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Author Topic: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!  (Read 18002 times)

Mark D Segal

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #60 on: June 15, 2017, 07:13:50 am »

I think if you would just do, in the order given, what I recommended in Reply 56 it will be your best bet. (BTW, I don't know how a couple of sentences ended up being in bold type; I just tried to eliminate that, but it's still there. Oh well..)
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #61 on: June 15, 2017, 07:15:55 am »

Mark - I'm still back at the ink path and/or the cleaning unit.  Those are things that create recoverable problems, either due to leaks or build ups or just general age eventually.

I'm with you based on your assessment of the condition of the printhead, hence the content of my Reply #56, which springs from a lot of previous experience and discussion of this issue with people well-trained on these machines.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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CrazyPugLady

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #62 on: June 15, 2017, 07:25:31 am »

I'm with you based on your assessment of the condition of the printhead, hence the content of my Reply #56, which springs from a lot of previous experience and discussion of this issue with people well-trained on these machines.

I do what you told me to ;-)

However, I have printed DOZENS of purge pages already and I noticed some smearing from all the ink. So I'm cleaning the head with the towel a little. Then, back to print - clean - check - repeat.

Edit:
Is there a limit of power cleans the head can take altogether? I know I shouldn't do more than 3 a day and always print the purge patches in between, but how long can I keep this up? Will this damage the head in a week? or is the power clean "safe" over a long period IF pages are printed in between?
« Last Edit: June 15, 2017, 07:31:02 am by CrazyPugLady »
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #63 on: June 15, 2017, 07:40:29 am »

I do what you told me to ;-)

However, I have printed DOZENS of purge pages already and I noticed some smearing from all the ink. So I'm cleaning the head with the towel a little. Then, back to print - clean - check - repeat.

Edit:
Is there a limit of power cleans the head can take altogether? I know I shouldn't do more than 3 a day and always print the purge patches in between, but how long can I keep this up? Will this damage the head in a week? or is the power clean "safe" over a long period IF pages are printed in between?

No - I didn't "tell" you - I "recommended" - I can never "tell" people what to do. We're all mature adults here  :-)

I don't know that there is a safe limit to the number of days you can repeat this menu of three a day with prints in between the cleanings; especially as this is a resale printer whose prior usage and its effects are not known here. I suggested a week or so, which a head in reasonably good condition should be able to sustain from what I've learned. Ideally one wants to keep it to the minimum necessary, the alternative being to call in a technician to do a thorough purge and replenishment of the most badly affected lines - it's a bit of a complicated procedure.  Phil - if you are reading this you may well have a more informed view on the question.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Tlaroccia

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #64 on: June 15, 2017, 04:54:04 pm »

https://youtu.be/yyVRONzrCV8 is worth looking at regarding nozzle clogs on Epson 4900

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

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Farmer

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #65 on: June 15, 2017, 06:17:01 pm »

Don't hammer the power cleans.  You actually want to more slowly move the ink through to clear the lines, but that will only help if the cleaning station is working properly (cap, wiper, etc.).  Well, and if there are air bubbles or other materials in the lines, of course.

Given the constant improvement being seen, Mark's regime is ideal.  It just takes time.
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Phil Brown

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #66 on: June 16, 2017, 03:06:01 am »

Just not sure why the printer snaps back to the "bad" state so often. I noticed that the cleaner under the towel made it better, but printing purge pages made it worse again. After some rest, it sometimes recovers, sometimes doesn't. Maybe this is a pressure related issue. The towel sucks out a little ink and keeps the suction up maybe? Then, after printing, the pressure changes? I have no idea. However, the bulging borders don't look like deflections anymore. After this much of cleaning, the surface of the head should be squeaky sparkling clean. Maybe the head is really failing.
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Farmer

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #67 on: June 16, 2017, 05:03:58 am »

If the head recovers, it's not failing.

The pressure within the head itself doesn't affect the general pressure in the lines or supply of ink into the damper - the piezo-driven channels simply doesn't create that level of pressure/suction.  This appears to be related to ink supply and/or cleaning.
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Phil Brown

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #68 on: June 16, 2017, 05:16:27 am »

If the head recovers, it's not failing.

The pressure within the head itself doesn't affect the general pressure in the lines or supply of ink into the damper - the piezo-driven channels simply doesn't create that level of pressure/suction.  This appears to be related to ink supply and/or cleaning.

Yes, but so far it hasn't fully recovered. The "best" I could get it was 3 missing lines. Of course it's better than half of the pattern missing, but these bulging borders are really looking suspicious. What could probably cause them? I thought it was dirt on the outside or entrance of the nozzles. But now I'm not so sure.
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Farmer

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #69 on: June 16, 2017, 05:55:40 am »

If there are some nozzles that never recover (i.e. they're identically missing on every single nozzle check), then it is possible that the head has a problem, but with major portions of it recovering and then failing it's more likely to be another cause.

