Epson 3800 nozzle check

Hi,

Apologize for the bad quality of the image used for this question, but I took it in a hurry with an iphone

I've been printing with my 3800 for about a year and been quite happy with it. I went away for a week and decided to do a nozzle check before resuming printing a set of images. 

I tried several times and could not get rid of this minor thing (see attached image)

I do not see any problems in the images I am printing... (that I can notice)... so my question is... should I do a head cleaning (using nozzle check function)? and if so, how much ink does it take?  Thanks in advance

I have 1x3800 and 2x3880 (with various inks).

If I were you I would definitely do a cleaning to see if it clears. the 38x0 are relatively good for not clogging if you are in a humid environment. Other's posts seem so show that a dry environment results in more clogs in shorter time periods.

One week shouldn't be a problem, but if you are going to be away for long(er) periods of time,you might want to invest in some cartridges and some flushing fluid. I happen to use Jon Cone's pizoflush, but I am sure there are others. (see inkjetmall.com - I have no connection with Cone other than I am a satisfied user of his pizoflush, color inks for 38xx, Carbon inkset, selenium inkset, and negative inkset. )

For long periods of non-printing, insert the carts full of pizoflush and flush the normal ink out of the lines.
And you can use these carts to try to unblock a printhead.

You will need a set of carts, a syringe and some of the pizoflush, plus a set of used chips from the epson carts (Epson protects the IP in the chips, so Cone's carts have a resetting chip that sits on top of the used chip). So start saving your used carts to pull the chips from.

Good luck - you definitely are missing something (clog) in that color printhead.

That is indeed a blocked nozzle, and it will be creating a small problem in your prints. "Should" you do a head cleaning? That's your call. You're showing a small spot in a single ink channel, one of the light greys. You may not be able to see a problem in print, especially with real photos as opposed to synthetic test images. So it's up to you whether to try to clear the clog.

Clearing clogged nozzles does waste some ink. Exactly how much is difficult to tell, unless the printer itself tells you. My 3880 and 4880 both print some ink statistics after nozzle checks, so it's possible to get some idea from that info. You may also have an ink usage counter in the 3800's control panel that will provide some info.

Also note that persistent clogs may not be cleared by doing the regular auto-nozzle check like you're showing above, and require a power cleaning instead. Power cleaning wastes much more ink, so it's something to be more careful using. If power cleaning also doesn't clear a clog then it will require a more invasive cleaning effort involving actual physical servicing of the head, of some form... but this is rarely needed for most people.

Thanks Don and Royce. I appreciate your help here

I tried auto-nozzle check a couple more times without results, then accidentally switched to MK while printing a test image. I tried the auto-nozzle check again and now the MK lines were severely messed up. I printed the nozzle pattern and it showed... but and whatever the printer does during that step, it fixed the old and new problem and I am back to my printer being OK...

Aw welcome to head clean 101!! Of course you do a head clean when a nozzle is out. But you may have another problem. Plus there are many things to be aware of as a high end printer owner. These machines are not fire and forget machines. There are things that you should do regardless if nothing looks wrong. Now your problems may be clogged nozzles moving around. If that is so it could be the wiper or even the suction pump in the cleaning station. How do I know this?? I just replaced both of mine. Same problem you were having but no solution and no amounts of cleaning, or even initial fills would fix it. Printer so far now however(two days) is showing perfect nozzle checks including one nozzle that I was printing with even though it was clogged. Most times it was clogged sometimes not.

Your printers wiper is used all the time and not just on cleans that you command. It is small and has very little ability to wipe itself clean of squeegeed off ink from the head. It is made of a rubber. This rubber can get worn, but more likely it starts to loose it's flexibility. Rubber wears out even if it just sits there cause it dries and gets stiff, so this is an item to replace over time regardless if anything is going wrong or not. It's cheap besides, and easily done yourself.

You can check your pump by removing the right side cover and watching the clear exit tubes that lead into your waste tank to see if fluid is moving. The cover is very easy to remove on Epsons just be careful of the control units ribbon cable. If you get into it I'll help you through it if you want more. But these pumps can get slugged up, get out of speed, wear out or just stop. With a good strong pump and a fresh clean wiper it is unlikely for a nozzle head not to clear. And the fact that your nozzle clogs are moving around tells me it wasn't  your print head.

Now what Don was saying about flushing out the system is in my opinion paramount to good maintenance on your printer. Invest in a set of clear refillable cartridges and a resetter plus a gallon of flush (I pay 65 dollars).
Keep in mind that all inks settle some. Some colors are worse settlers than others. Yellow is bad and so is matte black. Cyan is probably next after those, but they all do, and if you don't remove the carts and mildly agitate you could get off colors. But also if the printer is not used much or has sat for a while you get settlement in the lines, dampers, and head which can lead to a clog. Running flush through the systems helps keeps all these problems from occurring. No printer is immune. And clogged nozzles can lead to print head failure as without fluid running through them they get hot at those tiny little nozzles. This is my own theory, but I believe it's true. Flush at least once a year-- twice would be better and is not overkill IMO. Keep your wiper clean and fresh. Unfortunately there is no pump readout on the control board to see how that is doing so a visual inspection is needed.

