[flamer]

I was smart and left my workforce 1100 unused for probably about a year.

I bought some compatible inks for it, but it wouldn't recognise the black, so i left it for a few more months until i decided to sell it, bought another black which it accepted, printed a test page and all colours bar yellow are blocked.

if I print out a 4 colour purge test only yellow comes out the rest nothing at all, tried a few head cleans but nothing helps.

Tried wiping the tops of the inkjets with warm water and dint help, what i am thinking is to use a syringe and gently force some water water through the heads would that be the best option? I could try it with window cleaner too?

Also the next issue is, now that i was taking the carts in and out, the printer will not recognise the two black cartridges anymore. tried leaving the printer off overnight and on overnight, left it for half an hour in the ink change mode. still wont work. D'oh! anything else I can try?

 

[DaytonDesign]

It's a pain when they are completely clogged. Go to a fish store and get some tubing for a filter. The stuff I found was almost the perfect size to fit around the little "nipple" that goes In the the ink cartridge. I stretched the tubing to make it the right size with a sharpened pencil. Find a large syringe that will fit snugly into the tubing. HERE IS THE TRICK! 50%water 50%windex! NO NOT USE ANYTHING BUT WINDEX! No generic! No mr clean! No "glass cleaner"! Fill a Coffee mug with the 50/50 solution and microwave the solution until it starts to boil. Take a paper towel folded into 1/4 so it is about the same width as the sponge that runs under the print head. Wet the paper towel with the hot solution. You will have to work it down in place (this can be a challenge the first time). Slide the print head over the moist paper towel. The paper towel serves 2 purposes. To catch all the solution you pump through the head and to act as a scrubby to remove dried ink from the bottom of the head. Remove all ink carts, fill the syringe with hot solution, place tubing onto nipple and SLOWLY SLOWLY SLOWLY start to feed the solution through the head. Once you have pumped the first round though the heAd let it sit for several min. This lets the solution break down the clogged ink on the bottom of the head. Once is has been sitting for several min slowly slide the head from side to side to "scrub" the bottom of the head. You will probably need to repeat this several times for each color. You will want the solution to come out the color it went in! Feed the solution through the head until NO INK is visible on the paper towel. Once the solution is no longer removing ink you done. Then just repeat the process for each color. Make sure you have a space to work, tons of paper towels, and a few hours to work. Once you have done it a time or two it's a piece of cake but the first time is frustrating! God luck!

 

[DaytonDesign]

When I went to take a pic I realized the paper towel is more like a half a paper towel folded in thirds. The pic with the pencil is just to show you haw big the tubing is and how I stretched it out a little bit. The pic of the printer is to show you where to place the towel. It's a little hard to see due to the ciss. Sorry....

Hope all this helps!

 

[DaytonDesign]

Oh yeah.... Once the carts have been out and the heads have been properly cleaned they should recognize. You might have bled them dry with all the head cleaning cycles you did. Look into a ciss!!! We did the math and saved $1,700 in 9.5 months!!!!!! We are a decently small shop too! Well worth the $!

 

[mgparrish]

I was smart and left my workforce 1100 unused for probably about a year.

I bought some compatible inks for it, but it wouldn't recognise the black, so i left it for a few more months until i decided to sell it, bought another black which it accepted, printed a test page and all colours bar yellow are blocked.

if I print out a 4 colour purge test only yellow comes out the rest nothing at all, tried a few head cleans but nothing helps.

Tried wiping the tops of the inkjets with warm water and dint help, what i am thinking is to use a syringe and gently force some water water through the heads would that be the best option? I could try it with window cleaner too?

Also the next issue is, now that i was taking the carts in and out, the printer will not recognise the two black cartridges anymore. tried leaving the printer off overnight and on overnight, left it for half an hour in the ink change mode. still wont work. D'oh! anything else I can try?

See this video, it is a complete cleaning method. You can substitute half distilled water and half Simple Green available at Walmart and grocery stores instead of the cleaning fluid in the video. The video shows the 1430 but It will work the same for the WF1100 (I have one).

How to maintain small format Epson printers

 

[mgparrish]

It's a pain when they are completely clogged. Go to a fish store and get some tubing for a filter. The stuff I found was almost the perfect size to fit around the little "nipple" that goes In the the ink cartridge. I stretched the tubing to make it the right size with a sharpened pencil. Find a large syringe that will fit snugly into the tubing. HERE IS THE TRICK! 50%water 50%windex! NO NOT USE ANYTHING BUT WINDEX! No generic! No mr clean! No "glass cleaner"! Fill a Coffee mug with the 50/50 solution and microwave the solution until it starts to boil. Take a paper towel folded into 1/4 so it is about the same width as the sponge that runs under the print head. Wet the paper towel with the hot solution. You will have to work it down in place (this can be a challenge the first time). Slide the print head over the moist paper towel. The paper towel serves 2 purposes. To catch all the solution you pump through the head and to act as a scrubby to remove dried ink from the bottom of the head. Remove all ink carts, fill the syringe with hot solution, place tubing onto nipple and SLOWLY SLOWLY SLOWLY start to feed the solution through the head. Once you have pumped the first round though the heAd let it sit for several min. This lets the solution break down the clogged ink on the bottom of the head. Once is has been sitting for several min slowly slide the head from side to side to "scrub" the bottom of the head. You will probably need to repeat this several times for each color. You will want the solution to come out the color it went in! Feed the solution through the head until NO INK is visible on the paper towel. Once the solution is no longer removing ink you done. Then just repeat the process for each color. Make sure you have a space to work, tons of paper towels, and a few hours to work. Once you have done it a time or two it's a piece of cake but the first time is frustrating! God luck!

