Light magenta problems

[middlehouse]

Hey everyone,

I'm in need of some advice for my printer; Epson Stylus Photo 1500W, my operating system is Windows 10.

I've been battling with my light magenta cartridge, as it has been clogging up
a lot. I have been using refillable cartridges that have been working perfectly for about half a year,
but now the light magenta has started acting up. I did plenty of head cleanings, but the problem would come always back after a test print. So I got a new cartridge and a new ink bottle for it to try if it would fix the problem.

I changed them up and did a nozzle check, perfect! But after a few prints
light magenta showed up clogged once again, and I did a head cleaning, and nozzle
check came out perfect again. I printed a test that came out with strange green hue,
and stripes on it, and another print that was kind of grey when it should be a nice plum color.
I changed my printing program to Epson Easy photo print, but that just made the stripiness
and green hue stronger.

I am very puzzled at this point and have no idea what is going on with my little printer...

If anyone has an idea or suggestion that could solve this, I'd be more than happy to hear it!

Here are some images for a closer inspection

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Which type of ink are you using for refill ? Did the problem occur suddenly e.g. after a refill ? Are you printing a lot or not so
much with idle time in between ?

There are some actions you can do yourself - freeing up the printhead carriage , turn off the printer, turn it on again and pull the power cord as soon as the carriage starts moving. Take some kitchen paper towel, fold it and soak it with a windows cleaner, place that into the print path, move the printhead over it and let it soak there for a while, this may dissolve some stuff on and in the nozzle plate. Run a nozzle check after it and print something. You may use a software utility off the internet - WicReset - which gives you a stronger cleaning option - 'Ink Charge' , run it and check the result via the nozzel check and a test print. You may uploade images here directly with the 'Upload a File' function, for direct display in your posting

 

[middlehouse]

The inks have been perfectly until now, and after I changed the cartridge I printed a few prints
that came out perfect, then suddenly light magenta clogged up again. I did have a few weeks of break of
no printing, which might have affected it? It's basically like this:
Nozzle check: Light magenta clogged > Clean heads > Nozzle check: clean > Print an artprint: halfway cloggy >
Nozzle check: Light magenta clogged etc.

I am going to try the cleaning way you suggested, I found some videos of it online as well, feeling good that it
might fix the issue! I didn't know about this cleaning method, as printers are still a bit mysterious machines to me!

Will come back with some results after I try it out later : )

 

[middlehouse]

Coming back with results!

I did cleaning with a napkin and cleaning solution on it and also gently flushed the light magenta nozzle.
Repeated it twice and the nozzle check came out perfect on the next run. The printer worked perfectly for two days,
printing me lovely artprints and now it is back with light magenta coming clogged on the nozzle check.
I did about 6 nozzle cleanings that only helped for a moment or not at all. I'm wondering if the stronger cleaning option you
suggested would work on it, or if there is something else wrong with it...

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

If you already flushed the magenta nozzles with a syringe and a short piece of tube there is not much more what you can do I'm afraid other than replacing the printhead. You may replace the light magenta cartridge to prevent that whatever unwanted particles are coming from there but that would only be a remote chance.

 

[middlehouse]

Trying another cleaning solution tomorrow that I found out about today.
If I do end up needing to change the printhead, do you know where could I purchase one reliably?

 

[middlehouse]

An update! I have been flushing the nozzle of Light magenta until only windex was coming out
and now it is printing lovely! I bet it is sparkling inside. I am exhausted, but finally, victorious!
Thank you for the help!

 

[PeterBJ]

Trying another cleaning solution tomorrow that I found out about today.
If I do end up needing to change the printhead, do you know where could I purchase one reliably?

Please, what is this other cleaning solution, Windex maybe?