Can anyone look at my nozzle check? P9000

[604Canvas]

I have a couple lines missing in my LC. As a result I have some banding and at the top 1/8inch of all my prints I have a solid line of VLM.

I tried a series of cleanings. 4 normal, one powerful, one normal. Rest 24 hrs. A little bit of recovery, then goes back to square one.

I print 4-5 times a week, about a roll of Canvas a week.

Room right now is 40% humidity.

I'm thinking possibly delaminated head? Just wanna get your opinion. Been using this p9000 for 1.5 years.

[deanwork]

Yes, that head is delaminating. You might be able to use it a little longer but it’s on the way out. I was just there with my 9890. Look for banding in any color using cyan.

How old is this printer? I’m hearing all these people saying that this machine is so much less prone to head failure than the 9890. I don’t buy it. My 9890 ( same head as the 9900 ) lasted me 8 years before that happened.
I’ve heard they are the same heads on the P 9000.

I have a couple lines missing in my LC. As a result I have some banding and at the top 1/8inch of all my prints I have a solid line of VLM.

I tried a series of cleanings. 4 normal, one powerful, one normal. Rest 24 hrs. A little bit of recovery, then goes back to square one.

I print 4-5 times a week, about a roll of Canvas a week.

Room right now is 40% humidity.

I'm thinking possibly delaminated head? Just wanna get your opinion. Been using this p9000 for 1.5 years.

[604Canvas]

Thanks for the reply.

The machine is 1.5 years old, and I've now learned the hard way that I should always say yes to the extended warranty.

I hear it the same head at the 9900. My 9900 ran for 5 years and the guy who owned it before me had it at least 3 years. Good machine. Bad luck with my P9000.

The reason why I wanted to ask the group here is to help make the decision about if I should call a tech in or not. I'm willing to do a repair up to a the head. If it's the head, it's $4 grand here in Canada plus wasted ink. $6000 for a band new P9570.

[deanwork]

It’s so strange how random these big Epsons can be. You and others have had great luck with the 9900 while people I know had nightmares over and over from day one. My 9890 was very durable.

 It may be too early to know about the 9570. If I needed a new 44 printer that would be at the very top of my list, but I’d be nervous about it especially after hearing all these reports about the P 20000 and P 10k. Yea warranty is a must, and the starter ink carts are a joke ( all brands are doing this to us now ) so in Canada and Europe your talking serious money just to get started. It’s hard to know what to do. You may have just had a defective head.

Thanks for the reply.

The machine is 1.5 years old, and I've now learned the hard way that I should always say yes to the extended warranty.

I hear it the same head at the 9900. My 9900 ran for 5 years and the guy who owned it before me had it at least 3 years. Good machine. Bad luck with my P9000.

The reason why I wanted to ask the group here is to help make the decision about if I should call a tech in or not. I'm willing to do a repair up to a the head. If it's the head, it's $4 grand here in Canada plus wasted ink. $6000 for a band new P9570.

[JRSmit]

Thanks for the reply.

The machine is 1.5 years old, and I've now learned the hard way that I should always say yes to the extended warranty.

I hear it the same head at the 9900. My 9900 ran for 5 years and the guy who owned it before me had it at least 3 years. Good machine. Bad luck with my P9000.

The reason why I wanted to ask the group here is to help make the decision about if I should call a tech in or not. I'm willing to do a repair up to a the head. If it's the head, it's $4 grand here in Canada plus wasted ink. $6000 for a band new P9570.

Why not a new P9000?

[604Canvas]

The difference between the P9000 and P9570 here in Canada is $800.

The P9570 has a different print head, a dust cover (over the media feed) an extended catch mat, and a couple other features. That and I hear I'm able to now but up to 5 years of extended warranty.

If I go with the P9000, I get to save my ink carts, but I'll only have 1 year of possible warranty extension. My P9000 crapped out after 1.5 years and left me feeling a bit bitter.

I just got off the phone with epson, and emailed over my nozzle check. It doesn't seem like the rep on the phone know too much about the printers, he keeps pushing a service call. I asked about making an exception about extending the warranty as this seems like a common issue with their print head. His response was that 6 months out of warranty is too far out. I asked how long these machines are expected to last, "anywhere from 1 year to 50 years, we don't know". Not a very appropriate response from a company many of us spend thousands with annually.

