Keeping My Epson 1280 Unclogged

  • Thread starter Thread starter Empedocles
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Empedocles

I don't use my 1280 every day. Every few days I've run it thru it's
nozzle check. However, I've read that all you have to do is power up
your printer to avoid clogging. You don't have to do the nozzle check.
Is that true? I'd like to save paper.
 
Empedocles said:
I don't use my 1280 every day. Every few days I've run it thru it's
nozzle check. However, I've read that all you have to do is power up
your printer to avoid clogging. You don't have to do the nozzle check.
Is that true? I'd like to save paper.
Click to expand...
Are you and have you always used Epson ink? If so then that is correct.
 
Are you and have you always used Epson ink? If so then that is correct.
Click to expand...

The only clogging problems I've had were cleared up with one or two
cleanings. Nothing serious. For the past yr & a half, I've used non-
Epson inks with no more problems than with the Epson inks. That is a
non-issue with me. The issue I'm writing about is whether it's
sufficient to keep my 1280 clean by just powering it up every so
often, rather than running a nozzle check that uses up paper.
 
No you don't need to run the nozzle check.
On Epson printers the head cleaning cycle and nozzle check are independant of
each other.
So when the printer runs a head cleaning cycle the heads will be kept in good
condition.
In my opinion you only need to power up the printer once a week or thereabouts,
it will run a cleaning cycle and that's all that is required.
Only run a nozzle check if you are getting poor print quality, the check will
show where the quality issues are.

Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
Click to expand...

Thank you, Tony, for that advice.

David
 
Empedocles wrote:

On Jun 20, 2:29 pm, measekite <[email protected]> wrote:



Empedocles wrote:



I don't use my 1280 every day. Every few days I've run it thru it's nozzle check. However, I've read that all you have to do is power up your printer to avoid clogging. You don't have to do the nozzle check. Is that true? I'd like to save paper.



Are you and have you always used Epson ink? If so then that is correct.



The only clogging problems I've had were cleared up with one or two cleanings. Nothing serious. For the past yr & a half, I've used non- Epson inks with no more problems than with the Epson inks. That is a non-issue with me. The issue I'm writing about is whether it's sufficient to keep my 1280 clean by just powering it up every so often, rather than running a nozzle check that uses up paper.

Sooner or later the ink will catch up to you.
 
I can equally agree with that method as workable. At our elementery school
in Philadelphia (quite humid in comparison to the desert) I've asked
teachers to place their Epsons in trash bags, expel all the air, and put
them in a dark place when school stops for 10 weeks for the summer vacation
for the past 8 years.
For the first 6 years I asked them to enclose a damp sponge as well, but
stopped doing that two years ago when one of the teachers misconstrued the
direction and put the damp sponge into the printer itself. She rusted the
travel bar really nicely and killed the 740. She was a special ed teacher
(no comment).
We have more than 80 Epsons running (740,880, C80, C82, C84, C88+) and
none of them have died of head clogs over the summer from sitting in a bag.
The only thing that has killed our printers, specifically the C84's, was
the Durabrite ink that Epson made for them to run. It destroyed 6 of those
machines within two years using the Epson Ink formula, causing irrevocable
head clogs. Once I switched to aftermarket dye base ink in spongeless
cartridges that I would refill the clogging stopped and the remaining ten
C84s are running.
 
I can equally agree with that method as workable. At our elementery school
in Philadelphia (quite humid in comparison to the desert) I've asked
teachers to place their Epsons in trash bags, expel all the air, and put
them in a dark place when school stops for 10 weeks for the summer vacation
for the past 8 years.
For the first 6 years I asked them to enclose a damp sponge as well, but
stopped doing that two years ago when one of the teachers misconstrued the
direction and put the damp sponge into the printer itself. She rusted the
travel bar really nicely and killed the 740. She was a special ed teacher
(no comment).
We have more than 80 Epsons running (740,880, C80, C82, C84, C88+) and
none of them have died of head clogs over the summer from sitting in a bag.
The only thing that has killed our printers, specifically the C84's, was
the Durabrite ink that Epson made for them to run. It destroyed 6 of those
machines within two years using the Epson Ink formula, causing irrevocable
head clogs. Once I switched to aftermarket dye base ink in spongeless
cartridges that I would refill the clogging stopped and the remaining ten
C84s are running.
Click to expand...
 
If you would have bought Canon you could then use the superior Canon ink and not have any problems.

