Yellow

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
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1

So it looks as though I have had a yellow explosion in my 7900. I have yellow ink in places that it should never be. Any ideas?

2

It sounds like possibly a cartridge leak? Can you remove the cartridge and see any ink escaping anywhere from the exit valve or cartridge body?

I will put a replacement cartridge in the mail asap for good will, did you loose a lot of ink as well?

3

Its not the cartridge at all. Upon further investigation, I have found that it seems as though the head is “slinging” the ink back and fourth.

4

We Air shipped you a replacement cart and Ink thinking you had an “exploded” cartridge and a major ink spill. The vague description of your post does not help me determine the cause of your problem(s).

I need more background on your printer to help figure out what the problem is, this is NOT a common complaint. Based on your sales history, I am sure you have a lot of experience with printers and can safely say this isn’t something you run into regularly.

Let start with these questions, please answer all of them thoroughly:
1.How old is this printer?
2.How clean has the capping station, wiper blade and bottom of the print head been kept?
3.When was the last time the Dampers were replaced?
4.When was the Capping station replaced?
5.When was the head replaced?
6.How old are the refillable cartridge currently being used?
7.How much ink is run through this printer on average on a monthly basis?
8.Has there been any dripping of ink leading up to the “slinging” of ink to indicate a problem?
9.Is there system holding pressure properly, meaning do you hear the pressure pump coming on frequently, as if it’s loosing pressure somewhere in the system?

This should give me a good baseline to start from, please answer thoroughly and add any important information you can that might help paint the a full picture as to how you ended up here.

5
  1. We bought one of the printers 5Aug13 and two more 21Aug13, I am not sure which is the printer we are discussing, but all 3 are having the same yellow issues.
  2. Cleaned the area yesterday and replaced the wiper blade.
  3. I don’t think they have been.
  4. I don’t think it has ever been changed.
  5. Last Friday, 2Oct15
  6. If you are able to check your records and see how many you have sold to us, and divide by 4 (3 printers, +1 set for Piezo cleaner.)
  7. Like 6, see how much you have sold to us and divide by 3. Then divide by how long you’ve been selling to us.
  8. “Slinging” and “Exploded” were a bad choice of words. There appears to be ink dripping from the head at both edges of paper, where head changes direction of travel–So it could be “slinging”
  9. The system does seem to be holding pressure properly. I do hear the pressure pump come on and go off often.
6

I am assuming these these printers were purchased used?

To your knowledge there has been NO maintenance done to any of these printers? OR replacement parts? That is A LOT to ask of any machine that gets used as much as yours do.

I would recommend replacing the Capping Station, Wiper Blade, Flushing box (right) and cleaning the bottom of the print head thoroughly with bounty paper towel and Piezoflush. I would also recommend replacement of the Dampers, they act as filters for the print head, keeping any unwanted materials out of the print head channels. These components are essential to the health of your printer and it’s printing quality. It is recommended by Epson that these parts are replaced once every 12-18 months with regular use, the volume your lab is printing would not be considered “regular” use, I would put you in the high volume category.

I am absolutely astonished that these printer would have lasted 2+ years printing at this volume without ANY cleaning or regularly scheduled maintenance. Here is an article about this topic that would be valuable for you to read http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?133-Printer-Cleaning-and-Preventative-Maintenance
This kind of maintenance should be performed once every 6 months with the volume of printing your lab is doing to keep these machines running properly.

You can purchase the OEM replacement parts at Compass Micro and you will need a Repair manual, you can purchase that through 2manuals.com.

7

The dampers/ink selector unit should always be replaced when a new head is installed. Additionally, the cleaning unit (capping station, wiper blade and flushing box assembly) should be replaced annually (with regular use, which you are above). I have experienced extreme overspray of ink drops spraying into the margin several inches with an old 7600, and tried many things to resolve it (manual cleaning, replaced dampers, flushed the head, etc…), then in the end replacing the flushing box did the trick (and the printer is still working well today).

