Epson 3880 random ink drops on prints

[soboyle]

Today I started getting small drops of blue and red ink on my prints. Seems to be limited to the left 1/2 of the print. I've looked inside the printer, vacuumed any little dust out, can't see anything that might be catching ink, and I'm still getting the ink drops, sometimes a few, sometimes many on each print. Maintenance cartridge is pretty new, 85% left on it. Any thoughts on cause or suggestions for fixing this?

[NAwlins_Contrarian]

Been there, had that problem, albeit with a little (dye-ink) R280 and magenta (or light magenta) ink drops:
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/59404855
Fortunately for me, the ink spots stopped after a couple of prints. IIRC it was suggested that I acted imprudently by printing borderless--I get that spraying a little extra ink into the printer's guts is a bad idea. Maybe try running a nozzle-check or two to see whether passing a couple of sheets cleans up whatever is causing the mess.

[donbga]

Today I started getting small drops of blue and red ink on my prints. Seems to be limited to the left 1/2 of the print. I've looked inside the printer, vacuumed any little dust out, can't see anything that might be catching ink, and I'm still getting the ink drops, sometimes a few, sometimes many on each print. Maintenance cartridge is pretty new, 85% left on it. Any thoughts on cause or suggestions for fixing this?

Take a look at this Youtube video:

https://goo.gl/tTk9Me

[Conner999]

You need to clean the capping station and wipers. An unreal amount of old ink and gunk gets  stuck around the capping station wipers and clogs the intakes leading to the maintenance pad. You tube has a video that details process. I had same issue and was startled by #$%^& and dried ink clogging area up - and ink buildup on head resting pad. Now quickly clean 1/mos.