Print head issues - Stylus Pro 7600

[Ink stained Fingers]

I just dont understand why ink charge and head cleaning can draw plenty of Light Cyan, but actual printing cant...

The ink charge runs with a pump sucking air and ink, a printhead , a nozzle cannot pull ink if there is just some air. The issue settles down to the question - what is wrong with the light cyan ink line - e.g. some air leak ? I don't have an idea.

 

[servo386]

UPDATE for all those interested/people from the future who may stumble upon this. How's the future? how'd we do with Covid-19?

So I did a couple things, some I had already done I did again and some new things but I finally got a near perfect nozzle test.

1. I manually "primed" the problem ink (light cyan) by unhooking the dampers and putting the syringe right into the damper nozzle and drawing out ink. I had already done this to no avail but I thought id try again and this time draw a good amount of ink to be totally sure it was drawing.

2. I bought some Epson Nozzle Blaster from inkproducts.com and stuck it on the light cyan nozzle/spike/whatever of the printhead and pushed a little bit through slowly and a little bit at a time. It came out the other end (onto a paper towel) with some blue in it. I didnt really get any resistance so im not actually sure this was the problem, it is important to note.

3. I put everything back together (more on that later) and did a clean then a check. Light Cyan WAS BACK! and.... now both magentas were gone! 1 step forward 2 step backs. But since they had JUST worked a minute before i thought it MUST be air in the line.

4. Unhooked everything again and now i drew ink out of both Magenta dampers. At first I got air, then I got solid ink. I guess there was air.

5. Hooked everything back and noticed there was still some air up the line in Magenta and even in light black and light cyan again (theory on this in a second) oh brother. I did an ink charge (look at a previous post where i explain about this) and saw all the inks start to draw. Pulled the plug to stop the ink charge (this think will eat up all your ink if you let it, again look at my previous post).

6. Did a nozzle check and voila, all the colors were back.


Ok some notes and observations:

- Disassembling the dampers and working on them and then putting them on on this printer is a special form of hell. From the finicky little screw that holds it all together, to getting all the damper "tails" to sit in their little slots to getting the damper nozzles to actually push onto the spikes, its all a nightmare. There is no good video on youtube on how to do this. I had a certified Epson guy come several times to work on this thing (and he left it working last time but then i guess it got air in the line again) and only by watching him and having him explain me some stuff was I able to at least have an idea of what had to be done

- In the course of trying to pull up and out and then push onto the spikes to re-insert the dampers, I think all the mashing and contortion *causes air to get into the lines*. In particular, the part where, after you've snapped all the dampers into their slots and closed up the assembly rig and snapped all the lines into their little clips, you have to pull up AND out so you can clear that row of plastic "shelves" or whatever that sit underneath the nozzle spikes and you cannot see at at all whether you've actually cleared it or not, you have to do it totally by feel and by the sound of the plastic shelves flicking as you brush them. I think it might be this very thing that clips the nozzle of the dampers and could be why air gets in. In t really sucks. maybe the dampers I got are crap but I don't know how else to explain how I could manually prime an ink like, see no bubbles, and then by the time i get the damn dampers on, see a new bubble close to the damper. So this another way in which reassembling this thing is its own hell: it can cause the problem itself.

Im going to do another nozzle check tomorrow morning and see if air hasnt somehow leaked into them again. but for now its working.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Wow, that's great news - I just hope that all colors are still there tomorrow. I remember how cumbersome it was to work on the printhead - the dampers etc, I had a kind of similar problem several years ago. And I remember some very small syringes - between the tubes and the dampers ? - which easily could get lost and no replacement available.

 

[robicano22]

Well folks I'm super frustrated but have one last shot in the dark. I found out that i'm missing some of the gaskets that fit between the ink cartridge and the little pins that fit into the ink cartridges that suck out the ink. They can be seen here: https://compassmicro.com/products/i...nger-available-for-epson-stylus-pro-7600.html

The piece i'm talking about is the white in the photo. Does anyone know where I can find that gasket or those assemblies in general?

 

[robicano22]

Wow i didn't even see all the updates since then. But yes i am missing my gaskets too. I'll have a read through everyone else's post to pull what's relevant.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Those pins are for mechanical guidance only, they don't carry ink or air. The Pro 7600 cartridges are not pressure controlled.

 

[robicano22]

Thsoe pins are for mechanical guidance only, they don't carry ink or air. The Pro 7600 cartridges are not pressure controlled.

then how does the ink get into the lines? it sits lower than the pins. it must be sucking in the ink no?