Please attach photos of the “Yellow slinging” problem you’re having with your three printers. Instructions for attaching images to this form are found here: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?152-How-to-attach-images-to-this-forum

Best~ Dana

8

This is the email that was sent to our Sales team today from Dameron Color Labs

We first noticed the problem a couple weeks ago, with the yellow ink “smearing” on the images. So I had made a post on the inkjetmall forum. With the help from your technical support I have found that things needed to be replaced. So we ordered the parts and got to work. We first replaced the cleaning assembly( right side of the printer.), complete with a new wiper blade. Secondly we replaced the head. Lastly, we replaced the complete damper unit. Upon inspection of the old damper unit, I was able to back flush the unit and find zero clogs.

After reassembly we were able to run the printer and all was great. The third morning, we tried to run a test print, and low and behold there was no yellow present on the nozzle check. So we did standard protocol and did a pairs cleaning. Nothing came of that. Then I did PiezoFlush, Nothing. Then I did a head cleaning. Nothing again. I have done all of these steps many many times. All of my other colors look great on a nozzle check, just very few spots or no yellow. We have done this on 2 out of 3 printers. I have also changed the cartridges and checked them all for leaks. None. So upon further reading in your forum, I was able to find a new avenue and that was to do and initial fill (Charge the ink). I still got nothing. I cleaned the heads before and after this process. Still no yellow.

I hope that this email helps.

We are using the Ink Thrift Pro YHD 700mL. Lot #: 130426

9

This is a good start, you have replaced all the recommended parts, but I believe the problem now is the ink simply hasn’t been worked into the system. To do this, you need to run an INITIAL FILL through the printers control panel. We have found after replacing such parts as these, it is best to re-fill the cartridge, re-prime and reset the chips (for all positions) and then run the INIT FILL, you will probably need to run 2-3 INIT FILL cycles to work the air out of the lines. Here are the instructions:

INITIAL FILL Epson pro 7890/9890 or 7900/9900:
1. Start with the printer power OFF
2. Hold the Menu/Right, Paper Feed/Down and OK buttons while turning the printer on. The printer will start in “Serviceman Mode”.
3. Push the Menu button, scroll to and select CLEANING.
4. Scroll and select INIT FILL.
5. When finished, exit Serviceman Mode by turning the printer off, then back on regularly.

Do not run anymore paired cleaning cycles, this will not create the suction you need to purge the system of air. This function can also damage your head, due to overheating. The INIT FILL is designed to create a strong suction to suck the ink from the cart, through the line and into the capping station of all the positions at once. There is no way of avoiding the waste of the other color positions, so even if you are only seeing air present at one channel (meaning no nozzles present) you will need to run the INIT FILL(s). Each fill uses 40mls each per channel, so consider this and keep an eye on your maintenance tank for overflowing.

Please remove all your cartridge, top them all off to full, draw a prime on the them with the priming tip, reset the chips, install and run the INIT FILL 2x, check your nozzle check pattern. If there are large gaps still missing, 1 more INIT FILL should take care of it. If you see a few missing nozzles here and there, let the printer rest overnight and check in the morning.

Make sure to let us know the results

10

I have now done all of these things multiple times. I can’t stress enough how much ink I am losing doing these things. I still have zero yellow coming through. So, let me reiterate, I have replaced the head 2x, I have done the initial fill many times, I have cleaned the heads with PiezoFlush, I have replaced the dampers, I have put brand new chips on all of the cartridges. I still have had very little luck. I think since 2OCT15 I have gotten 2 prints that were acceptable. I am now at a loss. What else could I possible do?

Thanks for all the help

11

We’re at a loss for exactly what is causing this, but what we want to do now is eliminate every possibility that there is or was some form of chemical contamination or reaction that is causing a gelling of the ink inside of the printer or cartridge that might possibly explain this repeated issue. It does seem to be isolated at your location. So we want to make sure that you are not reintroducing something into the equation and that you are able to start from fresh. So, what we have done is formulated a new batch of yellow and we are overnight expressing this ink to you along with two new yellow cartridges and PiezoFlush. What we want you to do is start fresh in that yellow position on one printer by following these steps. It is important that you do not short cut this or you may recreate the issue again:

1) Discarding the yellow cartridge and ink that you currently have, fill a new yellow cartridge with the new yellow batch of ink (both of which you should receive tomorrow). This insures the ink supply at the cartridge is confirmed. Do not install this into the printer yet.

