Epson 9600 keeps clogging magenta color

[Grey Darrah]

I've got a 10 year old Epson 9600 that's been working great. The past few days I've been trying to print a 40x50 canvas of a family around a wooden grand piano. The first print had the wood of the piano mostly correct (brown), then the last few inches of its edge printed out greenish colored. I ran a nozzle check and found the magenta looking partially clogged, so I ended up running 3 print head cleanings until the magenta printed perfectly on the nozzle check. I then printed about a 10 inch wide cropped section of the canvas that included the piano and it came out great. Then I printed the whole 40x50 canvas again and the whole piano area (it's just about dead center of the print in a 1 foot square area) came out greenish again. I ran another nozzle check and this time my magenta area was completely missing from the nozzle check print.

The magenta cartridge could be 1 to 2 years old, so I've ordered a new cartridge to try, hoping it might be bad/clogging.

From what I've described, does anyone have an opinion as to whether or not the new cartridge might fix things, or does it sound like my print head might be dying?

Thanks,
Grey

 

[AlienSteve]

Replacing the cartridge only replaces the ink, not the heads. You probably know that, I just wanted to make that clear.

A lot of things can masquerade as bad nozzles. I doubt the ink would go bad in only a year or two. However, it has been my experience that the cartridge may begin to build up air inside, starving the ink lines. A few heavy cleanings pull out just enough air that it works for a while. This can be due to air coming out of solution from the ink, or there could be a bit of pet hair, carpet fiber, or other fuzz causing a slight air leak between the needle and the rubber seal in the cartridge.

Take the cartridge out, slosh it around at various angles. You should hear the bag inside as the wrinkles move, but if you hear anything that sounds like splashing, air is in there. I have a syringe with blunt needle, set the cartridge with rubber seal up. Stick in, pull out until you get ink with no air. Carefully inject back just the ink, not the foam.

Some pet hair or carpet fibers on the print head will move around, blocking some nozzles. A bit of fuzz can move back and forth between the nozzles and the park pad, causing intermittent blockages.

 

[AlienSteve]

Also, magenta ink, the Epson OEM stuff anyway, seems to be a common problem in developing what may be a bacterial sludge/gel in the lines. I've seen this in other Epson printers, and seen a number of people with continual clogs eventually discover the tubes and damper are filled with this gel-like substance. I just bought two Epson 7600 with magenta clogs. The previous owner had tried to clear the clogs via more conventional means, then ill-health removed his motivation.

My plan is to remove and flush all ink lines and dampers, then reload inks and try again.

 

[Grey Darrah]

Fortunately, a new magenta ink cartridge has fixed my problem...at least for now all is printing well again.

Thanks for the help and suggestions,
Grey

 

[AlienSteve]

I'm curious, if you don't mind. Did you check for air in the clogging cartridge?

 

[Grey Darrah]

I'm curious, if you don't mind. Did you check for air in the clogging cartridge?

No, the easiest thing for me to try was replacing the cartridge. Since that fixed it, I stopped there.

Grey