Paper feed problems Epson 740

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LU

Hello!
My Epson 740 regularly produces a paper jam. The paper seems to be
transported on one side only. It arrives on the front but soon becomes
crimpled and jams.

I noticed some time ago, that a pile of paper in the feeding paper tray
tends do sit asquew, having the tendency to become slanted (fall over)
to the left side. Probably this was a hint of a developing problem.

Any ideas? Or can someone please guide me to a link for a description of
servicing the paper feed mechanism?

I would be sorry if I had to give up the printer because of this
problem, since it is otherwise in great condition. There are no clogged
nozzels. And while it is noisy, it produces excellent output (if you use
a decent quality paper) and has very low ink prices (there are very good
third party ink cartidges available). And from time to time it gives you
some small problems, just about the right amount to tinker, but until
now always sucessfully.

However this time, I am out of ideas.
Any help appreciated!
Kind regards,
Gerd
 
Start with cleaning the rollers. Use some denatured alcohol. Push the paper
infeed button and hold a wetted rag against each roller. Also check for any
kind of debris or obstruction that may have gotten in the way of the paper
path.
 
Old Epson 740 working again!

Finally I found two hours to examine the paper feed problem again.

It turned out the printer was "buggy" :-) see below. Actually there have
been two faults not related to each other:

1. There are two small levers (hooks) arresting a mechanism which
presses the paper against the input feed rollers. Only when the paper
has to be transported a plate presses the pile against the rollers.
Otherwise it is released so you have free access to your paper.
This mechanism was stuck on one side, therefore the paper sat askew in
the input tray. I produced small dust bunnies and - a moth out of it (a
moth in a 1950ies supercomputer was AFAIK the first reference of a
"computer-bug"). After cleaning the mechanism worked again.

2. However the (main) cause of the paper jam was discovered in a set of
rollers on the frontside. They are receiving the paper immediately
_after_ it was printed on, holding it down and guiding it to the output
tray. These small rollers are clamped on by several small plastic
"hooks". On one side two of these hooks came loose. So the rollers were
not seated correctly and paper could no longer pass under it. This
caused the crumpling (not: "crippling", sorry for the mistake) of the
paper between printhead and output roller.
The underside of these small hooks can be reached easily from the output
side of the printer. Just press it up to make it seated again.

That's all!

I want to add that the 2nd fault is not easily to detect, since on the
first glance the output rollers look ok. Only if you look very closely
you see some of the small hooks not beeing arrested on the sheet metal
they are coming through.
I probably unseated the rollers while cleaning the output side of the
printer from ink residues. The latter is one of the more annoying tasks
which have to be performed now and then to make the Epson produce good
quality output.

But this is what makes the Epson 740 the tinkerers joy: Typically once
or twice a year it needs some care but rewards you with excellent
quality output for a very low price. I recommend using some quality
paper (I spend 6 Euros for 500 extra smoth and very bright white sheets)
which takes care of the printer since it does not have so many fibres
coming loose. With good paper you can produce excellent quality output
for less than 4 Euro-cents per page (10% of it in color). These numbers
are based on my experiences from the last 5 years.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to give a detailed description of
the solution for my printer problem.

And thanks to Jan Alter who responded to my original post.

Regards
LU
 
A great post and very descriptive and helpful. Thank you for providing
the details.

As you stated the 740 is a workhorse printer and many still remain in
use today.

Glad you were able to get yours going again.

Art
 
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