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Author Topic: Epson 7900 from the inside - out  (Read 1092843 times)

themo

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #400 on: February 23, 2012, 12:26:12 am »

Enter the Mo. I've always wanted to say that. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for the opportunity. ;)

Anyhow, to clear up a few things - Mo (me) is a lady. Just kidding, I'm not particularly lady-like, but I've got all the requisite parts to achieve that title. You do get partial credit for spelling my name correctly, though. I'm definitely not a stooge. Technically I'm a Maureen, but I've sort of always been a Mo.

Now, I have read this thread in its entirety, and I'm at the edge of my seat to find out how this saga ends. I'm really hoping it is with some exceptionally well crafted prints. A couple of years ago, I opted out of my corporate gig and bought a struggling little antique shop in Portland. I'm in love with it, even the part where I never have any money, and I hate Mac'n'Cheese now. I get to do what you guys are trying to accomplish with this printer, just with old stuff. It's awesome. I've been trying to figure out a 1940s National register for about 3 weeks now. I've only nearly electrocuted myself twice. I'm getting there, baby steps, etc.

Enough about me, let's get on to the Epson saga, and the tale of my Pop. He's the guy who has been working on these printers for about a decade now. His company used to work on big main frames, and then those went away. Then they started working on medium computers, and those went away. Then it was small computers, but now people just toss them and buy new ones, so the company partnered with Epson to provide in-home/office Epson printer repair for these, what I like to call 'Mo'Money Mo'Problem' machines. I have noted in this thread the general belief that most Epson repair guys kind of mash around and swap out parts until something fits. I can tell you, that's pretty much the truth. In large part its because Epson provided these outsourced techs with about as much training as you guys get when you buy the printer in the first place- a repair manual that references 8 other repair manuals that you can maybe find online. There's good business in parts, and since you spent your last penny to get the machine, you sure aren't going to toss it and start over- you are going to a) spend money on one of the Epson guys or b) become like Eric, and essentially go "nucking futs" with determination, tackle the problem head on, and teach others the inner workings of one seriously involved machine. I think most people probably opt for route A. In both cases, replacing a lot of expensive parts while wasting a lot of expensive ink ends up being part of the solution.

Some guys, like my Pop (and Eric it seems) are born to fix things, and dang good at it. My Pop knows these machines inside and out, and he did tend to curse them when his job involved driving all over CA, parts of NV and parts of OR to fix them. He can talk for hours about the parts shortage on these machines, and the frustration of working for a Company that doesn't provide adequate support in finding solutions for the techs that actually do want to fix the issue in a timely fashion and go home to their families; and not just because they were told by their Company that driving to/from a repair job, in their own cars (even if it was 8-12 hours away) no longer merited pay, but because being home tinkering for fun is awesome and way more rewarding.

I won't bore you with the rest of the details, but suffice to say that being good at repairing these printers meant actively trying to point out methods that would improve the repair process as a whole- for both you guys and the repair guys. Ultimately, I suspect this was the cause behind my Pop being laid off via a phone call, from a guy across the country that he had never met. No 'Thanks for 30 years of service, or here's a broken Epson to tinker with in your early retirement.' I'll be nice and assume it was simply because no one knew my Pop had been there for 30 years, because he was the only one who had been there for 30 years- even as the Company was sold and consolidated over time into a decentralized outsourced labor group that does Epson's 'dirty' work.  So now there's one guy servicing all of CA, parts of NV and OR. There may be others, at other decentralized outsourced labor groups, but I bet they have the same parts issues and 'here's a bunch of .PDFs and manuals training.' Some of them, hopefully, are like my Dad - and able to roll with that set of punches. But let's face it- not everyone is. And, even if they are, they might be kind of tired from driving 8 hours with no pay, and might just do things the "standard operating procedure" way and just throw parts at it until it works. That appears to be the way to not get laid off.

