My morning nozzle check revealed this messed up looking Cyan. No problems yesterday. Multiple cleanings hasn't improved it.

Anyone ever had this happen? Any ideas on how to fix it?

I had this exact same thing happen all I do is wash out the cleaning pad and clean around the head so nothing gets in and then I give it a med clean (sucks, I know) It clears it up a bit and I print a few shirts (Doesn't really seem to effect print quality that I can tell any ways, and I print a ton of navy on shirts) After a few prints it's right as rain again if it isn't I will give it another med clean. And I also check the alignment on the machine

 

Same here. I do an alignment, medium clean and if it's still being an idiot, I do a heavy clean (really sucks, but it clears it). Cyan is the only color I have this issue with. Strike that, I had my yellow randomly drop yesterday at start up, after doing a medium clean, and I had to clean it again at medium to get it back.

 

It's kind of funny (or sad really) but after my last post I did my nozzle check and my cyan was messed up I just finished the alignment and a med clean and it's happy again. But I just wanted to say you may have to do the alignment a few times if 1-13 do not look totally solid like it should. Just pick the closest one and do it again you should be able to find the right number then.

 

I've seen this on our F2000 also - specifically the Cyan too.

 

Update:

Well I've been putting up with this issue for a month or so now and no amount of cleaning or aligning rectifies the problem. It certainly does effect the print too, especially Greys, Greens, and Mid Blues. Check out the banding in the print below!

I am aware of some owners that have had this issue and needed the head replaced to fix it. So isn't that what F2000 owners need? Another reason for the head to be replaced! This printer is a dog!

 

I don't sing along with the odd person that thinks the F2000 is a good DTG printer. I use my F2000. I need to bang out tees all day every day... and the F2000 is simply not good at it... It's that simple.

The F2000 certainly has some good qualities, but don't try and tell/sell me on the ease and low maintenance attribute of the F2000. That's lame. The F2000 crumbles even under mediocre production.

 

I have looked at this post a couple of times along with a lot of your posts over the past and respectfully (seriously) I just cannot seem to understand why you don't just sell your F2000 if you think it is such a bad DTG. You genuinely seem to get over excited with every negative thing that you have to share with the forum about your DTG. I know that if I hated a piece of machinery that I spent a lot of money on that much it'd be gone, sold and out the door. I just can't get my head around it, just sayin'

 

Bickering posts removed. let's act like adult professionals please.​

 

It looks like nozzle deflection. It usualy happens on regular epson printers when ink particle is to big to go through the nozzle but not as big to block it completly so it kinda bounces of inside causing ink to fire in random directions. With modified DTG back flush usually helps resolve this issue but with epson F2000 you cannot remove the head so ... can't give other advice then call in on your warranty.

 

Thank you for that knowledge. What you say makes sense. Also, if a damper isn't doing what it's meant to do, could that produce the same kind of 'crazy'?

 

Hello, everyone! I am back with so many cyan issues to share.

Background: I've had my Epson F2000 printer for 1.5 years now and do all required maintenance. I also control the humidity and temperature in my print room. My designs and prints are blue-heavy, so cyan going down/banding kills me.

When I contacted Epson about this cyan banding issue that multiple heavy cleans and head alignments cannot rectify, their solution was to replace the print head. It fixed it and I merrily printed for a few months until it happened again. Solution: New print head. It happened again; new print head.

I JUST had my print head replaced two weeks ago and it went down again yesterday. Heavy cleans won't bring it back and I even replaced my entire cyan cartridge. This will be my 4th print head for cyan--I've done one for white once before.

I am asking Epson for a real solution as I can't keep operating this way. I am fortunate to have the extended warranty and I am forced to buy it again next year, but what happens after year 3? After talking to a technical services manager, they're going to investigate the issue and get back to me with solutions. I hope they have some.

The reason I am sharing this is to encourage you to reach out to Epson if you are having this same cyan issue. If we don't complain, we don't have the data to back up that this is an issue. They know white is an issue; they stated this on the call with me. Cyan didn't appear to be on their radar.

Four print heads for cyan alone this year is ridiculous.

 

Isn't their a cap on the number of heads Epson will replace in a year under their extended warranty?

 

yup. i also have a certain epson printer. i can attest to your comment. white is def an issue. and got the same problems with cyan, too. glad i am not alone. and sad that i am not alone at the same time. i ended up replacing that cyan altogether. you may need to look into replacing it.

 

Spoke to soon, look what showed up today…

Not to mention I have no White Channels #3 and #4.

Good news is the parts are here…. :roll eyes:

 

This is my first post ever and I'm so glad there seems to be some sort of the solution. We purchased this machine maybe a month ago and we've already called a tech 3x for the cyan issue already! It's very disheartening considering we've barely used it but it only takes a couple days after the tech has left that it will start acting up again. I will definitely bring up the tube replacement solution to this tech guy and see if that will work for us. Really hope this gets solved and so frustrating that anything this expensive should just work (at least in the first month without major issues)!
Thank you for the updates and info.. cuz yes, it's great not to feel alone but also concerning to know it's an ongoing problem that has no real confirmed solution.

