Epson Stylus Photo R2000 dying.

[Dridd]

I think my Epson Stylus Photo R2000 is dying on me. No matter how many times I run the cleaner, wasting ink in the process, I can't get a couple of the nozzle check patterns to completely print. Printed images still look good from an arm's length, but closer inspection reveals banding.

I'm told replacing the print heads costs more than I paid for the device itself, so I'll probably be buying a new printer in the near future. Before I do that, is there anything else I should try to get my R2000 printing properly? Any information you can provide is much appreciated.

By the way, thanks for the information you provided concerning the chip re-setter and exterior waste ink tank. It gave my printer another year and a half of life. How these companies are allowed to disable a printer that I own is still beyond me.

Thank you for your time.

--David.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Could yu please run a nozzle check and post it here to get a view how big your problem is.
Are you doing refill or using 3rd party cartridges ? What is your typical print volume and frequency ?
Do you consider to buy an equivalent new printer or are your requirements for a printer now different - format - pigment vs. dye inks - printer vs. a combo unit etc ?
The direct successor would be the SC P400 - effectively a R2000 in an updated body .

 

[Dridd]

I've attached photos of the nozzle check I just ran. Sorry the quality isn't better--I don't have a scanner so I just used my iPod Touch. As the yellow pattern is hard to see without an infrared light, the last image is a wide view with all the blank and misaligned segments circled.

I've always used Epson OEM ink cartridges in this printer. I usually print on Epson Ultra Premium Luster Photo Paper, though I occasionally print on Epson Premium Matte Presentation Paper. I also print a lot of CD's and always use Sony 50CDQ80PI3 48X 700MB 80min White Inkjet Printable CD-Rs. I don't print a high volume, though I have always made it a point to print an image at least every other day.

CD printing would be a must on any new printer, so the SC P400 is out. I know this limits my choices dramatically, but so be it. I don't need a scanner or copier. I lean toward pigment inks, as they're longer lasting. It would need to be able to print on plain paper as well photo papers. One printer I found was the Canon TS9120. The inks are expensive, but there may not be any way around that. I've looked at some Epson Eco-Tank printers, but can't find one with a CD tray. And I don't know how their print quality compares to my R2000, when it was working properly.

Thanks for your reply. Any additional info is much appreciated. All the best.

--David.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The P400 supports CD print - please see page #4 of the brochure
https://mediaserver.goepson.com/ImC...assetDescr=SureColor_P400_Brochure_C50493.pdf
The P400 uses the same color set as your R2000 but regettably with a different type of cartridges.

Running frequent cleaning cycles with Epson ink is quite an expensive exercise. There are not many additional actions possible to unclog such a printhead,
one option would be a set of refill cartridges with a nozzle cleaner, and running some cleaning cycles with a cleaning liquid instead.
You may use the WICReset utility which offers several intensity levels for the cleaning action and an ink charge function.
You may place a piece of kitchen paper into the printbed and soak it with window cleaner, move the printhead over it and let it sit there for a while. You can wipe off the nozzle plate this way as well to see whether it makes a difference and some nozzles return again. (Disengaging the printhead is easy - turn off the power, turn on the power and pull the power cord as soon as the printhead starts moving)
There is one more action which would require a small syringe and a short piece of tube attached to it, this would let you pull/push some cleaner into the ink channels from above via the ink receptacles which normally slid into the cartridges.
Please let us know how far you can go, or whether you are missing some items for such actions.
Use a little UV lamp to check the nozzle print, the yellow section will be perfectly visible, some light like this
https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-Blacklight-Flashlights-Batteries-Detector/dp/B00RV8PREI/ref=sr_1_4?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&keywords=uv+light&qid=1563306685&s=gateway&sr=8-4
Any budget type like this would do.

 

[mikling]

The nozzle check is showing that the nozzles are indeed firing but are getting deflected. This is normally a result of debris sitting at the edge of the nozzle opening. This can be coming from the wiper blades where some stuff is stuck on the edge causing the droplet not to detach evenly and thus tilt to the side. The logical course would be to clean the wiper blades first then proceed to remove the debris which could be dust or dried ink or a combination. Dissolving the dried debris will allow detachment or coming loose and thus removed sucked away in a head cleaning. This is an expensive process with OEM ink.
You could focus some printing with mainly those colors in the print. The ink flowing past during printing will cause the dried clump to rehydrate and subsequently come loose during printing and get removed. You could also just let it sit with ink and each day perform a nozzle check and see if anything has changed, Patience is called for here. You could also install refillable cartridges with cleaning type fluid that will dissolve the ink and perform some head cleans. You can also try performing an under printhead cleaning polishing...that has some risk of pushing the debris further up or it might dislodge it and then it comes loose. You cannot predict what will happen.
All dissolving and rehydration will require an element of patience to allow the fresh ink/liquid to to redissolve the dissolve. And then there is the last operation as mentioned above in prior post. Unclogging involves some luck and patience. Keep your fingers crossed but I don't think the printer is a write-off just yet.

 

[Dridd]

The P400 supports CD print - please see page #4 of the brochure
https://mediaserver.goepson.com/ImC...assetDescr=SureColor_P400_Brochure_C50493.pdf
The P400 uses the same color set as your R2000 but regettably with a different type of cartridges.

