Tough clog in Epson R220

[websnail]

Wouldn't give up just yet... We have an R1900 and a PX700W that had various ink (and air) clog related problems that required more than a week of patient work (mostly waiting) to get working again but working they are.

A few things to note...

Ink age as a factor (in dye inks at least) is usually indicated by "diverted" ink jets, almost random in nature where the output seems to be mis-aligned. No amount of calibration routines clears it and when this appeared with an R300 (many moons ago) it took us a while to work through and discover the problem. Replacing with a fresh supply of ink solved the problem immediately and we later noted strings of algae in the original supply.

While the pad + cleaning solution* was mooted as a possible problem causer a few posts back, it's actually a very effective way or resolving nozzle clogs provided you ensure the ink/cleaning cartridges above are kept topped up and you don't just leave them for 15 minutes. Our R1900 (2 years of no use) required about 20 of those pads + solution over 10 day period with a lot of those being left overnight. The effect is much the same as leaving your dishes in to soak rather than trying to scrub them clean. It takes time but it's worth the patience required.

Beyond that the double action of pull (printhead cleaning) plus push (printing) helps attack the clog in two very different ways and will eventually shift things. So long as the printer doesn't suffer an electrical component failure it should be possible to clear pretty much anything.


*Choice of solution is pretty important as an overly aggressive solution may cause damage to the printhead. Something to keep in mind.



One slightly off topic note though... Here in the UK, the number of older printers like the R285 are selling for barely more than £10 - £25 a time with more folk getting wireless printers and the like. So might be worth keeping an eye out for a few bargains. Just a thought.

 

[elerouxx]

Hey Websnail! Thanks for all the information!

When you say pad + solution, you refer to pouring some cleaning solution topping the ink/waste pad (the rectangular sponge with the XX-like pattern and the plastic border where the cartridge assemby seats) then letting the head sit there overnight, right?


I was using some generic cheap cartridges before. Now I decided to buy a kit of refillable cartridgesI didn't buy the bottles of ink yet because of lack of faith in this printer but the vendor topped the cartridges for free and I'll get the ink as it's needed.

The problem is that, after so much cleaning (with the auto-clean 'feature' and the techniques above) I spent most of the ink already, and the nozzle check pattern doesn't get any better than the image attached.


So far I tried:

- printer off, manually disengaged and pulled the head assembly to the left, poured some cleaning fluid on the pad and pushed the head all the way to the right, over the pad, left overnight.
- Injected fluid into the nozzle(s) with a syringe and a small plastic hose that fits tightly in the nozzles.
- Injected fluid BACK AND FORTH thru the nozzles with the syringe and hose
- Attached some folded towel paper to the printer beneath the path of the head assembly, put some fluid on it and passed/sat the assembly over it, as trying to clean the head with the towel paper.
- The same with a dry towel paper.
- Put some alcohol on a Q-tip and rubbed the top of the nozzles with it
- Printed one or two full color, best photo mode pages after each of this procedures, before printing nozzle check.

For the next step I though about removing the head assembly and trying to clean it but I couldn't find an easy tutorial for the R220, one that doesn't make me put all the printer appart. Do you think I should, or should I insist on the pad+fluid thing?


And the other problem is that the printer sometimes fails to catch the paper. It usually doesn't JAM, but I think there are some parts that are failing to separate and get a single sheet of paper into the printer, maybe a rubber band or roll at the start of the feeding process.

In its current state, I have to print in Photo quality to ensure all the music is printed correctly. DVDs and CDs prints are just great. I cannot print paper unattended, because at any moment I might have to retry the print because the paper didn't went in, or even give the paper a little help feeding.

Any experience on that?


(Off topic: I also have a scanner that works fine as far as I open it every time to manually force the carriage to start moving, because it gets somehow stuck every day. I know this site is not 'scannerknowledge'. I am just ranting a little about having to live with two broken pieces of a would-be perfectly working all-in-one scanner, printer and CD printer

 

[elerouxx]

And one last question I forgot to ask: do you think it would be a good idea to put water or windex into the refillable cartridges to try to clean the heads? and would I be able to reuse the cartridges with ink later?

 

[websnail]

Hey Websnail! Thanks for all the information!

When you say pad + solution, you refer to pouring some cleaning solution topping the ink/waste pad (the rectangular sponge with the XX-like pattern and the plastic border where the cartridge assemby seats) then letting the head sit there overnight, right?

