Problems installing own custom B&W inks in epson r2400

Hi all. It´s Mario here. I´ve been knowing you for some time but it´s first time i write a post.

First, please forgive my english level.... that could create some confussion because of my wrong understanding of some technichal terms.

I boutght a second hand epson r2400 in good state (that i know) . my intentions are to prepare it for printing only black and white with custom inks (black and seven shades of grey). I mixed the inks kind of following the advices and information from the great Paul Roark, using the first "clear base" made of distelled water 55%, glicerine 35% and kodak photo flo 200 10% ... but unfortunatelly things are not going good in my case.

Yesterday i took out the original color cartridges, cleaned the print head nozzles, and installed the new refillable cartridges with the custom ink.
First thing i did was a nozzle test throughthe epson driver and the results cannot be worst. Cannot difference the different inks, almost no ink is printed in the paper, and cannot even read the reference letters and numbers from the print... very very bad.
After a few tests, cleaning and allignment attempts i got frustrated by night, cause it was constantly loosing also ink on the paper, with dripping of ink on it and what seems to be kind of roll bar marks of black ink on the paper.

So i took all cartridges out again, made a full / deep cleaning of the print head, and also made a cleaning of capping stations (thanks for Erik Lilja's thread about his problems with epson r2400 nozzle,
and Larryb `s answer).

My problem now is that to be honest i´m not sure where the problem starts. I´m not sure if this kind of problems can be from nozzle issue , or it is totally related with the ink.
I´m about to put again the new refilled cartridges for a new try, but not sure if it´s better to try or to do other more things before...

Thanks in advance to everyone

it could be the formula how you mix the solvent for your gray inks. I think you should to back to a working condition,
refill the cartridges with the original colors , get a clan nozzle check print and then replace just one ink first and do a nozzle check and some print with the color of that channel and check for a clean print, it that works fine go to the next cartidge. If it does not work out like that there is a problem with your ink/solvent base.

thanks.
Yes, i just tried it, and seems like it´s not a problem of inks . Less ink seems coming out now. I felt only few drops of ink on the paper, so maybe that drpping comes from the only cartridge with mixed ink.
The channels printed come almost no ink at all, less than before with all the "mixed cartridges"... mmmm

One thing wanted to ask... When cleaning the noozles i noticed that not much "cleaning solution was coming out the printhead, but instead lot of it was coming from the other nozzles head holes... is that normal, or does it mean that the liquid cannot come out in the proper way?

Are you re-using the cartridges for the B/W inks or are you using a new, a separate set of cartridges for them ? I'm not really sure to understand where the ink or cleaning solution is coming out other than from the nozzles. I don't think you would need to clean the nozzles, the next cleaning cycle flushes the old ink from the nozzles and channels in the printhead.

maybe i´m not explaining my self very good, or i am using the terms in the wrong way.

When i take out the printhead to clean it, i take the syringe, i take the cleaning solution on it, and the put in the "nozzle head" to start pussing and trying that the liquid cpass through the head, right? so, there i have the doubt that my cleaning solution, at least part of it, is "coming back" throught the nozzle heads of the other channels / colors and not through the "bottom".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXEkfSD_HYY

I´ve been following for example this video that shows a way of cleaning the print head. around the minute 15:00 you can see that he`s pussing the liquid and it´s coming a big flush , and nothing is "coming back" through the other channels heads, the ones that obviously are free to come out couse it´s not with a syringe.

thanks again !

and i didn´t answer you about the cartridges... the color ones that i´m using are original ones.

The ones i´m using for the b&w inks, are new refillable ones that i filled with the custom ink.

you may push and pull the cleaner with the syringe alternatively, there may be some contamination not fitting through
the nozzles, but you get it by pulling it backwards, if you push your cleaner in one ink channel and it is coming out at another ink channel you then have a leakage within the printhead which you cannot fix. But why all those efforts if the printer was running fine with normal inks ?

please, don´t mention "you cannot fix" like that... i feel like crying. heh

When i put the liquid in the glass and i try to take pulling it backwards trough an ink channel, the liquid is not passing through, i just get a minimal super minimal amount, just drops, and bubbles.

Then when i push the solution with the syrine instead of going through and getting out with a flush, it comes out thought the other ink channels, like if something is blocking it to go outside.

There are at least two completely different problems:

- the refillable cartridges
where you can have all kinds of issues, some regarding ink flow and some regarding chip reset

- the self made mixture of gray ink
where you can have problems regarding B&W tones from right or wrong diluting ratios ... or other issues regarding MK or PK and different grays with the same ink on different papers.

So i would begin with the cartridges and fill them with a decent set of refill ink (from one of our well known forum contributors amd sellers in UK or Canada). Just to become more familiar with refillable carts, and potential issues like bad ink flow from air in the carts or tubes.
...which very often can easily be mistaken as clogged nozzes...!!

Next step could be a readymade B&W ink set ...
...and finally you may try to mix youself.

MSG said:

it comes out thought the other ink channels

Click to expand...

if you push your ink or solvent or cleaner into one ink channel, and it comes out of other ink channels you have a major leakage between the ink channels which you cannot repair.