regular printer maintenance?

[epines]

I recently bought an Epson 7890, and I'd like to know what people recommend for regular printer maintenance, keeping heads and lines clean, etc.

Should I leave it on or off?

Right now I'm printing a simple nozzle-check pattern twice a week, and running a cleaning if necessary. Does this sound appropriate?

Any other suggestions are appreciated.

thanks
ethan

[Some Guy]

I made some thick vinyl covers to fit over mine.  A yard or two from local fabric shop and some vinyl glue for the corners.  No need to sew it up if you make flaps for the corners so i completely cover the top and all four sides down to the table.

Then I took a small plastic travel bar-soap container and put some of those potting soil water gel beads in it.  About 1/4 teaspoonful is enough as they hold a lot of water.  Then soak it until they swell up and hold all the water they can.  Stick it under the vinyl cover on top of the printer to keep the humidity up under it and it seems to help to keep Epson clogs down.

I did the humidifier thing and it was a total pain to keep two units full and running 24/7.  Especially in a large room with open hallways and dry air from A/C.  A snug vinyl cover and water gel beads seems to do better for me.

I also flush that print head parking pads with head cleaner about once a month and wipe of the wiper with a!-tip and cleaner too.

SG

[Landscapes]

I would say the best maintenance for any printer is simply to use it.  There is nothing better to keep it from clogging than to keep the ink moving.  A nozzle check pattern I don't think moves enough ink... you need to print at least an 8x10 with all the colors.  I'm not sure how much ink your Epson uses for cleaning, but since you have to do some cleans in addition to your nozzle checks, I almost wonder if two or three 8x10 prints wouldn't actually use up less ink than having to do a clean.  If I recall from my Epson 4000 back when I had it, a clean cycle would be around 10ml of ink, which is perhaps just over 1ml per color, but this equates to very many 8x10 prints that could have been done.  Sure there is the paper expense, and paper is usually more expensive than the ink, but I still think its better for the ink to go onto the paper rather than into the waste tank.

[HSakols]

I have an Epson 3880 and will be away for two months during the summer.  I live in the scorching hot foothills of California so I am thinking of storing it in a cool dark crawl space under my house, but don't know if it is worth trying to move. 

[PeterAit]

I may be one of the lucky 7900 owners, but all I do is keep the printer covered with a sheet of plastic and run a nozzle check once or twice a week. The plastic cover is clear, FWIW, so I can run the nozzle check without taking the cover off. I have never had a serious clog in almost 3 years. We do have a WHOLE-HOUSE HUMIDIFIER (whoops) and run a stand-alone humidifier during the winter, mostly for our musical instruments but I am sure the printer likes it, too. And we live in North Carolina, not a particularly dry area.

[louoates]

Last May, 2014, I left my Epson 9900 idle for the next 4 months. I just turned it off and covered it with a sheet. I set the A/C temperature of the house to 85 degrees. When I returned in September I took off the sheet, turned it on, and ran a nozzle check. It showed lots of printing gaps in most of the colors. I ran the simple cleaning cycle from the 9900 console and got a perfect nozzle check so I was off and running.
My house is in dry Mesa, AZ and has no added moisture.
This year I phoned Epson 9900 support and asked if there was any other recommended summer vacation procedure and was told that there wasn't, just continue with what I was doing.  

[disneytoy]

On a 9890, in auto clean mode (now i use service mode pair cleaning) it used 38mls!!! I could print 12 16x20 using 38ml ink!!!

[louoates]

On a 9890, in auto clean mode (now i use service mode pair cleaning) it used 38mls!!! I could print 12 16x20 using 38ml ink!!!

Wise move. The Epson 9900 on-location service tech who recently replaced my printer heads cautioned against the auto clean mode. According to him if there were any nozzle clogs whatsoever, even one, it would trigger the auto clean mode and not only consume huge quantities of ink but also put lots of stress on the nozzles. Which is probably why the heads needed replacing.

[martin archer-shee]

Re 3880:

I have been away for up to 3.5 months and no  problem restarting the 3880. Turned it off and 3.5 months later turned it on. printed right after a startup head cleaning.

Martin