Epson 4900 clogs - what works for me

[John V.]

Just sharing what seems to work for me. I've been successfully doing this for a while now. I just had to go through this procedure last night and it worked once again, so I figured I'd throw it out there.

The 4900 is powered off when not in use
Power on once or twice a week (if sitting) and print a nozzle check pattern. Cyan is consistently a problem and the first to show clogs. 5 days of sitting powered off & I'll put money on it..
Run a normal cleaning cycle on Cyan (or whatever is showing clogs)
The goal is just to get only 80-90% showing (each color) on a print check pattern. Usually 1 or 2 normal cleaning cycles.
Be sure to print a check pattern after each cleaning cycle.
Once 80-90% showing, power off & let sit overnight.
Power on, print a check pattern, no clogs...
Works for me..

It's kind of humid here all year...

JD

[Nora_nor]

Someone posted a link to this solution for air bubbles a while ago
I do not know which side he tilted it to
http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/epson-4900-extreme-clogging-and-a-solution.8782/

I've been using an Epson 4900 with refillable carts for a few months now, and had no significant clogging issues, apart from the occasional missing nozzle that cleared instantly after running a simple clean cycle.

A few days ago though, in the middle of a long print run, one of the colours (the Vivid Light Magenta), stopped coming out completely. This is probably an air in the lines problem rather than clogged nozzles.

During the last few days, I tried simple cleaning cycles, followed by a "powerful" one, let the printer sit overnight, printed purge patterns, repeated the clean cycles, did a few powerful cycles one after another, but nothing seemed to be working.

A quick google search revealed that this is apparently a common issue with the 4900 unfortunately, but found no suggested solution other than performing a re-initialization of the printer (wasting a ton of ink in the process).

So, I wanted to share what I did to resolve the issue, it will hopefully help others facing the same situation.
Working on the assumption that air is causing the problem, I first moved the printhead in the middle of the printer (opening the cover while the head is moving unlocks it), and tapped it gently, repeating for a minute or so. I then printed a nozzle check, and, lo and behold, some random nozzles were firing again, after three days of no sign of ink from them. I then proceeded to perform a powerful cleaning cycle (Epson claims it's designed to remove air from the system, it didn't work the last ten or so times though), but while the printer was cleaning I tilted it on its side and kept it there until it was done (I have no idea how the printhead is designed, but I was hoping it would help the air escape). That actually cleared the remaining of the missing nozzles, the test print is now perfect again.