape and pierce it with a fine needle, my carts have been much more reliable. My 1430 is sitting in a box with flush carts as an insurance policy. On the R2000, I have found, as Brian has, that purge and patience are the way to go. I have occasionally used a head clean when that fails, and it does work.
Brian, thanks for extra tips on this technique. I ended up not using the syringe in the IJM kit - the plunger didn’t slide smoothly in the body, it moved in a rather jerky manner which made it difficult to get a smooth push. Luckily I had on hand some 5ml syringes which functioned quite smoothly. And in some ways I found a length of tubing easier to work with than the dummy cartridge.
To you both: I’m interested in the purge approach. I do have some purge patterns. One set I got via a reference here, they’re 8x10 and 300ppi. They all look like several shades of magenta, and I remember being confused by that… a thread here helped me understand why. When printed, they turn out to be the colors named in the file name. The other set I have are 8x10, 72ppi. These show the actual colors in the file name. From those I created some patterns only 1 inch wide.
Philosophically, I like this approach better. Please give me some instructions on how to use these… eg how many times do I run them each day, do I use draft mode or quality print mode, etc.
Welcome aboard, Jeff! Tell me more about covering the air hole with tape and piercing it with a needle. What does this accomplish? What kind of tape? How about painter’s blue tape? It doesn’t leave a residue. Intriguing!
I think the thread you’re referring to is this one:
By the expression “purge patterns” we meant printing one of those special charts in calibration mode. If you enter calibration mode and just print, you’ll print out what is known as the ink separation page. This page if printed at 720dpi unidirectional is good as an alternative nozzle diagnostic, but it doesn’t do all that much purging. The files in that zip from the above link are better - QTR Cal Mode Flush Images\QTR-6 Channel flush.tif for the R14x0. If you print at lowest resolution you’ll see what is going on more readily. If you print at 2880, you’ll use more ink and do more purging.
You could use a colour purge pattern rather than one of these special encoded charts, but you won’t see what is going on in individual channels, which is what calibration mode plus those special charts enable, so that’s what we always do.
The idea of printing the purge patterns is that alternating them with overnight rests seems to help dislodge air, at least in my experience. Walker from IJM cautions that printing with genuinely clogged nozzles risks burning out nozzles. I’ve not experienced that, but if he’s right then you need to be fairly certain that you’ve got air rather than a clog. I’ve managed to clear the odd small clog by printing purge patterns, but it only seems to work for a fresh (recent) clog.
The pin and tape method was first mentioned here. There’s not a lot to it:
But it’s intended for the opposite problem to yours - too much ink flowing through, leading to drops on the page, cartridges mysteriously draining, etc.
Yes, that’s the thread I was referring to. I did download those tiffs at an earlier date, but I didn’t do this information justice. I’m going to let you alone a few days, got plenty to keep me busy for a while.
I’ve run into several procedures using the syringe, varying in sequence, when to push, when to pull, time to let the carts soak and so on. Evidently it’s a matter of trying them all to see which one works. A good learning curve And I’m glad you mentioned Walker’s caution. That slowed me down a bit when I first considered this approach. Like everything however, moderation is the key.
Thanks, Jeff, but as Brian says, my situation isn’t quite what you were facing.
Jeff’s most recent problem is different to yours. I was fairly certain that in the more distant past he had been trying to solve ones rather similar to yours, which is why I prodded him to contribute, but it seems that either my recollection was faulty or they are by now too distant.
Please let us know how things turn out, because this will add to our stock of real-world knowledge. By real world I mean in the wide variety of situations where they are used by ordinary folk. I suspect that IJM’s own experiences with desktops, while extensive, don’t reflect how these printers are actually used outside a development and teaching environment.
p.s. Seems you were editing your post while I drafted my reply. In relation to Walker’s caution, I mentioned it for the sake of completeness, and to save him the trouble. My own view and (limited) experience is that you’re unlikely to do damage by limited and careful printing of purge patterns. It all gets back to the point I was making earlier about diagnosis - are the gaps shifting or always the same?
