storing older Epson 1280?

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Denton

Hi all...season greetings..
I have an older Epson 1280 that I wish to store for an indefinite peroid of
time. What is the best procedure to clean and/or keep the print heads from
drying out and clogging? thanks...
 
Denton said:
Hi all...season greetings..
I have an older Epson 1280 that I wish to store for an indefinite peroid
of time. What is the best procedure to clean and/or keep the print heads
from drying out and clogging? thanks...
Click to expand...
OK,
Change the current cartridges for brand new ones. That will give you
fresh ink that will buy you the most time. Even better would be to make some
cleaning cartridges from old empty ones and fill them with a 90% alcohol and
10% ammonia solution. Use the cleaning cartridges instead of fresh ink ones
if you want to give the printer a better chance of working when you
eventually get it running again. Additionally drip some Windex or alcohol
onto the docking sponge. Place the entire unit in a dark plastic trash bag
along with a wet sponge to sit in the bag but outside the printer. Expel as
much air as possible from the bag when closing it and tie the bag with a
twist tie. Move the entire unit into a box or closet away from light or
locations where the humidity can quickly change.

"an indefinite period of time." Hmm, If you mean more than a year to 14
months then it's likely that you will have a head clog.
Throw in Art Entlich's manual for how to unclog a printhead if you open it
after 14 months. It might actually get you going again.
Write to him at

e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org

(at) = @
(dot) = .

Jan Alter
(e-mail address removed)
 
Ok thanks Jan...very good advice.
The stored Epson 1280 I have had for 5 or more years. and it has gotten a
lot of use, and it was at the point where I needed to start thinking of a
newer printer (which I got....another 1280) or do some overhauling. Among
other things, one of the brass bushings on the cartridge carriage had come
out and the other one on the opposing side is getting loose....the printer
was a demo unit when I got it back when.
Thus, I decided to store the printer until such time it was sold, disposed
of or whatever.
FWIW, the old 1280 has a biege case, and the newer one has a black/grey
case...and I think some upgaded items.
 
I had an Epson 1280EPX that I used exclusively for photo quality printing. I
used a laser for everyday B&W use. Unfortunately, I ended up spending a lot
of $ and time replacing color cartridges because of infrequent use, even
though I went through the recommended cleaning processes. Finally the heads
could not print regardless of replacing or cleaning because of clogging. I
ended up throwing out this relatively expensive printer, and have no desire
to replace it with similar technology. What I do now for the photos worth
saving and printing is to do all of my editing on the pc just as before, but
uploading to one of many processing services on line, and within days
receiving quality prints in any desired format. My advice to all: Unless you
do a great amount of photo printing on a regular basis use a quality
printing service. It's more economical and less frustrating. No wasted
paper, ink cartridges, and no costly printer. I use only my laser for my
everyday printing which is economical and provides quality.
 
Change the current cartridges for brand new ones. That will give you
fresh ink that will buy you the most time. Even better would be to make
some cleaning cartridges from old empty ones and fill them with a 90%
alcohol and 10% ammonia solution.
Click to expand...

In addition to the problems caused by ink coagulating in the nozzle path
causing nozzle clogs I would be worried about delaminating of the printhead
if stored in alcohol/ammonia for an extended time. I would probably use
distilled water myself, running a few cleaning cycles before storage to
clear the ink out of the printheads.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
Bob said:
I had an Epson 1280EPX that I used exclusively for photo quality printing.
I used a laser for everyday B&W use. Unfortunately, I ended up spending a
lot of $ and time replacing color cartridges because of infrequent use,
even though I went through the recommended cleaning processes. Finally the
heads could not print regardless of replacing or cleaning because of
clogging. I ended up throwing out this relatively expensive printer, and
have no desire to replace it with similar technology. What I do now for the
photos worth saving and printing is to do all of my editing on the pc just
as before, but uploading to one of many processing services on line, and
within days receiving quality prints in any desired format. My advice to
all: Unless you do a great amount of photo printing on a regular basis use
a quality printing service. It's more economical and less frustrating. No
wasted paper, ink cartridges, and no costly printer. I use only my laser
for my everyday printing which is economical and provides quality.
Click to expand...


I appreciate Bob Headrick's comments about extended length of time for the
use of an alcohol/ammonia mixture. I have read comments from others of a
high ammonia solution causing problems with plastic in the printhead.
Possible delamination of the printhead is a plausible consideration. His
suggestion to run several cleaning cycles with distilled water may make the
most sense of all.
 
I suggest one of two approaches, depending upon how on you are speaking
of. For under 6 months, I would leave the cartridges in the printer,
place a bit of water in the cleaning station just prior to shutting it
down. Unplug the printer and remove it form the cables, then place it
into a large plastic bag, and place a small damp sponge into a small
plastic bag with some small holes stuck in it.

Place this bag next to the printer (not anywhere in the printer) and
then close the larger bag up so that it is sealed fairly well. Leave
the printer in the correct position, as if you were to print with it.

If it will be over 6 months, I suggest considering purging the heads
using cleaning cartridges, to remove all ink residue. Then I would
still rap it in a large plastic bag that can be sealed.

Art
 
I'd work Real Hard at selling it if the alternative is storing it for
an 'extended' amount of time (undefined by the OP).

Unless you're able to completely purge inks from the printer and print
head, the chances that a costly print head will get irretreiveably
gunked up (these are Epson inks we're talking about) are pretty good no
matter how careful one might be with packaging
 
I think the heads will dry out no matter what you attempt, you can purchase
cleaning carts for that model, remove the ink carts and install a set of
cleaning carts run several cleans then print a purge sheet for all the
colours, leave the cleaning carts in the printer while in storage, when you
next remove it carry out a couple of cleans and run a nozzel check. The
cleaning carts I use have a very small amount of colour so as to be able to
see the nozzle test, the amount of colour will not affect any drying out.

I carried out the above on an Epson 2100 which I stored for three months
while selling and it printed fine on the first attempt.
 
Arthur Entlich ha escrito:
I suggest one of two approaches, depending upon how on you are speaking
of. For under 6 months, I would leave the cartridges in the printer,
place a bit of water in the cleaning station just prior to shutting it
down. Unplug the printer and remove it form the cables, then place it
into a large plastic bag, and place a small damp sponge into a small
plastic bag with some small holes stuck in it.
Click to expand...

I can´t recommend to place a printer into a plastic bag if the
cleaning drain tank is just an open piece of absorbent material. I had
a bad experience with my Epson Stylus Pro, trying to preserve the
printer from the dust using a plastic cover for two months, the ink
vapours damaged the contacts of the "Paper End" switch; a thin colored
covering with more than 30 ohms of resistence. It was easy to clean
with alcohol, but I had to dismantle all the printer.

Jose Luis
 
Thanks for noting your experience. You are correct that there are some
exposed metal switches that could become corroded with long term damp
exposure. I love in a very damp climate and have not personally
experiences this problem, but I don't doubt it could happen.

Art
 
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