Epson 3880 Head Failure

[Alan Goldhammer]

I got box of Moab Juniper that I planned to profile today for my Epson 3880.  I've been mainly printing with matte paper recently so I did an ink switch and when I ran the first set of patches through just to get the printer warmed up I got an ink blob on the bottom right side of the paper (as it comes out of the printer) and there was banding in any patch that used yellow ink.  I did a nozzle check which showed mild blockage in the PK channel and the yellow channel showed half black and half yellow which I guess caused the bad color and banding in those patches.  I did a power clean and the nozzle check was fine and the first patch set printed out fine.  However, the second patch set came out bad with the same ink blob and banding in all the patches with yellow in.  Would a partial channel block cause ink to get into the yellow line?

The printer is 7 years old and perhaps is on its final legs.  I don't know what it would cost to repair this and I don't want to engage in any DIY repairs at this point. 


EDIT:  If I switch back to matte black, there is no issue and the yellow channel prints out fine.  Maybe it's a problem in the photoblack line???

[smthopr]

I got box of Moab Juniper that I planned to profile today for my Epson 3880.  I've been mainly printing with matte paper recently so I did an ink switch and when I ran the first set of patches through just to get the printer warmed up I got an ink blob on the bottom right side of the paper (as it comes out of the printer) and there was banding in any patch that used yellow ink.  I did a nozzle check which showed mild blockage in the PK channel and the yellow channel showed half black and half yellow which I guess caused the bad color and banding in those patches.  I did a power clean and the nozzle check was fine and the first patch set printed out fine.  However, the second patch set came out bad with the same ink blob and banding in all the patches with yellow in.  Would a partial channel block cause ink to get into the yellow line?

The printer is 7 years old and perhaps is on its final legs.  I don't know what it would cost to repair this and I don't want to engage in any DIY repairs at this point. 


EDIT:  If I switch back to matte black, there is no issue and the yellow channel prints out fine.  Maybe it's a problem in the photoblack line???

I think it's not a head failure, but a failure of the black ink switching mechanism.  I had this happen to my 3800 and lost all black ink.  I spent about $350 to repair it though a professional, but ... after the repair I discovered that I'm missing a few nozzles in my magenta and light magenta, which is a failure of the head.  I can't see the head failure in my prints and I've been using the printer enough to recoup the cost of the repair, but I'm not stocking up on any inks!  If I had not had a full set of spare inks, I would have skipped the repair and bought a new printer.  This is a common problem with the 3800/3880 series prints after about 5 years of use, or not use.  I had the repair done about a year ago, and now I'm afraid to try to switch back to matte black as I did this once and the ink clogged up pretty good...

I would seriously consider a new printer unless you have the $600 in inks standing by, or I'd consider selling the inks on ebay.

[Alan Goldhammer]

I think it's not a head failure, but a failure of the black ink switching mechanism.  I had this happen to my 3800 and lost all black ink.  This is a common problem with the 3800/3880 series prints after about 5 years of use, or not use.  I had the repair done about a year ago, and now I'm afraid to try to switch back to matte black as I did this once and the ink clogged up pretty good...

I would seriously consider a new printer unless you have the $600 in inks standing by, or I'd consider selling the inks on ebay.

Thanks, there is another thread about ink switching that I didn't read until after I had posted this and that sounds like the problem.  I think I only have about three ink cartridges that have not been opened so there is not a lot of investment in that regard.  I will also try to do some repeated ink switching to see if that might clear things up.  It just may be that the printer is at the end of its usable life.

[Alan Goldhammer]

I did a couple of ink switches to see if that made a difference and it seems as though things are OK but I'll need to read some patches to make sure.  I used the printer purge images from:  https://www.marruttusa.com/printer-maintenance/inkjet-printer-purge-files.php#col  to print out all the color channels and the second one was clear of any banding in both the yellow and black inks.  I'm going ahead with the profiling task and will do more periodic ink switching and printing to keep things OK.  The only problem is I lost a fair amount of ink today getting things cleaned up.

I received a nice email from a LuLa reader who is working on a tutorial for replacing the ink lines and capping station.  I'll check it out when its ready.

Alan

[Joe S]

I think something must be in the air!   My faithfull 9 year old 3880 died recently in this same manner.  Short 1/8" worms along the edges of prints.   It had changed blacks on its own several times before this.   As most of my inks were almost empty and the P800 currently has a $300 rebate, I did the math and took that option.

I don't like it nearly as well as the 3880 which was a fantastic never clogged trouble free printer.  The P800 is much fussier loading paper and much more sensitive about paper flatness and thickness.  The 3880 took the old Harman Hahnemuhle Baryta 13x19 and 17x25 without fuss loaded from the top with never a headstrike.  Not so with the P800 and even worse when loaded in the finicky "fine art" front loader.  I'm not sure about other options but Epson certainly took a step backward with this one.

[Alan Goldhammer]

I think something must be in the air!   My faithfull 9 year old 3880 died recently in this same manner.  Short 1/8" worms along the edges of prints.   

