Anyone take a 3880 apart?

[Some Guy]

I'd like to see the underside of the carriage and print head on mine to see what the heck is slicing all the papers up.  Getting the thing off the rails and apart is another matter.

The head unit swings freely out to the front a bit on my other 3880 (Shut off mid-way across the travel rail), but the one in question hangs up on the swing out and I have to force it back down.  Something is binding up in the carriage or head.  Little spring in the upper left visible through the top cover is also loose (Not off the pins, just very loose.).  The print head may be okay, but something is odd in why it hangs and sticks on the swivel outwards.  I'm hoping paper crumbs left over from all the slicing up maybe.

I have the 3800 service manual.  Don't know if the 3880 is that much different.  Also, the adjustment software is needed (About $30) for reassembly and alignment - if I can figure out why the thing is binding up and cutting all my paper and get it back together.

As it is, doesn't work after 22 months so no harm I guess in wrecking it since a new print head alone costs more than the silly printer does when new with rebate and ink.  Epson doesn't want to fix these things.

Tia.

SG

[Some Guy]

No takers?

I had a fun 5 hours getting into the thing.  Still haven't gotten the carriage out to look under it.  It is binding on the swing-out though.  Something is keeping it pressed down hard into the paper and cutting it, but what?

For fun photos of the innards so far.  Did it outside as the sunlight is brighter, and in case the thing pukes ink everywhere.  Taking a lot of notes too.  The non-approved Epson 22 Month Warranty Tool is on the left of the mess - in case.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained since it is busted anyhoo.

Might attack the right end plate and see if the thing will slide off the rail on the right side tomorrow.

SG

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Do keep us posted on your progress.

The only printer I ever took apart was a cheap laser printer. I was very careful, and when I took off one innocent-looking little white plastic gear, I managed to break a tooth on a gizmo behind it, rendering the printer unfixable. Prior to that it had difficulty feeding paper smoothly, but worked otherwise. Fortunately, a replacement printer was about fifty bucks.

So do be careful. And maybe put a tarp over it at night or if rain or snow is expected.

[Some Guy]

Will do.

So far nothing has snapped off in the way of plastic hooks and latches.  There were far less screws in the thing too over all the hooked pieces of plastic.  Took me a while to figure out how to get the ink door latch assembly off the thing (Some small screwdriver down into a couple of holes in the top cover, press tabs aside, and Bingo!  Off it came with switch and solenoid.).

It's all tarpped up under plastic for the night.  I did stuff 6" squares of Handi-Wrap into each in cart port to help keep the ink from drying out and dirt.  That wasn't the problem as much as the shredding of paper that went under the head.  Some mechanical defect most likely.  I'm just curious as to what is under there causing the nice knife-like cuts on the the left edge of the papers.

Some springs at the top of the carriage are loose too, which seems very odd.  I'd expect them to be tensioned up, but the head sticks a bit when swiveled so who knows?  Actually, the inner carriage holding the print head seems to float around a bit now that it is this far disassembled.

On the end-shot photo above, the white gear on the print head carriage meshes with the gear on the end plate in the setup.  That controls the platen gap and that gear (on the carriage) could move and cause the cam on it to change the height.  It is done after initialization though, and I can see where it could conceivably change during a print run too once it comes off the end-plate gear.  I'd think they'd lock it down, but no.  Just friction maybe as the lock on the cam on the opposite side of the gear.

The head does drag over a 0.9mm thickness gauge on the platen track on left, center, and right.  Shouldn't do that.  Should slide right over it.  It should be blocked by a 1.0mm gauge, but the 0.9mm is blocked too so something ins amiss in the undercarriage or print head somewhere.

Lots of stuff in that $1,200 printer though.

Add:

The printer, having sat on the wooden table top for 22 months, also managed to sort of weld the bottom feet to the table surface.  I had to pry it loose with tire irons from the table top and it actually pulled the wooden veneer off the top of the table in two spots just getting it off the table.  Some wood putty fixed that, bit I'd recommend putting the thing on maybe some sheet of something (Cloth?) if you want the table to be protected.

