RiverRat01
Printing Apprentice
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2023
- Messages
- 20
- Reaction score
- 6
- Points
- 18
- Printer Model
- Epson SureColor P-600
Background. Failing to abide by Jose's primary instruction to maintain ink cartridges at half full or more, I let a PK cartridge run dry. Thus. air entered the PK line and the channel quit printing. I am embarrassed to confess, this was a repeat offense. I committed the same heinous crime in 2018. I bought the SC-P600 in 2015 and am the sole owner. During my eight years of ownership, I have bought just one set of Epson ink cartridges; I only did so as a diagnostic. The vagaries of refillable cartridges are many; I suspect that I have dealt with most of them. As such, by 2017, I had installed an external waste tank.
Back in 2018, when I let air enter an ink line, I clocked through an entire waste counter reset by trying to purge air from the lines and head through nozzle cleaning and purge printing. I was about to give up, but for one last hope, I acquired the adjustment program and ran an ink charge. The P600 was restored to perfect operation. Through all of this, I resisted removing the print head or even attempting to clean the print head.
Luckily, before buying the SC-P600, I had needlessly destroy several thousand dollars worth of print heads. If you prematurely insist on generating a waterfall from a print head that is truly clogged, you might as well just stop and sell the printer for parts. Thus, in 2018, I vowed that I would not touch the P600 print head until all other possible solutions had been exhaustively tested. Finally, it was an ink charge that cured the problem.
Fast forward to 2023. The P600 is not working. I need to have a working printer within two weeks or things will get awkward. Planing for the worse, I studied printers that are currently on the market. The P600 is more than a printer to me; it is a laboratory. As near as I can tell, there is not a printer on the market that, for my purposes, would be anything other than a downgrade. Thus, a busted P600 is not an excuse for me to buy a new toy. I could by a P700 or a P900. I don't want one.
A note about me. I became an amateur radio operator at 11 years of age. Advanced Class at 13 years of age. I worked my way through college, in part, repairing audiovisual hardware; both analog and digital. Nonetheless, my career work is human repair. My hobbies include coin photography and printing.
The Problem. The SC-P600 has worked flawlessly since 2018 until last week when, no thanks to me, she sucked air into the PK line. As expected, after about 20 pages of moderate PK use, the channel went dead.
Solution 01. I immediately filled a set of cartridges with Piezoflush and ran an ink charge.
Result. Unlike in 2018 when an ink charge solved the problem, in 2023 an ink charge destabilized all channels. The yellow channel, which had been printing perfectly on a near daily basis for four years was entirely killed by the ink charge. Ironically, the PK channel is now the only channel that often shows a perfect nozzle check. Four of eight channels are non-printing.
Interpretation. My fear was that the Piezoflush may have dislodged debris from the ink lines that, in turn, traveled downstream and hopelessly clogged the print head. This fear was somewhat assuaged in lieu knowing about filtering at the dampers. I resisted messing with the print head. I found it curious that one-half the channels were either dead or nearly so while the other half were close to perfect nozzle checks. The yellow channel, which had been printing perfectly on a near daily basis for four years was killed by the ink charge and had not released a droplet. Was this coincidental to the observation that the capping station gasket has a septum that creates two chambers and, further, that the ink pump has two waste lines? Is the pump ganged? Perhaps one chamber defined by the capping gasket is not generating vacuum and, further, that one chamber services the four channels that are nearly dead? Seems a bit far fetched. Nonetheless, my P600 has gone through three waste counter resets and the capping station is the original and, thus, nine years old. Perhaps I should have replaced it after the second waste counter reset? Further, the wiper is bent away from the capping station and is warped into an "S" along the surface that should contact the head. I plan to order a new capping station assembly from Compass Micro this Monday morning; but first I want to know that the print head is good. How am I to determine this? The yellow channel has been dead since ink charge and continues to be dead after several "super" head cleans.