Re: your p.s.: I didn’t receive an e-mail alert for this message - strange. But maybe since we posted at about the same time, our messages “collided” and no alert happened. Who knows? Not a big problem!
I will surely let you know how this turns out. A side benefit to the “purge and wait” approach: I can take a day off and not feel compelled to “do something” every day. My day off is guilt-free, knowing that time is working on my behalf.
I have just found another option to get rid of the air “clogs”!
It consists in forcing an Ink Charge (the procedure that is run by the printer when the first set of carts is installed and ink is first loaded into the print head). In Pro grade printers there is a menu option to trigger it, while in smaller printers (mine is an R2000) you have to use a program.
The official Service Adjustment Program by Epson has this capability, though it is not easy to find. However, 2manuals has created an alternative utility to allow resetting the waste ink counter (WIC Reset Utility), which provides some of the functionality of the official Service Adjustment Program, including Ink Charge, and is free to download and use, except if you want to reset the waste ink counter.
It took me several Ink Charges to get to a perfect nozzle check. The problem is that every Ink Charge consumes a lot of ink, so be extremely careful to avoid running out of ink during the procedure, and refill frequently. For example, a small printer cart of 17 ml, can barely stand four ink charges, so I was refilling the carts after three. Remember not to trust the ink level indicators of the printer.
Another drawback is that all this ink gets discarded in the waste ink pads; if a printer doesn’t have a replaceable waste ink tank, it’s better if you install the external ink tank sold by InkJet Mall, as this procedure will quickly fill up your pads.
No matter how long one struggles with nozzle gaps caused by air there’s always something new to learn. I’m pleased that paorin solved his problem with his printer. What I’m struggling to understand why the successive initial fills worked when the cleaning kit didn’t, especially if he tried the trick of not fully depressing the syringe. Does this mean that there was hard to dislodge air in there somewhere, that the extra suction dislodged?
I’m still puzzled about how the air got in there if there was a good flush nozzle check before the printer was hibernated and stored. This really shouldn’t happen. Did any of the flush carts drain or drop noticeably in level while in storage? This may be difficult to diagnose if you didn’t physically check the carts before trying to get it going again.
Dana’s reaction to all of this would be interesting, if she is following this thread.
My guess is that the succession of fills actually cleared clogs that we appearing before the nozzles either in the inlet spikes or manifold and the ink channel before the nozzle plate in conjunction with a few stubbornly clogged nozzles. In other words, you were not getting strong flow through that channel. Not enough to blast the stubborn nozzles.
The action of time and movement adjacent to the dried areas finally softened the ink enough to eject from the nozzles and clear them. This is why Dana and I suggest doing reverse action with the flusher. This pulls flush through the smallest opening first (the nozzle plate) and pulls those large particulates backwards through the channels and inlet spikes. Of course you have to make sure you throw away this fluid and clean the plunger with distilled between pulls. Time always helps in this action too. Reverse pull. Sit, reverse pull. Sit over night. Then forward push, sit overnight. Then three cleanings w/ PF.
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These heads are totally different than x900 heads (the ones you should not print with if you see a clog). It does not hurt them too much to print with when a clog is “present.” Sometimes they can even exhibit false clogs which are just small pockets of air that can be printed out or let to push out with printing, gravity, and time.
The trick to these small formats is to give them enough time. Let PF sit over night. rap your carts after filling and let them sit in the printer for 10 mins before doing an initial cleaning and nozzle check, etc. Much of this is in the instructions for the carts but each printer is also unique in its build. The tolerances on these (relatively cheap) units is rather loose, hence our most recent cartridge re-build.
Agreed. That’s certainly part of the issue, which was the main point of my Lessons I have learnt post a couple of years ago. It’s possible that Paul’s 1430 is afflicted with tolerance issues,and the new generation carts may solve his problem, but I was trying to give him the best chance of getting the current carts working first.
I didn’t get to try the cleaning kit injection without fully depressing the syringe. That was going to be my next step after having tried cleanings and flush patterns, but before trying it I got the idea of the ink charge. My guess is that it would have also cleared the problem.
