On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 22:46:54 GMT, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:
"none" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 10:34:17 GMT, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:
"Peter" wrote in message
news
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
So, am I just being unlucky, or has anyone else had similar problems ?
This
one's close to being drop kicked down the garden ...
We've been running a half dozen newer Epsons (R300's, R800's
etc) and haven't had a single clog on any of them.
Are you shaking the ink cartridges several times before installing
them? If not, you're supposed to. That gets rid of air pockets
in the cartridges and settles the ink to the bottom.
Also, are you using a power strip to turn the printer off? If so,
you're bypassing the head seals, and that will cause a problem.
Hi Peter
Thanks for the advice. I haven't been shaking the cartridges prior to
fitting, but then I've never seen anything in the paperwork that suggested
you should, or in the " on screen " instructions that pop up when you
start
replacing a cartridge. I've also never had to do this with any other
printer
that I've owned, but I will give it a try on the next replacement ...
As far as turning off goes, it is basically never turned off, but it is
used
pretty much daily, and I would have thought that there was seldom much
more
than 12 hours between uses. As far as head sealing goes, I would have
thought that the standby " park " position was the same as the
printer-originated power down " park " position, thus sealing up the heads
during periods of non use but perhaps that's not so. What you're saying
would suggest that this is what you believe, and the heads get left in an
'
out ' position if you just kill the power rather than allowing it to go
through a power down sequence. If not, then I would suggest that that's a
design oversight, and the heads should always be sealed when not actually
printing. Even if it is so, I would not have expected bulk ink to dry in
the
nozzles that quickly, but perhaps I'm being over optimistic there.
Comments
?
Perhaps these ' cartridge only ' printers don't sit well with my patterns
of
useage. I do know that in future, I will be going back to an HP. Even
though
the cartridges are more expensive, at least I'm getting a nice new head
each
time, and if one does block up, the only thing that's scrap is the
cartridge, not the whole printer.
Thanks again, and if shaking and turning off seems to do any good, I'll
post
again in a few months, and say so.
Arfa
What shaking is supposed to do is settle the ink into the bottom of
the cartridge.( the cartridge contains a sponge that's soaked in ink)
Why a sponge is beyond me, it just allows the introduction of air
bubbles and promotes dry clogging if the cartridge is allowed to sit
for more than a day or two.
An old trick that many Epson owners used to use was to place the
cartridge in a sock with the ink ports pointed outward and give the
sock several fast hard spins in an attempt to drive the ink into the
bottom of the cartridge and force the air either out the feed port or
into the top of the cartridge.
Some have even claimed this worked.
Yes, it's curious how the internals of these cartridges are constructed,
isn't it ? You'd think that if air bubbles in the cartridge was a problem,
they'd work the design up so that it wasn't the case.
Arfa
The marketing strategy with most of the inkjets printer companies is
aimed at making most of their profits from selling you the cartridges,
hence the reason the printers are often so reasonably priced. Just a
means of getting the buyer hooked on the never ending need to purchase
yet another cartridge.(no better than the average street dealer in
that repsect.)
If they use a foam core it can actually promote clogging and air
bubbles etc... Also lets them put less ink in the cartridge in the
first place.( And NO, that old argument they put forth about the
sponge regulating the flow of ink is just so much BS. Proper sized
aperture ports would do the same thing while leaving MORE room in the
tank for ink. That'd be too fair to the consumer though, not to
mention cutting down on cartridge sales.)
With all the inkjets we use in the shop and the front office I use
aftermarket ink and tanks, it's the only way to see any profit out of
any inkjet.
If you want to try and keep your Epson going I can give you all sorts
of inside info and tricks on how to get it to produce at least part of
the time, just post your questions/problems.