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clogged ink !!!

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MAJOR UPDATE: Epson replaced my printer with a refurb. :P The new (refurb) one has track marks running the whole length of the prints. I am printing on Photo Paper and if you look where the paper comes out, there are pointy sprokets that roll the paper out. Those points leave marks on the printed photos.And you can feel them. I called Epson, who had me run several prints. I tried explaining that it printed fine - although dark- but the issue was the spike marks. I offered to send a pic of a pic but was informed that he takes many calls a day and can resolve WITHOUT a picture being sent. OK.

THEREFORE, they are sending me ANOTHER printer. I requested a New one since that is what i bought to begin with. We will see. This makes #3. Makes me wanna get something else. :(

 

 

 

 

Sorry if this is repeated elsewhere i just need to vent !!!!!!!! 

 

madhattergrafix-  saw you are using the Epson. My blue was clogged and after fooling with it per online suggestions, now all colors wacko. Nothing printing.  Any home remedies for unclogging. Today i just dropped everything and had to walk away. I DEFINITELY have learned to print something about every other day. I thought i had kept up with weekly test prints but obviously not enough. :(

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Yea, done both of those.  :'(  :'(  :'(  :'(  Even got an email from Richard @ Cobra.

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Clean all of the nozzles with the clog cleaner if you haven't already, then take your filling syringe or even the clog buster and fill each head nozzle with the right color. You may need to jump start the process / flood the head with the right color. However before you do that wait over night and try again tomorrow morning. The cleaner may need time to loosen in the screens inside of the printer head. If not you may have to remove the head and try a sonic cleaning.

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and that is why I love the gel inks - I won't turn mine on for 2-3 months at a time sometimes and prints fine every time.  I would be terrible about remembering to print regularly and love my long vacations.  the solvent printer is enough to worry about when gone 2 weeks at a time and it turns itself on and cleans itself several times a day.   hope you get it working though

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Ricoh printer with sawgrass ink dirtrocker.  cost more initially until you throw away a couple clogged printers

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A little hint my Epson 7010, and 7510 were in a storage locker from mid September till last month. On my first WF 7510 I only had to run a couple of head cleanings (the original that had a bad head that made me buy another 7510), the second WF7510 I ran cleaning fluid through the heads. However my Sublimation WF7010 gave me slight headaches with the cyan and magenta however after using cobras clog buster and fluid along with waiting over night it now works beautifully. 

 

Now another trick I learned was great 4 squares on a page make each one a different color C,M,Y.K and force it to print the colors.

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Ricoh printer with sawgrass ink dirtrocker.  cost more initially until you throw away a couple clogged printers

Initial cost isnt bad but when you figure the cost of a ricoh you can purchase lots of epsons if not maintained correctly.

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and you will martin - just keep one spare epson in the closet without ink in it for that quick turn around.   now for the 13x19 the ricoh goes out of this world in price . . .  the smaller one is pretty reasonable.

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Thats the one that I think is crazy priced, I like the option of 13X19 I make sure to get those you never know. (another reason for bigger press lol) I would never keep a spare epson with ink in it.

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I had 2 of the 13x19 and only used the bigger size for cutting boards and throw blankets so did away with it and went smaller printer - takes up less space and 95 percent of my money made with it is mugs and phone cases.  just isn't worth having the bigger one around for that few times.   AND that is why I said keep the spare without ink in it - the epson with ink will clog even with factory ink

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For future use.

 

You can buy a program (harvey) that can do a scheduled print.

 

You can also create a scheduled task that prints a page.

 

There are many ways I'm sure but on Win7 you can create a task that runs on the days you select.

Add the command  mspaint /p test.bmp

Place the test.bmp you want to use in the system32 folder.

This only works for your primary/default printer and your computer and printer must stay on. I don't know if it will run in standby.

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I have a 7510 and 7520 currently and have learnt that if cleaning is working walk away for a couple hours and try again, It's almost like it gives the fresh ink time to seep into the head. One of mine is pigment and the other is sublimation So in a pinch I can swap one to the other to finish a job. I figure if I buy 2 more of these it'll be about hte same cost as the larger Ricoh but I still saved on all the ink. For smaller printing I had a Ricoh and loved it but when I decided to upsize Ricoh priced itself out of the running.

