Epson

[verdesardog]

I hate epson printers but I just ordered another one, a 1400 and ciss from inkjetfly.com. Both are scheduled to arive on 12/04. My 2200 is not working well at all.

 

[mikling]

Something that is overlooked with Epsons that use pigment ink which contains resins is that the resins are what allows the ink to be waterproof and seals the pigments from the elements. These resins will eventually clog up your purge pads to the point where the priming pump will not be able to pull ink through or prime the heads. The result is that the printer will appear to become clogged and not print properly even after multiple cleaning cycles. The real reason is that the head is not being primed properly because the vacuum from the pump is not coming through to the head.

What you need to do is flush out the parking pads. How to do this? Simple. Get the head put of the way by initiating a change cartridge sequence. Fill the pad with Windex and see if the windex is absorbed into the pad. Then start the printer up, you may need to do this a few time until the windex disappears and the color of the pad clears up. This is similar to testing the purge units on Canons but on longer use Epsons using pigment ink, this will help flush out the gooey thick ink and allow the priming pump to work properly again. If the Windex does not disappear, then you will need to check the health of the parking pad and determine if the hose has become disconnected. Again, a similar siutation with Canon exists as Trigger37 has repeatedly pointed out.

It would not be a bad idea to peridoically flush out the parking pads with windex especially if the printer is lightly used ....keeps the pipes flowing so to speak.

This is something many Epson printers suffer from after a long period of ownership and use even on commercial models Most owners give up on this as a terminal clog wheras the cleaning cycle itself is actually not working properly.

 

[KCTexan]

I have been using Epson printers for almost 6 years to print onto white CDs and DVDs. Needless to say, having black ink dots and lines is a killer, because it's difficult or impossible to remove, around the printing that I DID want on the disc. My latest Epson is the RX-595, and it has done a great job, in the last 2 years, but now is depositing black ink onto my discs. (I'm using some "coaster" discs to test, that didn't burn correctly, but can't use the real burned discs until I get this figured out.) I've read mikling and others' posts about getting to and cleaning the sponge, but even in the "change cartridge" mode, the RX-595's cartridge assembly covers the sponge. I see glimpses of the sponge as the head moves back and forth, but is there a way to get the assembly out of the way, so that I can get to the sponge? I'm TRYING to finish a Christmas project for my relatives, so any advice would be greatly appreciated! Russell KCTexan

 

[SpideRMaN]

did you try to unplug the printer from mains whilst in "change cartridge" mode then moving the head by your hands to expose the purge pads ?

 

[websnail]

did you try to unplug the printer from mains whilst in "change cartridge" mode then moving the head by your hands to expose the purge pads ?

Like he said... This is a quick and dirty way of getting to the pads..

You may have a clogged waste tube or waste ink that is backing up into the parking/resting pad... Chances are this is what's causing the droplets by soiling the underside of the printhead and then dripping off as the printhead rushes back and forth.

 

[KCTexan]

Thanks much, guys; I will try this tonight. I will be Epson's peon slave and do whatever "quick and dirty" work I have to do, to get this printer to work correctly. For printers that print on discs, Epson seems to have me by the gonads, because I can't find any other consumer printers that print discs, unless you all know of some.

 

[KCTexan]

OK, that worked! (unplugging the printer power cord while printer was in "change cartridge" mode). I'm soaking as much ink as possible into 2 tissues, with a slight weight on top, then will try the Windex fix. When you say, "fill the pad with Windex," do you mean that Windex should be poured from its bottle directly onto the pad, until the pad is saturated?

 

[KCTexan]

I soaked up some ink from the small, black sponge (not sure if this is the "parking pads," referenced by mikling, or if the parking pads are in the larger, white plastic holder. I printed a perfectly looking set of color bars on a piece of paper. However, the streaks of black ink continue to print on the discs, and just at the bottom of the disc (at the top of the disc, as it's inserted onto the tray, and looking at it from the front of printer), and this part of the disc is passing into the back part of the disc printer portion. I cleaned the rubber rollers and larger, metal roller above them, but no help. I think that there's some ink back in the back end of the disc printer portion of printer; just don't know how to clean that. I wish there were some kind of materail I could cover the disc with, and maybe tape both sides of it to the underside of the disc holder, and it could clean and/or soak the ink from the back portion of disc printer mechanism. Has anyone had this problem? I'm about 3 seconds from switching to Light Scribe discs, but the printing onto white surface is so much more colorful (here's some I made: http://cgi.ebay.com/NIGHT-FLIGHT-28...QptZUS_DVD_HD_DVD_Blu_ray?hash=item19b852e9ef ). I would be glad to send a few of these entertaining discs to anyone who can help me (2 or 3 people; fine with me!) Russell KCTexan

 

[KCTexan]

I was wrong (surprise...); the ink being deposited onto the bottom of the disc (actually the first part entering the printer) is coming directly from the underside of the print head assembly. I wish there was a way to remove that assembly, but I cannot find any way to remove it.

 

[websnail]

I was wrong (surprise...); the ink being deposited onto the bottom of the disc (actually the first part entering the printer) is coming directly from the underside of the print head assembly. I wish there was a way to remove that assembly, but I cannot find any way to remove it.

That will eventually disappear now that your parking pad has been cleaned up... The droplets form on the printhead because the parking pad was swimming in ink... with it cleared up there's no ink to cling to the printhead underside.

Art Entlich ( e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org ) has a printhead cleaning guide that is invaluable and will include information on how to resolve this issue so I'd recommend emailing him at the address in brackets and ask politely for a copy... He's not put together a website to host it all as yet so it's not available elsewhere but it is a very good resource.

Hope that helps.

Martin