Jan Alter wrote:

I can equally agree with that method as workable. At our elementery school in Philadelphia (quite humid in comparison to the desert) I've asked teachers to place their Epsons in trash bags, expel all the air, and put them in a dark place when school stops for 10 weeks for the summer vacation for the past 8 years. For the first 6 years I asked them to enclose a damp sponge as well, but stopped doing that two years ago when one of the teachers misconstrued the direction and put the damp sponge into the printer itself. She rusted the travel bar really nicely and killed the 740. She was a special ed teacher (no comment). We have more than 80 Epsons running (740,880, C80, C82, C84, C88+) and none of them have died of head clogs over the summer from sitting in a bag. The only thing that has killed our printers, specifically the C84's, was the Durabrite ink that Epson made for them to run. It destroyed 6 of those machines within two years using the Epson Ink formula, causing irrevocable head clogs. Once I switched to aftermarket dye base ink in spongeless cartridges that I would refill the clogging stopped and the remaining ten C84s are running.
 
I can equally agree with that method as workable. At our elementery school
in Philadelphia (quite humid in comparison to the desert) I've asked
teachers to place their Epsons in trash bags, expel all the air, and put
them in a dark place when school stops for 10 weeks for the summer vacation
for the past 8 years.
For the first 6 years I asked them to enclose a damp sponge as well, but
stopped doing that two years ago when one of the teachers misconstrued the
direction and put the damp sponge into the printer itself. She rusted the
travel bar really nicely and killed the 740. She was a special ed teacher
(no comment).
We have more than 80 Epsons running (740,880, C80, C82, C84, C88+) and
none of them have died of head clogs over the summer from sitting in a bag.
The only thing that has killed our printers, specifically the C84's, was
the Durabrite ink that Epson made for them to run. It destroyed 6 of those
machines within two years using the Epson Ink formula, causing irrevocable
head clogs. Once I switched to aftermarket dye base ink in spongeless
cartridges that I would refill the clogging stopped and the remaining ten
C84s are running.
Click to expand...
Jan,

I wouldn't mess with refilling cartridges.

Go to http://www.inksupply.com/cfs_c80_new.cfm. This page pertains
only to the C80, but you can obtain Continuous Flow Systems (CFS) for
your other Epsons from that Website, as well.

I've been using a CFS from this Website for my Epson 1280 for nearly
two years & have never regretted it.
 
Empedocles said:
Jan,

I wouldn't mess with refilling cartridges.

Go to http://www.inksupply.com/cfs_c80_new.cfm. This page pertains
only to the C80, but you can obtain Continuous Flow Systems (CFS) for
your other Epsons from that Website, as well.

I've been using a CFS from this Website for my Epson 1280 for nearly
two years & have never regretted it.
Click to expand...


MIS (www.inksupply.com ) is the company I've bought the ink from to fill
these cartridges. And their ink has turned out to be very good, never
causing any clogs and giving excellent color rendition for the Epsons.
Having to fill cartridges for about 15 printers at school has been a
tedius job for me, but one that I took on for principal of reusing
cartridges, saving money and proving Epson wrong that their C84 printers
would not clog to death after a couple of years when one didn't use their
Durabrite ink. I'm glad I went that route, but I've just retired and left
this innovation to the next tech person for the school. I hope she doesn't
mind getting some color onto her hands.
My thought is that it will all be too much for her. Everyone gets
overworked in a large city school system. She'll complain like hell, refuse
to continue to refill and the principal will cave in, saying that the school
can't afford the price of aftermarket cartridges for so many printers and
that eventually they'll get one networkable laser printer for each floor
that will print in monochrome. Gone will be the day of every teacher having
his/her own color inkjet for the classroom.
As for the CFS, I haven't used any. I don't think we do that much
printing with each printer that it warrants setting up such a system, though
I may be wrong.
On the otherhand I may find time now to set up my R1800 with a CFS if I
decide to do more printing.

Jan Alter

(e-mail address removed)
 
The main problem with Epson printers is that they require a medium to
high humidity level to maintain the heads if they are not used
regularly. One thing some people who use Epson printers in business
applications sometimes do is add a few drops of water on the cleaning
station pad just prior to shutdown for whatever period the unit may be
out of use. It does help to keep the humidity up and to less head clogs.

The humidity issue does , in part explain why head clog reports differ
so greatly between users. Amount of use plus humidity levels have great
influence on this.

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/
 
Hi Jan,

I hope your retirement is going well. You are probably correct that the
system doesn't realize the headaches and cash you've saved them, nor the
extra resources it allowed them to make use of.

As Joni Mitchell put it: "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know
what you got 'til its gone..."

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/
 
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