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update: NOTHING printed after trying the head cleaning in various videos including Cobra. I had lost ALL colors. So before calling Epson and crying - i decided to put the original regular inks that came with it into the machine to see if I had actually destroyed the printer or what. Did test print - Nothing, Did head clean then another test- NOTHING,  :'(  :'(  :'(  :'(  Did another clean, test- some ink ;D  Did clean, test - Mostly perfect. Only have a few blue dots missing. BETTER THAN NOTHING. Now i am gonna use that printer for everything till this ink is gone and then go back to sub ink. I know that it needs to have the reg ink flushed somehow :huh:? Maybe print a couple of pages with sub ink just to get it going thru the heads/lines. But, i know that I didn't totally destroy the printer in the first place so i feel better about that. 

The sub ink carts i took out were 3/4 full except the Black- it was totally empty i suppose from all the cleaning runs. Would black being empty cause the other colors NOT to print correct ? SO gotta order some refills before i go back to it anyway. 

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I ran a few sheets of print to flush mine when going from pigment to dye sub and everything worked fine.

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Sounds like the cobra ink system might have an issue. Or the dampeners weren't opening on the other cartridges. I never had that bad of an issue. Then again I use ink that's formulated specifically for Epson sublimation.

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Then again I use ink that's formulated specifically for Epson sublimation.

 

Cobra Ink brand inks are formulated specifically for Epson sublimation, too...  That's pretty much all they can be used for.  Nearly every other inkjet manufacturer uses inkjet heads that heat the ink to spray it onto paper, which would obviously be a disaster for sublimation inks - that's why sublimation kits are almost exclusively available for Ricoh or Epson printers, and Ricoh only use the (incredibly expensive) Sawgrass gel inks.

You may need to re-prime the cartridge assembly that is part of the CISS kit to get it going again.

 

Once you use up the ink in your current cartridges, run some clog buster or Cobra cleaning solution through each head until they run clear (shouldn't take much) and then re-install your sublimation kit, make sure everything is flowing again and then print 2-3 full pages of color images and that should remove any residual pigment inks.

When I bought my Epson 1400 it had dye ink cartridges in it, but they were old and dried up.  I bought a cheap set of generic cartridges and tested to make sure the printer was fully functional before buying the CISS kit, then did what I suggested above to clean it out and it's worked just fine for me.

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Cobra Ink brand inks are formulated specifically for Epson sublimation, too...  That's pretty much all they can be used for.  Nearly every other inkjet manufacturer uses inkjet heads that heat the ink to spray it onto paper, which would obviously be a disaster for sublimation inks - that's why sublimation kits are almost exclusively available for Ricoh or Epson printers, and Ricoh only use the (incredibly expensive) Sawgrass gel inks.

You may need to re-prime the cartridge assembly that is part of the CISS kit to get it going again.

 

Once you use up the ink in your current cartridges, run some clog buster or Cobra cleaning solution through each head until they run clear (shouldn't take much) and then re-install your sublimation kit, make sure everything is flowing again and then print 2-3 full pages of color images and that should remove any residual pigment inks.

When I bought my Epson 1400 it had dye ink cartridges in it, but they were old and dried up.  I bought a cheap set of generic cartridges and tested to make sure the printer was fully functional before buying the CISS kit, then did what I suggested above to clean it out and it's worked just fine for me.

That is true they all are made for Epson your right, however I did buy some which did not follow the Epson profile and I guess I'm lucky I didnt have to change any profile for the individual substrates. I could but why when they work so well. To get back to the original post re priming is the thing sounds like there is no ink to help the suction from the cartridges.

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re priming is the thing sounds like there is no ink to help the suction from the cartridges.

 

Correct - if the printer isn't sitting on a level surface, or if the tanks are not mounted at the proper height relative to the print heads, then gravity may be working against you and keeping the ink from from flowing properly into the cartridges.  I've had this happen, as the table my printer sits on isn't level (I've since shimmed it up so it sits level) and I had to occasionally re-prime the lines to get things going again.

 

The ink the in back portion of the tanks should sit at about the same height as the ink cartridges inside the printer in order to maintain the proper flow, too.

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Jones is right. My DTG had issues with ink flow and I had to find the right level. You may end up with a lot of velcro on the side of the printer but its better than not having the CIS set at the wrong height and no ink flow.

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UPDATE: Epson is replacing the printer. Diagnosis: hardware failure. :) tickled pink. 

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