Moral of this story, if you'd call it that, is a few things:
1. The kind of strategy Eric, and others of you are taking is critically important and totally awesome. It's messy, painful, frustrating, and probably kind of expensive - but its success will certainly help a lot of other folks get more hands on. I love the information sharing I've read on here, and I think you guys/gals deserve to bask in your own coolness for a few. Done and done!
2. I'm sure at the end of the day Epson printers are relatively no different than other compatible brands with regards to failure rates, internal weakness, design flaws, etc. I also can't speak to whether other compatible brands have more active/friendly repair process and training strategies for their third party outsourced labor groups, but I sort of imagine that parts are probably big business in general, so maybe not.
3. Too bad my Pop is legally prohibited from repairing these machines himself for awhile, as part of the terms of his severance package which turns out to be significantly less than it originally seemed when it becomes clear the cost of insuring a man (in CA) in his 60s who has pretty bad arthritis in his hands- gained from decades of fixing everything from old school main frames that took up entire building wings- to Epson printers, to anything else that broke in between. Don't think the third party outsourced labor groups would want competition from a guy that actually just likes to get things fixed the right way.  But this is all just my opinion, and of course not the opinion of any printer company, or decentralized outsourced labor group. Etc. It's a shame because fixing stuff the way you guys are, is what my dad loves to do best. Though, now that he has been laid off, he's fairly aware that the likely hood of him finding a job in his field, in CA, at his age, are pretty slim. If he does get a job before he's actually old enough to formally retire, I guarantee you it will be along the lines of "Would you like fries with that?" Way less frustration. I think for now he is content not driving 8 hours a day, and getting to kill zombies in his expanded free time.

Sorry for the long side-story to the real story of this thread. I'll go back to eagerly anticipating the outcome - from a dark, shadowy alley way (I liked that!). I really really hope the print head is the solution! I'm always a sucker for a good project spearheaded by what seems to be some pretty stand up folk. Besides, as I said to Eric - getting to play artsy shouldn't be so much damned work!

Best of luck.

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Eric Gulbransen

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #401 on: February 23, 2012, 01:08:54 am »

Holeey MOleey.  Mo isn't a dude at all.  This feels like "The Crying Game" only backwards - and I don't have to run for the shower now. 


...so you see what I mean about the videos?  I gotta get a camera man

Jeff Magidson

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #402 on: February 23, 2012, 11:07:21 am »


I see absolutely NO reason for my 9890 to clog any more than my 3800. It was my amazement with my 3800 that encourage me to get the 9890 over a 9880 to replace my 7800. I expected the same performance if not better.



This is exactly what I have been wondering about through this entire thread. I have been using a 3800 for the past 4 years (7,600 pages printed) with very little problems. We don't hear about many clogging problems with the 3800/3880. So much of the core technology is the same with the 3800/3880 and its larger siblings. So what are the differences? A more finicky capping station may be the culprit!

~ Jeff
« Last Edit: February 23, 2012, 02:36:09 pm by Jeff Magidson »
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eleanorbrown

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #403 on: February 23, 2012, 02:23:01 pm »

Well I resorted to doing a power clean on my 7900 couple of days ago just to get the yellow unclogged (after trying several targeted yellow cleans plus a regular clean to no avail) !  Today all colors have clogs!!!  Had to do a regular clean to get clogs free.  I have the 9880 and 7800 printers also and have never had this much trouble with clogging. Eleanor
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chaddro

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #404 on: February 23, 2012, 03:14:33 pm »

Well I resorted to doing a power clean on my 7900 couple of days ago just to get the yellow unclogged (after trying several targeted yellow cleans plus a regular clean to no avail) !  Today all colors have clogs!!!  Had to do a regular clean to get clogs free.  I have the 9880 and 7800 printers also and have never had this much trouble with clogging. Eleanor

Hi Eleanor,

Have you updated your 7900 to the latest firmware. I believe it's Nov. 2011. There were a number of firmware updates last fall to deal with unrecognized carts, and the Paired Power Cleaning was added in Nov.

