Epson banding issues despite multiple nozzle cleans & windex

HannahKing

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Hello,

I've cleaned and checked nozzle heads many times, then left paper towel with car screen cleaner containing ammonia (same formula as windex) over night. In the morning I checked nozzle heads and it showed slight banding with one of the cartridges (yellow), proceeded to clean nozzle head which has made the banding worse with multiple cartridges now missing large chunks.

I run an arts prints business and open back up for business soon so really struggling to know what to do.

Can anyone please help?

Kind regards,

Hannah

IMG_1592 (1).jpg
First nozzle check after cleaning and leaving over night.




IMG_1593 (1).jpg
Second nozzle check after pressing 'clean nozzle heads' on epson printer.
 

Ink stained Fingers

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What type of cartridges and inks are you using - original or refill - what is your overall print volume and habits - low - high - regular ? Is this the first time such problems occur ?
 

HannahKing

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What type of cartridges and inks are you using - original or refill - what is your overall print volume and habits - low - high - regular ? Is this the first time such problems occur ?
I'm using some new cartridges from amazon not epson branded. Print volume- usually print around 100 per week (including A4+A3) using the printer twice a week at minimum. I left the printer for about a week and a half over Christmas not in use. It's the first time I've not been able to fix the issue after one printer nozzle clean.

New inks worked well at first but on return to printer after Christmas have not worked at all. I've even tried taking them out and replacing with the some new ones (same type).

Do you think it could be the cartridges themselves? I tried them after a recommendation from someone also in the industry had used them for several months with no issues and thought they'd be a brilliant cheaper alternative with hundreds of 5 star reviews.
 

HannahKing

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In the meantime I've ordered some of the original epson inks- £90 for about 44 prints worth which should arrive on Tuesday.
 

Ink stained Fingers

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I run an arts prints business
Please be aware that none of the replacement cartridges on the market - from whereever - give you the same performance as the original ones - in one very important aspect - longevity of your prints - such cartridges - the inks just perform pretty poor in this resepect, and if you do business with your prints I would strongly advise you to stay with genuine Epson consumables. If you rather like to lower cost with the consumables there are options - refill with specific inks or getting another printer - like the ET7700/7750 as a tank system printer which may help you with your business lowering the consumables cost with the mentioned print volume. But this rather should be subject for another posting.

Remote diagnostics are difficult, we would exclude other causes for such nozzle problems , but yes - 3rd party cartridges can cause such problems - the ventilation does not work although you are pulling of a tab, I have seen that several times, or the contact between the cartridge and the printhead is not reliable - dimensional problems - or the internal valve does not open correctly - or the internal ink volume is less than the amount as programmed into the chip.
You should go back to use genuine cartridges as the next step and observe the nozzle performance.
 

HannahKing

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Please be aware that none of the replacement cartridges on the market - from whereever - give you the same performance as the original ones - in one very important aspect - longevity of your prints - such cartridges - the inks just perform pretty poor in this resepect, and if you do business with your prints I would strongly advise you to stay with genuine Epson consumables. If you rather like to lower cost with the consumables there are options - refill with specific inks or getting another printer - like the ET7700/7750 as a tank system printer which may help you with your business lowering the consumables cost with the mentioned print volume. But this rather should be subject for another posting.

Remote diagnostics are difficult, we would exclude other causes for such nozzle problems , but yes - 3rd party cartridges can cause such problems - the ventilation does not work although you are pulling of a tab, I have seen that several times, or the contact between the cartridge and the printhead is not reliable - dimensional problems - or the internal valve does not open correctly - or the internal ink volume is less than the amount as programmed into the chip.
You should go back to use genuine cartridges as the next step and observe the nozzle performance.
Amazing thank you for your detailed response, it was worth a try I guess but I’ll be sticking to the epson inks from now on. I’ll just have to raise prices of the prints. The ink and paper prices seem to of rocketed recently. Not sure if there’s a wholesale ink & paper epson shop for Uk businesses, I’ll have to research.

I’ll test epson inks when they arrive and fingers crossed all’s well.

Thanks again for your help,

Happy New Year,
Hannah
 

Ink stained Fingers

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I would assume that you are using your printer for quite a while already ; there is a reliable way of flushing clogged printheads as shown in this video - in the 2nd half - and plenty similar ones

Since ink cost is of your concern you might have look to a printer like the ET-7750 - you already get 2 sets of ink bottles making up 14 complete sets of cartridges included in the original purchase - don't get irritated by the rather high unit price, and you pay just 10%-15% for subsequent bottled ink compared to cartridges
 

HannahKing

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Ok brilliant thank you, I’ve also been eyeing up the A3 epson ecotank ET- 7750. Do you have any experience with that printer? I’m not so concerned on the initial printer cost it’s more the price of the ink to run and the quality of the prints.
 

HannahKing

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Ok brilliant thank you, I’ve also been eyeing up the A3 epson ecotank ET- 7750. Do you have any experience with that printer? I’m not so concerned on the initial printer cost it’s more the price of the ink to run and the quality of the prints.
Sorry long day I can see that’s the printer you’ve suggested. Thank you very much, really have helped immensely!
 

Ink stained Fingers

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Yes, I was using the ET-7750 for quite a while, it delivers high quality prints, the printer uses the 106 dye inks with an additional pigment ink for text prints. These dye inks are as good in terms of longevity as the Claria inks used in other Epson photo printers. The ET-7750 comes with the rear paper bin - for just about 10 sheets at a time - not much for a photo printer but better than the corresponding ET-7700 (A4 only) which just has a 1 sheet rear bypass. I didn't like the overall printer handling so much - e.g. setting up paper types via the front panel for the bins, I rather like to control everything via the computer and the driver - o.k. - that's one of my dislikes. The output tray does not come out motordriven as some complain - I didn't care. I didn't like the rather flimsy rear paper bin, it just may collapse when you hit it accidentally - I taped the parts together - o.k. - that does not impact the overall printer performance. And there is a little problem with some pigment smudge build up over time on the cleaning unit causing stains on the paper; you can easily clean away that smear and fix it. I was testing and playing around with the printer, replacing inks with pigment inks, trying to get a gloss optimizer working and other odd things which finally rendered the printer in a defect condition - solely my problem. I'm now using another A3 photo printer - a L1800, but I would buy the ET-7750 again if needed - yes - the print quality is great - the inks are the best you can get from Epson and are really budget friendly - priced muuch lower than the same inks in cartridges. And the the ET-7750 comes with a user replaceable waste ink tank. Please be aware that Epson is using a range of different Ecotank inks for different printer models with differences in their longevity performance, and you should not divert to claimed compatible 3rd party 106 inks for the ET-7750, those inks work technically but don't give you the same, not even close longevity performance. I did lots of tests in that respect.
 
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