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Epson Printer Tips
Epson printers have a high printing resolution (DPI = dots per inch); this means that the print head nozzles have to be manufactured much smaller than most other printer manufacturers' nozzles. The size of the actual nozzle hole is smaller than a human hair and it does not take very much for them to clog. Epson printers have a built-in print head and are prone to having ink dry in the print head nozzles, causing streaking and void areas. Over time, the print head clogs, rendering the printer useless. Just running the cleaning cycle is NOT enough!
The most common cause of clogged printheads is from infrequent printing! Use it regularly, at least once per week. If need be, put a sticky-note on your monitor to remind yourself! We recommend printing something using black text, an email or Word document, for example. And a web page with color in it (red, yellow and blue). Doing so helps keep the ink flowing through the printhead nozzles.
Another cause of clogged heads is not powering the printer down properly. When you are finished printing (for the day), use the printer's on/off switch to turn it off. This allows the printhead capping mechanism to fully engage. Using a power strip to power down does not allow the capping mechanism to activate. Thus, leaving the ink in the heads exposed to the drying effects of air.
We get lots of phone calls and email from folks about their
printer's poor print output (incomplete lines/gaps, etc.) or
just plain no printing at all. First we try to determine the
obvious; ink in the cartridges, are they seated properly,
no error messages, etc. Then we try to determine frequency
of use. Most all branding/streaking or missing color issues
are due to infrequent use.
Maintenance is the key!
A lot of folks just don't know how to access their printer's
software utility (drivers). Hint: it's in your printer manual. ;) A quick
way to access it is to click on the 'Start' button (located on
the lower left of your monitor screen) and click on 'Control
Panel'. From there look for 'printers' or 'printers and fax' link.
Click it and look for your printer's icon. Place your mouse
cursor over the icon and 'right-click' on it. Choose 'Properties'
from the drop-down list. Your printer's software will come up.
Look under the various tabs for cleaning or maintenance. There's
lots of other settings in there like paper and color adjustment.
Go ahead, explore around in there. You'll be glad you did!
Unclogging Print Heads
First, let's try eliminating banding on Epson printers.
This tip is somewhat generic, it is recommended for Epson
printers but works on all the printers.
DO NOT run more than 3 back-to-back cleaning cycles, it
just makes things worse!
Epson printers have 3 durations of cleaning: short,
medium and long. The short cleaning cycle occurs on the
1st and 4th cleaning cycle and on every one after that,
until a print is made. This short cleaning cycle can eventually
damage all the nozzles. In otherwords, if you do a bunch of cleaning
cycles (8 or 10) with out making a print, you may damage your printhead.
After 3 cleaning cycles, print a test pattern.
Side Note: To make a test pattern, I use Microsoft's Paint program
that comes installed on the computer. Click on Start,
Programs (or All Programs), Accessories and choose the Paint program.
Draw four separate squares about four inches each. Fill one
with black, one with red, one with blue and one with
yellow. Name the file something like TestPattern and save it. End Side Note.
When printing these "Test Patterns", set your printer for hi-resolution or "photo quality" printing. That will cause ALL of the nozzles to be used. If you let the printer default to "letter quality", only a few of the nozzles will even try to work. Make at least one print. It may not be perfect, but this will reset the firmware in the printer so you can get the short, medium and long cleaning cycles again. It is the medium and long cleaning cycles that may get your printer back up and running again.
If you have done 6 cleaning cycles, two groups of 3 (with test pattern in between), and the nozzles are not getting any better, give the printer a rest for at least 2 hours. This rest period will allow the small air bubbles in the ink to rise to the surface and get out of the nozzles.
After the rest period, try a few more cleaning cycles.
If you are seeing the same exact nozzles missing each
time, you probably have dried ink in the print head. Instead
of giving up and throwing it out the window, try using our
Epson cleaning solution kit.
It's a much cheaper alternative to having it cleaned by a printer repair tech,
which typically costs $40-$50 or more!
Note: The newer Epson printers, like the C80/C82/C84 are
sensitive to too many cleaning cycles. For these printers
only do 3 cleanings, then give them a 2 hour rest. If
you run too many cleaning cycles, you may never get a
good nozzle pattern.