If you are still under warranty, definitely give Epson a call to discuss the issues with them. They sent me out a free replacement cartridge for my Yellow since I had mysteriously used more yellow than any other color. YMMV. I had a different tech give me 'guff' over my TWO BAD 700ml cartridges... made me mail them out first. And yet another tech had yet another bad 350ml cartridge out to me like next day and I could return when I had time!

Did you check your wiper to see if it's clean? It's so simple to do it can't hurt!
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eleanorbrown

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #405 on: February 23, 2012, 04:24:08 pm »

Many thanks for all the excellent suggestions!!  I need to update my firmware and what is the "wiper"?? thanks again, Eleanor
PS-have been trying to update my firmware via Epson Printer Utility 3 and it won't recognize the connection to my 7900.  I've also downloaded the firmware to my Mac computer but it won't open when I try to double click on it.  What am I doing wrong??


Hi Eleanor,

Have you updated your 7900 to the latest firmware. I believe it's Nov. 2011. There were a number of firmware updates last fall to deal with unrecognized carts, and the Paired Power Cleaning was added in Nov.

If you are still under warranty, definitely give Epson a call to discuss the issues with them. They sent me out a free replacement cartridge for my Yellow since I had mysteriously used more yellow than any other color. YMMV. I had a different tech give me 'guff' over my TWO BAD 700ml cartridges... made me mail them out first. And yet another tech had yet another bad 350ml cartridge out to me like next day and I could return when I had time!

Did you check your wiper to see if it's clean? It's so simple to do it can't hurt!
« Last Edit: February 23, 2012, 04:33:22 pm by eleanorbrown »
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dgberg

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #406 on: February 23, 2012, 04:33:29 pm »

Eleanor,
Start at the beginning of this 450 post thread and you will know more about the wiper when your finished then you want to know.
Or just watch Eric's video on page 18.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2012, 04:35:53 pm by Dan Berg »
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #407 on: February 23, 2012, 04:35:07 pm »

Eleanor,
Start at the beginning of this 450 post thread and you will know more about the wiper when your finished then you want to know.
Or just watch Eric's video somewhere in the middle.

This is a riot Dan. I think this thread is making Luminous-Landscape history - may even get into the Guinness Book of Records.........   :-)
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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na goodman

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #408 on: February 23, 2012, 05:09:53 pm »

Eleanor here is a link to updating the firmware: http://files.support.epson.com/pdf/pro79_/pro79_gd.pdf go to page 54.
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jeverton

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #409 on: February 23, 2012, 05:17:09 pm »

Wow!!!  If this is not compelling enough for you to replace your wiper blade assembly periodically… then I don’t what will convince you otherwise.  Thanks Eric for the replacement unit  :)

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Eric Gulbransen

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #410 on: February 23, 2012, 10:43:45 pm »

Wow!!!  If this is not compelling enough for you to replace your wiper blade assembly periodically… then I don’t what will convince you otherwise.  Thanks Eric for the replacement unit  :)




Awesome to see that your wiper looks like crap.  ....Too

Sure feels like we're zeroing in on a weak link in the chain here - wiper/capping station/seal/ and air. 

They relate to one another just like our camera's aperture/ISO/shutter/(come on I need a fourth one dammit) and ice cream

eleanorbrown

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #411 on: February 23, 2012, 11:53:04 pm »

Thanks very much everyone for your suggestions.  My firmware is being updated as i type this.  I needed to have paper loaded in the 7900 to update which I had not done.  Now it is updating fine.  I will also work on getting any air that night be in my lines, out...
thanks again, Eleanor
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randal21

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #412 on: February 24, 2012, 12:06:50 am »

Does anyone know how to check what firmware version you have on a Mac with a Epson 7900?
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iladi

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #413 on: February 24, 2012, 07:30:54 am »

i was never beeen abble to update the firmware. i can print, by driver, by RIP, but when i want to upgrade the FW the LFP remote 2 cannot find the printer :D
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eleanorbrown

