Epson Stylus Pro 9600 (7600 & 4000 too) Magenta ink blockage - fix

[Ink stained Fingers]

Look for the ink colors adjacent to the magenta - it is following the sequence of the ink cartridges.

 

[guymark]

That's interesting, as on my 9600, that was something I noticed was not the case - on mine the ink tanks go:

PK, LK, C, M, LC, LM, Y

The inklines go

Both K's (unsure which order), Both Cyan (unsure which), Both Magenta (unsure which) Yellow.

I am guessing the heads is the same as the inklines - but they are not the same as the tanks - which I agree would certainly have made a lot more sense.

 

[guymark]

Hello! I wanted to touch base on this topic! I really appreciate the post, but I am a little bit confused. I went ahead and ordered some Piezo Flush and some refillable cartridges. I don't have them yet, but I want to prepare myself in case I have to perform this... which I am feeling like I do. My magenta is also not printing. I bought my printer used, and all the rest of the inks are working. The owners didn't say anything negative about the printer, and I bought it cheap. My printer is the Stylus Pro 7800.

What I am confused about - a few things:

• Where is the residual ink coming out? The end where it has been removed from the damper?
• For clarity's sake, the syringe is pushing fluid through the vent opening in the cartridge, correct?
• How do you reattach it to the damper if there is a plastic piece holding it in place in the first place?

I REALLY want to get this thing cleared, so I appreciate any and all input! I have a strong feeling THIS is the problem. I am hoping Piezo Flush can clear it without me needing to do this, but I am also hoping this is simple enough that I can do it without worrying too much about damaging anything.

Many many many thanks!

It seems I didn't spot your reply at the time - so I expect this is YEARS to late to be of any help - apologies.

* I am not quite sure what you mean by "residual ink" as I don't think I used that phrase, if you mean where did the gelled ink come out - then at the printhead - end of the inklines.

* Yes, I used a snug fitting LARGE syringe to pressurise the refillable air tank via the breather hole. I would NOT suggest doing this until you have removed the other end from the damper as it will almost certainly burst it (and if it didn't would force gelled ink through the head). You need as little air in the tank as possible so that when you pressurise, you do not end up just *slightly* compressing loads of air on top of the flushing fluid.

* Re-attaching was basically just very carefully pushing it back into place with the little tiny black o-ring if I remember correctly.

Again, sorry this has taken WAY too long to perhaps be of any use - but if you would find more information useful, I have posted a link to the service manual on this thread a couple of days ago. You might find it useful.

 

[ccc]

I vote this post as probably the most useful ever.

 

[brubry]

I will do my best to help - but it is a little while since I did this - the optimistic news is that years down the line, the old 9600 is still working fine. Sometimes have to wipe the encoder strip (with great care) and empty / reset the waste tank, but she keeps plodding along.

I have just looked at my printer and I agree it is not clear which is the dark and which is the light magenta. I know that in my case, the line with the blocked ink had air bubbles in - and I think I just followed the pipe to the damper.

Do you have the servicing manual for this printer - if not I can help but it is too big to upload on here alas - and the manual answers your second question in great deal about how to get to the back of the ink tank housing! Page 160 is a good place to start.

Give me a few minutes and I will try to find a wait to get the service manual online for you as a PDF

Ok, I have uploaded the service manual for the 7600 / 9600 to my own little space in the world. You can download the PDF here https://buggerall.com/epsonstyluspro76009600servicemanual.1872760661.pdf

Hopefully that should give you most of the info you need, if I can help more I will do so, but I am really not sure which damper is dark and which is light without doing some "pulling bits off and seeing".

Hunt for airbubbles in the lines - and if you spot one in the blocked line, just follow it

Great! Wish me luck.

 

[guymark]

Indeed, very best of luck - if you take your time and go gently, the odds are fairly well in your favour.

Take SPECIAL care of the dampers and the tiny little O-rings - You will be both horrified and strangely impressed at the ability of the printer to haemorrhage ink if they are damaged.

Once you have the pipe off the damper, you can afford to use a bit of pressure at the tank end AND suction at the damper end of the pipe to remove the clogs & clots. Be ever so gentle when flushing the damper and now is a great time to replace them if you feel up to it.

When I de-clogged mine, I did not have any spare dampers and once it started working again I admit I just put it all back together and "let it be". If you have spare dampers though, simply replacing rather than flushing might be a great plan. Either way, on the magenta damper, I would be tempted to leave some flush in it.

Some of the dark magenta might still be in the head. When I did it, I replaced ALL the tanks with tanks full of flush and then put a soaked WAD of kitchen towel with a cotton wrapper under the head, it will waste a LOT of ink / flush if you leave it there for more than a few minutes, but it will help to unblock and get things moving.

In your case, to try to avoid wasting too much ink, you can aim to make a "pad" (one sheet of kitchen roll folded over two or three times, then a wrap of something like an old T-shirt) and try to position it under the magenta part of the head. It's useful to get a bit of white tape and place on the head carriage so you can mark down and then know where the colours are DIRECTLY underneath (trial and error and lots of ink sodden cloth later).

Should you ever get a stubborn block in the future, you can just "wet and leach" from *that* part of the head rather than waste ink from all tanks.

Once you are about done, a good KK2 cleaning, and you ought to be on the home run.

Incidentally, if you use refillable tanks and ever notice that it STARTS to print perfectly, but after a while one or more inks start to "run out", then check to make sure the breather valves on the ink tanks are not blocked - they have caught me out more than once - as when they block, everything works AT FIRST and then as the vacuum builds up, the ink stops working. Embarrassed to admit, it has caught me out more than once. It's usually a result of slightly over-filling the tank and/or giving them their occasional "shake" that does it (Ink in the breather which dries / clogs).

It might not be needed with newer ink, but as I do not print a lot, every two or three months (or when I remember), I remove each ink cartridge and gently slosh it about, invert it and gently shake again - in order to make sure the pigment doesn't "settle out". It might not be needed - but if your cartridges are likely to be there for many months or even years between re-fills, it could just be worth a gentle shake from time to time as pigment ink CAN settle out which at best will result in imperfect prints - and at worst will make blocking much more likely.

Good luck - and there are plenty of folks on here who will try to guide you if things get a little "interesting", but if you take your time (and treat those tiny little o-rings like they are made of gold), you shouldn't go too far wrong

 

[Leo_Opolain]

I already thought that I would need to sell my favorite printer. But I accidentally stumbled upon this forum and just want to say thank you for your answers, I found everything I was looking for and even more. There is really a lot of useful information here.

 

[stratman]

There is really a lot of useful information here.

Welcome to the forum, Leo. Happy printing.

Edited
Interesting thing about your member name. Usually I type the person's entire member name on these welcome posts. When I typed your entire name I got a surprise in the published post:

Lepolain

 

[Leo_Opolain]

Welcome to the forum, Leo. Happy printing.

Edited
Interesting thing about your member name. Usually I type the person's entire member name on these welcome posts. When I typed your entire name I got a surprise in the published post:

Lepolain

My full name sounds like Leopoldo, but I don`t like it. Nice to meet you

 

[ilscuro]

Hi, thanks for this thread, i am having the exact same problem with magenta on an old 7600 i rescued.

It's exactly like you described full of dry ink, i can remove the head and release the ink line end no problem, my problem is the cartridge end, i'm not sure how to get at it, could you please specify a little more how you do it?

Thanks.