Unclogging Epson 740 heads? (I read the tips...glitchy results...)

J

jeff potter

I just emailed Art for his cleaning manual.

I've had my 740 for maybe 5 years now. It's always worked great. The
nozzle-clean utility has always brought everything back to quality.

I print only every other month with this printer.

But now things are bad. I just ran out of color and replaced the cart
with a new one. It's an Amazon Imaging Value Pack. I think a previous
cart of theirs worked fine. It's at least a year old.

The nozzles just won't print a clean test pattern. Very striped.

I just took the carts out and swabbed around inside the head
compartment with Q-tips soaked in alcohol and Windex. They started out
very inky but in the end seemed fairly clean.

I cleaned the whole track area of the heads with a clean thin rag
wetted with alc/windex. Then I centered and unplugged the printer and
ran the heads over top of a wetted strip of rag. I scrubbed the heads
from the underside with a moderate shoe-shine motion. I did this til
the cloths all came out fairly clean.

I tested it---first test almost OK, next tests nothing. Plain paper. No
pattern would print. A half hour later I sometimes I get a 80% pattern,
other times almost 0%!

I hope I didn't destroy anything.

Whups, now I see it's telling me my black level is low. And my color
level is 3/4's---ha, after printing nothing but a few tests with a few
stripey marks on them.

Does tape over the cart chip work good for fooling these things?

Well, thanks! --JP
 
M

measekite

jeff said:
I just emailed Art for his cleaning manual.

I've had my 740 for maybe 5 years now. It's always worked great. The
nozzle-clean utility has always brought everything back to quality.

I print only every other month with this printer.

But now things are bad. I just ran out of color and replaced the cart
with a new one. It's an Amazon Imaging Value Pack. I think a previous
cart of theirs worked fine. It's at least a year old.
Click to expand...
THE PARAGRAPH ABOVE CERTAINLY MAKES YOU SOUND VERY STUPID. IF YOU PRINT
EVERY OTHER MONTH WITH THAT PRINTER YOU WILL NOT SAVE ANYTHING FILLING
IT WITH UNBRANDED CRAP INSTEAD OF OEM. NOW YOU ARE GOING TO WASTE YOUR
TIME SCREWING AROUND WITH ART AND HIS MANUAL THAT HE SHOULD POST ON HIS
SITE BUT HE WANTS CONTROL.
The nozzles just won't print a clean test pattern. Very striped.

I just took the carts out and swabbed around inside the head
compartment with Q-tips soaked in alcohol and Windex. They started out
very inky but in the end seemed fairly clean.

I cleaned the whole track area of the heads with a clean thin rag
wetted with alc/windex. Then I centered and unplugged the printer and
ran the heads over top of a wetted strip of rag. I scrubbed the heads
from the underside with a moderate shoe-shine motion. I did this til
the cloths all came out fairly clean.

I tested it---first test almost OK, next tests nothing. Plain paper. No
pattern would print. A half hour later I sometimes I get a 80% pattern,
other times almost 0%!

I hope I didn't destroy anything.

Whups, now I see it's telling me my black level is low. And my color
level is 3/4's---ha, after printing nothing but a few tests with a few
stripey marks on them.

Does tape over the cart chip work good for fooling these things?
Click to expand...
YOU CANNOT FOOL THE PRINTER THE PRINTER IT APPEARS IS FOOLING THE FOOL
AND THAT IS YOU.
 
J

Jan Alter

Does tape over the cart chip work good for fooling these things?

Chip? The 740 doesn't use a chip?

Are you certain they sent you the correct cartridge?
 
J

JeffOYB

I thought they all used chips to determine ink level. I wonder how else
my printer thinks I've used 1/4 of my color ink when I've printed the
equivalent of 2-3 test patterns. I figured the printer was using a chip
somewhere on the cart. I don't know what a chip looks like. The plastic
on the top of the cart is "engraved" in a simple circuit board pattern,
but I don't see any metal. The new cart is like the old one, which
worked, so I think they're the right carts. --JP
 
C

cvt

Chip? The 740 doesn't use a chip?

Are you certain they sent you the correct cartridge?
Click to expand...

Thats correct, no chip in the 740, remove the cart, and reinsert it, and it
will think its brand new.
 
