Epson stylus Pro 4000 print head banding

[James]

We have had the 4000 pro for almost 4 years and it printed fine for
the first 10 months. We have sent a fortune in ink puting it though
its head cleaning. We can not leave if for more than 2 to 3 week and
its clogs any time of the year. Just today it required 3 cleans and
yesteday 10 cleans. We have not tried the Power Cleaning Cycle as
some one told us this would be detrimental to the heads? Since this
is a 100 pound printer I feel reluctant in taking it to someone
(Epson?) Is there a method to give us better and longer lasting print
quality and stop wasting resorces?

Thanks for the comments

 

[Mark Conrad]

We have had the 4000 pro for almost 4 years and it printed fine for
the first 10 months. We have sent a fortune in ink puting it though
its head cleaning. We can not leave if for more than 2 to 3 week and
its clogs any time of the year. Just today it required 3 cleans and
yesteday 10 cleans. We have not tried the Power Cleaning Cycle as
some one told us this would be detrimental to the heads? Since this
is a 100 pound printer I feel reluctant in taking it to someone
(Epson?) Is there a method to give us better and longer lasting print
quality and stop wasting resorces?

Good post, I have the same problem, hope someone comes forth with a
practical solution.

I have the Epson Pro 4800 model, another 100 pound model.


If we could locate someone who sold "flush" cartridges, at least then we
could go on a vacation without having to worry about the heads clogging.

Perhaps we could inject some used ink cartridges with some kind of ink
solvent, and use those.

Mark-

 

[Yianni]

May I have the solution to both of you.
<To James>: According to your description, it seems you use original inks
and you had consumed a very high quantity of ink till now. Am I right?.
Deep cleaning don't ruin the printhead, except in the rare case the
printhead is almost clogged and very depressed (fatigue). Notice, a few
cleaning cycles corresponds to the deep cleaning (don't differ, the deep
cleaning sucks more ink through the head in once). After the cleanings, do
you get a good nozzle check? No need to get all nozzle working, just not see
some nozzles misfiring http://www.inkline.gr/temp/misfiring.jpg (nozzle test
form another printer, the magenta has problem. After each cleaning the
misfiring pattern is *ALWAYS* identical. In this case is very hard to revive
the printhead. In this case the change of the printhead is the only
solution -only if you get the same nozzles misfiring the same way).
Do you use original inks?
<To Mark>: You have less problems than James. You are right, flush
cartridges is the solution.
Please, contact me via email: (e-mail address removed) (remove the number 9 from my
email address).

--

Yianni
(e-mail address removed)
(Remove the number nine from my email address to send me email)

 

[James]

This is what I did this evening I printed the "Head Clean" and it
looks bad the light Magenta and the light Black and then it said it
was clogged. I then did a "Nozel Check" and I got the same result.
Now my Wife tells be she never uses the Head Clean but just prints a
little picture repeatedly until it prints clean. The other night she
was printing on canvas and she got a redish blob on the surface in the
wrong place.

Why can't I make a print of only the two colors that are giving a
problem or should I try a few more "Head Cleans"? What is the price
of new Head? More questions than answers.

Thanks Again

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Epson printers have permanent heads, and the process used in printing
can cause inks to accumulate under the head and dry. In most cases, the
secret is cleaning the heads directly on a quality paper towel or
lintfree rag which is wetted in something like ammoniated window cleaner
and rubbing alcohol.

Once this is well done, the printer is much less likely to clog, or band
for a good while.

The free manual I have explains the process, although I do not encourage
people with higher end printers to try this and instead suggest they pay
for a proper service person.

If you want to attempt this yourself, at your own risk, email me and I
will send you a copy of the manual, in spite of it not being
specifically written to the larger printers.


e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org

(at) = @
(dot) = .

Art

 

[tomm42]

Epson printers have permanent heads, and the process used in printing
can cause inks to accumulate under the head and dry. In most cases, the
secret is cleaning the heads directly on a quality paper towel or
lintfree rag which is wetted in something like ammoniated window cleaner
and rubbing alcohol.

Once this is well done, the printer is much less likely to clog, or band
for a good while.

