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Nozzle clogging (1 Viewer)

Tim Taylor

Tim Taylor

work in progress
Try saying that 20 times after a few pints!

Seriously though, I'm totally fed up with the Epson 1290 which hasn't adapted at all well to my usual use pattern of a few prints every few months. At the last attempt I ran the head cleaning cycle about 20 times and still had banding across the final print and of course wasted loads of ink and paper. For a few prints I can't really face taking it apart and cleaning it manually with ammonia etc. What I really want is a recommendation for a printer that thrives on neglect. I don't need A3 capability and speed is not an issue. I do like high quality and non fading inks. I've read as much as I can find on the subject but I'm still confused. Any thoughts on the subject are much appreciated.

Cheers

Tim
 
I've not bought an inkjet for many years so I don't know if they've changed but -

The second inkjet I bought was an Epson. When the jets clogged irreversibly I called to find out how much to repair it and it was more than the price of a new printer. So I decided I'd buyt a new one and that it wouldn't be an Epson, or any manufacturer who had a separate print head. I went back to HP - who have the print head as part of the cartridge.

Dunno if it's still the same (this was 10 years ago) but if I were buying an inkjet again I'd be checking to see who had easily replaceable heads.
 
Tim Taylor said:
Try saying that 20 times after a few pints!

Seriously though, I'm totally fed up with the Epson 1290 which hasn't adapted at all well to my usual use pattern of a few prints every few months. At the last attempt I ran the head cleaning cycle about 20 times and still had banding across the final print and of course wasted loads of ink and paper. For a few prints I can't really face taking it apart and cleaning it manually with ammonia etc. What I really want is a recommendation for a printer that thrives on neglect. I don't need A3 capability and speed is not an issue. I do like high quality and non fading inks. I've read as much as I can find on the subject but I'm still confused. Any thoughts on the subject are much appreciated.

Cheers

Tim
Click to expand...
What cartridges are you using? some cheap compatibles are prone to clogging. Also not sure how old your 1290 is - I had problems on some of my older Epson's but the R800 that I have had for over two years now has had no issues of clogging. I would recommend that you did a test print at least once a week just to keep the ink flowing.
 
I have an Epson 1280. Yes, the less I use it, the more it gets clogged, although I have always been able to unclog it with a few cleaning cycles. I am using Epson ink cartridges.

One thing I have noticed - if you print the test pattern and it shows that it is clogged, and then you clean it multiple times, the test pattern is apt to still show breaks in the pattern, indicating that it still needs cleaning. If you turn the printer off and wait a few minutes and then turn it on and print a test pattern, it will show that it is OK.

Of course if you are still getting banding on your actual prints, then that is the ultimate test.
 
I have recently bought a Canon IP6700 because of the same problem of only printing occasionally. The Canon print head comes separately which you clip into place, so my thinking was it could also be unclipped if necessary for cleaning. You can also purchase new heads. I haven't had to do it yet so can't comment as to how easy it is.
 
Thanks all.

Roy, my Epson is about 2.5 yrs old and I've always used Epson inks. I don't think I'd have the discipline to do a print once a week to keep the heads free when I only tend to use the printer every few months.

The Canon system with a user replaceable head sounds a good idea. HP consumables are a bit of a nightmare pricewise although the built in print heads are I guess going to get round some of the clogging problems. I love the print quality of Epson so if the R800 or similar would stand the sort of neglect I'm likely to give it that would be good.
 
Tim Taylor said:
Thanks all.

Roy, my Epson is about 2.5 yrs old and I've always used Epson inks. I don't think I'd have the discipline to do a print once a week to keep the heads free when I only tend to use the printer every few months.

The Canon system with a user replaceable head sounds a good idea. HP consumables are a bit of a nightmare pricewise although the built in print heads are I guess going to get round some of the clogging problems. I love the print quality of Epson so if the R800 or similar would stand the sort of neglect I'm likely to give it that would be good.
Click to expand...
Tim, All I can say is I have not had a problem with the R800 in the two years I have had it (I had problems with my previous two Epson's though). I do normally print at least one a week, even if it is only text printing.
Against my better judgment I am now using compatibles - they are excellent quality and I cannot tell the difference between them and Epson originals.I am now on my third set and still have not had a clogging problem. Cost is £16 for a set of 8 against £80-£90 for a set of Epson's so quite a saving.
 
Tim I have an even older Epson Photo950 which produces excellent prints but as with all inkjet printers seem to suffer from blocked heads, I did manage to reduce it by a few simple changes
1, Don't have it sitting in a location which is prone to heat, near a window or radiator
2, Never use 3rd party inks, tried it and took ages to recover
3, Always ensure that the print head air gap is correct its amazing how many times I print on an envelope of a DVD and then forget to return it to paper
4, Empty the ink pad occasionally, on my printer there is a small pad / sponge at each end of the print head runner use the super soaker kitchen towel to take off the excess
5, Don't print borderless, I get a warning when I do that it might cause the final part of the print to smudge or be poorer in quality

After doing all the above I find that I can now switch on the printer and print with no issue even after a long break

Hope some of this helps

Steve
 
I have a photo 900 and use Jet Tec ink and have very few problems with blocked jets, when I do it's because I have not switched off the printer and its been on for days. The print quality is very good, pity about the picture quality, but that down to me !
 
