P9000 head alignment and banding

[artinkprint]

I have been getting horizontal banding in my light cyan when printing. First I thought it was due to a clogged inkjet, but after cleaning and testing I see that the light cyan has an alignment issue. Every jet is clean, but the edges of the light cyan test strip show that there is a wiggle on each side. I have done a number of alignment cycles, but that did not change it at all. When printing a file that has any solid blues, I get banding from this defect. Is this fixable? Does anyone have any suggestions? Epson offered no suggestions other than replacing the print head and all relevant parts = $4200 Can. The printer does also clog much easier than before. The printer is less than 1.5 years old.

[Stephen G]

There have been a lot of posts recently with similar nozzle check patterns.

Sadly this is a sign of a dead head. No amount of cleaning or alignments will bring it back. No repair possible except for the expensive head replacement.

I got a similar pattern on my 6-yr old 9900. Repair was too expensive so I traded this in on a new P9000 with a 3-yr warranty and the same thing happened after about 18 months. Head was replaced under warranty. From now on I intend to stay within warranty, which means replacing my machine every 3 years, but I've costed that in to my business.

[deanwork]

That’s a de-laminated head. It’s gone. Supposedly these are the same heads as the 9900 series.

Did either of you guys experience head strikes, like on fiber gloss media toward the end of rolls?

I had a tech out here and he insisted that the multitude of premature head failures on the 9900s were the result of irresponsible printmakers allowing head strikes to occur. I didn’t buy that for a second, though in some cases it makes sense that the heads could be bent by strikes. I think they are a lot more delicate than all the series that preceded the 9900s. There are still a lot of people out there using the 9800s and 7800s with the original heads and few clogs.

John

There have been a lot of posts recently with similar nozzle check patterns.

Sadly this is a sign of a dead head. No amount of cleaning or alignments will bring it back. No repair possible except for the expensive head replacement.

I got a similar pattern on my 6-yr old 9900. Repair was too expensive so I traded this in on a new P9000 with a 3-yr warranty and the same thing happened after about 18 months. Head was replaced under warranty. From now on I intend to stay within warranty, which means replacing my machine every 3 years, but I've costed that in to my business.

[Stephen G]

Did either of you guys experience head strikes, like on fiber gloss media toward the end of rolls?

With the 9900, over the 6 years I used it, I had quite a few head strikes, and the de-lamination only occurred after 6 years of use. I am always very careful to get my settings correct, and I use high-quality media, but sometimes you luck out. If the humidity on a given day is low then papers get stiffer and more curly - more prone to lift off the bed and get hit by a passing head. Sometimes you just get a roll with slight damage to the edge, and this stands up slightly proud, and connects with the head.

[deanwork]

Not me because I never used those papers on those particular machines. But my heads were not de laminated, just experienced clogged nozzles.

One of the big problems occurs when you receive a roll that has been sitting on the warehouse shelf too long. The tight curling becomes very stiff toward the last third of the roll.



quote author=Stephen G link=topic=134795.msg1168162#msg1168162 date=1588318642]
With the 9900, over the 6 years I used it, I had quite a few head strikes, and the de-lamination only occurred after 6 years of use. I am always very careful to get my settings correct, and I use high-quality media, but sometimes you luck out. If the humidity on a given day is low then papers get stiffer and more curly - more prone to lift off the bed and get hit by a passing head. Sometimes you just get a roll with slight damage to the edge, and this stands up slightly proud, and connects with the head.
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