Blurry prints (Epson WorkForce WF-2810DWF)

[King Mustard]

We bought the printer new from Amazon UK in March 2020 [link to user guide].

We've ran monthly test page prints, to keep it functioning.

In the past two months, we've been getting very blurry prints (please see attached scanned image of print).

On the printer itself, I have tried Nozzle Check, Head Cleaning and Print Head Alignment (both Vertical and Horizontal).

The issue is occuring when printing from any program (including Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word) and with any print quality setting.

Any ideas?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Please print a nozzle check, scan it , crop it and post it here.

What is the overall usage of this printer - the number of total pages should be listed on the overall nozzle check print.

What type of ink/cartridges - original or ? are you using ?

Can you please try to print with bidirectional printing disabled - there should be an option 'fast' or 'High Speed' on the extended /more options tab, please turn off this opion - does that make any difference ?
Which quality setting are you using - please try 'qaulity high' if you don't use that already which is very much recommended for barcodes/QR codes

 

[King Mustard]

Please print a nozzle check, scan it , crop it and post it here.

What is the overall usage of this printer - the number of total pages should be listed on the overall nozzle check print.

What type of ink/cartridges - original or ? are you using ?

Can you please try to print with bidirectional printing disabled - there should be an option 'fast' or 'High Speed' on the extended /more options tab, please turn off this opion - does that make any difference ?
Which quality setting are you using - please try 'qaulity high' if you don't use that already which is very much recommended for barcodes/QR codes

Here is the Nozzle Check:



It's used one or twice to print per month.

They're remanufactured cartridges but it's only been the past month or two that this issue has occured.

I tried Quality as High and disabled Quiet Mode but the print out, whilst taking a little longer (due to the quality) was exactly the same. I also tried Restore Defaults on Epson's 'Main' tab (and re-set Quality back to High) but again, same print issue.

EDIT: I just found the Bidirectional Printing tickbox on the 'More Options' tab and disabled it. That appears to have solved it! What does this mean?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I think that you are facing two different problems -

- the cyan nozzle check shows lots of gaps and

- the coding strip may possibly be dirty from ink fog

You are not using Epson genuine cartridges, the use of 3rd party ink can be a reason for the cyan problem, and/or your pretty low printer usage. You may use the WicReset uitlity - free from the internet - which offers for lots of printers several intensity levels for the cleaning function, and the status report gives you some more info. Please check whether and to which extend your printer is supported. Do a cleaning cycle and another nozzle check to see if there is any improvement.

I just found the Bidirectional Printing tickbox on the 'More Options' tab and disabled it. That appears to have solved it! What does this mean?

This is most likely an indication that the timing strip, a small dark gray plastic band that passes the rear side of the printhead carriage through a sensor, is contaminated. I'm using Q-Tips with a window cleaner to
wipe over this band. Access is sometimes somewhat difficult and depends how wide you can open printer with the scanner on top.



This is a recent image of a Canon printer with the same problem supposedly, it does not look much different in this respect in an Epson printer

 

[King Mustard]

I think that you are facing two different problems -

- the cyan nozzle check shows lots of gaps and

- the coding strip may possibly be dirty from ink fog

You are not using Epson genuine cartridges, the use of 3rd party ink can be a reason for the cyan problem, and/or your pretty low printer usage. You may use the WicReset uitlity - free from the internet - which offers for lots of printers several intensity levels for the cleaning function, and the status report gives you some more info. Please check whether and to which extend your printer is supported. Do a cleaning cycle and another nozzle check to see if there is any improvement.


This is most likely an indication that the timing strip, a small dark gray plastic band that passes the rear side of the printhead carriage through a sensor, is contaminated. I'm using Q-Tips with a window cleaner to
wipe over this band. Access is sometimes somewhat difficult and depends how wide you can open printer with the scanner on top.

View attachment 13509

This is a recent image of a Canon printer with the same problem supposedly, it does not look much different in this respect in an Epson printer


View attachment 13510

I cleaned anything I could inside the printer but it all looked fine. I couldn't identify anything that looks like that strip in your Canon photo, unfortunately.

I have bought four new cartridges and replaced all four (each color was at 1%, black was at 5%) and did a black text test print. Unfortunately, it's still awful, even if I turn off Bidirectional Printing. Please see example included scan (which was done with Bidirectional Printing on):



I have ran WIC Reset Utility's 'Head cleaning' option and ran a new Nozzle Test and this is what I see:



Any ideas?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

'I cleaned anything I could inside the printer but it all looked fine.'

- Did you run a cleaning cycle or two via the driver - on the maintenance tab - or with WicReset ?

- This is the left end of the coding strip hooked up to a spring

 

[King Mustard]

'I cleaned anything I could inside the printer but it all looked fine.'

- Did you run a cleaning cycle or two via the driver - on the maintenance tab - or with WicReset ?

- This is the left end of the coding strip hooked up to a spring

View attachment 13549

In my last post, I ran Head Cleaning via. the printer itself, and via WIC Reset Utility's 'Head cleaning' option.

I then ran a Nozzle Check and that's what you see in my post above. It's worse than it's ever been.

I just re-ran Head Cleaning via. the printer and re-did a Nozzle Check but it's no different, unfortunately.

The white band in the printer seems spotless. I ran my finger across it and nothing came off.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The white band in the printer seems spotless. I ran my finger across it and nothing came off.

Please check again, the white band is a flat cable with signals for the printhead.

You see the coding strip in your image as well - there is the toothed ribbon driving the printhead carriage, and there is a small gray translucent plastic band just above it - hooke up to a spring in the top left corner. Please try to clean this band
carefully

 

[King Mustard]

Please check again, the white band is a flat cable with signals for the printhead.

You see the coding strip in your image as well - there is the toothed ribbon driving the printhead carriage, and there is a small gray translucent plastic band just above it - hooke up to a spring in the top left corner. Please try to clean this band
carefully

We cleaned the translucent strip with a cotton bud + window cleaner and the strip/bud it was absolutely spotless.

Same issues are occuring, unfortunately.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Thanks for your feedback, I'm reaching the limits of remote diagnostics in this case going through possible causes for the hazy print output. I'm not sure whether it was mentioned already to use genuine Epson cartridges for the affected colors.