Raw & Post Processing, Printing > Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks
Clogged Light Black Ink on Epson 7900 (same line on each nozzle check pattern)
Mark D Segal:
--- Quote from: Garnick on April 23, 2011, 03:13:27 pm ---OH MY!!! In my HUMBLE opinion, this sort of activity would almost definitely jeopardize the warranty on the 9900.
Gary
--- End quote ---
You're probably correct, but in my case it's an academic issue. This is an Epson problem. A new printer should not be doing this, period. Their responsibility to find the solution. I'm a firm believer in the theory of comparative advantage, and not muddying the waters.
artbot:
well you can visually see the deflected nozzles printed in the pattern. and the newness of the head should mean that it shouldn't be having issues. but there are bad heads out there, right out of the box.
the term "ink starvation" means that over the course of printing, the printer's supply system can't keep up with the demand. if you get a bad pattern before printing than the term doesn't apply.
as for bad ink, that would be seen across the head.
...you mentioned that patterns vary... go back and study your patterns... see if there are single jets that never ever print compared to ones that are here and there. this will tell you a lot about what is going on at the head platen. constant moving around of the pattern is a sign of air leaking during the ink being drawn into the head by the capping station.
but with your printer this is less likely, because you mentioned that C and vM clean together as a pair. bad cap seal will not be able to isolate this issue to one channel. it would be happening to both C and vM.
as for the head soak, i haven't seen a x900 in person. but it doesn't appear to me that the capping station isn't within reach of a squirt bottle. slide the head carriage to the left and there you go, capping station. and no, you don't have to be an epson tech to fix an epson. these machines are all the same and have been for 12 years. that's like needing to be a camaro tech.
Farmer:
You might want to actually see an Epson 900 series printer before giving too much technical advice, or before saying that they're all the same for the last 12 years. The differences between, say, an Epson Stylus Pro 7000 and an Epson Stylus Pro 4900 are substantial, to say the least.
Your comments about nozzle patterns is fair enough and I think most people here are across those concepts.
Mark - there's an entire forum for Epson printers at Signs 101 (and for each manufacturer, basically), but it's not the kind of place they like random public registering - they have a general warning on the front page that effectively says it's for professional sign and display printers - but anyone can read. It's a very different market with solvent where DIY maintenance and repair is common place on what are essentially much simpler machines being used to much lower specifications. That's changing to a degree, and I think the change is accelerating. Higher quality printing with low solvent is now quite a useful niche, but very low cost, basic quality printing is still the mainstay of solvent.
Mark D Segal:
--- Quote from: artbot on April 23, 2011, 04:17:28 pm ---well you can visually see the deflected nozzles printed in the pattern. and the newness of the head should mean that it shouldn't be having issues. but there are bad heads out there, right out of the box.
the term "ink starvation" means that over the course of printing, the printer's supply system can't keep up with the demand. if you get a bad pattern before printing than the term doesn't apply.
as for bad ink, that would be seen across the head.
...you mentioned that patterns vary... go back and study your patterns... see if there are single jets that never ever print compared to ones that are here and there. this will tell you a lot about what is going on at the head platen. constant moving around of the pattern is a sign of air leaking during the ink being drawn into the head by the capping station.
but with your printer this is less likely, because you mentioned that C and vM clean together as a pair. bad cap seal will not be able to isolate this issue to one channel. it would be happening to both C and vM.
as for the head soak, i haven't seen a x900 in person. but it doesn't appear to me that the capping station isn't within reach of a squirt bottle. slide the head carriage to the left and there you go, capping station. and no, you don't have to be an epson tech to fix an epson. these machines are all the same and have been for 12 years. that's like needing to be a camaro tech.
--- End quote ---
Bad ink can be one colour.
There are no jets that never ever print.
The pattern isn't constantly moving around - it just differs from one machine start-up to the next. It's fine during printing. The trouble is on start-up only.
You can't just slide the head to the left on this printer, and even if it were all that simple, one would need to know what the problem is to know whether the squirt bottle is the solution. I think there is an ink droppage or dryout in that head which happens when the machine isn't working for more than a day or two, but why remains unresolved. It's not even clear to me that just because C and VM get cleaned as one pair, they are sealed as a pair. Just haven't seen service diagrams for the 4900 print head so I don't know, and I think anyone who hasn't seen the service diagrams wouldn't necessarily know either.
Anyhow, thanks for trying. It's been a useful discussion.
Mark D Segal:
--- Quote from: Farmer on April 23, 2011, 05:21:09 pm ---
Mark - there's an entire forum for Epson printers at Signs 101 (and for each manufacturer, basically), but it's not the kind of place they like random public registering - they have a general warning on the front page that effectively says it's for professional sign and display printers - but anyone can read. It's a very different market with solvent where DIY maintenance and repair is common place on what are essentially much simpler machines being used to much lower specifications. That's changing to a degree, and I think the change is accelerating. Higher quality printing with low solvent is now quite a useful niche, but very low cost, basic quality printing is still the mainstay of solvent.
--- End quote ---
Phil - yes I'm aware. And no I won't be tinkering in my printer or adding solvent or doing anything of the sort. I have two issues with this machine, neither of them are a train smash, Epson America knows what they are, and they remain unresolved. I've been treading lightly because there may be issues in the company due to the situation in Japan, but sooner or later Epson will have to do the needful and I expect they will.
Turning back to the main topic of this thread - the 7900 - and Gary's experience with his 9900 - I have colleagues here in Toronto using both of these printers extensively and they sing the praises of them. This means they are capable of first-rate performance. Needless to say, any piece of complex machinery can have issues, and one hopes the manufacturer retains an interest in going the extra mile to keep their reputation intact. This is a very competitive market segment.
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