[Garnick]

Hi Jan,

"I hear it the same head at the 9900. My 9900 ran for 5 years and the guy who owned it before me had it at least 3 years. Good machine. Bad luck with my P9000".  My 9900 was a complete nightmare during the first two years of usage, which caused me to extend the warranty. As a matter of fact I started a rather long thread at the time here on LuLa.  I also started an Issue Log at the 3rd month of the first year.  By the end of the third year the printer had required several service calls and multiple part replacements.  After the warranty expired the printer exhibited an issue much like I'm seeing in your nozzle check.  Through sheer luck I found a tech with many years of experience with all of the wide format printer manufacturers.  In our first phone conversation I also realized that he was actually about a 30 minute drive from my location.  The luck continued.  I immediately sent a scan of the nozzle check which looked very much like yours.  He said that the bulging vertical lines as I'm seeing in you nozzle check was a very obvious sign of a dead print head.  Tow days later he installed a new head and 5 months later I sold the printer in good shape.  A few months later I had a call from the fellow who bought the 9900, just to let me know that it was working perfectly.  Of course by the time I sold the 9900 it had various new/newer parts and was working quite well.  Hopefully you won't need a new head, but from what I'm seeing it would seem to be inevitable.  The Issue Log I referred to end after 120 page in WORD.     

[dgberg]

I am still running an 11 year old 9900 with a head I replaced 5 years ago. For this printer Epson has the one issue service call for $1395. (Not sure if they have extended that to the P8000 and P9000?)
The buy for your money is a P8000, $3195 here in the states when on special. I bought one and converted it to dye sublimation and (knock on wood) it is far better when it comes to clogging that the 9900.
We have looked at a half dozen printers over the last two years to replace our aging fleet and to tell you the truth their is not a whole lot of difference upgrading to the latest technology. Especially when you are talking double the money.

[Paul2660]

I recently had a similar issue with my P9000 at the same 1.5 years of life.  It was not presently the total missing lines issue yours has, but was showing some type of clogging, which moved between, Cyan, Green and yellow, and sometime Light Black.  This was after 1.5 years and never a single clog.  I had the extended warranty, and was able to get the issue resolved, at least for now.  Epson replaced the entire capping station, had sent a head, but the repair person felt it was not needed, so far he was correct. 

If you are looking at a new head and want it installed by Epson service, (not sure who does it in your location), for me it's Decision One, the cost of just the part in the US is $2500.00, if sourced from Epson.  Add another 1K for hours of work. Basically very close to the price of a new P9000 and within 1K of a P9570 based on US pricing.

I would have upgraded to the P9570, based on the new features and fact that Epson decided to allow the end user to conduct head cleaning, and sell special wipes and solution just for this process and the head will move all the way over to the left where a door is available to get at the head.  Problem for me is getting rid of the old printer, and having to pay 4 people to move the printers. 

If you are only $800.00 off from a new P9000, I would sure consider a P9570. 

Only issue I have read about on this printer is how the media center, (not sure what it's actually called) but it's totally different than the older P9000 and down the line.  Seems that when the P9570 first came out there were some issues with this but it seems now better understood.

The repairs on the P9000 out of warranty I believe are only good for 90 days.

Paul C

[JRSmit]

The difference between the P9000 and P9570 here in Canada is $800.

The P9570 has a different print head, a dust cover (over the media feed) an extended catch mat, and a couple other features. That and I hear I'm able to now but up to 5 years of extended warranty.

If I go with the P9000, I get to save my ink carts, but I'll only have 1 year of possible warranty extension. My P9000 crapped out after 1.5 years and left me feeling a bit bitter.

I just got off the phone with epson, and emailed over my nozzle check. It doesn't seem like the rep on the phone know too much about the printers, he keeps pushing a service call. I asked about making an exception about extending the warranty as this seems like a common issue with their print head. His response was that 6 months out of warranty is too far out. I asked how long these machines are expected to last, "anywhere from 1 year to 50 years, we don't know". Not a very appropriate response from a company many of us spend thousands with annually.

Learned the hard way to buy printers always with extended warranty to 3 years.  I run a business and print daily , have had head failures , but basically random.