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #414 on: February 24, 2012, 11:05:29 am »



That happened to me... You have to have paper loaded and ready to print and it will find the printer! Eleanor

i was never beeen abble to update the firmware. i can print, by driver, by RIP, but when i want to upgrade the FW the LFP remote 2 cannot find the printer :D
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davidgp

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #415 on: February 24, 2012, 12:18:11 pm »

Damn... what a story!!! Waiting to see how it ends... I started reading this morning (I live in Spain) before going to work... and I finished it now (I have not read all comments, mainly Eric posts). I really enjoyed it!

And nice video...

iladi

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #416 on: February 25, 2012, 01:31:41 am »

Pronter is ready, paper loaded. Printer conected by wired network, all ok.
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bupalos

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #417 on: February 29, 2012, 06:07:32 pm »

Can't thank you enough for posting your experience here. Just finding this now, but I jumped through just these hoops about a year ago when lt. mag. suddenly dropped a bunch of nozzles on my 7900. I had had a head strike within a day or two of when it went bad, so I blamed that. Replaced dampers with high hopes, then the head itself. (By myself) (hands quaking with fear), and went on printing happily for the last 10 months or so. But today I've got the Cyan dropping just the same way. A very consistent pattern. Trying to justify getting another head...$1200 every 10 months really isn't sustainable.

I've got to make a move here before you will get to see how the cleaning machine works, but if you end up with it, I may have not 1 but 2 heads that you can try it on next!!
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Eric Gulbransen

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out 3/2/12 UPDATE
« Reply #418 on: March 02, 2012, 01:01:31 pm »

So Mo came through.  Every morning now I stare at a great white box containing a virgin printhead full of promise that our Epson 7900 will soon print clog-free again. 

But it isn't printing clog-free yet, is it. 

We haven't installed it yet, have we. 

Me and my genius buddy Steve have decided to sit idle, and not get this 7900 printing again, yet, for the good of all of us here on Luminous Landscape.  After all, these twenty five pages weren't filled by the singular hope that this one particular 7900 would print again.  These pages were filled with the hope that any and all of us would some day understand WTF is happening with these x900 printheads.  Why do they clog like they do?  Is it dried ink, is it bad capping station seals, is it air in the lines, gooped up wiper blades, old ink and on and on....?   or is it the mother of all hellishly looming threats, the piezoelectric nozzles simply failing, and ever so gradually showing more and more "clogging" like some hauntingly expensive computer virus - regardless of how many combinations of cleanings we come up with?

These are the questions which we have in some ways already addressed, and already answered.  The answers are yes to all of these I believe, and they are all also very solvable problems.  All but one that is.  The piezoelectrics.. 

So this 7900 will sit, and wait instead for the arrival of it's original head - like some sacrificial lamb trembling in the corner of a room I once called the "The printing room", but now call "The Twilight Zone".


Vladimir's latest update suggests he has completed design of the new bracket which will attach our x900 heads to his ultrasonic cleaning machine.  Now he is producing the brackets.  So at this point we place our our mysterious faith in a man no one here has ever seen, met, or spoken to - Vladimir of printheaddoctor.com.  And we continue to wait...


There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going.
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing.
Is it raining?
Is it snowing?
Is a hurricane a blowing?

Not a speck of light is showing
so the danger must be growing.
Are the fires of hell a glowing?
Is the grisly reaper mowing?
Yes! The danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing. And they're certainly not showing
any signs that they are slowing!





.

Eric Gulbransen

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Re: Epson 7900 from the inside - out
« Reply #419 on: March 02, 2012, 04:44:12 pm »

Sorry if this causes confusion but my manager just made me change my old Luminous Landscape screen name (go394) to my new Dancing With the Stars screen name, for marketing purposes.  I'm so excited..


 ::)


OK that's not really the reason
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