Definitely download the field service guide AND especially the service manual for your printer. These are a must for a printer owner unless your pockets are deep and you can afford the repair man for everything. You should find them somewhere online for free.

Realize clogging is infrequent and a single clean should remedy if all is running correct on an inkjet printer.

By the way flush is not the same a high powered cleaning solution. That's something else that you might need to do sooner or later, but for now start with the flush.

Well your up and running fine for now and all of the above may be moot, but keep it in mind. They'll come a day...... And keep us posted! Good luck!

Paul

Bye the bye here's an ink purge file for epson's K3 inks which when printed on an 8 X 10 use's about .8 ml of ink. This will have quite a bit more clearing and maintenace benefit than only printing an ink nozzle check which uses around .1 ml. If your not printing maybe print this at least once or twice a week. If weather is extremely dry maybe more.


Paul

Paul, thanks for these excellent posts about the Epson printers.  One question:
How do you do an ink purge?

Bill each color of the above posted purge file represents exactly the RGB values of the epson K3 inks. If you could download or use the snipping tool to grab what I posted and the enlarge to whatever size you want to print, say 8.5 X 11 you would then be able to do a light duty purge of all ink nozzles on your printer. A larger print size would do an even greater purge of your nozzles..for instance a 11 X 14. Do you know how to use the snipping tool? But in either case get the file I posted and size it appropriately and print it on whatever paper, even plain will do. Your nozzles will use up a substantial amount of ink so as to be clean and working. This is what's important.....move some ink through each nozzle frequently so things do not sludge or dry out.*

Do you need a link for the service manual?? It's free...

Paul

pleverington wrote:Bill each color of the above posted purge file represents exactly the RGB values of the epson K3 inks. If you could download or use the snipping tool to grab what I posted and the enlarge to whatever size you want to print, say 8.5 X 11 you would then be able to do a light duty purge of all ink nozzles on your printer. A larger print size would do an even greater purge of your nozzles..for instance a 11 X 14. Do you know how to use the snipping tool? But in either case get the file I posted and size it appropriately and print it on whatever paper, even plain will do. Your nozzles will use up a substantial amount of ink so as to be clean and working. This is what's important.....move some ink through each nozzle frequently so things do not slug or dry out.*

Do you need a link for the service manual?? It's free...

Paul

Thanks Paul.  Yes. a link to the service manual would be great.

Here's one for the 3880 for ten bucks:  
http://www.sdott.com/product.php?productid=19397

And one for the3800 for free:
http://www.americaninkjetsystems.com/ep ... manual.pdf


And if you want to make up your own purge file print sheet specifically for the 3800 or 3880(cause mine is for the 9900 which has orange and green inks also) you can get the values, sample the color swatches, or just download the one they have made up here:
http://www.marruttusa.com/printer/suppo ... .php#purge

http://www.marruttusa.com/printer/suppo ... 0-help.php

Purge files are there for other printers also....



Paul

pleverington wrote:Here's one for the 3880 for ten bucks:  
http://www.sdott.com/product.php?productid=19397

And one for the3800 for free:
http://www.americaninkjetsystems.com/ep ... manual.pdf


And if you want to make up your own purge file print sheet specifically for the 3800 or 3880(cause mine is for the 9900 which has orange and green inks also) you can get the values, sample the color swatches, or just download the one they have made up here:
http://www.marruttusa.com/printer/suppo ... .php#purge

http://www.marruttusa.com/printer/suppo ... 0-help.php

Purge files are there for other printers also....



Paul

Great help Paul, thanks so much!

Awesome links, Paul! Thanks!

Bye the bye my purge file is made with each color on an individual layer. What this does is allow me to turn off or on whatever color I need to so as to not waste exorbitant amounts of ink of each color that is not having a problem, instead, targeting only those colors as necessary. So making up one's own purge file might be in one's own self interest in the case if ink costs being more of a concern. On my 9900 now I run 750 ml cartridges and buy my ink at $75 per 1000ml.... so do the math. Running a complete purge file print is a few pennies. But for small cartridges as found on 3800's and so on and purchased from epson, ink costs are a big concern. So maybe simply purging the color your having problems with is best. All that being said I believe in moving all inks through your printers system paramount, so a complete purge of every color at least twice a week is definitely a good idea. Again we are all battling sludge build up due to settling of the ink solids and drying out in our printers. This affects print head, lines, suction pump, and dampers. One must NEVER leave these two detriments to take control or it's game over. Purge regardless and print often.

Paul

pleverington wrote:

Bye the bye here's an ink purge file for epson's K3 inks which when printed on an 8 X 10 use's about .8 ml of ink. This will have quite a bit more clearing and maintenace benefit than only printing an ink nozzle check which uses around .1 ml. If your not printing maybe print this at least once or twice a week. If weather is extremely dry maybe more.


Paul

Thanks for the maintenance test print readout Paul. You are right in that this is a good way of helping keep those nozzles clean! I use roll paper in my 9900, so I made a 17" & a 24" (most popular rolls I use) wide by 4" tall test print by putting each color side by side and printing it out that way. I'm just too lazy to undue the roll and put in a sheet, so I do it that way.