 

Unfortunately you're not the first person I've heard of to have this problem with the Cyan within a month of ownership. If you have the extended warranty you have 3 years of safety net while you wait for a solution from Epson. Those of us in our last year of warranty are a little nervous.

 

I don't have the Cyan issue that you guys had, I did have an issue with the white channel #4. My tech changed out the CR Duct Assembly and it had been terrific since then. The CR Duct Assembly contains all of the dampers.

It might be that or he mentioned that expired ink might be the culprit. Apparently the Cyan tends to coagulate more than the other inks. Hopes this info helps somebody.

 

Unfortunately the cyan nozzle is not cooperating for the past 3 days. I have tried light clean and a med clean, no luck. Have the tech coming out tomorrow. Have 8 days left on the warrantee and have just purchased another year. I would be in a state of despair if I couldn't reup the warrantee. It would be too expensive to replace on my own. I have posted an image for reference. I will post an update if the tech has any advice, particularly regarding the cyan issue.

 

And the journey continues...

 

Just food for thought. We lost our warranty sometime ago and what I have been doing when confronted with this issue is remove the damper, and run some Distilled water through it to clear up a clog followed by some air to get out most of the water. If that does not work I will flush it with a mixture of windex and distilled water to break up the clogged bits followed by distilled water. Load it all back up and good as new. The way I see it if they won't extend my warranty again I have nothing to lose so why not. I am also up and running a lot quicker than if I waited for a day or so for a tech to show up. Not to mention the cost of the tech coming which is at least $100 to replace a $5 part. Epson would do better if they sold the parts to end users and allowed us to work on them ourselves like almost every other printer company out there.

 

Having now read the other posts, I would say don't put much into mine - below dotted line - completely different animal.

On the damper, it should be partially restricted on the intake side - that allows the flexible part of the damper to soak up pressure variations, as the printhead moves from side to side. If you got a partial blockage on the restrictor, that would drop the pressure in the damper and the printhead, which might cause the same symptoms as a failing pump - referred to in above post -
...........................................................................

I don't know this printer, but I am using a converted Epson L1800 on a flatbed, printing on to rigid plastics, using ecosolvent ink. Works VERY well - & only took 3 1/2 years to debug! (Mostly, not Epson bugs)

I have found that a drop or two of cleaner (what ink are you using?) onto a microfibre cloth, then rubbing the face of the printhead lightly can help clean it. Also, a small plastic dish with a few drops of cleaner held against the face for 10 - 20 minutes can help clean it - do this first before the cloth.

The damper will either work or it will leak. if it's not leaking (not that I ever heard them doing that) then it is working.

Can you draw ink out of the damper with a syringe? (You may need to cut a small 'V' or two in the tip of the syringe to stop the tip from blocking against the valve in the bottom of the damper) that will ensure good flow -

Good luck,
Stuart.

 

And here we go again. Epson really need to sort this issue.

 

My black nozzle check looked like that last week. I went in and did a re-alignment and now I am back to a perfect nozzle check.

 

It would be great if this issue could be fixed like that, but this is not alignment related. It's deflection, ink/damper/head. Epson just throw parts while under warranty but James is on the right track in terms of understanding the problem. I have no doubt Epson is aware of the issue.

 

Was about to put my hand in my pocket and get one of these printers but with all the probs with this cyan etc I won't bother until it's sorted.

Funny how most other dtg printers are made from epson printers as well and don't seem to have the probs on them that the printer they made to print garments has!
I own a texjet plus and that runs on a epson 3880 and that works well and changed the printhead twice in about 4 years but I do want the f2000 if they sort there stuff out.

Hope it's soon as well as I feel for all you peeps that have this printer and are getting these probs because at the end of the day we buy these printers to do a job and make money and not to pump more £££££ into it time and time again just to get it back up and running again.

D

 

The tech was out today to fix this Cyan nozzle issue. The head was replaced but the dampers were not. This fixed the problem so the issue is with the head.

That's my 3rd head in 25 months of ownership. I know there are others worse off than me with more head replacements. Without warranty these repairs would have cost me over $9000 AUD!

How is it possible to own this printer without warranty?

 

So it's been 10 days since the head was replaced for this Cyan issue and this is how my nozzle check looks today.



This is ridiculous!

 

I had 4 service calls in August about this exact problem. All under the original warranty. I still had this problem when my warranty ended in September.

I've given up and have learned to live with it.

I had one Epson CS rep tell me "his desktop printer does this all the time and it prints just fine!"

Um, whatever.... I guess banding is "fine" to him.

This clown acted like I was the only one having this problem. I'm extremely disappointed in Epson CS and this printer. I've had 1 head replaced due to the white channels 3 and 4 dropping out and 4 heads in one month trying to fix the cyan issue.

I'm starting to think it might be something in the ink formulation. It would explain why it works fine for a couple of days...

So Im now to the point I have to turn down work with anything heavy on Cyan.