2) Install PiezoFlush into a new yellow cartridge (which you should receive tomorrow) and install this PiezoFlush filled new yellow cart into the printer.

[B]a)[/B] Disconnect the yellow line from the ink exchanger and pull PiezoFlush through the ink line with a syringe to clear out any material that may be in the ink line. This will confirm the ink line from the cart to the ink exchanger. You only need to pull through until the PiezoFlush is no longer being stained by yellow.

[B]b)[/B] Leave the PiezoFlush filled yellow cart in the printer at that point.

3) Replace the yellow damper with a fresh damper inside of the ink exchanger, or replace the ink exchanger with a fresh ink exchanger. This will confirm the yellow damper. But whether you replace the damper in the ink exchanger or the exchanger itself will dictate how you perform the next steps.

4) Reconnect the PiezoFlush filled yellow ink line.

[B]a)[/B]  [I]If you have replaced only the ink damper[/I], run one Powerful Paired Cleaning followed by a Nozzle Check (to cool the print head) and then a second Powerful Paired Cleaning followed by a Nozzle Check to determine if the yellow print head channel is operable. This will confirm the electronics of the yellow print channel or the print channel itself, as well as the ink delivery supply system from the damper to the print head.

[B]or b)[/B]  [I]If you have replaced the entire ink exchanger[/I], run the INITIAL FILL followed by a Nozzle Check (to cool the print head) and then a second Powerful Paired Cleaning followed by a Nozzle Check to determine if the yellow print head channel is operable. This will confirm the electronics of the yellow print channel or the print channel itself, as well as the ink delivery supply system from the damper to the print head.

5) At this point - the ink delivery supply system from the cartridge to the print head is confirmed. But, we will not know if the yellow ink channel in the print head is operable or not until you are able to successfully print the pink PiezoFlush through it. If at this point the yellow print channel is in-operable - the head must be replaced. If at this point the yellow print channel is operable the PiezoFlush can be replaced with the fresh yellow ink (from Step 1) at this time.

6) To replace the PiezoFlush with yellow ink, do NOT use Powerful Paired Cleanings. More than 2-3 can be harmful to the print head because it heats it up. Powerful Paired Cleanings are to be avoided like the plague in X900 and X890 printers as they are known to permanently damage ink channels when used excessively. If at this time, you have any doubts about the yellow channel because of excessive use of the Powerful Paired Cleanings - this print head should probably be replaced sooner than later to avoid premature failure (and these heads are already known for short life.)

a) Replace the PiezoFlush cart with the yellow cart prepared in Step 1). Run the Initial Fill from the Maintenance menu to replace the contents of the yellow ink line with fresh yellow ink. Best practice.

or b) Replace the PiezoFlush cart with the yellow cart prepared in Step 1). Use QuadTone RIP in Calibration Mode with a custom yellow target to print exclusively through the yellow channel until the pink PiezoFlush is replaced by yellow ink. Will not waste ink in the other ink channels.

At this point you will have discarded any previous yellow ink, and discarded the previous ink cartridge, scrubbed out the ink lines, replaced the ink damper, and charged PiezoFlush through the print head. You will have introduced freshly formulated yellow ink in a fresh cartridge through a clean ink supply system to the print head. If this works - we will get you set up on all printers with fresh ink.

Kelly has written you offline to make sure that only one cook is in the kitchen there (a technician to follow this through). We do not know who you are and there are at least three from your Company that have been communicating to us. So, please pass this on to the person who will be the technician on this printer (in the case that it is not you).

Please let us know if you have any questions about these procedures. We really do not want you deviating from these steps 1-6.

Best regards,

Jon