What I don’t understand though is why all air didn’t get dislodged after just the first ink charge. When the printer is brand new the print head is full of air, and a single ink charge replaces all of it with ink, so why this is not the case if you just have several air bubbles?
I have just explained in the other thread about the three mistakes I made that introduced air in the print head. Because of them, we don’t know whether a long terms storage with flush carts and no mistakes would allow a painless recovery.
[quote=“Brian_S, post:27, topic:4426, full:true”]
[quote=“walkerblackwell, post:26, topic:4426”]
My guess is that the succession of fills actually cleared clogs that we appearing before the nozzles either in the inlet spikes or manifold and the ink channel before the nozzle plate in conjunction with a few stubbornly clogged nozzles. In other words, you were not getting strong flow through that channel. Not enough to blast the stubborn nozzles.[/quote]
If you read paorin’s related thread you’ll see that his problems occurred after having his R2000 hibernated for a year with flush carts. He would have to confirm this, but I assume he had a good flush nozzle check before hibernating. Given this, I find it hard to see how, in his particular case, there could be a genuine clog. Hence the puzzle about his struggle to purge the air. You don’t agree?[/quote]
Exactly, I was sure my problems with the nozzle check was just air, not clogs. And the suggestion of doing Ink Charges is just for air problems, I cannot tell about its effectiveness in case of ink clogs.
(That said, I’ve read some reports that for the P600, which has ink lines and dampers, for the first few months of its life the printer does a number of extra printer-generated head cleans. The theory is that in that more complex ink delivery system this is needed to be certain to purge all the air. But you’d think that the same would not be true of a carts-on-head printer with its simpler ink delivery system).
Back to overcoming my stubbornness to use the syringe push-pull method…
I’m getting much more comfortable with it and am refining some of the steps. In the hopes that some of the IJM staff are following this thread, may I respectfully suggest a few suggestions.
One stems from other posts on other websites re: the syringe p-p technique: does it matter whether the first step is a push - or a pull? Some pros and cons here would be appreciated.
I’ve had better luck with a simple syringe and a length of tubing than with the dummy cart and dedicated syringe. The bottom of the dummy cart doesn’t fit tightly around the nipple and the Piezoflush leaks out during a push. Also, the nipples on my 1430 are angled slightly and I’m reluctant to push straight down for fear of snapping them off.
Some ml markings on the supplied syringe would be handy, and additionally the syringe doesn’t slide smoothly. No matter how carefully you push, it moves in rather a jerky manner, making it tricky to maintain a steady pressure. I have some 5ml syringes (and so marked) that move much more smoothly. These are from IJM also, they came to me in an order mix-up - I offered to return them but the kindly IJM staff member told me not to bother.
Another suggestion is to increase the visibility of Piezoflush, a bit more colorant would help. Even better would be to use a yellow tint, this color is highly visible under a UV flashlight.
My inclination would be to make my first and last actions pushes, to avoid pulling air in. You should only really need pulls for stubborn clogs, and I wouldn’t pull all that much because of the risk of air.
[quote=“Paul_Whiting, post:30, topic:4426”]The bottom of the dummy cart doesn’t fit tightly around the nipple and the Piezoflush leaks out during a push. Also, the nipples on my 1430 are angled slightly and I’m reluctant to push straight down for fear of snapping them off.
[/quote]
I’ve only had leaks when I haven’t clicked the dummy cart into place properly. It does need a small amount of force, and is hard to with cartridges in place on either side. The slightly angled ink nipples sounds odd to me but I don’t have a 1430 and so don’t know what’s normal.
I’m much more at ease now with the syringe technique. I’ve got a feel for it.
As for the dummy cart, there again I was being too cautious. First of all, on closer examination I see the nipples on the 1430 are indeed vertical. What threw me off was that the left three nipples although vertical are offset to the left, and by the same token the right three are offset to the right. The channels holding the carts (dummy and regular) are offset as well. And - I applied more force when inserting the dummy cart and it did indeed seat itself securely with a reassuring click.
Who knows… maybe the printer gods will smile on me and my 1-2 month old clogs will break loose.
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