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Author Topic: Second hand epson 11880 - help !  (Read 3499 times)

blpanther

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Second hand epson 11880 - help !
« on: March 17, 2012, 09:10:08 pm »

Hi,
I have possibly made an expensive mistake - buying second hand 11880. The seller wasn't exactly the user of it, so I have just asked him to print a nozzle check which came out with Cyan missing 10 lines and Magenta 6. I thought, fine, after a few cleaning cycles it should be fine.
I have done quite a few cleaning cycles, and there is no difference at all.
What is quite strange and maybe also the source of the problem - is that once the printer is switched on it, the pressure pumps are constantly working, with a few seconds gaps. Is this normal ?
After studying the field repair guide I found out that Cyan and Magenta are on the same part of the print head - is it possible there isn't enough pressure getting there or something to do with that ?
Can anybody confirm if the printer should be completely quiet once started up ?
Many thanks for any advice....
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blpanther

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Re: Second hand epson 11880 - help !
« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2012, 07:28:21 am »

Are there no 11880 users here who can just confirm if the pressure pumps should or should not make noise while not in use but powered up ?
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Farmer

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Re: Second hand epson 11880 - help !
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2012, 04:50:57 pm »

They should not be running constantly.  At some point after power up, they should stop.
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Phil Brown

plui

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Re: Second hand epson 11880 - help !
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2012, 05:16:08 pm »

From my experience there are some startup and shutdown sounds which last 15-20 seconds. I think these are the pumps you mention. Then there is some sort of check on the display screen to confirm which media is loaded. By this time the fan/pump sounds have stopped.

There is a screen selection under "Maintenance" that allows for  cleaning individual colors, well, actually pairs of colors... Have you tried to isolate the cleanings to those colors in question?
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blpanther

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Re: Second hand epson 11880 - help !
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2012, 07:07:29 pm »

Thanks. Yes, I have tried cleaning colour pairs.
What happens is that the pumps (there is 3 of them) spin for about 2-3 seconds, then stop for 2 seconds, then spin again. And this goes on all the time, even 1h after the printer is powered on. The communication with pc is all fine, so I can send job to print. The pumps sometimes stop for a while, but even when printing is finished they still spin with this short intervals again. Of course the prints are visibly missing the Cyan and Magenta. Other colours are completely fine.
That makes me think that maybe it is something to with the pressure. In the field repair guide is shows that they're both on the same part of print head - I am thinking that maybe there is a problem with pressure and print head is all fine, but ink doens't get pushed through ?
But it is strange that the printer will not 'realize' there is something wrong that the pumps are constantly working...
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fetish

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Re: Second hand epson 11880 - help !
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2012, 01:50:39 am »

I have that sometimes on my MK

Release the carriage and turn off the printer, push the carriage to the far left of the printer and start cleaning the cap and wiper sections with lint free cloth and windex solution.
then wet a lint free cloth with windex, fold it maybe 3 times, and clamp it like you would any roll paper, and move the print head across it. this should scrape out any gunk that has built up over the years under the head.

after the whole exercise, just run a normal cleaning cycle and maybe a couple of selective color cleaning cycles if nozzle checks still shows blockages (should be a lot less now).

solves my problem all the time.
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Farmer

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Re: Second hand epson 11880 - help !
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2012, 02:50:20 am »

It might also help to remove and replace all cartridges and ensure they're seated in correctly.  You might also want to check that they're genuine.
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Phil Brown

Ernst Dinkla

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Re: Second hand epson 11880 - help !
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2012, 09:45:05 am »

If there is a leak in one of the cartridges' membranes the pump can not build up air pressure enough to be switched off by the pressure sensor and the feeding of ink to the head may suffer. There could also be a leak with the cartridge's air chamber connection to the printer air pump. You could test the cart with a short tube on the air connector, blow on that tube while the cart is immersed in water. Air bells coming up from the membrane should be visible. Dry the cart thoroughly afterwards, especially the chip connectors.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst
Shareware too:
330+ paper white spectral plots:
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
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blpanther

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Re: Second hand epson 11880 - help !
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2012, 07:18:33 pm »

After closer inspection with right cover off I have noticed air bubble about 6-7mm inside the cyan damper. I'm not sure if it is possible at all to remove it with power cleaning, I suppose not, as I have tried and it didn't make any difference. Does that mean the head need to come off ? :(
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Hollow4

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Re: Second hand epson 11880 - help !
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2012, 01:55:39 pm »

If there is an air bubble in the line and you have done a power cleaning, which pushes ink down the line, then you may have a slight air leak at one of the ends of the tubing.

Call Epson Tech support and see what they say.
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