Epson 880 wont align black, Any DIY solution?

  • Thread starter Thread starter norm
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norm

Hi,

My faithful Epson 880 black text has gone feathery.
The cleaning cycle print shows black mis-alignment
Repeated clean, align cycles dont help.New cartridge doesnt help.

Has any come across this problem and is there anything I can do to the
print head (no funnies please!)

Shame to dump printer as it uses non chip cartridges.

Thanks
norm
 
norm said:
Hi,

My faithful Epson 880 black text has gone feathery.
The cleaning cycle print shows black mis-alignment
Repeated clean, align cycles dont help.New cartridge doesnt help.

Has any come across this problem and is there anything I can do to the
print head (no funnies please!)

Shame to dump printer as it uses non chip cartridges.

Thanks
norm
Click to expand...
My 880 is also suffering some misalignment. One part of the problem
seemed to be the paper feed - maybe the paper is moving about a bit? I
did get some very wavy printouts with the paper thickness bar set
wrongly - the lever under the cover. I also got bad results with some
very cheap paper so I buy Tesco "not the very cheapest" now and it seems
to help. Not sure this will help you much - like you, I am just hoping
it keeps going at a reasonable quality.

Maybe you could go into properties, mode, custom and uncheck high speed,
so bi directional printing is disabled, things are slower but may look
better. If I am doing anything that matters, like a report for a
client, that is what I do now.

As an aside, off topic, you can set paper size custom dimensions to
almost anything by 210: that means you can trim A3 into 210 by 420 and
easily print landscape photos etc.
 
norm said:
Hi,

My faithful Epson 880 black text has gone feathery.
The cleaning cycle print shows black mis-alignment
Repeated clean, align cycles dont help.New cartridge doesnt help.

Has any come across this problem and is there anything I can do to the
print head (no funnies please!)

Shame to dump printer as it uses non chip cartridges.

Thanks
norm
Click to expand...


It sounds as if the black head may be delaminating. I've seen this happen on
a C84 where the nozzle check lines deviate from the normal print pattern,
and no aligning seems to correct the problem. According to Art Entlich
(Epson specialist on this newsgroup) there's nothing to be done, except
replace the head. Fortunately replacing the head on an 880 is quite easy,
but there seems to be a software alignment utility that needs to be run. I
don't know where to locate it. I ran a google search for 880 head
replacements and there appears to be some places available where heads can
be purchased. If the price is reasonable it might be worthwhile
investigating.
The 880 was one of Epson's very best all around printers, and as you said
was one of the last Epsons to run inexpensive chipless cartridges.
At my school we still have ten 880 printers going strong after more than
6 years of use. I have one here at home for text and light graphics that I
would be painfully sad about should it stop running.

Jan Alter
(e-mail address removed)
or
(e-mail address removed)12.pa.us
 
Hi Norm,

If you send me a request via email for my Eposn Cleaning Manual, I will
be happy to send you a free copy. It explains how to resolve this
matter using a few pennies of household cleaners and such.

The 880 is a great printer (I own one as well) and it would be a shame
to discard it since it is the last unchipped Eposn made and the
cartridges were of reasonable size, it was relatively fast and provided
quality output for a 4 color model.

Ti get a copy of the manual, email the address below and state the model
of printer involved


Art

e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org

(at) = @
(dot) = .


If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste,
I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog:

http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/
 
It is always a bit of a guess as to what word descriptions on a defect
mean exactly.

Before I jump to any conclusions in regard to the problem the OP
reported, I want to make sure I have considered all possible fixes.

A partially clogged head can cause a feathery print out. It's really
several nozzles deflecting ink from where it should land on the paper.
Also, if the alignment the OP is referring to is the stepwise nozzle
check pattern showing several lines being out of place, that too is
indicative of partially clogged deflected ink nozzles.

As a result of that, I lean more toward the partially clogged head than
a lamination, although one can be sure when doing do long distance.

Let's follow this one through and see where it goes ;-)

Art


If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste,
I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog:

http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/
 
norm said:
Hi,

My faithful Epson 880 black text has gone feathery.
The cleaning cycle print shows black mis-alignment
Repeated clean, align cycles dont help.New cartridge doesnt help.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the cause may be that you are not using Epson OEM ink.
 
Hi,

My faithful Epson 880 black text has gone feathery.
The cleaning cycle print shows black mis-alignment
Repeated clean, align cycles dont help.New cartridge doesnt help.

Has any come across this problem and is there anything I can do to the
print head (no funnies please!)

Shame to dump printer as it uses non chip cartridges.
Click to expand...


Thanks for all replies.
Will try Arthur Entlich offer.
Norm
 
norm said:
Thanks for all replies.
Will try Arthur Entlich offer.
Norm
Click to expand...

Any possibility you could post a jpg of the nozzle check on a site to allow
viewing of the pattern? It might give a more definitive idea of what's
happening and I'm curious myself to see what you've described.
 
Any possibility you could post a jpg of the nozzle check on a site to allow
viewing of the pattern? It might give a more definitive idea of what's
happening and I'm curious myself to see what you've described.

--
Jan Alter
(e-mail address removed)
or
(e-mail address removed)12.pa.us
Click to expand...

Jan...is that your real last name or your "Alter"ego? 8^)
 
Any possibility you could post a jpg of the nozzle check on a site to allow
viewing of the pattern? It might give a more definitive idea of what's
happening and I'm curious myself to see what you've described.
Click to expand...

See alt.binaries.pictures.d
for sample.
Obviously cleaning is needed, but note the misalignment which stays
the same even when all nozzles clear.
The colour nozzle print (not shown) is fine.
Just ordered some cleaning catridges

norm
 
Hi,

My faithful Epson 880 black text has gone feathery.
The cleaning cycle print shows black mis-alignment
Repeated clean, align cycles dont help.New cartridge doesnt help.

Has any come across this problem and is there anything I can do to the
print head (no funnies please!)

Shame to dump printer as it uses non chip cartridges.

Thanks
norm
Click to expand...

Problem seems to be solved.
Followed advice from Arthur Entlich posting and manual he sent me.
Cleaned under heads and used some cleaning cartridges.
Thanks for all responses.

Norm
 
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