Blocked Printer head?

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anon

I have an Epson Stylus CX5200 multifunction printer and all of a sudden the
magenta stopped working.
I replaced the ink with originals and all of a sudden all the heads are
giving me problems.
I have run the head cleaning process a dozen times and also re-seated and
recharges the catridges, but the nozzle check is very erratic. The Cyan will
work, then the Yellow and not the cyan, the magenta one is dead.
It was all fine two weeks ago and it has not been used that much - only
having printed around 50 A4 photographs in it's life so far (about a year
and a half).

I am an computer engineer, and am prepared to try and strip the printer head
down, and wonder if anyone has a code-of-practice or service manual which
would help. Should I try dismantling the head and soaking it in warm water
or what?

I once dismantled an Epson stylus 400 and got it to work, but only for a
short while before the printer head burned out.
Any useful information regarding print-head overhaul and replacement will be
greatly
appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Terry
 
anon said:
I have an Epson Stylus CX5200 multifunction printer and all of a sudden the
magenta stopped working.
I replaced the ink with originals and all of a sudden all the heads are
giving me problems.
I have run the head cleaning process a dozen times and also re-seated and
recharges the catridges, but the nozzle check is very erratic. The Cyan will
work, then the Yellow and not the cyan, the magenta one is dead.
It was all fine two weeks ago and it has not been used that much - only
having printed around 50 A4 photographs in it's life so far (about a year
and a half).

I am an computer engineer, and am prepared to try and strip the printer head
down, and wonder if anyone has a code-of-practice or service manual which
would help. Should I try dismantling the head and soaking it in warm water
or what?

I once dismantled an Epson stylus 400 and got it to work, but only for a
short while before the printer head burned out.
Any useful information regarding print-head overhaul and replacement will be
greatly
appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Terry
Click to expand...

Are you and have you always been using Epson genuine OEM ink carts?
 
You may have an air block now.

Others have written on how to deal with air block problems, and I don't
remember what they recommend.
I have an Epson Stylus CX5200 multifunction printer and all of a sudden the
magenta stopped working.
I replaced the ink with originals and all of a sudden all the heads are
giving me problems.
I have run the head cleaning process a dozen times and also re-seated and
recharges the catridges, but the nozzle check is very erratic. The Cyan will
work, then the Yellow and not the cyan, the magenta one is dead.
It was all fine two weeks ago and it has not been used that much - only
having printed around 50 A4 photographs in it's life so far (about a year
and a half).

I am an computer engineer, and am prepared to try and strip the printer head
down, and wonder if anyone has a code-of-practice or service manual which
would help. Should I try dismantling the head and soaking it in warm water
or what?

I once dismantled an Epson stylus 400 and got it to work, but only for a
short while before the printer head burned out.
Any useful information regarding print-head overhaul and replacement will be
greatly
appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Terry
Click to expand...


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Terry
You can try soaking overnight, my experience is that it works sometimes and not
always for very long. Distilled water is best (no tiny particles that may clog
the head).
Some people soak in Isopropyl Alcohol but there is evidence that alcohol can
damage some printheads. You need to be aware that printhead replacement can be
tricky with some epson printers, electronic re-alignment sometimes needs
special software, don't know this model so can't help there. But if you put the
old one back there should be no problem so long as you ensure the mechanical
alignment is precisely maintained.
Ink jet printers suffer from lack of use.... ie the more you use them the more
reliable the printheads are, they do not become clogged so easily if
used regularly. I recommend to our customers that they use their ink jet
printers at least twice a week if possible. The Epson zealots will say that non
Epson
ink will damage the heads. The truth is that there is good and not so good
compatible ink and the ink from a good manufacturer will not shorten a
printheads life.
(I do not want to get into a debate about this since it would go on forever,
lots of entrenched opinions there.)
If worst comes to worst you may have to replace the printer and I would
seriously look at HP (you get a new head with each cartridge) or Canon (the
IP4000 is a lot of printer for the money and the printhead is easily replaced
at a price!).
By the way the symptoms you describe match Epson printhead failure perfectly.
Good luck
Tony
 
before you remove the print head or try any disassembly contact Arthur
Entlich at (e-mail address removed) and ask him for his instructions on cleaning
an epson print head. Describe your problem to him as well. His info helped
my to clear my Epson printer clog. Mine clogged using Epson inks
exclusively.
 
Hi Terry,

Please email me at the address in the header of this message and request
the Epson Cleaning Manual. It's free and you won't be spammed.

It explains how to resolve these problems, and has a special section
regarding C and CX printers.

I strongly suggest against removing the head, or sending pressurized
cleaning fluids through the heads. Many people have permanently damaged
their printers in that fashion.

Art
 
I appreciate the intent of this message, but this information needs to
be expanded upon.

I'm not going to go into detail here. If you are needing help with an
Epson printer, please request my Epson Cleaning Manual via private
email. It is over 30 pages long, which is why I won't go into detail here.