Im in the market for another printer but certainly will not be recommending or buying ANYTHING Epson until they figure out what this issue is all about. It's a shame really, the field techs are awesome and the printer is great otherwise.

 

I think every dtg printer has is issues, the F2000 has some, but far less than other printers out there.mho. i love to know my machine is working the next day and mine is doing so 99% of the time.

about the cyan dropouts: i had my head replaced once and after that i kept dropouts in cyan for a long time (same as in photo). i just kept on light cleaning for many days in between prints and eventually it solved itself out. i believe its air in the damper or lines

about 2 weeks ago i got dropouts again and some very stubborn deflection. most of the deflection went away after a head alignment (slightly other direction of firing the drops) but a few didn't want to go away.

I prepared some cleaning solution, dip an Epson swab in it, and removed almost all of the liquid from the swab again, so its just damp. gave it 10? swipes gently from back to front (no rubbing) and cleaned in between the nozzle plates and around the head (better vacuum on suction cap) PLEASE BEWARE this is not allowed in warranty and you do this at your own risk! you could waste your entire printhead by pushing particles even further in the nozzles, and second if your swab is to moist, the cleaning solution can go around the electrostaticheadplate and fry some electronics there.

this solved my deflection 100% its just some sort of dirt/dust/anything on your head blocking the nozzles from firing properly.

also shake your color carts every 2 weeks!

 

One thing also to watch out for is to make sure that your humidity level is around 50% and that it's kept at that level 24/7. Too low a humidity level can have an effect on all direct to garment printheads.

_

 

I wonder why some folks have issues and some don't? My F2000 is going on a year and a half old and it just happily chugs along. I am printing on it almost every day of the week. I feel bad that some of you are having issues.

 

You've never had a head replaced in a year and a half? I find that extremely hard to believe.

 

Well, I guess I will throw my hat into the ring also. I'm having the same issue as everyone else here with the caveat that we are about 6 months out of warranty. My cyan channels are all firing, but they are badly deflected. (I can't figure out how to add a photo, otherwise, I would have.) I've followed the maintenance schedule to the letter, so I'm baffled by why this is happening. All of our other channels are perfect. Cyan is the only problem child we have at the moment. Last night it was working fine. This morning it wasn't.

I've tried everything I can think of today. I've done a tube wash, run multiple heavy cleans on the Magenta/Cyan channel, cleaned around the capping station and suction cap, cleaned around the head, redid the alignment, shaken the cyan cartridge, stood on my head, and still no luck.

The answer can't always be replacing the head. This is the most cost- prohibitive repair there is, and it's almost always the recommended solution to any problem. We're a small shop, and I'd really prefer to avoid sinking another $2 grand + into this machine, especially with all the posts here telling me the problem has recurred only a few days after the replacement.

Isn't there a way to actually clean the head (not just around the head) without risking significant damage? If there's some lint stuck under there, and the machine isn't able to clear it out, there has to be a way to clean it manually right? I'd be grateful for any and all suggestions.

 

I can't figure out how to add a photo, otherwise, I would have.

Pictures are added as "attachment" (use the paperclip icon).


As for the deflection... It is a common inkjet issue, and all DTG printers have it. The cause is partial nozzle blockages, and unfortunately these are much harder to clear than full nozzle blockages. Also their occurrence is increasing with the age of the printhead. Of course Epson and their sales people will never admit this, as they want you to believe that their printers are super low maintenance.

The best way around it is prevention, by cleaning more often than recommended. Think of it as a car oil change... more often is better.



Another possible solution is this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf6kOEtgQqE

 

The best way around it is prevention, by cleaning more often than recommended. Think of it as a car oil change... more often is better.



Another possible solution is this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf6kOEtgQqE

I've seen that video, and despite it being extremely funny to basically anyone who's ever operated an Epson printer, it is largely unhelpful.

The reality is that nobody can afford to spend as much time maintaining these printers as they seemingly need. I could also change the oil in my car every day, but that's not practical.

Additionally, because all the other colors are firing without any issues whatsoever, it seems much less like a maintenance error and much more like a problem with the hardware. Especially considering all the other folks on here with the same issue. I figured the white channels would be my problem children because they solidify more easily in the head. But why cyan if there isn't a problem with the construction or the ink? In the end, I'd just like a way to fix it without spending over 2 grand on this thing. Especially since it's likely to happen over and over again. If this is just a standard operating procedure with this printer, they really need to make the head replacements substantially cheaper.

 

I've seen that video, and despite it being extremely funny to basically anyone who's ever operated an Epson printer, it is largely unhelpful.

It is helpful actually, but you missed the important points. a) The issue is not channel specific, and b) printheads will clog easier after some use.
Also, partial clogs cause overheating, and will shorten the life of the printhead substantially.

DTG printers require a lot more maintenance than the sales people will tell you. The same thing applies for all other machines.

 

Only a few lucky ones have epson sponsor them and they sing their praises.
But I have seen too many issues with cyan and white to buy this printer.