Questions inspired by the failure of Solution 01. Are the two chambers of the capping station independent from each other secondary to a ganged ink pump? Do each of the two capping stations service one-half of eight channels? A fly in the ointment; why does some of the nozzle cleaning cycle appear to occur to the left side of the carriage area and not even use the capping station? In regards to the head cleaning cycle what is happening during the different sounds - the "raw raw raw raw" versus the "buzz buzz buzz" versus the prolonged buzzzzzz? Is there an online resource that explains what underlies the various sounds made during a head cleaning? In the case of my currently busted P600, ink only squirts into the waste tank during the second round of "raw raw raw raw." All other instances or "raw raw raw raw" merely generate bubbles at the waste tank. Reminiscent of Lawrence Welk.
Solution 02. I swapped in a different ink delivery assembly that included the ink tank/lines beginning with the cartridge nozzles and ending at the damper assembly. I bought this delivery system a few years ago for a mere 40 bucks. It was removed from a new P600 that was being converted to DTG. The assembly was "new" but, nevertheless, had been charged with ink. I applied vacuum to each of the dampers are verified the ink was flowing through the ink lines and dampers.
Result. No meaningful changes. Four channels continue to show nearly perfect nozzle checks and four channels are nearly dead. The yellow channel has not showed any sign of life since the initial ink charge with Piezoflush. My fear is waxing that the print head is bad. Nonetheless, I resisted messing with the print head. It is interesting that after the printer has set for a few hours, the nozzle check improves. Then a single "weak" head clean further improves the nozzle pattern. But then, an additional head cleaning results in dramatically worsening the nozzle patterns. It is as if the ink being drawn out by a head cleaning is not being replaced for four channels while another four channels may give a perfect nozzle check. More and more, I am beginning to hope that the capping station and not the print head is the problem.
Questions inspired by the failure of Solution 02. I removed the dampers from the damper assembly of the original ink system removed from the P600. The dampers, when remove, easily flowed distilled water from the inlet to the outlet. When installed, however, 1CC of vacuum applied to the damper outlet would only draw about one-half CC of fluid (ink or water) and then the flow stops. On the other hand, positive pressure applied at the air intake of a cartridge mounted on a cartridge nozzle easily flows distilled water out the corresponding damper. In summary, water easily flows from the cartridge nozzle to the damper outlet when there is positive pressure at the cartridge nozzle but little water flows when negative pressure is applied at the damper outlet. This is the observation for all dampers. There appears to be a one-way valve somewhere in the ink path before the dampers. But, if so, how does ink ever get to the head? Does the print head somehow apply enough negative pressure to suck ink into the piezo channel? Is the flow of ink somehow gated in the ink path from the cartridge nozzle at the cartridge holder?
Solution 03. I am hard pressed to either buy another printer or get the P600 working again. At most, I have three weeks to resurrect the P600. If I cannot, I may buy the P900. But, I don't even want the P900. I simply do not want to patronize Epson's restriction on third party ink. As I wrote earlier, for me, a printer is much more than a tool; it is a laboratory. Thus, I am about to throw the dice and buy a brand spanking new ink delivery assembly and a capping station assembly from Compass Micro. My fear is that the print head may be dead. The yellow channel has not fired a droplet since the initial failed ink charge. I will not take on the expense/risk of a new print head. I will either accept being a slave to Epson and buy a P900 (the P900 appears to be much cheaper to operate than the P700 and I have the space) or maybe I drive into NYC and buy a working used P600.