Attention: If are having problems with sudden lack of inkflow after replacing one or more cartridges when using the Epson C and especially the CX all-in-one printers, we have been made aware of a design issue on these printers which may cause this problem.
Some of these Epson printers have a design flaw which causes the ink purge tube under the cleaning station to come apart during cartridge replacement. If this occurs, the printer is no longer
transferring the vacuum from the purge pump to the printhead. In other words, no ink will be moved through the printhead onto the paper.
You need to look under the cleaning station and determine if the pump/vacuum tube has come off, and if so, reinstall it. Click here for pictures to identify this problem and help you resolve it.
NEVER leave your Epson printer without an installed cartridge, even an empty one, for more than half an hour. The ink will begin to gel in the built-in print head to the consistency of honey! It will require multiple head cleaning routines to clear (if it does).
The type of ink a printer requires is based on several things, among them:
-the technology the printer was built on
-the type of print head the printer has (piezioelectric like Epson's, for instance)
-the way the printer lays the ink on the paper
-the type of cartridge or ink tank used
Ink characteristics are specific to EACH printer manufacturer and within their different printer models. The inks are formulated specifically for them. They are based in part on ink viscosity (thickness), PH (acid or base), drying times, UV (lightfastness), etc.
This is why we offer only products that are produced as close to the OEM specifications as the law allows. They are guaranteed to perform to your satisfaction!
Common Problems with New and Compatible Epson Cartridges
Sometimes a brand new cartridge from Epson or one of our compatibles may appear to not be working properly. There are usually three (3) reasons for this.
1) There may not be a pool of ink at the exit port (the pre-chamber) that the built-in print head can suck from. The solution to this is the "Centrifugal Force" tip below.
Centrifical Force Method: Hold the ink tank (cartridge) firmly with your fingers (with the ink outlet hole pointed towards the ground) and snap it downward several times, like shaking a thermometer down. Be sure to wrap the ink cartridge in a paper towel before doing the above.
2) The vent grooves to one or more chambers (on color tanks) may be blocked by adhesive. The adhesive from the yellow tear away seal or the name plate sticker may have blocked up a vent groove. If air can't get into the cartridge, the ink will not flow. Use your finger nail to scrape any residual adhesive (stickness) from where the yellow strip was.
3) Printer stops printing after a few pages (or many) have printed. *After refilling your cartridge your printer "thinks" the "original" cartridge is empty. Simply unplug the printer and wait a couple of minutes before plugging it in again. This Should "clear" the memory so the printer recognizes your refilled cartridge as "full".
There is one more potential problem: a clogged, or nearly so, print head! Don't despair, we have the quick and inexpensive solution! Click for info on Epson Printhead Cleaning Solution Kit.
Software Utility for Epson Stylus Printers
SSC Service Utility allows you to do many pretty amazing things with your Epson printer. I came across this no-cost program a while back but wanted to download and test it on one of our printers ( Epson 980). I did and I now want you Epson printer owners to check it out. There is a user's forum at the site listed below. Please use it before and after you try this software. I will not answer questions regarding the SSC Service Utility. - Phil
This software allows you to reset the smart chips on the most popular Epson printers. It offers additional features for more direct control of printer maintenance functions. It has a number of features that the stock Epson utility doesn't have such as cleaning black or color independently.
I hate to waste the color ink when it's only the black that needs cleaning (see # 4 below). It also has a feature to reset CSIC ink counter chip found on newer cartridges. That's great for folks who refill their cartridges.
- 1) Work directly with CSIC in Epson Stylus printers cartridges (this allows you to reset CSIC counters or disable CSIC).
- 2) Freeze internal ink counters.
- 3) Reset internal ink counters even with empty cartridges.
- 4) Separate cleaning of color and black heads, powerful cleaning mode.
- 5) Hot swapping of cartridges supported.
- 6) Resetting of protection counter (even when it reads it is already full).
- 7) Over 50 different Epson printers supported (check site for your printer model).
As of this posting, this software works under Windows 95/98/ME/2K2/XP with both the LPT and USB printers. Check it out: SSC Service Utility 
Select your printer brand from the menu on the left side and Start Saving!
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