SG

[martin archer-shee]

Think I will put a picture of your eviscerated 3880 in front of mine as a warning to behave

[AFairley]

I like your unapproved warranty tool!  Back in the day when I did my own car repairs I always kept a small hand sledge nearby to motivate the thing to let itself get fixed.    Good luck, who knows, you might even get it fixed.  Keep the pix and details coming.

[Some Guy]

Day two:

Ain't there yet.  On lunch break.  Print head is still elusive.

Damn thing seems to have been built up around the print head.  No wonder they are disposable.  Seems Epson could have made the head a drop-in affair to make this job easier (cough, per Canon thinking!).

Capping station is sort of interesting.  The Manual (white) Gear can be turned and it moves the rubber wiper blade back and forth across the spongy thing in the upper middle of the photo.  Had a lot of gunk there, but doubt if it was the problem.  Those two trays each feed a clear silicon hose that goes to the pump motor that goes out some round port in the bottom and out to the Maintenance Tray.

I am using some "Cleaning Solution" (That's all on the bottle!) from Nano Digital out of Oregon.  Cheap blue liquid of some sort, and I bought two quarts at the time.  I use it to clean the printer pads in general.  Seems to cut the ink pretty and ink sludge (?) well too.  The 99% alcohol didn't even faze the colored inks.

The yellow ink and magenta seem to stick around forever.  No doubt why I had problems with the Cone K7 with yellow residuals "hanging around forever" staining my whites in my reference 3880 (Which still works, but it is only 6 months old so maybe it has another 16 months left on it if it is like this one - so I hope! 

The flex ribbon over the ink tanks is interesting too.  The ends slide into the jacks over each ink cart.  Looks like some Japanese Origami in the ways they folded it all to fit.  Can see why some have issues with ink carts with that affair as they are not all that tight.

Under the ink cart well assembly is a nice absorbent white ribbon.  No doubt to pick up any leaking ink cart, which I do not have - yet.

No parts broken yet in this job...knock on wood.


Lunch over.  Back to work...

SG

[Some Guy]

Well carriage if off the rails (10 hours later).

Seems I found something under the carriage once I got it off the rail and I don't know what or where it came from.  Has some Epson silicon grease on it too.   Maybe 1/4" square in size.  Must have snapped off when I started it and got under there and did it's damage.  Could be part of the transport maybe, but doesn't appear on rough look off the carriage or head.  Does have that snapped off look on it on one side, but the grease means it was mechanically stressed from somewhere.  

Head looks like gold.  There is a bit of sharp corners on the stamped out three-screw hold down plate.  That plate appears it can hold the head off the paper by maybe 0.01" or so.  Not thick.  The little top ports off the head unit is sort of interesting as they have two small holes, and two larger holes in each of the top's points.  They look to be on swivels maybe to match up for the ink selector port that sits on top of it with all the ink tubes.

Don't know where I'm going now since the mystery part is from where?

SG

[martin archer-shee]

Hi

Could not see from your picture, but is it possible the errant part is a spacer of some kind? Obviously you are keeping lots of notes and a series of pictures. Have you videoed as you took things off too? 

Your photo record will be a real boon when you start to put it all together again. Best of luck.

Martin

[Some Guy]

Mystery part has been located.  

Seems it has snapped off the carriage slide.  Keeps the two parts together, via springs.  There may be another one down inside the printer guides...somewhere.  

I did find a new one online for $75.  I could see the bit in the online photo.

Don't know if $75 is worth it, plus I need the Epson Calibration software to put the bloody thing back together.  May forget how it goes back together by then too.  

If the other one is gone, it may have happened in the nasty edge curl and head strike with some BC Siverada that actually got pushed sideways by the carriage and head.  It was a noise.  The second one may have finally given up the ghost since.  It failed quick.

I dunno...

SG


Add:

Found a second new one in another photo.  There is a slide retainer on both sides to keep the carriage pieces together.

Bad luck!  These things must be fragile if two different places carry them (Both $75 too.), and fewer parts like belts, gears, etc.

Be careful of paper strikes knocking the carriage around!!!

