Worth repairing an old Epson 9800?

[Anil Kalagatla]

My old Epson 9800 printer recently developed an issue (presumably with the CR encoder) and has been showing error codes 10007 and 1001D (it randomly switches between these two every time I restart).  Chatting with a local Epson service tech, I learnt that it will cost me ~$1300 for them to come over and replace the maintenance/service kit (assuming that will fix the issue).  I'm wondering if there are cheaper alternatives to this or if I should even bother.  My recent experiments opening and trying to repair an Epson printer (4900) did not go too well, so I'm somewhat wary of trying something similar again :-)

Has any one run into these error codes and have found an easy fix?  BTW, this happened right after I switched from photo black to matte black using the unofficial "hack" to switch inks (detailed in several locations, including at Northlight).  I had done this previously without any issues, so I was surprised to run into it this time.

Anil

[Peter McLennan]

My 9800 is among the best photography investments I've ever made.  in fact, it's now my only printer. I print everything from letter size to 4 X 6 foot prints with it. It just prints and prints, unlike my 4800, which I gave way because it was nothing but trouble.  If 9800 died tomorrow, I'd spend $1300 on it without thinking twice.

[crwoo]

probably not. especially with the canon rebates i would get the ipf8400

[Anil Kalagatla]

Thanks Peter, I did read about how reliable 9800 usually is.  Having only piad $500 for this (used with no inks), I'm loath to pay almost 3x on repair :-)

crwoo:  I did consider the iPF8400 (as it's an amazing deal with the rebate), but unfortunately the printer will not fit on the elevator at my condo :-(

Anil

[aaronchan]

Try to fix it by yourself
You can easily find parts online
most of them are coming from China
get a service manual if you need to swape anything

I had replaced the CR encoder last year with my old 9600
it's not that hard

I love the 9800, you can run K3 VM ink from inkjetmall and makes it prints like the 9880

if it won't cost more than $500 to buy the parts, go fix it.
if you have to pay more than that, tear it apart and try to make some other thing out of it XD (maybe a chair or a washing machine? I don't know )

aaron

[Anil Kalagatla]

Thanks Aaron, I will give it a shot.  I do have the service manual (the one for the 9800 seems to be freely available online).

Anil

[Anil Kalagatla]

Okay a quick update - I thought I would try something really simple (and dumb) before going to bed.  After I identified what I think is the CR encoder strip (long transparent tape), I used a square of tissue paper to gently wipe along the length and dislodge any dust particles that may be there and restarted the printer.  Unbelievably, that fixed the problem!  So far it seems to be none the worse for the wear;  after a quick head cleaning cycle, almost none of the heads are clogged.

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed, but I'm hoping it was just dust on the encoder strip that caused this problem.

Thanks again Aaron for giving me the push to try and fix it by myself :-)  I'm really impressed with the 9800 - I guess it does indeed deserve its reputation.

So, for future reference:  if you see error codes 0010007 and/or 001001D, try cleaning the encoder strip first before trying more expensive options.

Anil

Thanks Aaron, I will give it a shot.  I do have the service manual (the one for the 9800 seems to be freely available online).

Anil

[aaronchan]

Okay a quick update - I thought I would try something really simple (and dumb) before going to bed.  After I identified what I think is the CR encoder strip (long transparent tape), I used a square of tissue paper to gently wipe along the length and dislodge any dust particles that may be there and restarted the printer.  Unbelievably, that fixed the problem!  So far it seems to be none the worse for the wear;  after a quick head cleaning cycle, almost none of the heads are clogged.

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed, but I'm hoping it was just dust on the encoder strip that caused this problem.

Thanks again Aaron for giving me the push to try and fix it by myself :-)  I'm really impressed with the 9800 - I guess it does indeed deserve its reputation.

So, for future reference:  if you see error codes 0010007 and/or 001001D, try cleaning the encoder strip first before trying more expensive options.

Anil

Why I didn't tell you to clean that thing first?!
I should have told you that because one of my friend had this problem before.
The x800 and x880 cutter builds up paper dust inside the printer so the CR encoder will have problem after some time.

Good for you, another 8 years to go now (if you are a low volume user, otherwise, you might need a new head in the future as well which might be a bit more expensive, but should be still under 1k usd)

aaron