It is so frustrating.  I thought things were OK this morning when I was printing out profile targets for Moab Juniper Rag.  First three pages came out just fine and then the fourth had the worm blob.  It's not only the paper waste but the amount of ink in the blob is somewhat frightening.  I'll see how this performs of the next several days before pulling the plug.  I've been reading reviews of the P800 and the Canon Pro 1000 and since I don't do many panos the Canon printer may be my choice.  According to Mark Segal's review paper feed on the Canon works flawlessly.

[MarkFarber]

I own a 5.5-year-old 3880 and a 1.5-year-old Canon1000.  Use both in different places.  The 1000 is now primary.  3880 has been flawless, even when left for long periods of non-use now that it's the backup location.

The Canon1000 failed at 1-year-old and Canon replaced under warranty.  Image quality is beautiful.  Paper feed is flawless: 4x6 to 17x25, thin draft paper to thick Harman baryta.  It's a pleasure to work with, mechanically and artistically.  Printing with Lightroom is seamless.  But it does half the throughput of the 3880--it thinks a lot between prints.  And it has a drinking problem--there is a LOT written about ink use.

IF you can chalk up ink cost to long-term cost of photography and IF you don't do panos, the 1000 beats my friends' P800s for usability.

[deanwork]

Alan, it seems like the pk line has crud in it. These black inks are carbon and you just can’t leave them unused for long periods without them drying in there. What I would do is buy one of those refillable pk ink carts from inkjet mall and buy one of their small bottles of piezo flush fluid and do a couple of power cleanings and leave in their over a week end. That stuff has saved many a print channel over the years.

John

[


quote author=Alan Goldhammer link=topic=129718.msg1101756#msg1101756 date=1553863890]
It is so frustrating.  I thought things were OK this morning when I was printing out profile targets for Moab Juniper Rag.  First three pages came out just fine and then the fourth had the worm blob.  It's not only the paper waste but the amount of ink in the blob is somewhat frightening.  I'll see how this performs of the next several days before pulling the plug.  I've been reading reviews of the P800 and the Canon Pro 1000 and since I don't do many panos the Canon printer may be my choice.  According to Mark Segal's review paper feed on the Canon works flawlessly.
[/quote]

[Alan Goldhammer]

Alan, it seems like the pk line has crud in it. These black inks are carbon and you just can’t leave them unused for long periods without them drying in there. What I would do is buy one of those refillable pk ink carts from inkjet mall and buy one of their small bottles of piezo flush fluid and do a couple of power cleanings and leave in their over a week end. That stuff has saved many a print channel over the years.

John

I've looked at a lot of videos over the past 18 hours and done a lot of reading.  Apparently the Epson service manual note that the "lifetime" of the 3880 is five years and that periodic maintenance needs to be done on it.  The consumer user manual is silent on all this and only mentions the need for occasional cleanings.  My printer was trouble free for seven years.  Some of the stuff such as the wiper blade and the damper pad can be cleaned without pulling everything apart.  There was one video of a guy who pulled out the offending black switch valve and showed how it could be easily cleaned.  Of course it did not show how he got the valve out or put it back in.  I think Epson are doing a disservice to us by not releasing the service manual for this printer.  The videos I've seen showing how it can be taken apart to get to the pump and cap assembly and this is something that certainly looks doable but at what parts and labor cost for me.

I've looked at the piezo flush approach and maybe I'll give it a try.  The wild card is how long the head will be servicable for.

this pretty much sums up the problem:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kDB7JB52F4  Bottom line is it worth the time and cost.

[Alan Goldhammer]

Here is an older thread on the 3880 black ink switch issue:  https://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=122458.0    The more I've read about this leads to the conclusion that this is a engineering defect on the part of Epson.  While we do have evidence from those who have posted here and on other photo websites of this problem, we don't have any reliable statistics on what the % failure rate might be.  One thing we do know is that Epson offered refurbished 3880s for a nice discount and now has refurbished P800s for half price (of course it won't come with a warranty and will only be replaced if it arrives defective).  The logical question to ask is where do these refurbished units come from?  It's likely that they were warranty replacements because of some problem or another and I opine that it's likely a result of a failed switch valve since that is the major weak point. 

There is an Epson authorized service center about 10 miles away and out of interest I'm going to see if I can get a quote for the replacement of the capping station and ink system delivery mechanism that contains the switch valve.  When replacing the ink delivery system you need to supply them with enough ink to refill the printer so I'm conjecturing that the bill will be more than purchasing a refurb P800. 

I'll switch back to MK ink which is not the problematic channel for this printer and continue to use it in that mode while I make up my mind about what to do.

For those that are interested the Epson Service manual can be read on line here:  https://www.manualslib.com/manual/820107/Epson-Stylus-Pro-3800.html?page=7#manual   You cannot download the manual from this website but it will give you a sense of how the printer is constructed and the types of steps one would need to take to replace the critical parts.