Thanks for the tips and for sharing your experiences. I'd be interested to hear from more Canon users to see if they have had nozzle problems.
 
Tim Taylor said:
Thanks for the tips and for sharing your experiences. I'd be interested to hear from more Canon users to see if they have had nozzle problems.
Click to expand...

Can't help on the Canon front but I'm another occasional R800 user and no problems with clogging. Think I've done a nozzle clean once in the eighteen months or so I've had it. I think my previous printer was a 1290 and it was a nightmare, always needing cleaning!

Only ever use Epson Inks though!

Edit: Oops, it was an 890, still a nightmare though!
 
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My old Epson 880 that I use for everyday printing suffered badly with a clogged black jet recently. I though about dumping it (I've had it over 5 years) but before I did that I did a google and found a product that seemed to do the trick.

At over a tenner for a small bottle (P&P extra) it seemed expensive, but it was worth a go. It arrived a day or so after I ordered it and cleaned the jets perfectly, using only a few drops of fluid (applied with the enclosed syringe through a tube). Plenty left for future applications.

The fluid is called Powerklin Print Head Cleaner and I got it from cartridge-supersaver.co.uk
 
Since this topic started, I have had experience using a Canon 9900 wide-format printer (so I can compare it with my Epson 1280, mentioned above). I can say that the Canon just about never gets clogged, even if you use it very infrequently. It also prints faster and much quieter.

However, I do NOT at all like the prints it produces. Perhaps it is because many of my images have already been adjusted to print with the Epson, but with the Canon it seems that I either get too dark or too light a print, with not enough adjustability in the lousy Canon driver to get what I want (yes, I suppose getting one of those devices to get the printer to produce closer to what you see on the screen might help, but I have never had to bother with this using Epson printers).

I was using the Canon at a museum I volunteer at, and we have gone back to using an Epson R320 because it prints so much better (I do the wide-format prints at home now on my 1280). So much for the Canon 9900, unclogged or not!
 
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Tim Taylor said:
Thanks for the tips and for sharing your experiences. I'd be interested to hear from more Canon users to see if they have had nozzle problems.
Click to expand...

I have had 2 Epson printers and both regularly suffered from blocked nozzles. Both eventually died from termin nozzle block. I have had a Canon Pixma iP 4300 for around 2 years and only now need to replace the colour cartridges for the first time as I do very little printing. Always use Canon inks and never had a blocked nozzle.

Dave
 
Still got an old Epson Photo 890 from about 2001 I think. Had a bad patch a couple of years ago when I cleaned the jets with somebody's product and no real trouble since. Everything else is now utterly worn out after much use and it will meet its maker when the ink stocks I own run out. Makes a good plain paper printer still but won't feed photo paper anymore.

The R800 has so far proved to be far superior however, with little nozzle problems just once in very hot dry weather but it cleared after a clean cycle.

I am basically lazy and can't face having to relearn how to get the best out of another manufacturer. Experience with Canon repair services was good regarding a film scanner but no one around here runs Canon printers - so no feedback.
 
I've got a 1270, which occasionally blocks. I purchased some independant cleaning cartridges for a few quid and they did the trick. I only have used them twice and then if running the cleaning cycle 3 times didn't fix the blockage
Don't forget to turn the printer off as each time you switch on it goes through a cleaning cycle. Hope this helps
 
One thing I really dislike about the Epson clogging problem is what can happen when one or more cartridges are nearing the bottom - if you are getting striping on your prints, indicating a clogged nozzle, and you try to do a cleaning, the driver will refuse, saying that there is not enough ink left in the cartridge(s) to allow a cleaning. So you are forced to replace the nearly empty cartridge, even though it could print many more pages before really being empty.

This happened to me 3 times in a row the other day with the Epson R320. 3 diifferent cartridges were nearing the bottom (but only one had the Exclamation marker indicating that it was really getting near the end), but the printer needed a nozzle cleaning. So, I replaced the one cartridge and did a clean. This caused a 2nd cartridge to reach the critical stage, but a pattern check still showed clogging, and the driver refused to do a cleaning because of this 2nd cartridge. Replaced the 2nd cartridge, and then the 3rd went critical. So I had to replace that one too. Yikes! VERY annoying.

However, after replacing all 3 cartridges, I was able to finally get a proper cleaning done and it works fine now. Love the printing, hate the clogging and getting cheated on not-quite-empty cartridges!
 
My 1290 has reached the end of the line with fine magenta banding indicating (apparently) terminal print head damage.
Though nearly 5yrs old it has been quite temperamental and has been replaced with an HP b1980 which is yet to be set up.
For those not happy with having to replace seemingly non empty carts a useful tool is the SSC Service Utility(google it) which among other things enables resetting of cartridge chips and also independent colour or black head cleaning.
This is freeware and works very well, though care should be taken not to print when the ink hsa run out as damage to the heads is possible.
Peter.
 
Thanks for the info about that utility, Peter. I have downloaded it. I may not ever use some of its features, but just being able to clean EITHER the color or black cartridge is a great thing.
 
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