Suggested nozzle test for Epson 7900

[michael a]

Like many of you, I have had my share of problems with clogging on the 7900.  I have concluded that it is necessary to turn the printer on every day, or at least every other day, and print something to keep the ink flowing.  

(It would have been nice if Epson had copied from their competitor, and implemented the system of HP to have the printer turn itself on every day, and drop a little ink each day for the same purpose.  The Epson solution, AID, simply doesn't work very well for many of us and wastes a lot of ink, as has been documented here in numerous posts.  Most people have simply turned off the so-called solution of Epson and resort to using manual nozzle checks and the service menu for cleaning.)

When you print the nozzle check on the 7900, it prints a pattern that consists of very light lines for each ink type.  By comparison, a similar feature on the old 4000 printer laid down and printed small solid squares of each ink type.  When I had an ink clog on the 4000, I would ignore the power clean, and just print those solid squares 3 to 6 times, and the act of printing the squares would clear any clogs almost every time.  Those small squares were small, like 1" by 1" but they printed enough pure ink for each color to clear the inevitable clogs.  This manual system worked far better than the automated system of the 7900 and used far less ink to clear most clogs.

For those of us who print infrequently, to be able to print off some solid squares of each ink type, as the 4000 did, would really help keep the ink flowing.  And it would do so better than the light lines that are printed with the nozzle check on the 7900.

Does anyone know how we could set up tiff or jpeg file of squares that would be the pure ink for each color of ink on the 7900?  Those who print infrequently could turn on their printers once very two or three days and print that off to keep the ink flowing.

I'm just not sure how to set up squares of color that would match the actual ink colors in the printer.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Ernst Dinkla]

MIS has a free utility that will print solid patches at selectable time intervals.
Windows compatible up to XP. It could be that someone adapted it for Vista, search the web.
Called Autoprint(2) link somewhere halfway this page, read the text too, there's a reference to a Mac solution from Peerless:

http://www.inksupply.com/cobratrouble.cfm

Long time ago I used it.



met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

[Wayne Fox]

Like many of you, I have had my share of problems with clogging on the 7900.  I have concluded that it is necessary to turn the printer on every day, or at least every other day, and print something to keep the ink flowing.  

(It would have been nice if Epson had copied from their competitor, and implemented the system of HP to have the printer turn itself on every day, and drop a little ink each day for the same purpose.  The Epson solution, AID, simply doesn't work very well for many of us and wastes a lot of ink, as has been documented here in numerous posts.  Most people have simply turned off the so-called solution of Epson and resort to using manual nozzle checks and the service menu for cleaning.)

When you print the nozzle check on the 7900, it prints a pattern that consists of very light lines for each ink type.  By comparison, a similar feature on the old 4000 printer laid down and printed small solid squares of each ink type.  When I had an ink clog on the 4000, I would ignore the power clean, and just print those solid squares 3 to 6 times, and the act of printing the squares would clear any clogs almost every time.  Those small squares were small, like 1" by 1" but they printed enough pure ink for each color to clear the inevitable clogs.  This manual system worked far better than the automated system of the 7900 and used far less ink to clear most clogs.

For those of us who print infrequently, to be able to print off some solid squares of each ink type, as the 4000 did, would really help keep the ink flowing.  And it would do so better than the light lines that are printed with the nozzle check on the 7900.

Does anyone know how we could set up tiff or jpeg file of squares that would be the pure ink for each color of ink on the 7900?  Those who print infrequently could turn on their printers once very two or three days and print that off to keep the ink flowing.

I'm just not sure how to set up squares of color that would match the actual ink colors in the printer.

Thanks for any suggestions.

I've considered this as well, since it seems most "clogs" are really just no ink at the nozzle.  If I could isolate the exact color to send it may take less ink to return them to normal.  Just haven't gotten around to trying it.

However, I haven't found any real relationship to having the printer off and the need to clear nozzles.  I've gone a couple of weeks with no problem, other times overnight and I have problems.   I don't htink leaving the printer off exacerbates the problem ... I can't say that when the printer is off for a long time it is any more problematic than a day or two.  So I don't bother trying to fire it up every day or two to avoid the problem.

[Ryan Grayley]

However, I haven't found any real relationship to having the printer off and the need to clear nozzles.  I've gone a couple of weeks with no problem, other times overnight and I have problems.   I don't htink leaving the printer off exacerbates the problem ... I can't say that when the printer is off for a long time it is any more problematic than a day or two.  So I don't bother trying to fire it up every day or two to avoid the problem.

Same here.

[na goodman]

You could try this: http://www.harveyheadcleaner.com/
At this time it's a Windows only program.

[pleverington]

You shouldn't be experiencing that level of clogging. If your still able I would get epson to work on it under warrantee. I have the 9900 which is the same design except for size and have nearly no clogging issues. If I do, a simple low level clean to the affected colors does the trick. I have gone nearly two months without use of the printer and when I fired it up and did a nozzle check-- no problem. Are you having problems with one or two specific colors or all the colors? This could be something wrong at your capping station or could be the air pump. Or a leaking line.  If your starving for ink because of low pressure all the colors would be affected. Did you ever experience some bad paper strikes? After a large no of cleanings your wiper blade can get gunked up., How many cleanings have you done?

Paul

[Ken]

I kept getting "Some nozzles clogged" on my 7900 after running three normal and one power clean. To my eye, the nozzle test print looked fine after the first normal clean. After the power clean I looked at it with a loupe (Epson recommends 10X magnification) and saw that one of the magenta squiggles was just not as robust as its siblings. Veronica at Epson tech support said the sensors are extremely sensitive, and it could be a speck of paper fiber or dust. She recommended running a print that would use as many colors as possible. I have the PDI Test Image (which I have uploaded here, and you can get it and other excellent resources from: http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article...st_images.html). I reduced it to about 5X7 inches and printed it on plain paper... followed by a perfect nozzle test.