Other things work besides Windex, Conde Systems and other heat transfer vendors in their videos use simple green and distilled water. I have used it for years with no issues.

 

[flamer]

The two blacks and mag are seriously blocked. I have removed the print head completely and I'm letting it soak overnight. I can see the cyan and yellow working well but the sygrine pops its tube off before any liquid flows through so they are really clogged. Hopefully its fixable.

 

[flamer]

Ok unfortunately I am pretty well at my end with this head. I have 4 of the colours flowing well now. except magenta.

I have removed the head, and taken the head apart with the 3 screws. what I found was, there are two parts that can be clogged, the delivery nozzle which just goes from the nipple to the circuit board, you can blast that as hard as you like because its just solid plastic nothing else. I had heaps of blocked magenta and black in there, used a toothbrush and windex and got them all flowing nice.

Then I used a syringe with a needle and poked into the very small holes on the circuit board, put a windex soaked paper towel underneath, filled syringe with windex and pushed and pulled, got heaps of black out (the black is now fixed) and heaps of magenta, however I still cannot pass water or air freely through the magenta.

The thing is, I can no longer see ink. after 5 days, I have switched to 100% pure isopropyl. Have let is sit on top of the head, and left the filled syringe facing down into the head so it had plenty of IPA to drink but still nothing, if it squeeze the syringe, I can see air bubbles coming out where the ink should be and im met with resistance, but its clear, not coloured now. so I am starting to think something else is blocking rather than ink. I put the head on an IPA soaked paper towel, and started to suck up using the syringe but there is heaps of resistance, something is seriously blocked. and its just that one colour. the magnet nozzles are in the middle of the head too, the whole line works well except that.

Really my only two options now are, sell the printer as is. Or open the head further which will mean breaking the rubber seal between the head plate and the circuit board. even then I don't think im going to find a clump of ink based on what I am seeing at the moment.

 

[mgparrish]

Ok unfortunately I am pretty well at my end with this head. I have 4 of the colours flowing well now. except magenta.

I have removed the head, and taken the head apart with the 3 screws. what I found was, there are two parts that can be clogged, the delivery nozzle which just goes from the nipple to the circuit board, you can blast that as hard as you like because its just solid plastic nothing else. I had heaps of blocked magenta and black in there, used a toothbrush and windex and got them all flowing nice.

Then I used a syringe with a needle and poked into the very small holes on the circuit board, put a windex soaked paper towel underneath, filled syringe with windex and pushed and pulled, got heaps of black out (the black is now fixed) and heaps of magenta, however I still cannot pass water or air freely through the magenta.

The thing is, I can no longer see ink. after 5 days, I have switched to 100% pure isopropyl. Have let is sit on top of the head, and left the filled syringe facing down into the head so it had plenty of IPA to drink but still nothing, if it squeeze the syringe, I can see air bubbles coming out where the ink should be and im met with resistance, but its clear, not coloured now. so I am starting to think something else is blocking rather than ink. I put the head on an IPA soaked paper towel, and started to suck up using the syringe but there is heaps of resistance, something is seriously blocked. and its just that one colour. the magnet nozzles are in the middle of the head too, the whole line works well except that.

Really my only two options now are, sell the printer as is. Or open the head further which will mean breaking the rubber seal between the head plate and the circuit board. even then I don't think im going to find a clump of ink based on what I am seeing at the moment.

Cobra sells print heads for that model.

.:: Cobra Ink Systems::. This is where the term CIS began

 

[flamer]

Cobra sells print heads for that model.

.:: Cobra Ink Systems::. This is where the term CIS began

Thanks for that hadnt seen it on there before. Not a bad price either.

 

[flamer]

anyone know, if the t1100 print head will work in the wf1100? they are going cheap as on alibaba. would be nice if they did but i suspect there might be minor differences :S

 

[flamer]

reply from a supplier:

"Epson workforce 1100 printer head are the same as T1100/T1110 printer."


a chinese supplier, who I trust as far as i can kick. anyone else have experience?

 

[egido]

Hello. I have the same problem with my printer. Fortunately i was able to get a new printhead on aliexpress but now i don´t see anywhere how i could take the original printhead out of the printer. Do you have any video? i know it´s six years later but maybe you could help me with that. Thanks a lot in advance