I caved and decided to attempt cleaning the print head. Having destroyed several print heads in the distant pass by mimicking insane videos on YouTube, I settled on a most non-invasive technique that I first saw demonstrated by Kevin at BCH. In my case, however, I was less invasive than Kevin. Not only did I not remove the print head, I attempted the cleaning with the print head parked on the capping station. I had previously determined that, with the waste tank located below the level of the printer, the capping chambers would passively drain. Thus, why clean the print head in the carriage area and risk nozzles drying out? I cleaned the nozzles one at a time. Similar to Kevin's technique, I used a 2.5" length of tubing to place a column of fluid above the head nozzle. I used a 10 CC syringe that was fresh and showed no sticking when working with Piezoflush. I never exceeded more than one syringe marking (0.25cc) against either positive or negative resistance. I never reintroduced a back flush into the head. Thus, I started with a back flow until I got air never applying more than 0.25 cc of air vacuum starting with the syringe set at the 2 cc mark. I then filled the vertical tube using a needle to avoid air gaps and let the pressure generated by a 2.5" column introduce Piezoflush back into the head channel. Once Piezoflush was flowing, I back flushed again and checked for any particles. Whether there were particles or not, I discarded the back flush. I turned cartwheels to not force any debris through a nozzle aperture. When finished all eight channels were identical in hosting flow of Piezoflush from the top of a 2.5" column down to the nozzle level.
Results and Questions. I performed a nozzle check before initial head cleaning following my flushing of the head. To my delight, all eight nozzles (including the previously dead yellow channel) printed a nearly perfect nozzle pattern for the red dyed Piezoflush. My interpretation is that the printer head is good. Not unexpectedly, after a few head cleanings, four channels continued to give nearly perfect nozzle patterns and four channels, once again, went dead. My interpretation/hope is that the four channels that go dead continue to have air trapped in them and that the capping station ink pump has failed on one capping chamber and no longer provides enough vacuum to clear air in the head. Nonetheless, I do not have much confidence in my interpretation because I don't understand the head cleaning process. Does the capping station literally draw ink through the head or does the capping station merely pump ink from the chambers that is ejected by the piezo membranes? Further, does the observation that, for a few nozzle tests, all 8 channels generate a nozzle pattern, provide a favorable indication that the print head is good?
Closing Comment. Like so many things in life, the more you know, the more you have to face what you don't know. I frankly don't know how the P600, or any none-pressurized professional inkjet printer ever worked in the first place. There appears to be a one-way valve in the delivery system that would never allow ink to enter the print head. On the other hand, if there was not some kine of one way valve, ink would leak out the print head and empty the cartridges. What stops ink from merely leaking out the print heads? Surface tension? I was surprised that when I removed the damper assembly from the print head, there was no leakage from the dampers despite that I set the damper assembly in the carriage area with damper outlets facing downward. How can there be no leakage from the dampers and, yet, half the channels are printing? I don't understand how the darn thing ever worked out of the box.
Back in 2018, when I let air enter an ink line, I clocked through an entire waste counter reset by trying to purge air from the lines and head through nozzle cleaning and purge printing. I was about to give up, but for one last hope, I acquired the adjustment program and ran an ink charge. The P600 was restored to perfect operation. Through all of this, I resisted removing the print head or even attempting to clean the print head.
Luckily, before buying the SC-P600, I had needlessly destroy several thousand dollars worth of print heads. If you prematurely insist on generating a waterfall from a print head that is truly clogged, you might as well just stop and sell the printer for parts. Thus, in 2018, I vowed that I would not touch the P600 print head until all other possible solutions had been exhaustively tested. Finally, it was an ink charge that cured the problem.
Fast forward to 2023. The P600 is not working. I need to have a working printer within two weeks or things will get awkward. Planing for the worse, I studied printers that are currently on the market. The P600 is more than a printer to me; it is a laboratory. As near as I can tell, there is not a printer on the market that, for my purposes, would be anything other than a downgrade. Thus, a busted P600 is not an excuse for me to buy a new toy. I could by a P700 or a P900. I don't want one.
A note about me. I became an amateur radio operator at 11 years of age. Advanced Class at 13 years of age. I worked my way through college, in part, repairing audiovisual hardware; both analog and digital. Nonetheless, my career work is human repair. My hobbies include coin photography and printing.
The Problem. The SC-P600 has worked flawlessly since 2018 until last week when, no thanks to me, she sucked air into the PK line. As expected, after about 20 pages of moderate PK use, the channel went dead.
Solution 01. I immediately filled a set of cartridges with Piezoflush and ran an ink charge.