Not quite but I see more a case of terminology confusion to let me clarify

I was meaning some absorbent paper towel (the stuff you use in the kitchen). What you do is make a small square of about 3 layers that will just about fit the "ink/waste pad" (resting/cleaning station as I call it). Soak it with your printhead cleaning solution so it beds down on to the pad and then move the printhead over as you described.

Avoid the temptation to run the printhead back and forth over the pad but just let it sit. What happens is that the pad brings the solution up into contact with the printhead underside and allows the solution to wick up into the nozzles where it then starts to break down any clog. A really good solution will also break down any foam or air bubbles in the nozzles as they cause clog style symptoms too.

Now I decided to buy a kit of refillable cartridgesI didn't buy the bottles of ink yet because of lack of faith in this printer but the vendor topped the cartridges for free and I'll get the ink as it's needed.

Those are useful for filling with cleaning solution too

The problem is that, after so much cleaning (with the auto-clean 'feature' and the techniques above) I spent most of the ink already, and the nozzle check pattern doesn't get any better than the image attached

Auto-head cleaning is designed for OEM cartridges only where there's no air, no clogs and no real problems so I'd suggest turning it off. There's a reason Epson removed it in later printer versions.

Rule of thumb is to do one printhead clean, print a nozzle check and then print a solid 6 colour column of output. Then either leave the printer to sit (while you go off to discuss replacement windows if the printer doesn't heed your warnings of regarding its potential exit portal ) or repeat the pad + cleaning solution and leave for a few more hours (or overnight again).

- printer off, manually disengaged and pulled the head assembly to the left, poured some cleaning fluid on the pad and pushed the head all the way to the right, over the pad, left overnight.

This can sometimes work but usually the resting pad just drains slowly into the waste pads (despite the peristaltic pump assembly) and into the main waste ink pads. Using the absorbent paper pad approach works much better as it holds the solution in place, not let it drain away.

- Injected fluid into the nozzle(s) with a syringe and a small plastic hose that fits tightly in the nozzles.
- Injected fluid BACK AND FORTH thru the nozzles with the syringe and hose

Be careful with this approach... Minimal pressure (and I do mean minimal!)... and if you push/pull back and forth, remember to finish by pushing at least 5ml back into the nozzle (again, very gently!) to flush out the air you will have pulled in.

- Attached some folded towel paper to the printer beneath the path of the head assembly, put some fluid on it and passed/sat the assembly over it, as trying to clean the head with the towel paper.

Only something to do with a printhead that is heavily soiled with dried ink but keep it to an absolute minimum, after you've soaked it using the passive pad + solution technique first (so the ink will be loose and easy to remove).

- The same with a dry towel paper.

Not recommended...

Both of the above pass back/forth approaches can be the equivalent of rubbing the printhead over sandpaper and while it may not seem particularly bad, you have to remember you're dealing with microscopic nozzles so microscopic scratches are best avoided.

- Put some alcohol on a Q-tip and rubbed the top of the nozzles with it

See above...

- Printed one or two full color, best photo mode pages after each of this procedures, before printing nozzle check.

Yay!

For the next step I though about removing the head assembly and trying to clean it but I couldn't find an easy tutorial for the R220, one that doesn't make me put all the printer appart. Do you think I should, or should I insist on the pad+fluid thing?

Think you can guess the answer to that one.. You shouldn't need to remove any printhead to clean it manually. Just a case of patience required.

And the other problem is that the printer sometimes fails to catch the paper. It usually doesn't JAM, but I think there are some parts that are failing to separate and get a single sheet of paper into the printer, maybe a rubber band or roll at the start of the feeding process.

In its current state, I have to print in Photo quality to ensure all the music is printed correctly. DVDs and CDs prints are just great. I cannot print paper unattended, because at any moment I might have to retry the print because the paper didn't went in, or even give the paper a little help feeding.

Any experience on that

Look into rubber roller restoration. There's a LOT of posts about that sort of thing on HP related threads in printer forums. I'm not fully up to speed on the approaches needed but there's plenty of suggestions and products to help there too.

(Off topic: I also have a scanner that works fine as far as I open it every time to manually force the carriage to start moving, because it gets somehow stuck every day. I know this site is not 'scannerknowledge'. I am just ranting a little about having to live with two broken pieces of a would-be perfectly working all-in-one scanner, printer and CD printer

Might want to talk to @PeterBJ about his lubricant/grease finds... Could be something as simple as lacking lubricant but you need the right stuff.