[mcbroomf]

The One Time Service Plan would cover a new head on the Surecolour P9000 (all 44"SC printers and the Pro 9900). 
https://epson.com/Accessories/Printer-Accessories/One-Time-Service-Plan---EPWPSP1R44/p/EPWPSP1R44

I used it for my P8000 a few months ago.  However another user from Canada could not get it when she tried despite the notes in the T&Cs
https://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=130563.20

"This Plan covers the Epson SureColor P-Series 44-inch or Epson Stylus Pro 9900 Printer for one-time, on-site repair services for a Primary Issue if used in the United States, Canada, or Puerto Rico. A Plan is not transferable. No other services or products are included."

Probably worth calling them though.

Mike

[Paul2660]

thanks for posting this, I was no aware this was out there.  Good to know.

$1,395.00 for 1 primary fix as I read the description, which if a head is involved would be considerably less about 1/2.  However, most times you replace the head, the dampers should also be replaced and capping station.  I wonder if a "primary cause" would include all the parts or just the head and the time to replace, and recalibrate it (as that's by far the hardest part from what I have read).

Still great to see this for sure.

Paul C

[604Canvas]

Thanks for the info on the one time service. The rep on the phone briefly mentioned it, but then stopped himself as he realized I was a Canadian customer. Clearly Canadians are included in the Terms and a conditions (thanks for that!). I emailed them and will post about it here incase anyone comes into the same situation.

[mcbroomf]

thanks for posting this, I was no aware this was out there.  Good to know.

$1,395.00 for 1 primary fix as I read the description, which if a head is involved would be considerably less about 1/2.  However, most times you replace the head, the dampers should also be replaced and capping station.  I wonder if a "primary cause" would include all the parts or just the head and the time to replace, and recalibrate it (as that's by far the hardest part from what I have read).

Still great to see this for sure.

Paul C

When the tech replaced mine a very large box of parts was shipped to my house ahead of him.  It included other parts that would have been replaced if the head replacement alone had not worked.  However he did not replace them as "good practice" to do alongside a new head.
He realigned the head before he left.

[arobinson7547]

>did not replace them as "good practice"<

It's a little bit of a shame; 'cause it's sure a lot easier to replace that stuff while you're already in there.
I guess they say, "Start with the head. And if that fixes it, go home."

Oh well.

[Garnick]

Thanks for the info on the one time service. The rep on the phone briefly mentioned it, but then stopped himself as he realized I was a Canadian customer. Clearly Canadians are included in the Terms and a conditions (thanks for that!). I emailed them and will post about it here incase anyone comes into the same situation.

And as a fellow Canuck, I wish you the best with the 9900.  Hopefully the one time Epson fix will do the job and you'll have many more years with the 9900.  Unfortunately such an offer from Epson was not available when I had my 9900, or I would have definitely taken that route also.

[langier]

After nearly ten years of using my second-hand 9900, the head finally failed. My local "expert" whose shop is about fifty miles away advised me a few years ago when he came to service the printer after running several hundred feet of canvas on a major project. I had a minor nozzle clog and after the service for cleaning and some minor part replacement, the head went to 100%.

But in the past year or so, it was taking more cleanings and easier this summer cleaning the head was not enough so I started looking at listings on eBay but before I placed a bid, I gave him a call. My expert talked me out of it and I agreed. The plan was to simply replace the head which wasn't much more than purchasing a used printer but with the advantage that I knew the history and maintenance of my printer and it would probably give me another five or more years of service.

What he told me about the new head besides the pucker-factor price of this little piece of machinery is that it wasn't the original part designed for the 9900 but a newer and improved version that should be more reliable. He should know since he knows his craft and I've used his services for many years.

He came up on a Saturday and in a couple of short hours, my printer was printing better than it had in years and now several weeks later, it's going strong! Fewer cleaning cycles are needed now that when I was using it daily, even though I'm printing about once every week or so.

So if the rest of your printer is working well and you know the maintenance history, it may be well worthwhile to find someone to replace the head with the newer version and keep it going.

For me, it saved me driving 250+ miles to pick up one used 9900 or 800 miles and a couple of days to pick up a second and that's before figuring out how to rid myself of my current 9900 which had to be taken by four friends down a flight of stairs then twisted through a 90-degree bend though a narrow door.

The bottom line for me was that it was less time and work to get it done rather than deal with replacement and disposal.

I wish you the best of luck in finding a good service tech and to get back into the groove!