Strange ink blobs/lines on Epson R3000

[publiceric]

I'm experiencing very frustrating print problems with my Epson r3000 lately. About every other print (or sometimes every print), I get horizontal and vertical blobs/lines of black ink on the print. Sometimes they are in the midst of the image, more often than not outside of it – above and to the left and right. It looks as if someone took a fountain pen overloaded with black ink and drew .25" - .5" lines, often in a T formation. The ink is so heavy that I have one image from three days ago where the ink in the blob isn't dry yet. I'm attaching a shot of the latest.

Nozzle check test patterns typically show gaps in the rightmost black grid, and a corresponding pattern of black in the leftmost yellow grid. Head cleaning then produces a pristine nozzle check, but it may go right back to laying down blobs in the next print. I haven't extensively tested it, but it seems like it may only be doing this on Photo Black prints. I swapped out the PK and then later the MK inks with brand new ones, but the problem persists.

Any thoughts or suggestions? The series I'm printing out is on Moab Slickrock Pearl 13" x 19", so every failed print is costing me $3, plus whatever the wasted ink is. 

Eric
http://www.erickellyart.com

[Erland]

The R3000 is somewhat famous for failing pretty early with just this fault. The printhead gives up.. I don't have one myself, but I was going to buy one, until I read about it pretty often.

Try pulling the plug a couple of seconds after you booted it, and hopefully the carrier will be loose, so you can slide it to the side, and check both your capping station, and fold a paper towel, and the slide the carrier back over, just to swide the underside of your printhead. DOn't think it will do much, but at least give it a try. Perhaps, try printing with a cheap office paper until you see if it's ok.

[Konstantin]

1. How old is your printer
2. Aprox number of prints
2. Has it ever been cleaned (capping station, wiper blade, print head)

I had something similar and found the issue was caused by leaky black ink damper.
Can you check if you see any ink leakage from the top of the head?

[DougJ]

This issue happened on my first R3000, oh about a month under two years after I purchased the printer as a new printer from an Epson dealer.

I had the problem diagnosed not by that dealer but by an independent and Epson qualified techie.  The problem was in the black ink/matte ink switching mechanism, not the print head itself.

I had the problem fixed by having a new and complete ink mechanism installed (IIRC, independent parts of the ink/printing system cannot be replaced bit by bit; it's an all or nothing issue).

Since my sense was that my problem began when I made a switch from PK to MK--and since I rarely used the MK ink, this would have been one of the very few switches I had made in the two year period--I decided to buy a second R3000 and dedicated one of them to PK-ink-only usage and the other to MK-ink-only usage.  I use the PK ink pprinter on a regular basis and print a couple of test images each month on the MK printer just "to keep it honest."  

Now a little over two years on for both printers, they are both working as advertised, giving high quality prints.

Ciao,
Doug

[Jane]

I had the R3000, used it for years. It's now replaced with the P800 but not because of any serious failing. A few times over the years it would produce lines and stray ink marks ( not talking about edge strikes, which I think are down to curled paper ). The first thing to try is repeated nozzle cleanings. If some of your ink cartridges are low, you might need to install full cartridges - the nozzle cleanings will use up considerable ink. There is also the possibility that your waste ink pad is overfull and needs to replaced. A third course of action to a careful cleaning of the printer's innards with Q-tips, Bounty towels and Windex. You can find detailed instructions for this kind of cleaning online and the main thing to remember is to follow the instructions very carefully and be gentle, especially with the wiper blade. That last option is what Erland was referring to. It does take a while to carry out the cleaning and can be messy. The easier option is take the printer to an authorized Epson service firm and have it cleaned - if you do that, you might as well have them replace the waste ink pad as well.