I also found that one can look down through  the clear cover on the (good) 3880 while it is off and see one of those springs on the top left.  It should appear tight enough that you can see light through the coils, or enough to fit a paper feeler gauge through them.  If the spring appears loose (Like mine was!  Very loose!!), the slider retainers have broken off down below allowing the inner carriage to drop forward.  There is one on the right as well and should be the same thing as there is a slide retainer beneath it too.  The springs are pulling against the slide retainer as well.



SG

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

At least it seems as if you have found the problem.
Now if you spend another $150 for two of the gizmos, and then put another 36 to 48 hours reassembleing the whole printer, you might be able to sell it, for, say, at least $150.   

[Some Guy]

At least it seems as if you have found the problem.
Now if you spend another $150 for two of the gizmos, and then put another 36 to 48 hours reassembleing the whole printer, you might be able to sell it, for, say, at least $150.   

No kidding! 

At least I found the second tab that snapped off.  It was wedged in between the two carriages.  I was shaking the thing, heard a rattle, and it fell out.  So both are accounted for.

I might try and glue the figgin' things back on, drill it with a small number drill and rivet it with a sewing pin.  Maybe a piece of bent brass from the hobby store as an alternative?  This is probably an injection molded unit and I don't know what glue to use?  JB Weld (Slow type) maybe?  Trying to clamp it is going to be interesting too where it is at.

Problem will also be locating the software for the calibration since Epson will not sell parts or their calibration software.  Epson ain't exactly the friendliest company to deal with, and their parts prices are insane making these things worthless for a snapped bit of plastic.

Back to the cheap plastic carriage.  Thing has way too many springs holding it all together (8+ ?), and some look like they are ready to snap off their mounting tabs as it is.  No wonder some China sites show this thing as a common $75 part item.

Aside, wandering through this mess I wonder how and if Epson calibrates these machines individually as that would leave some ink behind in the system to later plug them? Can't see them flushing out ink either.  Maybe they run 100 and check one and alter the programming for the next batch of 100, and sell off the tested one as a refurb?  Maybe they get them close enough where our home calibration routine tweaks them to zero from a generic factory calibration off the one in 100 units without any ink being used?  I can't see them spending the time to test each one individually as there seems to be a lot of stuff in these things to mess with. 

SG

[startkapital]

I did clean and service over 20 3800/3880 since they came out from local clients in hamburg germany
this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LQK5ANHOVw
is a video i recorded last month

its my old 3800 it had some issues with magenta channel after cleaning everything was fine and I sold it basically as a sublimation printer to a client


hope you dont mind my accent :

[Some Guy]

I did clean and service over 20 3800/3880 since they came out from local clients in hamburg germany
this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LQK5ANHOVw
is a video i recorded last month

its my old 3800 it had some issues with magenta channel after cleaning everything was fine and I sold it basically as a sublimation printer to a client


hope you dont mind my accent :

Interesting approach.  I may need to try this since mine may be dried out since it has been outdoors apart for a few days.  I did wrap the liquid bit in plastic and baggies.

Yesterday and today I fabbed up an old windshield wiper stainless steel blade piece to make new tabs to replace the broken ones.  Made test piece one out of cardboard to get the bends right, transferred those to the wiper blade metal, and bent it up with needle nose pliers and filed the ends to fit where they slide on the inner carriage piece.  First on the towel was tight so I made another.  Calipers helped in transferring and altering the bends.  I used JB Weld to glue it onto the back under the encoder tape stuff on the back.  It ain't going anywhere, and I doubt if any tab will snap off the metal one.   

Now to remember how this big mess goes back together...and maybe flush the lines if they are still flowing.

SG

[Some Guy]

All together again.   No screws left over, so big "Yay!" for that. 

Then I fire it up, and get some damn "SERVICE CALL ERROR 1127   PLEASE CONTACT TO THE REPAIR CENTER" message.

Say huh?   


Epson must really build these things to erase - or alter stuff - when it is all disconnected.  Can't win.

SG

[na goodman]

Well, I'm impressed you didn't have any screws left. This is from Epson's site regarding the error code.

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&infoType=FAQ&oid=79928&prodoid=63062509&foid=88137

[Some Guy]

Well, I'm impressed you didn't have any screws left. This is from Epson's site regarding the error code.

