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clogged ink - question

Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 7:46 pm
by Bill Morales
I have a Epson 7900 that I haven't used in over a month (I know). Doing a nozzle check it shows that I have a clogged green ink. I've done several normal cleans, a couple pair cleans, and two power cleans without any success. The green cartridge is about 80% full. I know I have to get the green working properly and hope I don't need a new nozzle. A question that I have is if I print an image or green blocks the way it is, it prints ok. Is the printer just creating greens from yellows and blues?

The nozzle check print shows zero green ink being applied. How many power cleans should I do before giving up? I appreciate any suggestions.

Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 8:09 am
by E.J. Peiker

Re: clogged ink - question

Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:45 am
by Wayne Fox
With Epson’s newer printers, distilled water is pretty safe, windex is pretty risky.  I’ve seen at least 6 or so Epson’s that have tried windex (including one of my own) which seems to have damaged electronics in the head (after using, even more nozzles are missing and are unrecoverable). Certainly circumstantial evidence, but I’d try water first, it should be enough to soften any dried ink in nozzles.

However, if a nozzle check shows 0 color in a channel, it isn’t from clogs.  This is almost always caused by a faulty or stuck damper.

As far as power cleans, they should be used very sparingly.  After a power clean, always print a page that will use all colors pretty aggressively immediately after and before checking nozzles, because that process can sometimes pull air back into a nozzle so there is no ink available.  But power cleans can actually damage a head.  In the newest printers p6000,7000,8000,9000) power cleans are inside an administrator password protected option, not available in the normal maintenance menu.

I have a page I print after any nozzle clean to make sure air is bled out and the ink has a chance to be printed.  Often missing nozzles after a clean are not the result of a problem other than a little air in the nozzle.  In fact, If I only have a few missing nozzles, print this page instead of doing a clean often remedies the problem.

Here’s a link if anyone is interested.  

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/233 ... age_v2.jpg

Re: clogged ink - question

Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 12:09 pm
by signgrap
Plus one on Wayne's suggestion of using Distilled water. Very low risk of damaging anything. Distilled water is like a vacuum in that it "sucks up" anything that is water soluble. 

Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:10 pm
by Bill Morales
Thanks guys for taking the time to reply. I will check out the links provided and see what I can do. I appreciate it!!