Running frequent cleaning cycles with Epson ink is quite an expensive exercise. There are not many additional actions possible to unclog such a printhead,
one option would be a set of refill cartridges with a nozzle cleaner, and running some cleaning cycles with a cleaning liquid instead.
You may use the WICReset utility which offers several intensity levels for the cleaning action and an ink charge function.
You may place a piece of kitchen paper into the printbed and soak it with window cleaner, move the printhead over it and let it sit there for a while. You can wipe off the nozzle plate this way as well to see whether it makes a difference and some nozzles return again. (Disengaging the printhead is easy - turn off the power, turn on the power and pull the power cord as soon as the printhead starts moving)
There is one more action which would require a small syringe and a short piece of tube attached to it, this would let you pull/push some cleaner into the ink channels from above via the ink receptacles which normally slid into the cartridges.
Please let us know how far you can go, or whether you are missing some items for such actions.
Use a little UV lamp to check the nozzle print, the yellow section will be perfectly visible, some light like this
https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-Blacklight-Flashlights-Batteries-Detector/dp/B00RV8PREI/ref=sr_1_4?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&keywords=uv+light&qid=1563306685&s=gateway&sr=8-4
Any budget type like this would do.

The P400 supports CD print - please see page #4 of the brochure
https://mediaserver.goepson.com/ImC...assetDescr=SureColor_P400_Brochure_C50493.pdf
The P400 uses the same color set as your R2000 but regettably with a different type of cartridges.

Thanks so much for all the info. You've given me several great options and it's much appreciated.
All the best.
--David.

 

[Dridd]

The nozzle check is showing that the nozzles are indeed firing but are getting deflected. This is normally a result of debris sitting at the edge of the nozzle opening. This can be coming from the wiper blades where some stuff is stuck on the edge causing the droplet not to detach evenly and thus tilt to the side. The logical course would be to clean the wiper blades first then proceed to remove the debris which could be dust or dried ink or a combination. Dissolving the dried debris will allow detachment or coming loose and thus removed sucked away in a head cleaning. This is an expensive process with OEM ink.
You could focus some printing with mainly those colors in the print. The ink flowing past during printing will cause the dried clump to rehydrate and subsequently come loose during printing and get removed. You could also just let it sit with ink and each day perform a nozzle check and see if anything has changed, Patience is called for here. You could also install refillable cartridges with cleaning type fluid that will dissolve the ink and perform some head cleans. You can also try performing an under printhead cleaning polishing...that has some risk of pushing the debris further up or it might dislodge it and then it comes loose. You cannot predict what will happen.
All dissolving and rehydration will require an element of patience to allow the fresh ink/liquid to to redissolve the dissolve. And then there is the last operation as mentioned above in prior post. Unclogging involves some luck and patience. Keep your fingers crossed but I don't think the printer is a write-off just yet.

Much thanks to you as well. With all the information I received in these two responses, I may save my printer yet.
All the best.
--David.

 

[mikling]

The irony is that by not using the printer more frequently has likely caused this situation which entails wasting a lot of ink. There is possibly the thought that if the printer had been used more regularly, this might not have occurred and the ink used now to clean and fix would have produced nice prints rather than being flushed into the waste ink pad trying to revive the printer. This happens on a regular basis for many many printers especially Epson users who use OEM ink. It's so darn costly that even when the printer sits on the desk, you are afraid to use it.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Unclogging involves some luck and patience.

There is a good chance that you get the printer in good working order again; you may consider to get a set of refill cartridges to use a cleaner and to use even refill inks. I'm running a P400 and cannot report that 3rd party inks have any detrimental effect so far.
But the principal question remains whether you need pigment inks in the first place; if you are concerned about longevity of dye inks or even have some experience with those already - OEM inks perfrom very well in this respect, refill inks are very weak.
Epson printers with dye inks , CD print and A3 size are the 1500W (which has reached the end of life condition but some units are still on the market), there is a Photo HD XP-15000 and a ET-7750, and there is the Canon Pro-100 which is heavily discounted in the U.S. market - down to 99$ on special offers as reported here.

 

[AlienSteve]

I have found that mucky ink tends to build up on the park pad over time. This may built up enough to touch the heads. It is usually a mix of ink and dust from the paper. You can't wipe it off, at least on the Epsons I've worked on, because it uses a hard foam that will pull bits from whatever wipe you try to use.

So I'll unpark the head, drip some cleaner into the park pad, then let it cycle when it parks the heads again. Unpark and inspect. It might take a few iterations.

I will often soak badly clogged heads by unparking the heads and unplugging the printer, then eyedropper enough cleaning fluid into the park pad so it is nearly to the top. Then manually park the heads (do NOT plug the printer in or turn it on yet). Let it sit for 24 hours or so before plugging it in again. You may have to turn it off and back on again to get it to fully reset.

I put this page up a while ago, so it may mention some older models. I've posted the cleaning mixture I use there.

http://www.polyphoto.com/tutorials/PrintHeadCleaning/index.html

I really don't like using a syringe to force anything through the heads. Risk of delamination. Perhaps counterintuitively, if you must, use a large syringe and be gentle and patient. Do NOT use a small syringe! It is too easy to overpressure and ruin the head with a small syringe. This is because the pressure of your thumb is over a much smaller surface area with a small syringe, therefore much higher PSI.

I use a blue LED flashlight to see the yellow nozzle check. Shows up great, and isn't dangerous to your eyes as UV is. Cataracts are inevitable if you live long enough, no reason to speed that along.