Epson 3800-Mystery ink spots-pic

[pluton]

Thanks for the ideas.  It seems the game may not be over quite yet.
By the way,  I made about 2900 prints before the ink blobs appeared and the printer is a couple of months shy of five years old.
I wiped the capping station and rubber wiper, and flushed the capping station foam as per José's video.
The waste ink tank is 67% full, and when examined has a large amount of un-inked area---but swapping out the waste tank is easy and cheap, so I might try that.
I like the hair/paper fibers stuck on the underside of the head idea...it's certainly possible...I hope it doesn't involve elaborate disassembly.

Also, a new capping station can't cost very much, can it?....don't answer that!

[pluton]

A short blog post, by an actual service technician, about the 3800/3880 ink drips:
http://compuworldaz.blogspot.com/search/label/Epson%20Pro%203880
A roughly $400 repair(the part is about $180), and all cartridges must be at least 1/4 full to make the repair.
As my 3800 is just arriving at 5 years and 2000 prints, it's better for me to get a new 3880.

[Some Guy]

A short blog post, by an actual service technician, about the 3800/3880 ink drips:
http://compuworldaz.blogspot.com/search/label/Epson%20Pro%203880
A roughly $400 repair(the part is about $180), and all cartridges must be at least 1/4 full to make the repair.
As my 3800 is just arriving at 5 years and 2000 prints, it's better for me to get a new 3880.

Sounds like this guy is the $180 part.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Damper-for-Epson-Stylus-Pro-3890-3880-3885-3800-Part-number-1518586-/331377102136?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d279d4d38

There is a motor on it that switches between the MK and PK nozzles that feed into the head beneath it.  Only a couple of screws I think hold the contraption on top of the print head unit.  Don't know what happens if it cannot fully switch and seal off the other ink port, but I would guess the unit is pressurized with air feeding the ink so who knows?  Could be a seal within it leaking too since it is the only one with a arm that goes into the ink mixer portion.  That would cause a mess, but it should be visible once this part comes off as it would have to flow around the 'outside' of the print head and not through it.

The dismantling and reassembling is the scary part.  I've had mine apart and it took me maybe 3-4 days with notes and photos.  Now I could probably do that part in a couple of hours at worse.  First time is always the scariest.  And it does consume a lot of ink to recharge the lines once opened.

SG

[AFairley]

Pluton, thanks for the link and pricing info.  Reassures me that selling the 3800 for parts, keeping the ink carts and getting a 3880 w. Epson rebate was the right move when I had this problem a couple years ago.