Pre-loved Epson 1900 with new exploding ink!

Well, I bought a used Epson R1900 off of a friend of mine after she upgraded to a Canon Pixma Pro-100. She does awesome prints of her personal artwork which is what I wanted it for.

It arrived today, no box damage packed super well, She actually wrapped it in the box the Pixma came in complete with floating inserts.

It looks like it got tipped on its side for a long period during shipping. When I opened the outer wrap it had a ton of what I thought was black ink (and now know it's ALL of the ink) leaking from the USB port. *cry*

She shipped it with full ink cartridges still installed, but I would think it still might have done this anyway. I am trying to clean it up with a mild ammonia solution. The long black pad is soaked in ink (which I removed and squeezed and rinsed and is drying). It's all over the plastic wheels to the left side as well as the metal components. I don't know how far it's gotten in there.

Here's the problem---I don't know if this is salvageable. We have insurance on it but I have no idea if it will cover it.

Cleaning tips and tricks? How to remove the silver side plates? I'm a newbie---but I have experience cleaning and repairing electronics.

*headdesk* Thanks!

Ok I am going to give you my guess of what has taken places.
I don't think it was the carts being installed that caused the problem.

Inside the very bottom of the printer live some absorbent pads whose job is to collect waste ink that is generated every single time that you insert a new ink cart.
The replacement of one or more cart is followed by an ink purge. to insure that ink from the carts is properly flowing into the print head.
Waste ink is also generated when you initiate a cleaning cycle due to plugged nozzles.
All of this waste ink from all the carts ends up in the internal waste ink pads deep inside the printer case ( at the internal bas of the printer body ). When enough ink accumulates, and if you were to stand the printer on it's side, as has apparently happened here, this waste ink accumulation if large enough will literally leak out of the printer. Yes when all colors are mixed it becomes a deep black color.
It's obvious that the printer has been used quite a bit if the pads leaked out when the printer was placed on its side.
There is software you can use to check the actual waste ink count accrued.
Just a note, when the count limit is reached, the printer ceases to work. Your only option is a reset of the counter and replacement of the pads if they are already leaking out.
This bit of work will cost usually as much as 50% of the printer original price.

Without seeing the printer, I really can not tell you if your printer can be salvaged.
You don't have anything to loose by scrupulously cleaning it as well as possible but be careful not to dislodge any of the internal mechanisms such of the positioning strips and belts that control the head carriage's position during printing.

If the sponges that are located along the travel direction of the head ( Platen ) are very dirty, drip some Windex with a syringe directly along the length of the sponge, and blot with clean absorbent toweling. Repeat over and over until it is as clean as you can get it.
Specially the area to the far left of the head travel. You will also need to CAREFULLY clean the area were the print head parks. It goes by names like the purge pad or sponge, or parking station. There are videos on Youtube. But you can worry about that a bit later.

Dribble Windex and Blot. Repeat as many times as you need. You will go through a lot of paper toweling. Use Q-Tips and paper toweling, and wear gloves.

Once you get it as clean as possible you should reinstall a new set of carts as you really do not know what the old carts have left.
Install the latest drivers from EPSON for your OS and Power up and see whether it can print a perfect nozzle check.
This will tell you if every little orifice or nozzle on the print head is OPEN and able to spray ink.

That about all that you can do right now.
Hopefully the printer will actually fire up and print without much problem.

Please tell us how it all turns out.

Once you get it running, you can download the WIC tool ( get it from ocotoinkjet.uk ) and check the level of the waste ink counters.

Best of luck!

Joe

Welcome to the forum, BarbedDragon.

I am going to play Tasmanian Devil's Advocate.



You could return it or make a claim on the insurance and buy an inexpensive Pro-100.