Result. Unlike in 2018 when an ink charge solved the problem, in 2023 an ink charge destabilized all channels. The yellow channel, which had been printing perfectly on a near daily basis for four years was entirely killed by the ink charge. Ironically, the PK channel is now the only channel that often shows a perfect nozzle check. Four of eight channels are non-printing.
Interpretation. My fear was that the Piezoflush may have dislodged debris from the ink lines that, in turn, traveled downstream and hopelessly clogged the print head. This fear was somewhat assuaged in lieu knowing about filtering at the dampers. I resisted messing with the print head. I found it curious that one-half the channels were either dead or nearly so while the other half were close to perfect nozzle checks. The yellow channel, which had been printing perfectly on a near daily basis for four years was killed by the ink charge and had not released a droplet. Was this coincidental to the observation that the capping station gasket has a septum that creates two chambers and, further, that the ink pump has two waste lines? Is the pump ganged? Perhaps one chamber defined by the capping gasket is not generating vacuum and, further, that one chamber services the four channels that are nearly dead? Seems a bit far fetched. Nonetheless, my P600 has gone through three waste counter resets and the capping station is the original and, thus, nine years old. Perhaps I should have replaced it after the second waste counter reset? Further, the wiper is bent away from the capping station and is warped into an "S" along the surface that should contact the head. I plan to order a new capping station assembly from Compass Micro this Monday morning; but first I want to know that the print head is good. How am I to determine this? The yellow channel has been dead since ink charge and continues to be dead after several "super" head cleans.
Questions inspired by the failure of Solution 01. Are the two chambers of the capping station independent from each other secondary to a ganged ink pump? Do each of the two capping stations service one-half of eight channels? A fly in the ointment; why does some of the nozzle cleaning cycle appear to occur to the left side of the carriage area and not even use the capping station? In regards to the head cleaning cycle what is happening during the different sounds - the "raw raw raw raw" versus the "buzz buzz buzz" versus the prolonged buzzzzzz? Is there an online resource that explains what underlies the various sounds made during a head cleaning? In the case of my currently busted P600, ink only squirts into the waste tank during the second round of "raw raw raw raw." All other instances or "raw raw raw raw" merely generate bubbles at the waste tank. Reminiscent of Lawrence Welk.
Solution 02. I swapped in a different ink delivery assembly that included the ink tank/lines beginning with the cartridge nozzles and ending at the damper assembly. I bought this delivery system a few years ago for a mere 40 bucks. It was removed from a new P600 that was being converted to DTG. The assembly was "new" but, nevertheless, had been charged with ink. I applied vacuum to each of the dampers are verified the ink was flowing through the ink lines and dampers.
Result. No meaningful changes. Four channels continue to show nearly perfect nozzle checks and four channels are nearly dead. The yellow channel has not showed any sign of life since the initial ink charge with Piezoflush. My fear is waxing that the print head is bad. Nonetheless, I resisted messing with the print head. It is interesting that after the printer has set for a few hours, the nozzle check improves. Then a single "weak" head clean further improves the nozzle pattern. But then, an additional head cleaning results in dramatically worsening the nozzle patterns. It is as if the ink being drawn out by a head cleaning is not being replaced for four channels while another four channels may give a perfect nozzle check. More and more, I am beginning to hope that the capping station and not the print head is the problem.
Questions inspired by the failure of Solution 02. I removed the dampers from the damper assembly of the original ink system removed from the P600. The dampers, when remove, easily flowed distilled water from the inlet to the outlet. When installed, however, 1CC of vacuum applied to the damper outlet would only draw about one-half CC of fluid (ink or water) and then the flow stops. On the other hand, positive pressure applied at the air intake of a cartridge mounted on a cartridge nozzle easily flows distilled water out the corresponding damper. In summary, water easily flows from the cartridge nozzle to the damper outlet when there is positive pressure at the cartridge nozzle but little water flows when negative pressure is applied at the damper outlet. This is the observation for all dampers. There appears to be a one-way valve somewhere in the ink path before the dampers. But, if so, how does ink ever get to the head? Does the print head somehow apply enough negative pressure to suck ink into the piezo channel? Is the flow of ink somehow gated in the ink path from the cartridge nozzle at the cartridge holder?
