There's a valve at the cartridge end of the pipes!

 

Dave is right. If you are going to do that, you need to make sure that the ink levers are down so that the valve is open. Not sure if you had them down or up though. Once you have the line primed to the elbow connector, then raise the ink lever and it will prevent the ink from running back into the cartridge.

The other way to do this is to remove the entire print head carriage (while still connected to the ink lines) by pressing the springs in on both sides of the print head carriage. Then remove the print head and you can pull ink from the bottom of the dampers if you have the correct size of tool. I just did this with Dan Salgado last week at a place with a Flexi-Jet. He has created a combo tool (basically, a leatherman like tool for dtg printers) that is used for working with the ink delivery system. I recommend you contact him about this if you plan on doing this a lot.

Best wishes,

Mark

 

Hmmm. I did do the lever thing and it worked, I now have ink in the lines but three dropped channels. Seems odd. BTW, this is my regular paper Epson, not a flexi.
I'm going to try lifting the head out and manually cleaning the printhead surface.

 

Just make sure that you are careful so you don't hurt the print head. When you go to lift it out, you will see a cut-out section about 2/3 of the way to the left where you will have the space. The springs are pretty tight, so you are going to have to use some strength to squeeze them in. Also, make sure that you take the belt of the wheel on the right side and remove the encoder strip out of the reader in the back of the carriage before you lift it out.

WARNING: When you go to put it back in, you have to make sure that the metal coverings for the rails don't get caught on the wheels of the print head carriage. If so, the metal coverings will get caught under the wheels and the carriage will not slide smoothly.

This is an easy process after you do once, but you have to make sure you follow all the steps properly. Otherwise, you can do damage to your print head. I don't recommend this process to everyone, but it can save a trip to a repair facility if done correctly.

Good luck,

Mark

 

Mission accomplished. Mark you were right about everything. Everytime you post, I already had went ahead and fumbled through it. Getting that head out is NOT EASY.
I would not recommend that people do this unless you're not scared. I did have to fully prime the three dropped channels- cartridges were bone dry- chip resetters...
All is well I think. Left the machine on an auto nozzle check when I left the shop for the day. We'll se in the a.m. Thanks.

 

Auto Nozzle Check? Are you using the Printer Jockey software? If so, you might want to get the latest version of the software that will allow you to set a schedule to automatically have your Epson-based printer of any type (dtg, dye sub, film positive,...) run an automatic head cleaning. This is still in a beta version, but is available for everyone to download from the PJ website - http://www.printerjockey.com/download.htm. If you want to try this new feature out, you just need to uninstall the older version, download the latest version and install it. Your validation should remain as you have to go into your system registry to delete it. Here is the tech support video on how to use this new feature:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYqCB08WBc8

Since this feature is creating the head cleaning command via the Epson software (Utility tab from Printers & Faxes) and not the firmware, you will need to send multiple cleanings (i.e. 12:00, 12:01,...) to get the printer to do a higher level cleaning if you are using the Epson 4XX0 printers. The software side does not allow you to select the different K_ cleanings - you have to do that from the control panel on the printer. Otherwise, you can just run the lower level cleanings spread throughout the day.

This feature just got released and is still in beta testing... but seems to be doing pretty good.

Glad to hear the printer is back up and running. Best wishes,

Mark

 

I'm having the same problem you had with the exeption that all my lines are bone dry!!! what do you mean when you said I did have to fully prime the three dropped channels- cartridges were bone dry- I think I will have to do that for my lines how I do it and can you run me true it please???? I just got this Texjet printer with a Epson 4800 on it and had clean the dampers, capping station and the lines for the pump of the capping station but can't get the lines unclogged. Please advise!!!