Do you have pictures of these bulges?  I don't recall seeing any in the thread so far?
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Phil Brown

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #70 on: June 16, 2017, 05:58:29 am »

Yes, on the bottom pattern, the outer "rims" of this channel have these bulges.
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Farmer

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #71 on: June 16, 2017, 06:08:59 am »

OK - that could be damage to the head or just some very stuck on detritus that isn't cleaning.
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Phil Brown

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #72 on: June 16, 2017, 06:34:32 am »

These checks are from this morning. First one straight after the towel soak and the second one just now after printing a few purge patches.

As you can see, these deflections on the left side also got straighter. But the pattern is very jumpy, goes from half channel dead to 3/4th of the pattern fine, and back. There are 3 lines in the pattern that would never change. Also, the deflection (bulges) go from barely there to "omg, what's this?!" fairly quickly.
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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #73 on: June 16, 2017, 06:44:39 am »

OK, the ones that never change - that's a sign of a potential head issue. It's possible they can be recovered, but they may have failed or be unrecoverable.  The moving bulge suggests poor or inconsistent cleaning by the mechanism.

I had been under the impression that you didn't have a lot of nozzles that never recovered.  Based on those images and what you've said now, that's not the case.  There is a real risk that the head is not going to be recoverable, but there is likely an issue with the cleaning hardware (more likely than issues with the lines), and the damper may also need replacement :(
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Phil Brown

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #74 on: June 16, 2017, 07:04:58 am »

I was hoping to find out if the missing nozzles come back or not, but so far, they haven't moved, not even with the towel-under-the-head-method. Not a good sign, I see.

I think trying to fix it further would be too expensive. New capping station, new ink selector, new inks... I think I'll leave this machine for now. Maybe I'll keep it for b/w, maybe I'm trying to sell it. Not sure yet.... Thanks so far everybody! You have been SUCH a great help!
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #75 on: June 16, 2017, 08:09:13 am »

Based on what Phil is now saying having seen the most recent evidence from your nozzle checks, if it were me, I would do one more week of the cleaning/printing procedure I recommended (without buying anything, as long as you enough ink left) and if it doesn't clear-up the problem, I'd be sending this printer to a recycling facility and buying a new one - we've discussed already.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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CrazyPugLady

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #76 on: June 16, 2017, 08:32:29 am »

Based on what Phil is now saying having seen the most recent evidence from your nozzle checks, if it were me, I would do one more week of the cleaning/printing procedure I recommended (without buying anything, as long as you enough ink left) and if it doesn't clear-up the problem, I'd be sending this printer to a recycling facility and buying a new one - we've discussed already.

Sounds good. I'll report back in a week :-)
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CrazyPugLady

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #77 on: June 19, 2017, 06:32:39 am »

So far, no changes. The black channel nozzle pattern keeps changing, but never improves over a certain point.

I have now ran through a half matte black cartridge, a half photo black cartridge and one complete waste tank.

I scored some other Epson 4900 print head from a dead machine, it may be broken, or not. It was cheapo, so it's not much waste.

Even though I already decided to get a new printer (either IPF 5100 or Pro 2000), I may keep the Epson to toy around with it.

My "master plan" is now:

- Get a new ink selector or even just new dampers.
- Get empty refill cartridges, fill them with destilled water and a drip of pigment ink (so they have a little color).
- Ink eject, damper repair, ink charge with water.
- Print a pattern
- Works? Good!
- Doesn't work? Try the other head.
- Doesn't work either? Ink eject, buy piezography ink system, map out non working channel, enjoy.

I am currently a bit busy so that's going to be my autumn or even winter project.

I'll keep you guys updated if I repaired or accidently killed it afterwards :-)
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CrazyPugLady

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #78 on: June 24, 2017, 06:24:23 am »

Hello folks,

I am really sorry to revive this "dead" thread. But there is a question I would like to ask you.

I have been able to get rid of the banding issues I had by doing the manual head alignment. I didn't expect much of it, I just wanted to see how it works. The LLK was off a lot and caused the banding. That's funny because the black channels are having the issues with the broken pattern.
It's great that it worked though because now I can print smaller formats in really good quality as there are no printhead issues visible.

But this also makes me wonder...
I have attached the alignment pages and as you can see, the printing quality towards the end of the pages really suffers. Distorted lines, some parts missing almost completely. That really looks messed up. This must be the part of the print head where the damage is.

But when I do 'real' prints, the effect is not visible. Yes, of course, it may be because the black is mixed with the other colors, too, but: If the printhead is damaged, why are these damages appearing ONLY towards the bottom of the pages? Why not over the whole pages? The printhead is kinda small, it needs a lot of passes over a letter sized sheet. Why aren't the damages visible in a regular pattern, for example every 2 inches (or whatever the height of the head is)?

Any ideas? Sorry, I don't want to bother you, I am just curious and I would like to understand this machine. I don't have high hopes in terms of fixing it, but I would like to understand what's happening.

Thank you and kind regards!
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Unclogging Epson 4900 - diving me nuts!
« Reply #79 on: June 24, 2017, 09:42:53 am »

There may be more wrong with that printer than the print-head issues we've been discussing above, but what this is I have no idea. My remaining thought is as it had been - if it were me, time is my scarcest/most valuable resource, while money comes and goes (mostly goes) - early on I would have written this printer off as a sunk cost and unfortunate experience and bought a new printer. Short term pain; but amortized over time, long term gain.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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