Epson compatibles & refillables will soon be no more in the USA!

[websnail]

The thing with allowing individual nozzle cleaning is that the printheads are not seperated out enough to make that possible.. On the Canon Pixma's (not sure re: other Canons) the pigment black is physically seperate from the other inkjet points so that makes it possible and they've allowed you that ability. Epson's printheads, AFAIK, do not have the same physical seperation.

You also have to bear in mind that there's very little mileage or gain to be had by Epson if they were to make such a jump either. After all, each cleaning cycle uses up a lot of ink which you then buy from Epson so it's hardly in their interests. Not to mention that such a reworking would involve a lot more work and research to get it right.. Not entirely sure it would pay off for them.

If the wastage aspect became a major issue however I suspect they would act, especially if their competition started using it as a comparison issue.

Swings and roundabouts...

 

[Manuchau]

Rather than wasting ink just to clear one blocked cartridge, why not print a purge page instead? One that just has a black or coloured square? Often, this is all you will need to get that colour working, unless you have a more serious printhead problem.

 

[Tin Ho]

Manuchau, I assume you are talking about printing purge page on Epson printers. It sounds logical to print purge page to prime a slightly dried and clogged print head. But it is quite often only cleaning cycles (suck ink through the print head with much greater power) can really clear up the clog. Piezoelectric force is very weak. I have found it not always able to clear a minor clog by printing purge page. It ended up wasting ink still. I had an R300 with bitter memory in fighting clogs on the very first set of OEM ink cartridges.

 

[fotofreek]

My experience with Epson printhead clogs was that after running two series of three cleaning cycles (Epsons run a cycle of three with each more prolonged then the last and then they go back to the shortest one again) one had to use more aggressive, undocumented techniques. A participant on the comp.periphs.printer usergroup, Arthur Entlich, has written a manual he gladly sends people as an attachment to an email. Really a good step-by-step approach with a few household items. That, by the way, is where I got the Windex tip about four years ago. A positive feature of Canons is the removable printhead. When an Epson printhead is screwed up the printer becomes a paperweight.

 

[Tin Ho]

Fotofreek, thank you for the information about Arthur Entlich. I believe my R300's clogs were never too stubborn to unclog by cleaning cycles. It would clear up with one or two cleaning cycles with some printing and some nozzle checks in between. It never really needed the extreme measure of using Windex or anything. But it kept on coming back if the printer wasn't used for a while. I eventually gave up using it and replaced it with a Canon ip4000. Canon ip4000 never did that before I replaced it again with an ip4300. The ip4300 is simply fantastic and never had a single problem. But I do use the ip4300 much more. This is partly because it is almost problem free and makes me like to use it more.

Well, maybe I should mention some positives about Epson printers. Epson print heads are more durable than Canon's. Piezo print heads almost never wear out. If not for clogs the print head can out last the rest of the printer. Clogging will not destroy a piezo print head. I believe if I don't mind about wasting ink and can take care full waste ink tank easily I would keep running cleaning cycles and the clog would eventually clear. With help of Windex there is no question most clogs of Epson print heads can be unclogged.

But in reality people don't have unlimited free ink supply to keep running cleaning cycles. The advantage of more durable print head is not an advantage any more.

 

[fotofreek]

Tin Ho - From what Arthur Entlich wrote in posts on the newsgroup, in emails we exchanged, and in his head cleaning manual, running multiple cleanings in an attempt to clear a clog don't work if the first two cycles of three won't clear it. I believe he also said that you can cause printhead damage by running more than the two cycles of three in rapid succession. Using his techniques, I did clear the printhead clog in my Epson. It was a dye-based ink printer and was much easier to clear than the pigment inks would be. Before I used his advice, I would clear the clog with cleaning cycles and, after more printing, the clogs and banding would return. His techniques used no ink and the head stayed clear much longer.

I don't want to post his techniques as I may misquote him and not give the best info. If you still have your Epson printer I can give you his email address and you can request his Epson printhead cleaning manual.

 

[Manuchau]

Fotofreek...I don't see your e-mail link. Could you please send me Arthur Entlich's email address?

Thanks

 

[Tin Ho]

Fotofreek, I have pretty much given up using my R300. So I won't need to worry about it any more. It's a shame that It has only finished its first set of ink cartridges. If I use it much more frequently it may be less troublesome but the cost of ink supply is unimaginable to me. From what I have learned about refilling Epson T048x cartridges it is a hassle comparing to refilling Canon cartridges. I used a Canon i960 before. I think you know very well how good it is. I can tell you ip4300 is just as good if not better. I am spoiled to the quality of Canon now.

I have seen an industrial inkjet printer with a piezo print head that costs thousands of dollars. I saw the operator ran thousands of consecutive cleaning cycles to clear a clog. It was actually an automatic process to run a pump to suck ink through the nozzles to clean them. The operator invoked the process and walked away. The ink used by that printer was solvent based ink, not water based ink. The ink collected in the cleaning cycles was recycled and reused. I was told that it was the standard cleaning method for the printer. But it's not an Epson so I may be wrong to assume that it is OK to run consecutive cleaning cycles on Epson print heads.

 

[websnail]

Just a small note... I too got Art Entlich's emailed manual and given that I used to have a lot of C84/86 and D88 printers to maintain I quickly opted for a cleaning solution (from a supplier, not home made) and a set of refillable, spongeless cartridges.

The only other ingredients (aside from changing chips over depending on the printer) was time and patience.

Popping a set of these home brew cleaning cartridges into the affected printer, leaving them for a few hours, running a cleaning routine and print pattern test and then leaving the printer a whole day before repeating usually shifted the clog. If the clog is a real complete illegitimate child type clog I'll leave the cartridges in two days to just sit and let the fluid work its magic.

Using this method I've rarely had anything stay clogged, even a CX6600 which had sat unused and clogged solid with crap quality 3rd party ink.

Just a thought

 

[chaosoffar]

Anyone read alotofthings blog? http://www.alotofthings.com/viartshop/article.php?category_id=57&article_id=462
Wasn't really sure how this info compares to the original post.