Epson P7000 Single Ink Clog

[ryanearl]

Hello,

I recently purchased a used Epson P7000 Commercial Edition Printer and the previous owner was selling because of closing a studio lease.  I've been able to unclog my Epson 3880 with normal cleanings since 2012.  However, I purchased the P7000 thinking 1 missing ink nozzle wasn't a big deal and now seem to be in a pickle. 

The Light Black Cartridge only prints half of the nozzle check with many (6) lines missing above and (7) below a solid chunk in the center.  I've tried stepping up along the cleaning intensity, no more than 3 per day, along with purge prints, one recently 24" x 90" with only a minor advance (1 line added) in the nozzle check.

Is it reasonable to bet that this could be an air pocket and I could try an initial fill with a new batch of ink cartridges and the Epson Adjustment software?  I will need to buy a whole set of carts anyway because they are very worn down.  I did already try a new light black cartridge without any change.  The P7000 was first put in service 1 year ago and was used for about 700 A4 prints, it seemed to get consistent use.

[I.T. Supplies]

The larger P series models have a integrated cleaning timer already set up and is defaulted to 60 hours, but can lower it to 8 hours (depending on your usage).
If you have certain colors that are clogging, just keep doing a cleaning until it eventually pushes through.  If you go through a good amount without any success, I'd recommend contacting Epson to check as it may be the head (unfortunately) or something else.  The clogs normally fix themselves after cleanings or prints that push the ink through the head anyway.  Also, since Light Black uses the same channel as MBK/PBK, that may be a part that needs to have ink pushed thru a little more than expected.

This doesn't happen that often though.  It can also depend on how the printer was maintained before you got it and the environment which also can take affect in a way.

Epson Customer Service:  562-276-1305

[Terry_Kennedy]

The Light Black Cartridge only prints half of the nozzle check with many (6) lines missing above and (7) below a solid chunk in the center.  I've tried stepping up along the cleaning intensity, no more than 3 per day, along with purge prints, one recently 24" x 90" with only a minor advance (1 line added) in the nozzle check.

Is it reasonable to bet that this could be an air pocket and I could try an initial fill with a new batch of ink cartridges and the Epson Adjustment software?  I will need to buy a whole set of carts anyway because they are very worn down.  I did already try a new light black cartridge without any change.  The P7000 was first put in service 1 year ago and was used for about 700 A4 prints, it seemed to get consistent use.

Please post a high-resolution scan of the problem area (include a bit of the surrounding 2 colors, but you can crop beyond that. You may have a de-laminating head. In that case your least-expensive fix would be the Epson flat-rate one-time repair ($842, IIRC) but realistically it probably makes more sense to buy a new printer since you get a bumper-to-bumper 1 year warranty on a new printer, plus you can buy another 1 or 2 years coverage.

[Royce Howland]

I can't see detail from the posted snapshot, so would echo Terry's request to please post a high res shot of the bad channel's nozzle check pattern. Then we can offer more specific comments. But just based on what I can see of the pattern, I doubt this is a clog. It's most likely a dead printhead.

[ryanearl]

Thanks for the info, the printer cost me $400, so putting some cash into wouldn't be too bad if the repair is around $800, but $1,900 for a new head is a little extreme vs buying new.  Maybe the previous owner was aware that this was a defective head if that is the case.  I was sold on the fact that it might be a bad clog.  The printer is still usable for a lot of printing, I would just have to exclude light black. 

I attached a new picture with hopefully more detail.  I've only been able to get a few more marks or lines to appear with cleanings and prints.  I built a file that is 92" long with a gray background and dark gray and black text to attempt to print through the clog.  I've only printed it twice though, not sure how much to try this method.

[Terry_Kennedy]

I attached a new picture with hopefully more detail.  I've only been able to get a few more marks or lines to appear with cleanings and prints.  I built a file that is 92" long with a gray background and dark gray and black text to attempt to print through the clog.  I've only printed it twice though, not sure how much to try this method.

That looks like a delaminated head to me. You can see some of the missing ink bleeding over into the adjacent colors, but as small blotches, not the normal stripes. If any ink was coming out properly in the clogged area, you'd see it in the nozzle check and not as bleed-over into adjacent columns.

This is the link for the Epson $895 flat-rate repair for an out-of-warranty single issue:
https://epson.com/Accessories/Printer-Accessories/One-Time-Service-Plan---EPWPSP1R24/p/EPWPSP1R24

Edited to add:

It is hard to avoid printing one color unless you are using a RIP that gives you that level of control - the printer chooses what colors to mix to print the dot color requested by the driver. If you're doing B&W printing you could convert the unit to piezography.

Here is a detailed analysis of why I think your head is de-laminating. On the second line, look at the right-most nozzle stripe - you see the gap between the previous stripe and this one? That's indicative of a slow-firing nozzle. That usually means a partial de-lamination, where things have come apart enough to affect the "in-flight time" of the ink droplets but they still get onto the paper. You can see the same thing at the right side of the last partial line around 2/3 of the way down. There's an increasing gap between each nozzle stripe, and by the time you get to the gap between the 5th and 6th, things are way offset from the lines above.The curved blotches at the left and right where your nozzles are missing can also indicate a de-lamination* - ink is coming out of those nozzles, just not much and not anywhere near where it is supposed to be.

* But not always - I had a scare when D1 replaced the pump cap station on one of my P10000's due to an error 1415 - the first few nozzle checks after that showed those arcs, but after a power cleaning things were back to normal.

[ryanearl]

Thanks for the info Terry.  Epson does the diagnosis first then charges, that looks like the best option at this point. 

[Royce Howland]

Thanks for posting the higher res sample image. It clearly has the hallmarks that I've learned to associated with a failed head. So I agree with Terry, I think your best bet to use this printer for colour work is to get a new head installed.