The free manual I have explains the process, although I do not encourage
people with higher end printers to try this and instead suggest they pay
for a proper service person.

If you want to attempt this yourself, at your own risk, email me and I
will send you a copy of the manual, in spite of it not being
specifically written to the larger printers.

e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org

(at) = @
(dot) = .

Art

Another common problem with Epson printers is that the head wiper, a
stiff plastic piece that takes excess ink off the heads gets worn out,
probably in your case as the printer is 4 years old, or goes out of
alignment. If you are familiar at all with the head assembly it is
generally easy to reach and replace. Also if you are having repeated
cloggings your head parking station could be out of alignment or not
functioning. If you are looking at the head assembly more the head off
the parking station and see if it is wet or dry, dry being bad. This
means the head is not resting in a moist environment, essential for
the head not to clog. This requires repair by someone who knows what
they are doing. Last but not least alway turn off the printer from the
control panel, otherwise the head doesn't park.
Hope this helps.

Tom

 

[Yianni]

This is what I did this evening I printed the "Head Clean" and it

looks bad the light Magenta and the light Black and then it said it
was clogged. I then did a "Nozel Check" and I got the same result.

Are you sure it was the same (identical)? I said about misfiring nozzles,
not only clogged ones.

Why can't I make a print of only the two colors that are giving a
problem or should I try a few more "Head Cleans"? What is the price
of new Head? More questions than answers.

As I said depends on the problem you have. In some cases, printing the color
that is giving the problem, improves the result.
I don't know the price of the head, but because this printer is complicated,
the change of the head is a difficult task. So you have to go to the epson
service.
Btw, the 4800 has the feature to bypass the clogged nozzles using some
spare/backup ones. I don't know if the 4000 has the same feature.


--

Yianni
(e-mail address removed)
(Remove the number nine from my email address to send me email)

 

[James]

Some good news I found how to use the Power clean on the pinter
consol, sort of interesting moving the bay levers up and down as
requested. It did provide a good result in the "check print heads"
nice squiggly lines as supposed to be. Oh it used 12% of the tank
resources! Do you know how much that cost, we have three of the large
ink cartriges, moderately cheaper.

Thanks all

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I have been trying to get Epson to consider design changes which would
allow for easy and automatic cleanings without nearly the ink wastage.

Since Epson, like every other inkjet company LIVES on their ink sales, I
don't expect to see a lot of movement in this area until their printer
sales are negatively enough impacted.

I'm still considering what would be needed to mount a class action on a
number of these grounds. Canada, perhaps, or Europe would be the place
to do it probably, as I do not believe the current political climate
allows for the needed considerations of consumer rights in places like
the US, in spite of having perhaps the best "on the books" legislation
regarding these areas.

Art

 

[Richard Steinfeld]

I have been trying to get Epson to consider design changes which would
allow for easy and automatic cleanings without nearly the ink wastage.

Since Epson, like every other inkjet company LIVES on their ink sales, I
don't expect to see a lot of movement in this area until their printer
sales are negatively enough impacted.

I'm still considering what would be needed to mount a class action on a
number of these grounds. Canada, perhaps, or Europe would be the place
to do it probably, as I do not believe the current political climate
allows for the needed considerations of consumer rights in places like
the US, in spite of having perhaps the best "on the books" legislation
regarding these areas.

Art, I can't see how something like deliberate ink wastage could be
legislated, either in your fine country or mine.

However, we need true competition in this business and harsh prosecution
of de-facto restraint of trade. Ben and Jerry had to court to eliminate
an ice cream cartel that locked them out of supermarkets. Perhaps we
need official encouragement of competition, too. In some retail sectors
(such as supermarkets), manufacturers actually pay the stores for shelf
space, and can push competitors aside (ever wonder why there's such an
incredible dominance of the canned soup trade by Campbells -- why it's
so strange to find other brands on the shelf?). How much of this is
going on in the printer business? There is no meaningful competition in
the entire business.

Kodak has put some fresh air into the game, and I'm sure that they're
still making a killing when selling ink at half-price.

Richard