Hi, this is Scott from American Inkjet Systems (AIS) with some comments regarding 7900/9900/9890 printers. It is gratifying to read about the effort everyone has put forth in solving the problems with these new printers. We constantly receive calls and Emails from companies with issues and there is little time for us to follow all the groups. We own many Epson printers and among them a 9900. I also have many clients with of 9890’s and 9900’s. We upgraded our Website to
www.americaninkjetsystems2.com which should be a lot easier to navigate. As you might know, we help and support our clients with all their Epson printers, whether they are using Epson ink or third party ink; so we’re able to acquire great deal of information about these printers and the way they perform under different conditions.
This new series of printer’s offer some attributes that have grabbed the interest of production studios, individuals, and enthusiasts, especially because of its speed as well as offering more color channels. While these printers offer great potential in the print business, there are several problems we see that are related to Epson’s pigment Ink and many pigment inks in general, especially where they are not in constant use. I thought I would give you our lab’s take on the problem and how to solve most of the clogging issues.
Most pigment inks, and of course Epson’s, are a combination of pigment and resin (liquid plastic) in a suspension. When the ink gets a chance to dry, it turns into a solid-like state. Ink is not a cleaner and not intended to dissolve a solid built up over time. When you perform a cleaning, you are trying to push the dried ink out clearing the nozzle. However, if ink starts drying inside the head forming more of a cluster over the nozzles, then it becomes more futile to expect choosing the nozzle cleaning command to be effective; that is where your efforts of soaking the head with a cleaner or running cleaning fluid into the head through the whole system will be more effective. The idea of the head being capped on the capping station pad is to prevent the head from drying out quickly. However, if the pad is not replenished with moisture, the pad will dry and therefore cause the head to dry and in turn form clogged nozzles. I call the dried ink on the capping station pads “Gunk.” One of the reasons that these nozzles clog more readily is because they are so fine. Not using the printer on a daily basis or having the printer in a dry atmosphere will speed up the drying process.
The remedy to this issue is quite simple. Simply place a lubricant cleaner on the pads as often as once a night depending on the dryness of your place. Ideal humidity as prescribed by printer manufacturers for the printer is 40% which is not ideal for media. Any cleaner that evaporates quickly, like Windex, is not effective for this operation. The cleaner needs to be able to break down resin, while at the same time reducing evaporation. The process for moving the head aside using the controls on the printer and placing the liquid on the capping station pads is about 2 minutes or less. This seems to me to be a no brainer. Our clients have used our cleaners from the time Roland and Mimaki printers first introduced pigment ink, about 12 years ago. Using the cleaner also prolongs the life of the capping station. It was suggested to me by an Epson technician, that the capping station should be replaced every 3 years.
Just to reiterate, you may feel upset that clogging did not appear as fast with previous Epson printers, like the 9800 series; however, sometimes with so called progress comes more challenges.
Our company is dedicated to solving problems and looking at all aspects of inkjet printing from an unrestricted position. In this case, we produce several cleaners for different purposes that you can read about on our new website:
www.americaninkjetsystems2.comIf you are going to use a cleaning fluid made by any company for use of maintenance on the capping station, make sure it accomplishes what I described. The benefits are so great and the cost so little.