Re: Epson EX Problem - Air in printhead?

[Ben Haskell <npthaskell@harborside.com>]

Murray & Irina Zaharia wrote:
> 
> I think I finally have air in my printhead.  My EX printed a few pages
> without black ink and now after replacing the cartridge, it will not print
> any black at all. I tried 2 new Epson cartridges and it still does not work.
> I tried the windex on the pads and it didn't help.  This has happened before
> (actually, just some clogged nozzles - not a full color) , but it usually
> works after a few cleaning cycles and printing some solid blocks of cmyk. I
> also tried reseating the cartridges 3 or 4 times to no avail.
> I checked my archive of past clogging posts, but nothing seems to be
> mentioned of air in the printhead solutions - besides sending it in to
> Epson.
> 
> Any ideas on what else I might try?

 Is this the printer that you are using for "Archiva" inks...

...so that perhaps trying 2 new epson cartridges caused a precipitation
reaction, as has been reported for mixing Epson and Lysonic inks?

...or have you been overfilling Archiva cartridges, so that you got a
leak and shorted out some electronics? If you overfill cartridges, you
need to remove the excess ink from the top, so that there is an air
space between the sponge and the top plastic.

The cleaning cycle does not require that the electronics fire nozzles.
During a cleaning cycle, as the print head moves to expose the cleaning
pad(s), carefully squirt the pad(s) with water, so that later on during
the cleaning cycle, the vacuum pump will suck up the diluted ink. The
pads should then be lighter. Start a second cleaning cycle. If fresh
black ink is deposited on the cleaning pad, then you know that at least
some nozzles are not clogged. If fresh ink is deposited, but nothing
comes out in the nozzle check, then you probably have an electronic
short that requires epson servicing. If no fresh ink is deposited on the
cleaning pad, this diagnostic test remains ambigous, you could have a
real serious clog and/or an electronic problem.

Keep us informed, good luck,

Ben Haskell
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