Cleaning Epson C82 print head?

[Terry Pinnell]

My Epson C82 is indicating plenty of ink left in the black cartridge
(From Cartridge World, remanufactured, 'T0321'.) But its printing is
faint and patchy. I've used the Clean Nozzle routine 4 or 5 time in
the last few hours, but still the same problem.

I understand you can clean the individual print heads? Could someone
step me through how to do that please? With the cartridge removed I
see a sort of thick 'needle' emerging from a hole. Is that the head?
Do I just get some wet, lint-free paper and try to wipe that, or what?

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Hi Terry,

Please email me privately, and I can supply you with a copy of my Epson
Cleaning Manual, which will step you through the whole process, explain
what cleaning supplies you require (nothing that probably isn't already
under your kitchen sink) and provide you with the necessary caveats.

There is no charge for this and you will not be spammed.

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

If anyone is having problems with Epson C, and especially the CX all in
one printers with sudden lack of inkflow after replacing one or more
cartridges, I have been recently made aware of a design issue on these
printers which may cause this problem and have updated my Epson Cleaning
Manual to reflect this, but with literally thousands of people
requesting it, I cannot really update everyone individually, so I am
posting this to several message boards.

I have been advising people with this problem to use some of the
recommended cleaning fluid on the ink nipple (the spike that punctures
the ink outlet) as well as in the ink outlet itself, as sometime the
problem is just an air lock or drying of the screen at the tip of the
ink nipple. And indeed this does work to start the ink flow often. And,
often once ink begins to flow, it may not become a problem until a
cartridge replacement is again required.

However, if you find the problem is recurring on the next cartridge
exchange, there may be a more insidious problem.

Some of these Epson printers (models C and CX) have a design flaw which
causes the ink purge tube under the cleaning station to fall off during
cartridge replacement. If this occurs, the printer is no longer
transferring the vacuum from the purge pump to the head, meaning those
cleaning cycles are doing basically no good. Further still, although the
ink levels will continue to drop in the ink monitor during the cleaning
and purging cycles, in actual fact, no ink is being extracted by the
purging system, and therefore not only is the head not being cleaned,
but your ink cartridge will indicate you need to replace it sooner, even
though all the ink is still in it.

So, two issues here:

One, you need to look under the cleaning station and determine if the
tube has come off, and if so, reinstall it, and secondly, if this has
been going on for a while, you probably should use a chip resetter on
the cartridges involved because they likely have a lot more ink in them
than they are indicating.

This is a good case of how Epson's chip based ink monitoring system can
cheat you. Another is a totally clogged head that is not actually
releasing any ink during cleaning cycles. Although the ink monitor will
indicate the ink has lessened, and the printer will rewrite the chip to
show this loss of ink, no ink actually left the fully clogged head. It
would seem to me, especially in the first case, where the purge tube has
fallen off due to design issues, that Epson should replace any cartridge
that gets diminished in supposed ink content as a result of this.

You may find some interesting images of this problem and some associated
links for dismantling your printer to repair the problem at:

www.inkjetprinterhelp.us/duraink.html

Art

 

[Terry Pinnell]

If anyone is having problems with Epson C, and especially the CX all in
one printers with sudden lack of inkflow after replacing one or more
cartridges, I have been recently made aware of a design issue on these
printers which may cause this problem and have updated my Epson Cleaning
Manual to reflect this, but with literally thousands of people
requesting it, I cannot really update everyone individually, so I am
posting this to several message boards.

I have been advising people with this problem to use some of the
recommended cleaning fluid on the ink nipple (the spike that punctures
the ink outlet) as well as in the ink outlet itself, as sometime the
problem is just an air lock or drying of the screen at the tip of the
ink nipple. And indeed this does work to start the ink flow often. And,
often once ink begins to flow, it may not become a problem until a
cartridge replacement is again required.

However, if you find the problem is recurring on the next cartridge
exchange, there may be a more insidious problem.

Some of these Epson printers (models C and CX) have a design flaw which
causes the ink purge tube under the cleaning station to fall off during
cartridge replacement. If this occurs, the printer is no longer
transferring the vacuum from the purge pump to the head, meaning those
cleaning cycles are doing basically no good. Further still, although the
ink levels will continue to drop in the ink monitor during the cleaning
and purging cycles, in actual fact, no ink is being extracted by the
purging system, and therefore not only is the head not being cleaned,
but your ink cartridge will indicate you need to replace it sooner, even
though all the ink is still in it.

So, two issues here:

One, you need to look under the cleaning station and determine if the
tube has come off, and if so, reinstall it, and secondly, if this has
been going on for a while, you probably should use a chip resetter on
the cartridges involved because they likely have a lot more ink in them
than they are indicating.

This is a good case of how Epson's chip based ink monitoring system can
cheat you. Another is a totally clogged head that is not actually
releasing any ink during cleaning cycles. Although the ink monitor will
indicate the ink has lessened, and the printer will rewrite the chip to
show this loss of ink, no ink actually left the fully clogged head. It
would seem to me, especially in the first case, where the purge tube has
fallen off due to design issues, that Epson should replace any cartridge
that gets diminished in supposed ink content as a result of this.

You may find some interesting images of this problem and some associated
links for dismantling your printer to repair the problem at:

www.inkjetprinterhelp.us/duraink.html

Art: Wow, that page on disassemby/reassembly looks frightening! Is
there any definitive way to decide whether this 'tube' *has* come off,
before embarking on what to me would be a daunting task - and likely
to introduce more problems!

With my black cartridge removed (and the cyan one, for comparison and
breathing space), this is what I see:
http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/C82.JPG

Does the fact that this whole area looks pretty wet, and a tissue
soaks up black ink quickly, mean that I can exclude 'lack of inkflow'
as a cause of my patchy text? If not, what is the recommended
procedure to clean that spike please? You mention 'recommended
cleaning fluid' - can I use warm water, or meths, or the stuff that
came in a Refill Kit called 'Flushing fluid' or something like that?

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Hi Terry,

The models are all a bit different, as you probably noticed in the
disassembly instructions. I can't see anything in the photo that will
help me.

Although the problem with the tube coming off can occur with the C
series printers, it is much more common in the CX all in one products.

Please email me privately and mention your posting here, and I will send
you the less frightening instructions which will probably resolve your
problem.

Art