Epson ET7750 - small smears at top left of prints

[cline51]

Hello - I am hoping that someone maybe able to help me. I have an Epson ET7750 which is great and suits me perfectly. However I have recently encountered a problem which is sending me a crazy!

When I print on my art paper (Epson Archival Matte Paper) each print ends up with a small smear at the top left hand corner of the print. I'm wondering if I should get in and clean the printer - just wanted some advice if possible - thank you

 

[stratman]

I am not the Epson expert Earlier were posting on smudging with a different Epson printer. You can review what was said to get some familiarity before getting more definitive help.

https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/epson-p6000-ink-smudges-lines.13950/

To facilitate one of the experts helping you please provide more info such as:

• Post an image(s) of the problem
• Is the paper curved or bent in any way
• What size paper?
• Any ink leaking on or around the print head or in the printer?

 

[cline51]

Hi Stratman - thank you for your reply.

I had a look at that post - I don't have curled paper as it's just flat from the box. I think it must be a cleaning issue.

I have attached some images - of the problem and of the inside of the printer. This does not happen on normal paper - just the Epson Archival Matte. I have set the printer to handle thick paper in the settings. I do wonder if I need to clean the inside - I wanted to check what I can clean safely though and the best way to do it.

 

[The Hat]

This does not happen on normal paper

It might have something to do with the Platen gap, can you raise the print head and see if the same thing happens again.. The purge unit could also do with a bit of a car wash.. Splash and go and mop up the excess with a paper towel..

 

[cline51]

It might have something to do with the Platen gap, can you raise the print head and see if the same thing happens again.. The purge unit could also do with a bit of a car wash.. Splash and go and mop up the excess with a paper towel..

Thank you for your help.

Sorry but I am a newbie when it comes to the inside of printers! How do I raise the print head? Also is the purge unit the area that is covered in ink in one of my photos? Should I use a specialist cleaning fluid to clean it?

 

[The Hat]

Sorry but I am a newbie when it comes to the inside of printers! How do I raise the print head? Also is the purge unit the area that is covered in ink in one of my photos? Should I use a specialist cleaning fluid to clean it?

I am not very familiar with the workings of an Epson printer either, maybe @Ink stained Fingers would be better and can explain how the platen gap on your printer works.

Yes the 7420 Pic is the purge unit and it’s looking a bit grubby, so you can use a window cleaner like Lidl W5 on it, just give everything a good spray and leave for a minute or two, then clean the little wiper area (far left in Pic) with cotton buds or paper towels, the printer will then do the rest..

 

[cline51]

Oh so a window cleaner will do it and won't harm it?

I will give it a go. The maintenance is also almost full so I wonder if that is an issue as well.

Thank you for your advice

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

There are some questions to the paper itswelf raised already above - how strongly is it curled ? Is is sheet or roll material ? Do you use this paper the first time or didn't you get the problem earlier ?
The printer shows signs of quite some usage - the felt in the print bed absorbing the overspray from borderless printing shows already some absorbed ink, that's not a problem as such, but there is another issue with the cleaning unit - there is a lip left to the foam pad of the cleaning unit, and this rubber lip shows some ink smear at the lower end - this lip is supposed to wipe off the nozzle plate , and the black spots on the paper could indicate that this cleaning/wiping step does not work anymore across the width of the lip. Please specifically wip off this lip with the window cleaner, soak the pad of the cleaning unit , dab it off with some kitchen paper and run another test with the paper, you probably can print an otherweise white image onto that sheet. .

 

[cline51]

Hello - thank you for your reply. The paper is not curled - it is A4 sheet material. This problem did not occur until recently - and it only happens with the Matte Archival Paper - it does not happen with normal printer paper. I have cleaned the lip at the side of the pad but not the pad itself - I have also renewed the maintenance box - it is still happening. I will go back in and clean off the pad - so it's okay to soak this to clean it - with a normal window cleaner?

It is a pain - as it doesn't happen with normal paper - I can only test it with the expensive paper!

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

What happens if you cut the paper into smaller sizes - A5 - A6 - do you still get such stains somewhere, or does it happen only at a fixed place in the printer - e.g. if you feed A5 in landscape mode or in regular portrait mode ? Do you feed the paper from the rear bin or the bottom bin ? Do you have some other paper available - similar stiffness and thickness - some carton ? What is the weight of that matte paper ? Which driver settings do you use - paper selection ? Could you try as well the envelope mode - that should increase the platen gap significantly . You can use the back side as well for these tests - black stains won't make a difference whether it's the coated side or not.