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&infoType=FAQ&oid=79928&prodoid=63062509&foid=88137

hmm...

A carriage (CR) error eh?

Something to do with a locked or an unlocked printer carriage.  Maybe the capping station is hanging onto the print head (or carriage), or it's not connected well in the harness somewhere?  Least the LCD lit up and is telling me something.

Damn!  Now I have pull it all apart again and check.  

I know I put on the orange ground wires.  This thing is grounded all the way to the print head itself, maybe for static buildup passing over plastic papers?


Add:

Pulled off the rear lower black panel and I see someone (me!) left the connector plug off the capping station's power plug.  I did connect the ground wires though.  Little work with some long tweezers and the 3-wire plug is back on the capping station.  Doh! 

Now it is making noises like old and it even ejected a sheet of typing paper, although maybe just a few nozzle checks showed up in that part.  Expected that since I flushed the head and dampner unit with cleaner.

Doing a "Power Clean" now.  Fingers crossed!


SG

[na goodman]

Ok, they're crossed, let us know if all is well.

[Some Guy]

Well, I got squat from the nozzle check yesterday night once I got it running again.  A few black marks and nothing else color-wise was showing.

Ran a few power cleanings.  Still nothing.  One evidently caused the Maintenance Tank to think it was full so the printer refused to go beyond that "Replace Maintenance Tank" warning on the LCD.  So I found an old one and shoved it in and it accepted that.

Another Power Cleaning and still no nozzle checks.  Now nothing at all, and not even one line showing anywhere.  Like it had no ink at all in it. 

Crap!  Off to sleep...

At 3AM I awoke and went outside where it still sits on the patio with a flashlight to check to see if I had left something covering the carts keeping the ink from flowing. All clean and nothing looks amiss on the carts or their intakes in their wells.  Carts still seemed full and I would have thought all the prior Power Cleanings would have drained them somewhat.  Outside of the printer was really damp with dew and I had to wipe off the LCD to even see it.

Powered it up figuring maybe it would short out and die so I could put it in the trashcan for pickup, but it started as normally even though damp.  The Power switch is on the secondary side of the main power board so the printer is always powered if a line cord is in it.  The power button shuts off the low-voltage secondary side as the ribbon tape to the LCD is sort of small.

Did yet another Power Cleaning (Maybe 5 since I re-started it.) and went back inside. Came out 15 minutes later and put it into the Automatic Nozzle Check mode.  It spit out a decent auto-printout (i.e. The 3 blacks and the cyan checkerboard.) in maybe 30 minutes.  Then I printed the normal nozzle check from the LCD menu and it is working again!  All colors are now showing and no breaks at all!  YAY!!! 


Maybe being damp all night, and since the sprinklers missed hitting it by a foot, and it being under plasic tarp got it (the head) moist enough?  Maybe it had way too much ink flushed out since I ran the cleaning solution into the head and the dampners?  Lots of air?  Maybe all tanks out and ink lines broken caused the air pump to not prime the system up as well?  I dunno.  Least the thing responded with a nice nozzle check, although on semi-damp typing paper I had left in it. 

I'll await until daylight and it warms up and dries off to try another run, maybe do an ink alignment line test too.

Aside, the paper - so far - hasn't gotten mangled by the head as prior.  So maybe the stainless steel windshield wiper blade fixed the thing.  I noticed the 0.9mm blade was clear of the head sliding over it (I used a 0.85 feeler gauge along with a piece of double-sided Scotch tape to hold it in the tray as it slides pretty easy as is.).  The 1.0mm was a definite strike so it appears the blade fix for the broken tabs is in the proper position.  The bend marks I put on the wiper blade were at: 0.21" 0.45" 2.35" 0.45" and 0.21" should anyone need to make one if their tabs snap off and the head dragging begins.  Blade cross-section was 0.170"wide x 0.030" thick.  Just bend it up into the dog-eared U-shaped thing like in the above photo with needle-nose pliers and file ends to fit within slide and smooth off the ends.

SG

[na goodman]

You really need to let the printer rest after doing that many cleanings. I would never do 5 power cleans, causes more problems than resolving anything. Do a small print. Sounds like you fixed the paper mangling problem.