Apologies for the somewhat "Tsk, tsk" style in my points above... Not intended to be a litany of "Oh no, you did what now?!" pointers but hopefully a useful reference as to what to do/not to do for future.

Let me know how you get on

 

[websnail]

And one last question I forgot to ask: do you think it would be a good idea to put water or windex into the refillable cartridges to try to clean the heads? and would I be able to reuse the cartridges with ink later?

If you can get a proper printhead cleaning solution that would be better... Windex is all well and good but if you're using it in cartridges you want to later refill, you may cause the ink to react in an unwelcome way that you really don't want.

Certainly I flush the heck out of the cartridges after use with distilled water and vacuum pull them as much as possible (plug all the holes and use a 50ml luer slip syringe via the fill hole to achieve this) before you then refill with ink.

Did I cover everything?

 

[elerouxx]

Did I cover everything?

Pretty much!
The only thing I don't know is how to turn off the head cleaning. This is a R220, it cleans the head when you tell it to, but I don't see any place in the driver/software that allows you to uncheck auto cleaning or priming the head.

Should not be important. Thank you very much!! I'll try a couple things and keep you posted!

 

[websnail]

Pretty much!
The only thing I don't know is how to turn off the head cleaning. This is a R220, it cleans the head when you tell it to, but I don't see any place in the driver/software that allows you to uncheck auto cleaning or priming the head.

Ah ok... Me being a little dense I was thinking Artisan 700 for some reason as they had a specific function you could disable/enable.

Short version long, you can't disable the normal maintenance routines the printer will engage in as part of cartridge replacement (or what it will interpret as such) or long periods of non-use. From memory (which is hazy on this model) the ARC's available were the 100% full type (unless you're lucky) so they always trigger the priming routine when reset. There may be some now that will reset to slightly less to avoid it though so something to consider if you really want to dot the i's and cross the t's... but probably not worth sweating too much.

Thank you very much!! I'll try a couple things and keep you posted!

You're welcome. Good to see an old workhorse still getting some use after all this time

 

[PeterBJ]

Look into rubber roller restoration. There's a LOT of posts about that sort of thing on HP related threads in printer forums. I'm not fully up to speed on the approaches needed but there's plenty of suggestions and products to help there too.

Might want to talk to @PeterBJ about his lubricant/grease finds... Could be something as simple as lacking lubricant but you need the right stuff.

Thanks for the tip to search the HP forums for rubber roller restoration. I have some mechanical CD printing problems with a couple of Canon printers, caused by rubber rollers that have become hard and glazed.

Here is the link to an Ebay seller that sells the Molykote EM-30L grease, that is claimed to be safe for plastics: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trk...C0.X&_nkw=Molykote®+EM-30L&_sacat=0&_from=R40

It might be useful to read the discussion about lubricants for Canon printers, starting here: http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/lubricant-for-canon-printers.8409/

 

[elerouxx]

Thank you both for your help, i really appreciate all the information.

I'd say my printer fails to feed about once every 4 sheets of paper, and sometimes it feeds 2 sheets. Its annoying because sometimes i have to print some 20 pages documents on both sides, and i have always to pay attention or print page by page.

So i tried to improve these statistics.

I had a silicon grease here used for rubber parts in a small piece of hardware i had. Decided to put a very small amount of it on the tip of my finger and rub the rubber band and the rubber roller that catch the paper. It seemed to me that it improved. but after some prints now the printer isnt able to feed at all, even with some help. Bad move.

I feel i screwed up . Tried to clean everything again with no luck. I am not sure this is because of the grease, or some spring lacking strength or something like that.

See, most parts on this printer are visibly old and worn, metal parts look rusty, and it hasn't been reliable for a while. Maybe having it serviced by 3rd party could fix it to some extent, but from what I already saw about prices, it will cost me far more than a new printer.

Maybe as a last resource i could try to dismantle it myself and thoughtfully clean it. Or keep it for a while just for printing cds...but in any case it's time to look for a replacement to my normal printing tasks.

Do you guys have any suggestions? Like a very good experience with a brand or mode? The main brands over here are hp, epson and canon.

 

[The Hat]

Over where ?...