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.
