yes thank you so much Will. i had just about given up on the clog. id used alcohol before by squirting it directly into the nozzle..but hadnt thought about using it in the pad until i read your suggestion. just out of curiosity..would it be a good idea to place a drop of alcohol into the pad every time the printer is not going to be used? i figure this would keep clogs from forming at all right? thanks again for your help.
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Hi. A printer should ideally be ok for a few days without clogging. Alcohol evaporates pretty quickly, so it's best just to use it if you encounter clogs.
If you print out a nozzle check every week, there's enough ink goes through to keep the nozzles clean with virtually no expense in ink.
your right..i didnt think about how quickly alcohol evaporates. from now on im gonna run a quick nozzle check at least every two days. plus keep a bottle of alcojol near by..just in case..hehe.
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Well, I've enjoyed reading the above posts and will print them out for my artist. Today, we also ran in to a problem with our Epson 1280. One of those silly little jobs that ends up costing me way more time and money than ever intended. (I know...if it were easy, everybody would do it!...enough already.) Our 1280 was printing fine, then we installed a new T009 Epson cartridge. We're just printing Epson inks on some transfer papers. After installing the new cartridge it wouldn't print. Tried resetting the Waste Ink Counter, and didn't really do that successfully either. BAM! What to do? The client was going to show up in less than an hour, and I only needed to finish up 16 pieces! Jeez! I sent my artist to the local Office Depot with the art on a flash drive. He took some transfer sheets. Then came back with transfer sheets that were printed with laser printer ink. >DOH< Well, I couldn't use those.
OK...so as an interesting side note, we opted to print a different product using sublimation. So I used our other Epson, an R1800. That Epson is always loaded with just sublimation inks. But we have to take our design from our MAC and then run it to a Windows computer to output the art. Hey, don't ask me why? I just sign the checks. I don't have all the answers all the time. If you know of a better way, I'm all ears and low on checks. What next? Low and behold, the friggin Windows computer was dead! Would not even power on! Great now what? It must be FRIDAY! I'm running around trying to figure out what my next option was when the salesperson told me all the client needed was 25 gifts to give to high school age kids at a camp. Oh, now I get it. How about 25 of those Flashing Glasses we've got left over from another job? Heck, I don't even have to print those! There you go! Client showed up, saw the glasses, and was pretty geeked about the product and imprinted towels we had managed to complete.
Now, if I can get that Epson 1280 to work, AND the R1800 to work without using a Windows machine, I'll be a happy camper.
No. Once the 1280 is turned on, it makes its noise for a few seconds, the red light is on, and the green light is blinking. Then it settles with the green light on steady as well as the red light on steady.
Also, any ideas on how we can take our artwork direct from our Mac to the 1280 without going through a PC?
it's time to ditch the epson.... after 5 years and six of their printers... a 2200, two 1280s... two r280s.. and a 1400.... between myself, my epson repairman, and my CIS & ink vendor.... we have figured out that epson is doing their best to foil the use of CIS with their printers.... the motherboard sooner or later recognizes that you are not changing cartridges and disables the cyan (on the 1280s, 1400s, and the r280s) or the yellow (on the 2200).... it's always the color that has to travel the furthest to the print head.
Wow, alcohol in the sponge tray? How did you let it soak? I've never tried that before but might need to, my epson 1400 has been printing blacks a little lighter/greener than I would like. I'm using a CIS system from inkjet fly with pigment inks.
@bryan....on my 1280 i just pressed the "change ink" button to move the ink heads away from the tray. i then soaked the cotton on a q-tip with alcohol and let a few drops fall into the tray. the printer was then turned off to set the heads back on to the tray and i let it sit for overnight. although a few hours may do the trick just as good.
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actually the reason for me posting this thread was to get suggestions on what printer was on the market that i could replace the 1280 with. something that didnt have the clogging issue. people keep telling me to get rid of the epson but nobody tells me what to replace it with. although now that i got my epson working again..ive had no problems since now i turn it on every two days or so to keep the heads clear. a little extra maintenance goes a long way.
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Re: replacement for epson 1280 
