Epson 1500W aka 1430W - print head dead or does it have an air lock?

Hi all,

I have been using an Epson Artisan 1500W loaded with Eboni6 carbon black pigment inks for the past five years. This set up has proved to be reliable with few clogs despite the fact that the printer is unused for weeks at a time. The other day I was printing and mid way through the session when the prints started showing banding. A test print showed that the ink in the forth channel (light magenta) was missing a large number of bars.

I have tried printer cleaning cycles, ammonia soaked cloth under the print head and forward and back flushing of ammonia solution through the channel as well as leaving the printer alone for several days.

None of these actions have solved the problem.

At present if I wait a day the test print has approximately two thirds of the lines missing. This gets worse the more test prints I run. However, things improve if I remove the refill plug but lines are still missing. I have tried swapping cartridges and drawing ink from the feed port but I am unable to restore normal function. This suggests to me that my printer has an ink feed problem from the cartridge interface.

Any ideas?

Simon

Could you please make a nozzle check, scan it, crop it to the actual print area and post it here - 'Upload a File'.
Are all ink channels/colors affected equally ? Have you been printing a lot over the last years ? You may get the number of printed pages via the status report by the WicReset utility if it is not printed with the nozzle check. It could be an ink flow problem by clogged nozzles but as well a clogged filter in the refill cartridges which typically contain a small fine mesh wire filter at the ink outlet, it could be that the nozzle plate is not cleaned well anymore.

Well I tried. The problem is that the scanner is unable to read the feint grey lines of the test sheet. So I inked in the visible portion and scanned the result. Please note that the other blank columns are in reality populated. It is only a problem with the forth ink channel. The test sheets range from at best a third populated down to almost all of the channel missing. The better, more complete, tests seem to occur following a period of rest (both me and the printer). The first file was produced after three days of no use.

I'm not sure what constitutes "a lot" of printing but I would probably say no. Probably 200 ml of ink per channel since 2012 and a lot of that ended up in the printer potty.

I have tried three different cartridges all with the same result. At the moment the channel is soaking in dilute ammonia to see if that will shift something.

best wishes
Simon

I don't see many nozzles in patch #3 and just more than half in #4. Since you have done quite a lot of cleaning already via various methods there is the other probably cause left - the cartridges are impeding the ink flow. Do you have other cartridges - refill or regular ones with ink - available for a comparative test - just printing normal with colors - and if it is only for nozzle rows 3 and 4 ? You are right - 200ml/per channel over 5-6 years is not really heavy load for this printer, it's more on the low side - that's 40ml/year or 10ml/quarter.

Patch 3 is ok apart from a short break indicated by the line you see where I've inked in the one line with a short break, the rest of the lines in the section are complete but very feint. Patch 4 is entirely variable from test print to test print. In answer to your question about cartridges I have three sets of refillable cartridges and have tried three different cartridges in channel 4. I will try and buy a new cartridge tomorrow.

A nozzle check with variable nozzles missing does not point to clogs which can be cleaned away - it's either air or restricted ink flow - restricted before the nozzles. Air should go away after several cleaning cycles at the latest.

Thanks for your support and advice. I have just run the WicReSet utility and read the status. It looks bad to me with to much use of the word "Fatal" but I have attached a screen shot for expert review and comment.

An update: I cleared the error reports, reinstalled the cartridges, ran a cleaning cycle and then printed a test page. 98% of the channel printed o.k. But then I printed a color check pattern which includes the angled grid pattern and 30% of the nozzles are missing. I have included three more scans of the test sheets. Please note that these have been adjusted to increase the contrast so that the nozzle check may be seen. The first shows almost all the nozzles working, the second that fewer are working and the third shows even fewer nozzles working in channel four and that channel three is improving. While it is hard to believe that three different cartridges have all failed at the same time I will try and buy a new colour cartridge to see if it makes a difference. I suspect that the cartridge seal may be letting air in especially as this one cartridge slot does dot click into place like the other five.

best wishes
Simon

since you get all these test prints it's not a main board failure as reported as a possible cause. I'm puzzled about the thermistor overheat condition - did you use any hot cleaner ? I don't know if you tried already used a syringe with a short piece of tube and some cleaner to pull/push the cleaner via the ink receptacles - pull first and then push the cleaner gently into the ink channel. Using regular dye inks for a test should overcome issues possibly related to the inks.

No I did not use any hot cleaner (but thats an idea!), I should imagine it would have to be very hot to trigger an overheat. Yes I have tried using a syringe and tube but to little effect. It seems to me that either air or foreign matter is blocking the main feed pipe because if left alone for some hours some ink gets through to the nozzles but is soon exhausted once a test sheet is printed. At present I've filled a cartridge with an ammonia water mix to see if that will shift the blockage. If it kills the head then I tried my best and I have already started looking for my next Eboni 6 printer - the P600 looks favourite.