$98 after rebate, offer ends August 30, 2014 from either web site:

http://www.adorama.com/ICAPRO100.ht...=38589028051&gclid=CKv5l82QtcACFfA-MgodGBIAag

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...P23-a-QtcACFaY-MgodVxQARA&Q=&is=REG&A=details

A number of forum members have purchased the Pro-100 from Adorama. I received my rebate American Express Card 17 days after mailing in the rebate form.

All your refilling needs, including ICC printer profiles !!, available from http://www.precisioncolors.com/PC42.html

Well I figured she would not file a claim against the friend. At the least she should contact her and inform her of the situation.

But the truth be know I would not have chosen the PRO100 for art work printing, specially if it's going to be sold. The R1900 when properly working would produce a great and longer lasting print.
Don't get me wrong, I also have 3 PRO-100s and love them.

I agree with your assessment jtoolman. That's exactly what happened. I cleaned and cleaned for almost 4 hours and fired her up after installation. No go. Two left binking orange lights and powered down after turning on with lights still blinking. I read about resetting the ink counter, installed the tool from epson (i have the serials still) and it stated i did not need to reset it at this time. Yet it is still not working at all. Funny you should say that about the PRO 100 since that's what sge upgraded to. I had the choice and i liked this ones options better. Plus out of pocket expense was easier on me than rebate.

She offered to refund my money fully, and then deal with UPS herself, she's a really great freind so I would hate to jump the gun.

I actually rinsed out the pads completely as in i removed them, rinsed, let dry, and reinstalled. There really truly was ink all over the left end of the printer, it has even gotten on the white gears which i can't reach and waaaay down into the printer body.

I'm really sad, I bought a bunch of watercolor paper as well as 120 bucks in new ink, I hope I don't have to cut my losses. I had planned on spending the day making prints, not elbow deep in ink.

I have an epson service technician an hour and a half away, but i don't know if i want to dump more money into something that is unsalvagable :/

Thanks for your responses so far!!!!

Here are some photos.
ETA: If i cant get it figured out by the 30th i may do the Pro 100 deal. Jtoolman, what do you see as the drawback for printing artwork?

I think a service manual might be helpful in cleaning and repairing the printer. A service manual for Epson Stylus Photo R1900/R2800/R2000 is found here: http://www.spsystems.lv/blog/instrukciji/Service-manual-EPSON-Photo-R1900-R2000-www.spsystems.lv.pdf

Good luck with the cleaning and repair.

jtoolman said:

Well I figured she would not file a claim against the friend. At the least she should contact her and inform her of the situation.

Click to expand...

Which is why the first recommendation was "return it". As I said, I was playing devil's advocate for the new member and flesh out other solutions.

How could a person with a skull avatar not give the devil some props?

Just kidding Barbed.

BarbedDragon said:

If i cant get it figured out by the 30th i may do the Pro 100 deal. Jtoolman, what do you see as the drawback for printing artwork?

Click to expand...

The major difference is the Epson is pigment ink and the Canon is Dye-based (water) ink. As jtoolman has said, if you are selling printed artwork then the Epson pigmented inks will last longer than dye-based Canon inks. You can always reprint an image, though this would be a PITA for a customer.

Since you have dumped a lot of money already into paper and ink, consider keep working with the Epson.

Looking at the images, one would be tempted to get a large container of some suitable liquid and immerse the whole printer. That might clean it, but it would probably never work again! What a job, you have my sympathy.

Emulator said:

Looking at the images, one would be tempted to get a large container of some suitable liquid and immerse the whole printer. That might clean it, but it would probably never work again! What a job, you have my sympathy.

Click to expand...

They could soak it in a whole load of isopropyl alcohol or similar which after done leave for a weak or so for any inside to evaporate.... BUT to get enough to submerged the whole printer will cost a pretty penny. Me personally if i was desperate id strip the whole thing down, take photos as i go to hopefully make for easier reassembly and clean each bit, part by part in soapy water (except the electronic parts obviously, use isopropyl alcohol on them) and then hope and prey it works.

Agreed though either way what a mess and not going to be a fun job should you take it on.