Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: dseelig on July 14, 2014, 01:19:08 pm

Title: Epson 3880 blocked head I get a message saying it cannot clean it
Post by: dseelig on July 14, 2014, 01:19:08 pm

Epson 3880 blocked head I get a message saying it cannot clean it some kind of cleaning error . I am now after 5  clean attempts out of an ink. What to try next? Epson service center? It is the first of the black inks when you see the nozzle check Options David

Title: Re: Epson 3880 blocked head I get a message saying it cannot clean it
Post by: hugowolf on July 14, 2014, 04:57:55 pm

I don't think it is ever a good idea to do repetitive cleaning cycles, without a regular print between.

The black will be whichever black it is set for. It can't print both PK and MK.

What does the nozzle check look like? Is the whole color gone, or are just some of the nozzles missing?

Brian A

Title: Re: Epson 3880 blocked head I get a message saying it cannot clean it
Post by: dseelig on July 14, 2014, 06:34:13 pm

the whole color is gone nothing in the first plot of black

Title: Re: Epson 3880 blocked head I get a message saying it cannot clean it
Post by: dseelig on July 14, 2014, 06:34:47 pm

it is set on photo black

Title: Re: Epson 3880 blocked head I get a message saying it cannot clean it
Post by: BillK on July 14, 2014, 07:17:17 pm

I have seen bad chips on the ink cartridge report there is still ink remaining when
the cartridge is actually empty.

Worth a look, Pull that black cartridge and see if it feels empty.

Title: Re: Epson 3880 blocked head I get a message saying it cannot clean it
Post by: dseelig on July 14, 2014, 08:42:00 pm

Billk I think you are a genus or at least smarter then me on this matter feels empty Thank You David

Title: Re: Epson 3880 blocked head I get a message saying it cannot clean it
Post by: mfryd on July 20, 2014, 02:39:23 pm

An empty black cartridge that thinks it has ink, may be a symptom of a stuck black-change valve.

There is a valve that switches the head between matte black and photo black.  One of the he failure modes allows black ink to leak out, emptying the cart.  The chip doesn't know about the leak, and thinks the cart still has ink left.

If your replacement black ink cart quickly exhibits the same symptom, then I would strongly suspect that this is your problem.

Sometimes switching black inks can unstick the valve.

Remember, even if you never switch black inks, the 3880 will occasionally initiate a switch for a cleaning. 

The 3880 failures I see most often are failure of this valve, and failure of the networking port.

Title: Re: Epson 3880 blocked head I get a message saying it cannot clean it
Post by: dseelig on August 25, 2014, 07:01:33 pm

Well it lookalike I have the stuck valve problem. I need this printer to work and work well in a few weeks. Any thing else besides changing ink form photo black to matte black I should try. Or if switching this ink does not work does this mean it is toast.
thanks david