C

cvt

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com:
I thought they all used chips to determine ink level. I wonder how else
my printer thinks I've used 1/4 of my color ink when I've printed the
equivalent of 2-3 test patterns. I figured the printer was using a chip
somewhere on the cart. I don't know what a chip looks like. The plastic
on the top of the cart is "engraved" in a simple circuit board pattern,
but I don't see any metal. The new cart is like the old one, which
worked, so I think they're the right carts. --JP
Click to expand...

Hahaha, :)
no, no chip, that you see on the top is the air breather tracks ;)

the printer counts the amount of ink used, when you remove and insert the
cart, it resets that counter.
nothing more simple or complex than that ;)
 
A

Arthur Entlich

With the 740, as far as the ink levels go, you can just put the printer
through a cartridge exchange process (see "how to replace an outdated
cartridge" in the user manual) to reset the ink levels to full. These
printers have no chip so they assume the cartridge is full upon
replacement (you can put any cartridge back in). However, to prevent
head clogs you should at least put a cartridge in which has some
cleaning solution in it.

This is explained in the manual, which was sent out earlier to you via
private email.

Art
 
A

Arthur Entlich

There is no chip for the 740 cartridges. That printer is pre-chip.

The etching you see are the air vents which are designed that way to
keep the evaporation to a minimum and to keep ink from dripping out from
the cartridge outlet.

The 740 has firmware and software that estimates the ink usage by
keeping track of the cleaning cycles and ink usage for printing,
similarly to that which is now done via the chip, except the printer
maintains this information in printer memory. As soon as the cartridge
is removed, the printer assumes a new cartridge is placed in it which is
full of ink. You can, however, just return the same cartridges.

The reason behind the chipped cartridges is that the information remains
with the cartridge, so once the cartridge reads empty, no matter which
printer it is replaced into, it will still read empty, even after it was
refilled. Of course, 3rd parties came up with a chip resetter which
resolved this issue for those who bought this device.

However, getting back to your printer, it has no chip related to the
cartridge, and simply refitting the same cartridge will "trick" the
printer into thinking it is a brand new one.

I'm not sure who you directed your "get lost" comment to, but you may
own someone an apology. Probably best to make it clear who you are
directing such a comment to, as well.

Art
 
T

TJ

Arthur said:
I'm not sure who you directed your "get lost" comment to, but you may
own someone an apology. Probably best to make it clear who you are
directing such a comment to, as well.

Art
Click to expand...

The comment was directed at measekite. 'Nuff said?

TJ
 
M

measekite

cvt said:
(e-mail address removed) wrote in @u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com:




Hahaha, :)
no, no chip, that you see on the top is the air breather tracks ;)

the printer counts the amount of ink used,
Click to expand...
HE THINKS IT COUNTS INK DROPS
 
C

chris1379

My bet is on the cartridge. If you must use generic cartridges, search
ebay for the ones in a white box with a rainbow. I have used them in
several printers for several years with no problems. One other thing
you can try is cleaning the purge unit seal. It's the rubber seal
around the sponge that sits under the head. Just wipe it gently with
some Windex. You can also try filling the sponge with Windex and
manually parking the head. Let it sit overnight and try it in the
morning. The cleaning cartridges are a good idea too. I just fill an
empty cartridge with Windex and alcohol. Oh, and for future reference,
don't remove a cartridge until it is empty. It may not seal properly
and it may be empty before the ink monitor says it is.

Chris
 
C

cvt

HE THINKS IT COUNTS INK DROPS
Click to expand...

It counts the amount of ink used. Read what I said again
god your stupid.. Finally had to make a signature...
and I quite like it :)



--
 
M

measekite

cvt said:
@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com:




It counts the amount of ink used. Read what I said again
god your stupid.. Finally had to make a signature...
and I quite like it :)
Click to expand...
ANOTHER REPLY BY CIVET DA KAT
 
M

measekite

chris1379 said:
My bet is on the cartridge. If you must use generic cartridges, search
ebay for the ones in a white box with a rainbow. I have used them in
several printers for several years with no problems. One other thing
you can try is cleaning the purge unit seal.
Click to expand...
FORGET DA SEAL HOW BOUT DA WALRUS
It's the rubber seal
around the sponge that sits under the head. Just wipe it gently with
some Windex. You can also try filling the sponge with Windex and
manually parking the head. Let it sit overnight and try it in the
morning. The cleaning cartridges are a good idea too. I just fill an
empty cartridge with Windex and alcohol. Oh, and for future reference,
don't remove a cartridge until it is empty. It may not seal properly
and it may be empty before the ink monitor says it is.
Click to expand...
LOOK AT ALL THIS WASTE OF TIME
 

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