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Author Topic: I broke my 3800 :'(  (Read 1367 times)

Mr. Capp

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I broke my 3800 :'(
« on: March 10, 2013, 05:18:30 pm »

So I had a single little clogged nozzle and after numerous head cleanings, I tried the ol' windex on a folded piece of paper towel trick.
Now, the test pattern printed out is ten times worse, almost every channel in the light greys thru cyan are clogged, after numerous
cleanings, and a power clean, I feel the head is just broken now. I'm trying one last windex soak of the capping station to see if it dislodges
whatever happened. I'm very doubtful it will do anything. I never really had a problem with this printer before, it's about 4 years old and still
looks new.
So my questions now turn to getting a new 3880 obviously. with a rebate it comes to just under a thousand. But what to do with the old unit?
is it actually broken, it just needs a print head but it seems that that would cost at least $500. If I get a new one can I salvage these ink carts for
the 3880 minus the magenta obviously. Sell the broken 3800 on ebay? minus carts?

If anyone has any suggestions about anyway to save this print head or what to do, any info would be helpfull.
thanks,
Michael
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Ray R

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Re: I broke my 3800 :'(
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2013, 06:43:30 pm »

You should only do a couple of cleans at a time. If that hasn't worked, turn it off and leave it a few hours.

I think it has something to do with the ink frothing and blocking other nozzles.

Leave it a day, when you turn it on do a nozzle check before any cleaning. That should give you some idea how bad the problem is.

My 3800 has a clog on the magenta but it is not noticeable.
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howardm

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Re: I broke my 3800 :'(
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2013, 07:09:29 pm »

Ditto.  I have also heard from Epson techs that endlessly running cleaning cycles is very counter-productive (and expensive).  As noted, let it sit overnight.

dgberg

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Re: I broke my 3800 :'(
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2013, 07:14:54 pm »

My 3800 went through something similar.
Trashed it and replaced it with the 3880.
I wanted a 4900 but just had too much ink remaining in the 3800 that can be used in the 3880.
I had the 3880  1 day and had an ink distribution problem we could not fix.
Epson sent me another printer and told me I could keep the inks.
The 3880 is a great printer and just runs and runs.

Mr. Capp

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Re: I broke my 3800 :'(
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2013, 07:24:47 pm »

Thanks for the reply!
I did figure I can just use those inks for the new printer as I really don't think this head is going to
work anymore. Such a shame. Did you sell your old 3800 for parts?
-best
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dgberg

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Re: I broke my 3800 :'(
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2013, 11:04:40 pm »

More trouble then it's worth.
Trashed it.

AFairley

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Re: I broke my 3800 :'(
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2013, 11:59:24 am »

I had a head/capping station/pressure problem with my 3800 (never figured out exactly what it was) and opted to get a 3880 instead of spending money to try to repair it.  I used all of the old inks (except mangenta & magenta light) in the 3880. and sold the 3800 for parts for $125 locally. 

If you do use the old inks in the 3880, you can use the old carts to charge the 3880 lines on the initial startup, but make sure that each cart is at least 1/3 full.  If a cart empties out during the charging, the charge will abort and you will have to do another charging -- which will use the same amount of ink as the intital charging, sucking down your carts and using up the waste tank needlessly. 
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jenea

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Re: I broke my 3800 :'(
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2013, 12:25:47 pm »

I had a major clog with my 4900. for reasons out of my control the printer was not used for over 5 months. turned it on, did a nozzle check and the light cyan was completely clogged. nothing at all. did a few power cleans and again nothing. was gonna junk it and get another, as its cheaper to buy another printer these days rather than get it fixed, but i had an idea. I needed to replace a cartridge anyway and wanted to try the Cone ink system. So I went to their site, got a Yellow 200ml ink bottle, a replacement cartridge and then a bottle of the Piezo print-head cleaning/flush ink. I filled the empty cartridge with the cleaing solutin and then over a 24 hour period ran 6 power cleaning cycles. And imagine that. It was completely cleaned. replaced the LC cartridge, did two more power cleans to get the cleaing ink out of the lines and then did a nozzle check. perfect! so now I have a spare cartridge just for cleaning solutions. It was a much cheaper solution that I'm glad I tried. check it out as an option

http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.362672/it.A/id.5757/.f?sc=18&category=68404

 
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