Epson R2400 nozzle problem

[Erik Lilja]

Hi, I have a problem with my otherwise excellent Epson R2400 printer. It has been standing unused for too long, and when I tried to reactivate it there was a problem with the nozzle check, of course. I performed a series of cleaning cycles, which help some - four of the color channels are completely ok and the remaining four are completeley blocked. Nothing comes through, not the slightest little ink dot. I have tried a couple of cleaning products which hasn't helped so far. The nozzles don't seem completely blocked since cleaning solution is flowing through to below the printhead, and a nozzle check actually produced some response in one of the channels. The weird thing is that the four channels to the left are ok and the ones to the right blocked. So, I'm starting to wonder... could there be an electrical explanation to that, e.g. that the channels are powered indepent of each other, or some other part of the chain is divided between left and right? Or is it just a complete coincidence?
My next action would be to change all ink cartridges for the faulty channels, just to rule them out (they are old but so are also some of the cartridges for the working channels). If that doesn't help I could keep trying to clean the nozzles although I don't see that that would do much more difference anymore. I cleaned them three times yesterday (with the Magic bullet cleaning fluid, which seems to be ammonium based), and soon only clear solution came through. First there was pigment, then just clear liquid. Does anyone have any advice? Could it happen that I have ruined the printhead for exactly the four channels to the right while the rest is completely ok?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

it is unlikely that this is an electrical problem, are you using refill cartridges ? Which type of ink ? You apparently have already some nozzle cleaner available - you can try to do this - starting up the printer and pulling the powercord once the printhead starts moving, this disengages the carriage from the resting position and you can move it freely. You fold half a piece of kitchen paper, rather small that it fits into the printhead bed and place it ther , you soak it with your nozzle cleaner or a window cleaner and you move the printhead over it. You let the printhead sit there for a while, some do it overnight, you can reach contaminations from the outside which are not accessible through the clogged ink channels. You bring everything into normal position again , run a cleaning cycle and a nozzle check and post it here. The next action would be a pull/push action - with a syringe attached to a short tube which just fits tight over the ink pickup rods in the printhead carriage , you fill some ( don't fill it completely) cleaner into the syringe , attach it to an ink pin, first pull a little bit, and then push some cleaner back - slowly , and this a few times. You may either observe that you are pulling air, or not which is an indication how tight the clogs are. This is typically the last action you can do on a printhead which is tight. When applying too much (under)pressure in the pull/push cycle too fast you may damage something at the piezo elements as this has been reported somewhere. You move the printhead as described into a position where you can handle this action easily, and you place some kitchenpaper underneath the nozzle plate to catch the dirty cleaner passing through the nozzles. The last action should be a slight push to fill the ink channel with the cleaner and get the air out. Then run a cleaning cycle and a nozzle check . You should check the bottom of the printhead carriage for any cleaner which may have bypassed the ink pin during this action.

 

[Erik Lilja]

Great, thanks for your reply! I have only ever used original ink but when I first started the printer again after a long inactivity (more than a year...) the cartridges were perhaps too old. I have changed most of them now during the cleaning cycles, though. Anyway, I have tried cleaning underneath but not for a longer period of time, so I will definitely try that first. I'll place a piece of kitchen paper soaked with cleaner tonight and check tomorrow evening and post the results. Air inside the nozzles is also very possible, I have tried some push pull but never finished by pushing cleaner liquid through the nozzles so I'll try that to if the first attempt fails. I'll post more info tomorrow!

 

[Erik Lilja]

Hi again, now I have had a cloth soaked in cleaner fluid for two days (changed after 24 hours so two different runs), then a cleaning cycle and a nozzle check. I scanned the nozzle check with a cheap old scanner, it's not so easy to see but the result is the same as before. The four channels to the left are completely perfect, the other four show absolutely nothing at all. The pattern that's (barely) visible is just an older nozzle check on the back side of the paper I used. All the efforts have almost emptied the cartridges for the missing channels, so I'm gonna replace them with new ones, let the printer fill the heads and then do another nozzle check. Problably nothing will change, and then I'll have to proceed to the other method - push and pull through the nozzles. That will have to be in the weekend, though...

