Can I access the waste ink pads on my Epson R 2000?

[Richard S]

Recently I was printing a document on my 2012 Epson Stylus Photo R 2000 when the paper and ink lights began flashing and there was an error message on my printer utility indicating that service was required. The print head is locked in the right hand position. I have since come to believe that the waste ink pads are likely saturated and need to be replaced. I have not found any information on how to easily access the waste ink pads. I understand that I can use a key to override the counter and reset it, but I would still be left with saturated waste ink pads. I have studied the Epson service manual which is not easy to interpret and doesn’t suggest there is an easy way to access the pads without doing a major disassembly. Maybe there isn’t one. Perhaps I should accept that this 12 year old printer is at the end of its lifespan. One other option is to reroute the waste ink tubes to an external container, but I thought I would ask if anyone could point me to a resource for extracting the pads. I should mention that I live in North Bay Ontario Canada which is some distance from the nearest service facility. I’m guessing the cost of shipping this heavy printer and service would be considerable.