[tkster95]

I bought a used epson 9600 for printing transparencies. I knew it had clogged heads when I bought it but every used large format printer I came across had clogged heads. It seemed common enough of a problem that I figured I would be able to fix it. Now about 25 cleaning cycles (including about 5-10 power cleans) later and I'm still having the same issues. The magenta print head is still totally clogged... and I get one line out of place in the black head. All I really need is for the black head to work 100%. Silkscreensupplies.com sells black max ink cartridges for my model printer, but only for the black ink slot (on other printers they have black max cartridges for every ink) With accurip I can by pass all the other inks and only print out of the black max cartridge... so i'm not worried about the magenta... but I am worried about the one line out of place on the black nozzle. I've attached a pic so you can see what I mean. (the black is the furthest to the left... the other colors may look black as well but thats cause I had to darken the image so you could see the line out of place)

Other cleaning methods i've tried:
I've soaked the loading pad in windex and cleaned every piece of plastic I can reach around it with q-tips and windex several times. I've also tried rubbing alcohol and vinegar to clean it (a tip I heard about on another site). I tried a technique where I soaked a paper towel in windex and shimmied it under the print head itself, moving it back n forth to clean off the heads.. multiple times. All resulting in the same exact line out of place on the black nozzle.

I've recently bought a cleaning kit off ebay, waiting for its arrival, that says it will clean out any clogged nozzle on an epson. I hope this works but i'm not sure if the line out of place is a clogged nozzle or some other problem.

Any help would be appreciated. This is really holding up my operation and I don't want to have to buy a new printer! What should I do!! Thanks.

 

[tkster95]

woops... tried to attach a file to my first post.. but I guess it didn't take. Here's the pic of my clogged print head.

 

[ScreenFoo]

It looks like the black head is OK--there's only one pixel missing, but the rest of the line is there. Are you getting banding in greyscale mode?

Are you sure the magenta wasn't run dry?

 

[sben763]

The black looks as only 1 pixel missing as mentioned. Check your tube for the magenta to see if it's clogged. Be careful what you use. Personally I wouldn't use anything with ammonia in it to clean. Find the tube going to maintenance tank. Use a clamp plug it off. The use hot water I usally microwave it for 3 min till it scalding hot. Move head off park pad put hot water on pad turn printer off so that the head parks leave sit for 5 min remove clamp from tube to maintenance tank then do a cleaning or try to print. Severe clogs can take several try's just to get 1 or 2 lines on the test print.

 

[tkster95]

Thanks guys... i'll give the hot water a try. I am getting what I think is referred to as banding when printing in gray scale (I did a few test transparencies). There's a pattern of misplaced pixels throughout the design. It leaves gaps in design and results in a jagged edge where one line prints outside of the design every couple centimeters. Its tough to see in the pic I posted but in the black test print it looks like all the lines are printing however two of therm aren't aligned. One angles down and another angles up when they should meet. Is this what's causing the banding in grey scale mode? I'm worried it'll ruin the edge of every transparency I print even with accurip. I've also tried multiple head alignments with no help in gap on black ink.

A couple quick questions... How do I check tubes for clogs? Do I have to remove them from print head or something? Also, what does clamping of the tube going to maintenance tank do? Is that just to keep the water on so it doesn't drain out to maintenance tank?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[sben763]

You pinch off the hose fill park pad with hot water so that when it parks it sitting in hot water. Make sure to remove pinch before turning back on. Take tube off at head and use syringe push Luke warm water from other connection by cartridges. Don't force it just a gentle push. Remove all water from lines and do power cleaning or 2.