Epson 1400 Out Of Use For Several Months

[voyager]

I have just completed a long distance move.
My Epson 1400 has been in transit and then storage since the end of July.
Per shipping instructions that I could find, I removed the ink cartridges before packing it up.
It has been almost 4 months since there have been cartridges in it.
In 2 or 3 years of use, I have never had more than small problems with inks and clogging.

The ink in it was an after market ink.
I do not remember what its brand was.
I am about to install refillable cartridges with Precision Color inks in them.

To insure the best possible results in getting this thing fired up again,
is there anything I should do, or procedure I should follow before installing the cartridges?

 

[cls]

take 20ml rubber piston sealed syringe and instead using a cannula use a piece of latex tubing that just fit onto the syringe.
now here you can see the nozzle intakes on the printhead
but on this specific picture the printhead has been dismounted you DONT DO THAT!

Just take some windex and flush apporx 2ccm of windows into each intake nozzle

 

[voyager]

Thank you cls for your response.
I have a number of 10ml syringes. They should be OK to use for this?

I will not use the cannulae that I have, but will obtain a section of latex or clear plastic tubing to connect the syringe to the nozzle intakes on the printhead.

Using Windex, flush ~2cc's into each intake.

I assume that I should apply enough pressure to force the Windex through the ink jets on the underside of the printhead?

That's my plan. Any problems with it?

 

[jtoolman]

DO NOT FORCE IT IN!!!!!!
I would first treat the underside of the print head over a folded Windex wetted paper towel for a couple of hours and then try to feed some windex through each ink stem. Just attach tubing to the syringe tip and then to the each of the stems. One by one is fine. If you do get a bit of fluid through, carefully suck back a bit and then push some more in.
After you treat each one, change the paper toweling from under the head that is catching the over flow.
The photo above is showing a head that has been removed. You will be doing this in situ!! So a bit of care is required.

Once you are getting only the blue of the windex coming through, you can install cartridges FULL of ink and run a couple of cleaning cycles to flush out the head. Then a nozzle check. You might also consider installing an external waste ink bottle.

Joe

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

I left two 1400s unused this year, one with dye for 6 months and one with pigment 11 months (both Precision Colors ink). Both took some patience and cleaning cycles to get the ink going again but neither was difficult.

I would just try getting it running without risking overpressuring the print nozzles. A set of carts with cleaning fluids left in the printer for awhile is probably a better solution to minor clogging than the syringe method. Also remember a bad nozzle check doesn't necessarily mean a clog, it could be air.

Sometimes you just need to wait a day or two (printing purge pages and maybe a cleaning cycle here and there) for the "ink to settle" though I have had far, far less issues with the 1400 than I did with my R220. The R220 would always streak for a day after removing the carts to refill, the 1400 usually works fine. or only takes one purge cycle if I'm too impatient to wait.

 

[voyager]

Well, I finally unpacked my 1400 and began to set it up today.
When I opened it up to deal with the ink cartridge carriage, to my horror I saw that I hadn't remove the cartridges as I had intended to.
Things had been in an uproar getting things packed up, sold, given away, thrown away or donated to a thrift shop, then trying to get out and started on a month long road trip.
I had forgotten to remove the cartridges!
So, I decided to try a printer nozzle test.
Everything except cyan printed out perfectly.
After removing the cyan cartridge I found that it was empty.
Then, after filling all 7 cartridges I had to do 2 cleaning cycles plus 1 more just for verification to get all the inks to print a 7-color 8 X 10 test page perfectly.

I am amazed at the ease with which this printer went back into service after being out of service so long.
Anticipating problems getting it going again, I have been looking at an Epson color printer for sale in this area, an R1900 they're asking $400 for.
I checked around for reviews on it and saw a lot of complaints about the inks clogging.
I decided to fire the 1400 up and give it a try before running out and grabbing a replacement.
I'm glad I did.

 

[websnail]

Well, I finally unpacked my 1400 and began to set it up today.
When I opened it up to deal with the ink cartridge carriage, to my horror I saw that I hadn't remove the cartridges as I had intended to.

In truth, when I saw that you'd decided to remove them I was pretty horrified as allowing the inlet stems exposed and able to dry out is just not a great idea at all.

So, finding that you "messed up" is actually a good thing... Congrats...

 

[jtoolman]

Well, I finally unpacked my 1400 and began to set it up today.
When I opened it up to deal with the ink cartridge carriage, to my horror I saw that I hadn't remove the cartridges as I had intended to.
Things had been in an uproar getting things packed up, sold, given away, thrown away or donated to a thrift shop, then trying to get out and started on a month long road trip.
I had forgotten to remove the cartridges!
So, I decided to try a printer nozzle test.
Everything except cyan printed out perfectly.
After removing the cyan cartridge I found that it was empty.
Then, after filling all 7 cartridges I had to do 2 cleaning cycles plus 1 more just for verification to get all the inks to print a 7-color 8 X 10 test page perfectly.

I am amazed at the ease with which this printer went back into service after being out of service so long.
Anticipating problems getting it going again, I have been looking at an Epson color printer for sale in this area, an R1900 they're asking $400 for.
I checked around for reviews on it and saw a lot of complaints about the inks clogging.
I decided to fire the 1400 up and give it a try before running out and grabbing a replacement.
I'm glad I did.

You actually did the right thing by leaving the carts in place.
Joe

 

[voyager]

I just went back and looked at a pdf of the 1400's user manual. It says to leave the carts in the printer when shipping. I'll swear that I had read in the paper manual [it's still packed away somewhere] to remove the carts when shipping. Apparently I got it all screwed up in the confusion at the time, and my guardian angel saved my tail again. Thank you folks for your advice.