Avoiding cloggs in Epson 3800

[The Hat]

Hi Harry,

Test prints are probably better at keeping your print head clog free and clearing any that might pop up from time to time, than perpetually running nozzle check and cleaning cycles that’s for sure.

From what I’ve heard Qimage is supposed to be a very good photo image application, so I wouldn’t dough the many followers who sing its praises'.

Unfortunately Qimage is not available on the Mac platform, and you would need it to run this test pattern program, I don’t use Qimage myself and stick mainly with Photoshop because it can do everything I need and more.

What I would suggest is you can make up your own test print or simply use this one that @Roy Sletcher posted which will do the same job as it covers all of the colours used in the Epson 3800. (Save it to your Desktop)

click to enlarge.

 

[Harry Briels]

Andrew, Sorry but I do not understand your message.

 

[Harry Briels]

Hi 'The Hat'
Do I understand correctly that the Test Print, posted by Roy Fletcher I should use on a regular basis, say once every two week, to just print it and then see whether the print is showing no problems?

 

[Harry Briels]

The Hat:
Since I most likely can not use the Qimage unclog program, which you recommended because it might not be avalaible for iMac, I took a piece of kitchen towel which I folded into a small strip. I moved the print head in the middle of the 3800 and did slowly move the print hard over the folded paper. Then i did put quite a few drops of a mixture of 1/3 destilled water, 1/3 ammonia and 1/3 isopropanol on the paper, moved carefully the paper strip a few times while pulling it up and then did let it sit for a few hours.
I also did put some drops on the station where the print head moves when switched off.
As far as I can conclude from the nozzle checl (see attachement) the clog in the black has been removed.

 

[websnail]

If I don't print for a while I can see the odd nozzle missed, usually in magenta!!
At the start this drove me to do several nozzle checks then seeing no result I ended up doing a clean or even a power clean. It was not uncommon for this to fail to clear also!
One day I did this process early in the day ... Frustrated I turned the machine off and went out and spent the day working on the farm. Late afternoon I came back to the printer and ran a nozzle check! The offending nozzle was firing but very weak in colour, so I turned the machine off again. Later on in the evening I went back to try again. This time it was 100% ok.
So now I print a nozzle check, regardless of result, leave it 8 hours and print again and it is ALWAYS clear. I figure it is the pressure getting fresh ink to the blockage, allowing a good soak and the next print clears.

Oh yes! This in spades... I've lost count of the number of folk who have done countless head cleans, wasted tons of ink and ultimately they discovered that patience is the key ingredient to any head cleaning routine.

 

[Harry Briels]

The nozzle print I made (see above thread) shows "Maintenance cartridge: 99%". On the LCD it shows full black.
However this cart is almost empty!
I have two new Maintenance carts T5820/ICMT1, so far never used.
When I insert these, the same info appears: "full black" on LCD and "99%" info on nozzle check page!
How can I correct this?
Thanks for your help.
Harry

 

[The Hat]

Do I understand correctly that the Test Print, posted by Roy Fletcher I should use on a regular basis, say once every two week, to just print it and then see whether the print is showing no problems?

Hi harry,

That test print is designed to use a very small amount of ink from each cartridge and it should help keep all of the nozzles clog free.

This is the one I use fortnightly

Nice to see your now clog free, well done..

 

[3dogs]

Andrew, Sorry but I do not understand your message.

Just google Qimage, that gets you to the site and explains everything about the program that would be too long to explain here. It also says that it does not run on Mac.

I think folks here are telling you that it is better to do a simple routine each week, rather than waiting till there is a clog and trying to remedy it.
I know first hand so now I clean as you did, to maintain the head as it needs to have a long life, print a test page regular, and be patient if I do happen to get a clog.

 

[Harry Briels]

As will go from the attached Nozzle Check, that although I printed a number of photos recently and thereafter the test print too, as recommended by "The Hat", I have another clogg, this time in the magenta region.
I checked the photo's but there can not be seen any effect of this magenta clogg.
What should I do: forget about it, or carefully move the print head again over a paper towel with drops of cleaning fluid on it, let it sit there for some hours and then hope for the best?

By the way, does the EPSON 3880 have less problems with clogging?

 

[3dogs]

Harry I can go MONTHS without printing the 3880 and not have a clog. It has been pretty dry and warm so the conditions have been good for ink to dry. I suspect that central heating may have a role to play in this.
Moisture in the air will slow drying so it may be that you need to address that in some way perhaps.
I use Cone inks (pigment) and find no big issue with them.
@jtoolman would be the one to say if the 3800 is more vulnerable than the 3880. He switched back to reclaimed OEM inks for performance reasons, I won't go near them for the same reason so somewhere there is a location based driver to this clog issue, or so I strongly believe now.
Andrew