[Wayne Fox]

I kept getting "Some nozzles clogged" on my 7900 after running three normal and one power clean. To my eye, the nozzle test print looked fine after the first normal clean. After the power clean I looked at it with a loupe (Epson recommends 10X magnification) and saw that one of the magenta squiggles was just not as robust as its siblings. Veronica at Epson tech support said the sensors are extremely sensitive, and it could be a speck of paper fiber or dust. She recommended running a print that would use as many colors as possible. I have the PDI Test Image (which I have uploaded here, and you can get it and other excellent resources from: http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article...st_images.html). I reduced it to about 5X7 inches and printed it on plain paper... followed by a perfect nozzle test.

I've tried clearing some issues this way, but what if you have an actual clog. What exact color do I need to send the printer to print out a 5x7 that uses just the clogged colors ink.  If I could isolate the exact RGB number to send for each color, a simple patch on a sheet of typing paper might resolve most of these issues and take less ink that a CL1 clean.

Maybe not possible, I think I read some where there are about 20,000 dithering combinations to create any individual color, so maybe no matter what you do you can't isolate a color that effectively.

[Mussi_Spectraflow]

I've tried clearing some issues this way, but what if you have an actual clog. What exact color do I need to send the printer to print out a 5x7 that uses just the clogged colors ink.  If I could isolate the exact RGB number to send for each color, a simple patch on a sheet of typing paper might resolve most of these issues and take less ink that a CL1 clean.

Maybe not possible, I think I read some where there are about 20,000 dithering combinations to create any individual color, so maybe no matter what you do you can't isolate a color that effectively.

Yeah we've been talking to Epson a lot and they are certainly aware of the over sensitivity of the nozzle clog detection and are trying to tweak it with firmware. It's interesting to not that while the literature talks about less nozzle clogs due to the new head coating it avoids the fact that there are now physically more nozzles on the printer and so the net affect is not seen as improvement to the end user.
Also I always the the printer turned on. Our early production unit has been powered on continuously for over a year and I have never run a power clean on it. There are certainly times when an absence of use for a week or two meant that it had to do multiple cleaning cycles, but I've found in general that leaving the printers on has helped.

[Mussi_Spectraflow]

I've tried clearing some issues this way, but what if you have an actual clog. What exact color do I need to send the printer to print out a 5x7 that uses just the clogged colors ink.  If I could isolate the exact RGB number to send for each color, a simple patch on a sheet of typing paper might resolve most of these issues and take less ink that a CL1 clean.

Maybe not possible, I think I read some where there are about 20,000 dithering combinations to create any individual color, so maybe no matter what you do you can't isolate a color that effectively.

Yeah we've been talking to Epson a lot and they are certainly aware of the over sensitivity of the nozzle clog detection and are trying to tweak it with firmware. It's interesting to not that while the literature talks about less nozzle clogs due to the new head coating it avoids the fact that there are now physically more nozzles on the printer and so the net affect is not seen as improvement to the end user.
Also I always the the printer turned on. Our early production unit has been powered on continuously for over a year and I have never run a power clean on it. There are certainly times when an absence of use for a week or two meant that it had to do multiple cleaning cycles, but I've found in general that leaving the printers on has helped.

[fjmcsu]

In general my experience has been the opposite regarding nozzle clogs & leaving printer on. In this forum it was suggested that it be left OFF to reduce clogging & indeed this has helped dramatically.Perhaps it has something to do with the low humidity I deal with almost year round.

[Wayne Fox]

It's interesting to not that while the literature talks about less nozzle clogs due to the new head coating it avoids the fact that there are now physically more nozzles on the printer and so the net affect is not seen as improvement to the end user.

Not sure I agree with this.  The head is basically the same as the 11880 - same number of nozzle - which I have had for over 2 years, and only had to clean nozzles a handful of times.  The 7900 requires "cleaning" far more frequently.

I'm guessing heavily used machines have less problems, but there still seems to be an issue with the design of the machine whereas the nozzles "lose" ink ... not a clog, just no ink present.  This can be seen by massive amounts of missing nozzles (or in some cases a complete color missing).  This indicates no ink, not gobs of ink clogging every single nozzle.

Personally I think the pressure system of the 79/9900 is problematic ... not sure what they did between the 11880 and the 7900, but it was a step backwards.

As far as leaving it on, I guess it would depend on the true cause of the failed nozzles.  If they are indeed clogs (dried ink) you are better turning the machine off since it will seal the head.  On the other hand if they problem is pressure and failure of ink to get to the nozzle, then leaving it on may maintain that pressure.

[michael a]

You could try this: http://www.harveyheadcleaner.com/
At this time it's a Windows only program.

The Harvey Head Cleaner both prints out the ink colors, and can do it on an automated basis.   At this time the maximum number of ink colors it can handle is eight.  They say on their web site that they will modify it for any printer.  I have written to them three times but they have not responded.

The automation would be nice, but of even more importance is to be able to print the pure colors as we could on the 4000.  That would help keep the ink flowing and would help resolve clogs, as explained in my first post in this thread.  Wayne commented that it would be nice to know how to do that.  

It would be great if Epson could provide a file for that purpose that we could just print from, if they are reading this forum.  It would be even better if a future firmware release included two nozzle checks -- the current one and the type used on the 4000.  As I said before, when I had a clog on the 4000 I just printed the nozzle check three or four times until it cleared itself up.  No power clean, no AID.  It was simple and it worked.

Having said that, the Harvey Head Cleaner would be a great little program for anyone who takes an extended vacation and wants the printer to print each day to keep the ink flowing.  If they ever respond I'll let everyone know.