Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
I'm getting so mad at this printer, heads have been clogged for months, i have tried the witch hazel trick, it may have helped the black ink, but no other. I have an epson 1280 with a personalizedsupplies (magic mix) system, 3 of the colors are printing, 3 are not. I have ran a gazillion (not sure it that is even a number) head cleanings. i have tried the witch hazel several times, i have tried elevating the system above the printer, nothing works. Is it time to give up on the printer and the system, and start fresh? but i paid about $300 for the printer and $300 or so for the ink system, it is oonly about 18 months old. so i want to do everything i can to fix it. I would reall appreciate any other suggestions. I really want to start printing tees again.
Re: Printer heads clogged, tried everything, i think?
When you say 3 colors are not printing, do you mean you get no ink whatsoever from CMY or that you have a few clogged nozzles in each of the CMY colors?
You can get cleaning cartridges (personalizedsupplies did have them). You would install them and do cleaning cycles/ print runs. You could also use a set of OEM cart's if you can't get cleaning carts. Dye based inks have less trouble with clogging. Put your Pigment back in after you get them going again, do some cleaning cycles to clear the heads of dye ink.
I created a document that filled a page with color bar gradients in illustrator (Solid ink to white for C M Y K). It uses some ink, but helps get the system going again after a few days of sitting.
When I get ready for a print run, I do a nozzle check, then clean 2 times, then turn the printer off for 10 minutes. Turn it back on and nozzle check. If still no good, I print the page of gradients, nozzle check, one cleaning, nozzle check and turn it off. My nozzle checks get worse after a cleaning, but clear up after the printer has been of for 10 or 15 min.
I don't get any progress with more than 2 cleanings in a row. I get better results letting the printer power up after being off for a while. (on/off/on won't help, you want the printer to do it's 'power on dance')
Re: Printer heads clogged, tried everything, i think?
Try Simple Green....it works for us.
I am not familiar with the 1280, but I swear by the stuff and I have bought just about every head clog buster gimmick on the market.
Flood/ pool some simple green on the docking station, dock the head and let it sit for a few hours. Undock the head and pool the docking station again, let sit a few hours, then run a nozzle check twice. If you see no results, you have blocked jets or a more serious issue. If you see progress in the nozzle check, repeat the above steps until hopefully the clog clears.
No amount of cleaning will clear blocked nozzles as the gummy / dried ink isn't coming into contact with the solvent. Most misfiring nozzles, partial color in a nozzle check, are the result of surface sludge which with cleaning can be cleared. Blocked nozzles, no ink firing, is a result of ink that has backed-up, pooled and dried or something more serious such as a blown/burned head or board problems have occured.
You can flush print heads with clog jets but that is a much more in-depth process and I don't even know about how to do it on desktop format printers.
Re: Printer heads clogged, tried everything, i think?
Quote:
Originally Posted by JaeAmera
Try Simple Green....it works for us.
I am not familiar with the 1280, but I swear by the stuff and I have bought just about every head clog buster gimmick on the market.
Flood/ pool some simple green on the docking station, dock the head and let it sit for a few hours. Undock the head and pool the docking station again, let sit a few hours, then run a nozzle check twice. If you see no results, you have blocked jets or a more serious issue. If you see progress in the nozzle check, repeat the above steps until hopefully the clog clears.
No amount of cleaning will clear blocked nozzles as the gummy / dried ink isn't coming into contact with the solvent. Most misfiring nozzles, partial color in a nozzle check, are the result of surface sludge which with cleaning can be cleared. Blocked nozzles, no ink firing, is a result of ink that has backed-up, pooled and dried or something more serious such as a blown/burned head or board problems have occured.
You can flush print heads with clog jets but that is a much more in-depth process and I don't even know about how to do it on desktop format printers.
Hope this helps
Jae'
When you say flood the docking station, do you mean to... take out the ink and put the simple green on the print heads? Right now i have 3 colos that are not printing at all.
Re: Printer heads clogged, tried everything, i think?
Brian,
I was referring to moving the print head out of the way, then pooling some simple green onto the docking station (you may need a syringe for this), then slide the print head back onto the docking station.
With three colors not firing at all you may have bigger issues.........this is the first step before doing more drastic measures.
Re: Printer heads clogged, tried everything, i think?
Thanks guys and gals, the simple green has done wonders, i'm now up 5 and a half colors printing, when i print the tes pages, the cyan is banding a little, almost their. Thanks for all your help should be back up and running shortly. I ran a bunch of head cleanings so i'm gonna give it a rest for the rest of the night!
Re: Printer heads clogged, tried everything, i think?
I have a 1280 and I know what you're talking about. Simple Green, Windex, or distilled water works just fine, pour a small amount onto the sponge with a syringe or funnel type device and let the head sit on it for a while (atleast 15 minutes or even overnight), then run a cleaning, nozzle check, then test print... run 2 cleaning cycles if needed. This should help. If not, print a few pages with lots of graphics to try and push ink out.. if it's still a no-go, then you may want to pull the printhead out and clean it manually.
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Printer heads clogged, tried everything, i think? 
