Damper seal

[Djbelo]

I have a et-2720 that I bought. It was sitting for a while but I got everything flushed and it worked. I converted to sub ink. I had several challenges but all seemed to point at dampers not primed. I fear i broke 1 damper. How can you tell if a damper isn’t working? I can push ink or solution into the damper. I can’t suck it out. I’ve force warm cleaning solution through it. I don’t have any changes, but I think I broke a seal on it. Basically just looking for confirmation or suggestions from someone who understands how the damper works. I’m sitting on my hands to keep from experimenting on a working damper.
Oh and I know I shouldn’t run sub ink in it. Just looking for a cheap short term sub printer.

Any suggestions welcomed!

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Please explain what the current problem is - are you missing an ink completely or just some nozzles ?

Pushing ink into the damper - why ? Please be aware that a damper has a spring loaded valve at the ink outlet - like (almost) every Epson cartridge. You don't need to disconnect the dampers at all - just insert a syringe into the ink outlet and pull the ink through the tube into the damper - the reservoir in the damper should be filled by about half with some air above. You can disconnect the tube shortly if you have too much ink in the reservoir.
The printhead is moving back and forth when the printer is printing in both directions - but the ink is moving with or against the moving direction of the ink which creates pressure changes and can affect the ink flow, the air in the damper is an elastic element cushioning this to a degree, you don't have this effect when cartridges travel in the printhead carriage.
And what else is in an Epson damper - you can see a small round wiremesh filter directly above the ink outlet. This filter can clog when unsuitable inks are used - typically 3rd party inks.

Sublim inks are basically dye inks and most problems happen with the conversion like air in the system and all other problems you typically can have with other dye inks as well - e.g. low usage and missing nozzles.

Dampers are available as spare parts via Aliexpress if you need new ones and don't get them locally.

 

[Djbelo]

Started after replacing ink. I use a needle to drain all 4 tanks. I also drained the dampers with the needle. Not sure that was the best idea but it was a joint effort and I caved. I added printers jack sub ink. I got blank pages. I flushed the print heads. I got maybe two nozzle checks to print. Then nothing. So I primed the dampers. Got 3 of 4. No blue. So I fear in priming the blue I messed it up. I’ve done lots of head cleaning and more power cleanings that I probably should have. I’ve printed multiple purge pages. That is my go to now bc I worry I’ll fill my waste tank.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I'm not really clear what the status is of the ink supply system, there is probably air somewhere. Put everything together and run the WicReset utility which gives you a 'Inkcharge ' command, or you alternatively run the installation again from the driver CD you got with the printer. that sucks all air out of the tubes, but takes a while and adds ink to the waste ink bin.