Distilled water is not a good solvent for Epson inks, either the dye or
pigment colorant types. Using pure isopropyl alcohol is also an
incomplete cleaning solution, but it can be used as a component in the
formulation of cleaner.

Head removal is not wise and unnecessary in over 90% of the cases.
Soaking removed heads can kill them if they are soaked over a certain
height.

Art
 
Thank you for that feedback Tony.
There seem to be so many things that can go wrong - I could end up paying
out more than the printer is worth to end up with a still malfuntioning
printer. The only reason I went for the CX5200 in the first place was for
it's individual inks and scanner quality.

I have had four failures with different epson printers and this chip of mine
now says that I have only 50% remaining and I haven't seen so much as a drop
on paper yet. I cannot see any coming out of the bottom of the printer yet
so it can only be the Epson chip that is trying to bleed me dry out of
another 36 UK pounds.
What with the Epson unreliability, and the expensive ink cartridges, I am
thinking Epson is a bad buy whatever the model.
I am now thinking about Canon as some of their models are individual inks,
and some printers have a seperate ink head which can be replaced.

Thank you very much for the feedback.

Terry
 
I have a Canon IP4000, the best value in a standard format, and use
Canon OEM inks with Costco/Kirkland paper or Canon Photo Paper Pro and
get stunning results with no problems. I cut my own Kirkland paper to
size using a Fiskars rotary paper cutter obtained at Costco for $29.00.

Some say that Ilford is the manufacturer of Costco Paper. If there is
not a Costco nearby you can go to www.costco.com and purchase it there.

Costco sells the ink carts at $9.00 a cart. While still expensive, it
is cheaper than any other place I found and much cheaper than Epson carts.
 
Hi Terry,

Please email me at the address in the header of this message and request
the Epson Cleaning Manual. It's free and you won't be spammed.

It explains how to resolve these problems, and has a special section
regarding C and CX printers.

I strongly suggest against removing the head, or sending pressurized
cleaning fluids through the heads. Many people have permanently damaged
their printers in that fashion.

Art
Click to expand...

Does Canon make a printer that uses archival ink? I'm really getting
sick of Epson and the problems with clogged heads; the thing is an ink
hog. Unfortunately Epson prints are better than most.
 
wk said:
Does Canon make a printer that uses archival ink? I'm really getting
sick of Epson and the problems with clogged heads; the thing is an ink
hog. Unfortunately Epson prints are better than most.
Click to expand...

The official answer is that Canon inks used for photography are dye
based. I hope they get better. In the past 7 months I have not
experienced any fading. If you do not intend to sell your prints on a
regular basis I would go with Canon. The R300 series Epson printers do
not have archival ink either. Only starting with the R800/1800 do they
use pigmented ink and then you need to know that pigmented ink has a
higher potential for head clogging.
 
While their info is a good start, email Arthur Entlich's for his
instructions and take his advice. Trying to force cleaning fluid through
the intake tubes will kill the printer if you damage one of the tubes.
Also, Arthur's home brew cleaning fluid works as well if not better than the
MIS fluid (I used MIS fluid and advice first before I did Arthur's routine)
and costs nothing if you happen to have the right kind of window cleaner and
some alcohol around the house! The MIS fluid/advice improved the problem,
but Arthur's really cleaned up my Epson Stylus 900 print head.
 
Burt:

I used the MIS Injector cleaner in reverse. Instead of forcing
cleaner through the intake nozzles I applied vacuum with the
injector.

It cleared the nozzles and the printer printed about 4 pages and quit,
probably had a air block. Changed the cartridg and all is well again.
 
Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback, especially Arthur Entlich for his
help which eventually fixed the problem.



Terry
 
I strongly suggest against the procedures in the document referenced
below, for a number of reasons:

1) It uses ink unnecessarily (no surprise for an ink vendor to suggest
that ?)

2) They are trying to sell you a special liquid, when very inexpensive
household cleaners will work as well

3) They suggest injecting the liquid into the heads, the number one
cause reported to me of damaged and destroyed heads

4) They don't supply the information necessary to resolve the problem if
it goes beyond their initial steps

Instead, I would recommend anyone with an Epson head clog please email
me for a free manual on cleaning Epson heads.

There is no cost to you, I neither trade or use your email address for
any purpose other than to send you the manual.

Please send me a working email address, the model of your printer, what
types of inks you are using, and if possible, an explanation of the
printing problem. If you have done a nozzle test please TELL ME about
the result.

Do NOT send me any attachments or images unless I request them of you.

Please do NOT request the manual via a list or group, I will not respond
- send me a private mail request.

It can take up to 48 hours to be sent out depending upon the demand. I
answer each email personally and manually.

Art
 
Probably slightly safer, but still opposite of normal cleaning function
on Epson printers. Normally. vacuum is applied to the head nozzles from
under the head.

Art
 
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