Epson RX 595 with CISS, puddles of black ink come out

[john411]

Every time I turn on the printer and it charges, it's leaving small puddles of black ink on the bottom. I have already bought a kit to clean the nozzles. I pumped the solution until it started coming out clear.

I did a nozzle check and there are segments. What is going on ? Is this printer just done. What could be causing the leak of black ink every time it does a charge or a head cleaning? I have wasted most of this CISS ink just trying to fix the problem.

 

[websnail]

If it's leaving puddles of ink there's a few possible causes:

1. The waste ink tube/pump system is saturated and backed up resulting in ink puddling in the printhead resting/cleaning pad... This soils the underside of the printhead and drips on the paper, rollers, etc... causing a mess.

2. There's a clog of sorts on the printhead that is not allowing the nozzles to fire properly so ink builds up on the underside of the printhead and drips as per 1.


To be honest, the best way forward would be to remove BOTH issues as potential causes... so
a) Before fitting the waste kit, flush the waste tube GENTLY and PATIENTLY until any clogged deposits, etc... are removed and the tube is clear for future waste ink flow
b) Fitting a waste kit (yes I sell them but you don't have to buy mine)
c) Use the passive printhead cleaning method (see: http://www.octoink.co.uk/kb/questions/102/ for info on how to get these instructions) and get your printhead cleared out in a less aggressive fashion. Again patience required.
d) Reprime your CIS system, reinstall and then print off a few sheets of basic colour bands to allow the printer to re-establish ink flow and clear itself of cleaning fluid, etc...

You don't need to do lots of cleaning routines either... a printhead clean followed by 30 minutes rest and a couple of purge prints (colour banded print-outs) should help...

You'll probably find that there's some remnants of foam, cleaning solution and ink in the rollers, etc... but the above should recover your printer but I can't stress enough that patience is vital.. I've caused more problems with multiple head cleans in a 30 minute period when 1 head clean, 30 minutes of tea, cake and a good book would have solved it...

Hope that helps.

Martin

 

[john411]

Thanks for the help but looks like the printer died a few hours after I made the post. I printed to test it out and then it said there was some kind error and I had to shut off and then it never turned back on again.

 

[websnail]

Thanks for the help but looks like the printer died a few hours after I made the post. I printed to test it out and then it said there was some kind error and I had to shut off and then it never turned back on again.

Probably an electrical short. You may be able to revive it but it's something you'd need a service manual to fix.

 

[john411]

Well it turned back on. I think it might be that may ink pad is completely used up. A few weeks ago I got an error telling me that the ink pad had to be replaced. I went online and figured out how to reset it without replacing it. I'm hoping that's what caused it to turn off. I'm gonna but in a waste ink bottle and if that doesn't work I'm throwing the printer away. I got it for $52 a few years ago from Epsons clearance center so it won't be a huge loss.

 

[john411]

I have one more question.

If I install the waste in tank, will I still need to replace the waste ink pads?

 

[john411]

Is there any reason why when I print DVD covers they look fine. If it's a printhead problem wouldn't the DVDs also have ink streaks?

 

[websnail]

I have one more question.

If I install the waste in tank, will I still need to replace the waste ink pads?

Hi John,

Sorry for delayed reply... been up to eyeballs in reorganisation...

Quick answer to your question is No... The pads can be ignored and allowed to dry out (very very slowly).

 

[websnail]

Is there any reason why when I print DVD covers they look fine. If it's a printhead problem wouldn't the DVDs also have ink streaks?

It depends on how the printer handles the different types of print... The streaks may only be apparent in one type of printing because the covers are using a higher quality print mode or similar.