Solution 03. I am hard pressed to either buy another printer or get the P600 working again. At most, I have three weeks to resurrect the P600. If I cannot, I may buy the P900. But, I don't even want the P900. I simply do not want to patronize Epson's restriction on third party ink. As I wrote earlier, for me, a printer is much more than a tool; it is a laboratory. Thus, I am about to throw the dice and buy a brand spanking new ink delivery assembly and a capping station assembly from Compass Micro. My fear is that the print head may be dead. The yellow channel has not fired a droplet since the initial failed ink charge. I will not take on the expense/risk of a new print head. I will either accept being a slave to Epson and buy a P900 (the P900 appears to be much cheaper to operate than the P700 and I have the space) or maybe I drive into NYC and buy a working used P600.
I caved and decided to attempt cleaning the print head. Having destroyed several print heads in the distant pass by mimicking insane videos on YouTube, I settled on a most non-invasive technique that I first saw demonstrated by Kevin at BCH. In my case, however, I was less invasive than Kevin. Not only did I not remove the print head, I attempted the cleaning with the print head parked on the capping station. I had previously determined that, with the waste tank located below the level of the printer, the capping chambers would passively drain. Thus, why clean the print head in the carriage area and risk nozzles drying out? I cleaned the nozzles one at a time. Similar to Kevin's technique, I used a 2.5" length of tubing to place a column of fluid above the head nozzle. I used a 10 CC syringe that was fresh and showed no sticking when working with Piezoflush. I never exceeded more than one syringe marking (0.25cc) against either positive or negative resistance. I never reintroduced a back flush into the head. Thus, I started with a back flow until I got air never applying more than 0.25 cc of air vacuum starting with the syringe set at the 2 cc mark. I then filled the vertical tube using a needle to avoid air gaps and let the pressure generated by a 2.5" column introduce Piezoflush back into the head channel. Once Piezoflush was flowing, I back flushed again and checked for any particles. Whether there were particles or not, I discarded the back flush. I turned cartwheels to not force any debris through a nozzle aperture. When finished all eight channels were identical in hosting flow of Piezoflush from the top of a 2.5" column down to the nozzle level.
Results and Questions. I performed a nozzle check before initial head cleaning following my flushing of the head. To my delight, all eight nozzles (including the previously dead yellow channel) printed a nearly perfect nozzle pattern for the red dyed Piezoflush. My interpretation is that the printer head is good. Not unexpectedly, after a few head cleanings, four channels continued to give nearly perfect nozzle patterns and four channels, once again, went dead. My interpretation/hope is that the four channels that go dead continue to have air trapped in them and that the capping station ink pump has failed on one capping chamber and no longer provides enough vacuum to clear air in the head. Nonetheless, I do not have much confidence in my interpretation because I don't understand the head cleaning process. Does the capping station literally draw ink through the head or does the capping station merely pump ink from the chambers that is ejected by the piezo membranes? Further, does the observation that, for a few nozzle tests, all 8 channels generate a nozzle pattern, provide a favorable indication that the print head is good?
Closing Comment. Like so many things in life, the more you know, the more you have to face what you don't know. I frankly don't know how the P600, or any none-pressurized professional inkjet printer ever worked in the first place. There appears to be a one-way valve in the delivery system that would never allow ink to enter the print head. On the other hand, if there was not some kine of one way valve, ink would leak out the print head and empty the cartridges. What stops ink from merely leaking out the print heads? Surface tension? I was surprised that when I removed the damper assembly from the print head, there was no leakage from the dampers despite that I set the damper assembly in the carriage area with damper outlets facing downward. How can there be no leakage from the dampers and, yet, half the channels are printing? I don't understand how the darn thing ever worked out of the box.
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