Well it happened again...

[MrBird]

I have had an Epson Stylus Pro 4900 with a clogged printhead come into my life. We weren't trying, it just sort of happened and even though we weren't prepared for this, we are excited about the future that lies ahead.

After failing to resurrect a SP 4000 (which is going to be parted out) I don't want to make the same mistakes this time around. So we are going to just take it easy and let the printhead rest on some windex soaked paper towel... lets see what happens.

 

[The Hat]

You seem to be a Devil for punishment, I do hope your successful this time, but have some headache pills on hand because you’re probably going to need them..
Good Luck with the task in front of you, O’ don’t do you back in getting out of the car..

 

[MrBird]

Signs of life?

After soaking the printhead on a wet paper towel alternating between simplegreen and Windex, I have seen little improvement. Cyan has flowed well from the start but everything else is dead. Today the nozzels are starting to show up for the party maybe this is a sign of life.

Perhaps I should mix up some pharmacist solution and try that, but will the ammonia in it damage the sensitive copper bits of the 4900 printhead?

 

[stratman]

After soaking the printhead on a wet paper towel alternating between simplegreen and Windex

Are you not supposed to partially submerge the Espon print head the way that is done with Canon print heads?

How well does sitting a print head on a wet paper towel clear clogs deep within the print head versus submerging the print head in solution?

Why use simplegreen? Never heard of it, at least that I can recall.

Perhaps I should mix up some pharmacist solution and try that, but will the ammonia in it damage the sensitive copper bits of the 4900 printhead?

Didn't the Windex have ammonia in it? How about the simplegreen?

Maybe you could use liquid dish washing soap like Dawn or Fairy in water for soaking. I like this for Canon print heads.

 

[The Hat]

Perhaps I should mix up some pharmacist solution and try that, but will the ammonia in it damage the sensitive copper bits of the 4900 printhead?

There is no ammonia in pharmacists original solution, unless you add some in when making up a batch, but only use the ammonia mix solution for flushing and not for soaking, Windex is also getting a bad press because it contains ammonia…

 

[PeterBJ]

The original "Pharmacist's solution" contains no ammonia and is intended for sponge recondition in Canon single ink tank cartridges. By adding 1% of concentrated ammonia by volume you get "Pharmacist's cleaning solution" that is intended for print head cleaning. See this post, that also has an instruction for Epson print head cleaning.

Another good print head cleaner is a window cleaner with ammonia. In the US the "Original Windex with Ammonia-D" is popular. Here is a list and explanation of the contents. See this post by @turbguy .

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Windex is also getting a bad press because it contains ammonia…

It's health risks by ammonia from careless use, not reading instructions, using too much, using it together with cloride based cleaners, causing stains etc . I'm pretty sure that members here wouldn't do that when cleaning a printhead.

 

[The Hat]

It's health risks by ammonia from careless use,

Windex is not good for long term soaking of a print head, it attacks the metal parts and causes them damage, but a few hours soaking won’t do any harm..

 

[MrBird]

Sorry no pictures at the moment, my hands are covered in ink in typical fashion.

I now believe that the "clogs" people are seeing in these printers are not due to the printhead at all. Let me tell you how I got here.

After some time soaking the printhead and fiddling running nozzle checks, I noted that I could see some staining of colors on my paper towel pads and started to suspect an issue somewhere else, even as I manage to dissolve ink around the printhead plate, nozzle checks would not improve. I verified functionality of the suction pump in the capping station by confirming its ability to pull vacuum, same for the decompression pump, the printer should be able to supply ink. During cleanings no ink would was being pulled at all via the suction pump, even cyan which has mostly cooperated.

I had this hunch that the printhead is not receiving ink. I removed the pack of dampers from the top of the printhead and applied suction to the ink supply system via a syringe, bingo, none of the ink lines flow freely. Cyan is the least problematic which is in line with my original nozzle checks. Now I am persuing a way to flush the dampers and ink lines without letting the printer digital nanny the maintenance tank and without buying a pack of empty carts to fill with cleaning fluid. I plan to remove the entire ink supply system from the dampers to the ink bays, manually flushing each line.


More trouble than its worth? We will see.

 

[MrBird]

Dampers themselves seem to be clear. I believe the problem lies in the dampers/manifolds at the ink bays. Any every taken one of these apart?