 

[Erik Lilja]

Yeah, just to confirm - changing the cartridges didn't help at all. Oh well, new attempts in the weekend!

 

[Larryb]

I noticed that you mentioned that you had four channels completely missing on the right. I'm not sure exactly what the R2400 looks like, but I suspect its capping station has two blocks. I bet one side isn't pulling ink through. I'll bet the clog is in the capping station. One trick is to pull case of the printer apart enough to gain access to the waste ink lines, turn the printer on and pull the plug when the head moves off the capping station. Then you can clean the capping station, and use a syringe to pull cleaner through the capping station. At this point, you could either reattach the lines, or feed the lines into your own "ink potty". Then you could perform a clean cycle and watch what happens to the capping station. You should see ink get deposited, then sucked through during the cleaning process.

Larry

 

[Erik Lilja]

I noticed that you mentioned that you had four channels completely missing on the right. I'm not sure exactly what the R2400 looks like, but I suspect its capping station has two blocks. I bet one side isn't pulling ink through. I'll bet the clog is in the capping station. One trick is to pull case of the printer apart enough to gain access to the waste ink lines, turn the printer on and pull the plug when the head moves off the capping station. Then you can clean the capping station, and use a syringe to pull cleaner through the capping station. At this point, you could either reattach the lines, or feed the lines into your own "ink potty". Then you could perform a clean cycle and watch what happens to the capping station. You should see ink get deposited, then sucked through during the cleaning process.

Larry

That's a very interesting theory, and actually the first that could explain exactly why four channels work and four not. I have to try this first thing on Saturday and will surely report back! There is a film with instructions of how to clean the capping station:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmXNTOHxVaU

What do you think about following these instructions, and then maybe add a little extra cleaning fluid and like you described pull the fluid through the capping station from the waist ink feeding tubes. Then either connect the tubes again, or lead them to an external waste ink bottle, turn it on and perform a cleaning cycle?

 

[Erik Lilja]

I noticed that you mentioned that you had four channels completely missing on the right. I'm not sure exactly what the R2400 looks like, but I suspect its capping station has two blocks. I bet one side isn't pulling ink through. I'll bet the clog is in the capping station. One trick is to pull case of the printer apart enough to gain access to the waste ink lines, turn the printer on and pull the plug when the head moves off the capping station. Then you can clean the capping station, and use a syringe to pull cleaner through the capping station. At this point, you could either reattach the lines, or feed the lines into your own "ink potty". Then you could perform a clean cycle and watch what happens to the capping station. You should see ink get deposited, then sucked through during the cleaning process.

Larry

Hi again, Larry! I think you nailed it, actually! I opened up, disconnected the two waste ink tubes and attached one syringe each. Then I soaked the felt in the capping stations with cleaner fluid and tried to pull cleaner through. On the left part fluid could transport through the system, but the right one was completely blocked. I then filled a syringe with fluid and tried to push it backwards through which resulted in that the tube came loose inside. I will try to disassemble the printer further and see if I can fix it, otherwise I'll see what I can do...

 

[Erik Lilja]

So, hi again, and thank you all for your efforts! I actually think that I have fixed it now! I had to disassemble it quite a bit to be able to put the tube back, it had come off underneath the capping station. Once back I checked that it could flow freely between from the capping station to the waste ink tubes. After that I put it together, almost completely, ran a cleaning cycle and did a nozzle check, and voila, all channels are now active! It's still not perfect on the cyan and magenta channels, I did altogether three cleaning cycles and now I'm gonna let it rest until tomorrow. So, all seems well, and that saved me more than 800 USD for an Epson P600 with a complete set of ink!

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

thanks for your feedback, it's adding to the cumulative knowledge of the forum here what you had to go through, finally with success.