Epson r1800 - Help me mikling

[triola]

This is open to anyone who can help, but I've read a lot of miklings post and he seems to know his stuff.

I'll start off by saying I've probably made some mistakes with my printer. I went in to it knowing nothing about printers, just liked the quality, read some reviews, and needed 11x17.
For what I'm doing I probably should have gotten a printer with dye based inks.
I use MIS bulk ink, but have made the mistake of taking the cartridges out to refill them. Could be the start of my problem. The printer also sits idly a lot, which could also be part of the problem.

THE PROBLEM: Photo black will not print at all. The other colors are not coming out 100%, and it seems like when I run a head cleaning, the tendency is for them to get worse. Do I have air bubbles, or possibly a real clog, or both? The printer is 3 or 4 years old, and goes through phases of being used heavily, then not at all.

My question is, is there still hope, or is time for a new one?
If there is a "real clog" how do I go about fixing it?
If it's just air, is there another way to flush it out other then head cleaning (have tried numerous times over a span of a few days)

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[mikling]

Sounds like you got some jambalaya cooking there with a bit of everything.

When did the first sign of trouble start? After a long period of non use? or refill?

We need to know this first as throwing the kitchen sink at it to get it going could be laborious.

Do remember that after at most three head cleanings and still no success or progress, STOP. Give sit ome time to settle like a few hours and try again.

The R1800 is actually built to a high standard and can wear a LOT of miles, so I would say it is not game over unless you have an itchy wallet and could not be bothered to work at it.

Let us know how you refill or feed it as well. Idle time is the enemy in all Epson printers, they need to be worked on a regular basis.

 

[triola]

Yes, and I'm afraid that idle time is probably the big enemy here. I had not used photo black in a long time, and the cartridge was completely empty. What concerns me though is that the colors aren't printing a good nozzle check either. I wonder if I'm dealing with a real clog in the PK and air bubble in the others.

I'm willing to keep working with it, even if I bought a new printer I'd like to keep this one around as I've really liked it and the photo prints are great.

Thanks for helping out, it's greatly appreciated.

 

[mikling]

Move the cartridge assembly into the change cartridge position.
Pull plug.
Remove cartridges.
Move the head assembly furrther to the left my just shifting it.
Take a look where the printhead normally parks and rests.
You'll see a couple of pads that are black in color and mixed with different shades of ink, notice that there is a rubber frame around it.
Get some synthetic chamois and cut out a piece that will rest inside both rubber rings.
Get some windex with ammonia, and thoroughly soak/flood the chamois.
Manually shift the printhead assembly back to the park position all the way to the right.
Let sit overnight.
Occasionally check to see that the chamois is touching the head. it should wick ink from the head nozzles.
If chamois is not touching, add another layer.
Refill cartridges, for the empty photoblack, you'll need to reprime them.
Remove chamois the next day
Carefully clean the rubber frames
Take a piece of chamois and cut out a strip about 1 -1 1/4 inch wide x 8 inches long.
Wet it with windex and place under the printhead and clean under it, you may need to rinse it a few times.
Reinstall cartridges, perform a head clean and nozzle check with manual check. Not the autocheck.
See if there is any improvement.
If there is do up to a couple more head cleans and let rest for a few hours again and see if there is improvement. If not leave overnight again and see.

If there is hardly any improvement after that, then you could try the soak again with something more aggressive like a car interior or household cleaner. I've used 20 year old Armorall interior car cleaner with great results!!! That I think is now a discontinued product, but it was to remove stains.

If the soaking doesn't work, then it may be time to get a set of cartridges filled with the cleaner of choice and just let it soak after a few head cleanings. Patience is the key here.

if the above doesn't work then, I'd suggest more desperate measures like taking some silicone aquarium air tubing from pet stores, attaching a length to a syringe, fill with windex, and attach other end to the ink intake and gently pressurize each set of ink intakes, while keeping some chamois under the head to absorb what come through the nozzles. You're basically force flushing the ink nozzles in the head. The above techniques has not failed me yet. If te ink is solidified, then patience is the key as liquid cleaner will eventually soften and dislodge the clog.

Remember you'll be working in close quarter, be gentle yet apply some pressure, you'll get a feel for when the nozzles are clear. Try it first with nozzles that are the most clear to gather a feel for it.

 

[triola]

Your experience and advice are invaluable. Thanks again for your assistance. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Tin Ho]

Last year I bought a used Epson CX5400 from a surplus store for $25. It had a set of OEM cartridges in it. Surprisingly it worked flawlessly when I powered it up and made a few copying of some color photos. I did not know how long the CX5400 was left unused on the shelf before I picked it up. I anticipated that the DuraBrite pigmented ink had dried up a little and had clogged at least some nozzles. But it appeared that all nozles were fine and the printer worked fine. Recently I looked at that printer again and apparently nobody had interest in using it because the ink level appeared to remain about the same as I saw from last year. It was amazing that still the printer worked fine and there was no sign of clogging. I believe the printer may have been unused for at least 2 months period of time. This makes me wonder why your R1800 gets clogged from being idle for a while. I have to wonder if using MIS ink is a contributing factor to the clogging problem. Of course R1800 is a very different printer. So I may be wrong naturally. Pigmented color ink is so expensive. As a consumer you have every reason to demand that the ink really works.

 

[billkunert]

There is a program called MIS Autoprint available at MIS supply ( www.inksupply.com ) that can be set to automatically print a copy anywhere between every day to, I think. once a week. I have mine set for every 4 days at 2100 and am very pleased with it. I have a Canon Pixma MP600.
This may be a help if you allow your printer to set unused for extended periods of time.