Have I broken my 1270?

[arcascomp]

Two days ago, I dug out my Epson 1270 that's been left unloved for about a year as I had need of some A3 printing again, as I expected there was nozzle 'blocks' everywhere and the check print was missing loads of bits, including no cyan or blue at all.

So after a few nozzle clean cycles, black was back and magenta nearly there. Yellow was about 70% but the blues were being very shy.

I moved on to soaking some kitchen roll with cleaning fluid and laying down on the patten so I could slide the heads back and forth over it - no improvement

Impatience started kicking in (the software was claiming 40% ink levels at this point) and I removed the cartridges and started using the big syringe and blunt needle, flooding the nozzle intakes with cleaning fluid to try and clear out any dried up old ink. This I tried a few times after getting one blue nozzle check firing and now I have nothing printing out on ANY of the colours or the black cartridge.

I've replaced the cartridges with new (not Epson new though) and it hasn't improved it at all, still goes through the motions and it looks like ink is flowing to the waste tank when a cleaning cycle is running. So, have I knackered the head by being too forceful with the cleaning fluid or have I confused the electronics somewhere? Any ideas, as I really want to print some A3 montages of our latest cub camp photo's out for the scouthall.

Thanks.

 

[ghwellsjr]

What exactly do you mean by cleaning fluid? Is it a water-based liquid or some kind of chemical solvent like fingernail polish remover or paint thinner?

In any case, if Epson print heads are like Canons, it's not a good idea to force a liquid through the ink path with too high a pressure or to allow the liquid to get on any of the internal electronics without giving it a day or two to dry out before applying power. Your best bet at this point is to leave it alone for a couple of days with the printer unplugged and then see if it will work again after that.

 

[arcascomp]

Sorry, I wasn't very specific! The cleaning fluid is Websnails ink jet cleaning fluid, but I see he hasn't got any in stock just now for me to link to.

The heads on Epson's are very different from Canon's as on a Canon the ink is boiled to create the 'bubble jet' but on an Epson, it's fired by a piezo (sp?) head. Point taken that I may have been too impatient and should have let it all dry out, but the area I flooded is designed to take dye based ink, so to an extent I would assume that it can deal with some moisture in there.

 

[websnail]

As ghwellsjr said above, you don't want to be forcing anything. One of the key ingredients of any successful printhead cleaning operation is patience which I find myself lacking stock for more often than not but it's still vital.

What you'll need to do is let the thing alone for a few hours and then place a pad of kitchen towel on the resting pads, put the printhead back in the parked position (ie: with pad underneath) and then walk away for 12 hours under pain of no caffeine for a week

You may need to repeat a couple of times, replacing pads regularly but try to avoid active pressure into the ink receivers (the nipples that push into the cartridges).

Once you've done that, replace the cartridges and allow just ONE nozzle check and head clean, then walk away for another few hours. That'll allow the ink to settle, any air bubbles to pop, etc... and you should find that colour starts to come back.

If not however it's entirely possible your high pressure cleaning has de-laminated the printhead in which case it's game over. Epsons are pretty robust though so hopefully it's just a learning experience you'll need to take on board... I shall cross my fingers!

 

[arcascomp]

Thanks for the reply, indeed patience is always in short supply as I routinely leave everything to the last minute! I was trying to get some 'posters' put out before last night's AGM, should have started planning that a week or two ago!

I've left the head parked over a pad of kitchen towel dampened with cleaner while I'm at work today so I guess I'm one step in the right direction! I'm hoping it's just a jumbo air bubble that I've caused, was hoping that the new carts would solve it though. Weird thing is I'm sure I'm seeing waste ink coming out during the cleaning cycle, or does the ink sitting in the clear tube tend to run back and forth a little anyway giving an illusion of flow?

I am wondering if I have made the mistake of removing the carts, and then reinserting them, without remembering to kill the power - have I confused the electronics in some way?

Will leave it to think tonight as well and see if any ink comes to paper tomorrow.

 

[arcascomp]

Well after 12 hours parked up on a moist pad the test page was still as dry as Gandhi's flipflop, so I've parked it back on another fresh one today. Definitely seeing waste ink getting pumped out when a nozzle clean is being run though so ink IS flowing then, just nothing when it goes through the motions of spraying on paper?!

I've also waiting on a delivery of an old 1290 that's got flashing LED's - hoping it's just the waste pad issue, so maybe that'll be a longer term solution to my problem!

Just read your post again Websnail, are you suggesting that I remove the carts while parking up the heads for 12hrs at a time? Isn't that likely to introduce air/dry up the carts? or am I being stoopid again?

Cheers,

Craig.

 

[websnail]

Well after 12 hours parked up on a moist pad the test page was still as dry as Gandhi's flipflop, so I've parked it back on another fresh one today. Definitely seeing waste ink getting pumped out when a nozzle clean is being run though so ink IS flowing then, just nothing when it goes through the motions of spraying on paper?!

Hmm... doesn't sound too happy if the test page has no ink on it... I've been there before though and see things recover so hang in there yet.

I've also waiting on a delivery of an old 1290 that's got flashing LED's - hoping it's just the waste pad issue, so maybe that'll be a longer term solution to my problem!

At least you'll get a chance to re-use the knowledge gained to avoid a repeat I guess.

Just read your post again Websnail, are you suggesting that I remove the carts while parking up the heads for 12hrs at a time? Isn't that likely to introduce air/dry up the carts? or am I being stoopid again?

Better to leave the cartridges in place or you risk the receiver posts/nipples drying out... You'll lose a little ink from the cartridges but nothing too horrific.