Epson Stylus 900

[jst]

With both my Epsons (Stylus 880 + R200) I've only run into these sorts of problems if the machine hasn't been used for a while - I guess the ink begins to dry, clogs up the arteries and then using the Cleaning Utility function brings the backlog spewing out. In regular daily use it's not been an issue... but I know that's not much consolation if you don't need to use it daily!

[Oku]

Thanks all. Where will I be able to buy Isopropyl alchohol or similar cleaning material, please.
One other thing I forgot to mention, the black ink is almost finished. I wonder if the could be the reason for the black smears on the disc.

Oku

[Oku]

Its me again. Just to let you know I've been able to solve the problem. I cleaned the rollers and everything that moves/rolls with cotton bud only. No isopropyl. Although I was tempted to use some of my Vodka (smile). Now the printing on the discs are as clean as they should be.

Thank you all once again. Your help, advise and the time you took to explain has been very helpful indeed.

Oku

[mooblie]

I think you can buy Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) over the counter in a chemist - as long as you don't look like you're going to drink it!

[Oku]

Drink it! Why? Is it better than vodka!

Anyway, thank you. I'll get one for the future, if I have to clean them rollers again.

Oku

[Claire]

Oku,

The Epson 900 can build up an accumulation of old ink on the face of the print head and randomly drip off onto one or more of the rollers as a disk is being printed.

To clean the print head is pretty easy, open the lid of the printer and park the head at left by pressing the ink button, then pull out the mains plug.

Take a sheet of kitchen roll and fold it over and over until it's formed a long narrow strip about 3/4" wide, wet it under a trickling tap then press it flat between the palms of your hand squeezing it out until it's just damp.

Beginning just right of the print head lay it in the recessed area where the grey foam is, then move the print head manually right over the strip until you can grab hold of both ends of the paper strip.

Using a two and fro action move the paper strip left and right and raise it slightly so it comes into contact with the print head and cleans the old gungy ink away.

You might get a shock at what comes off!

Finally, clean the rollers, I use baby cotton buds dampened with plain water.

[Oku]

Thank you very much, Claire. I will do that.

Oku

[bcrabtree]

Claire,

Nice one.

Much the same method is recommended for cleaning the Epson 800 that I have.

However the sort of cloth that you use should be a lint-free one, such as a J-cloth, and I think the same is true for the 900.

Bob C

[Mark M]

This method of cleaning, which Claire describes above, was popularised and refined by Arthur Entlich in his handbook of epson inkjet cleaning techniques which he made (and perhaps still makes) available to members of the Yahoo Groups Epson Inkjet list.
Arthur recommends the use of kitchen paper, which in fact is quite lint free. He also suggests that rather than rubbing the paper under the heads, you tape the paper down and manually run the heads back and forth over the paper.
Additionally, he suggests wetting the kitchen paper using an ammoniated window cleaner rather than tap water.
All I can say is that, following Arthur's techniques, I have kept all four of my epson printers going and going and going. My SP1200 must be 7 years old by now, and still prints just fine.

Cheers

Mark

[bcrabtree]

I thought that I'd email Arthur Entlich to see if he wanted to comment to this thread but, understandably, he explained he didn't have the time to respond to every forum posting on the net where his name gets mentioned.

However, he was good enough to send me the following to post on his behalf.

Bob C
==============
PLEASE FULLY READ THIS EMAIL IF YOU WISH TO REQUEST MY EPSON CLEANING MANUAL, BEFORE REQUESTING IT, SO YOU KNOW THE BEST PROCEDURE TO GET THE BEST REPLY.

PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE IN YOUR REQUEST, AS IT JUST CLOGS MY EMAIL BOX. THANK YOU

From: Art Entlich

email: artistic@telus.net

Bob Crabtree informed me that issues with maintaining Epson printers has come up of this list, and my Epson cleaning manual has been mentioned.

I am happy to provide people with a recent copy of the manual, completely free of charge for the asking. I do not spam, nor do I have anything to sell you. I do not trade or sell names or email addresses.

Please note that MY email address may be changing over the next few weeks. I am looking into finding a domain which can host and transfer the printer email to me so I can have a more permanent email address even if I move my personal provider. I will announce it when I get that worked out.

Please also note that whenever I send out a invitation posting like this, I get hundreds of requests, and it takes me a few days to wade through them.

This month is always very busy for me, so please be patient. I only very rarely miss responding to an email request, and that's accidental.

If you haven't received a reply after 4-5 days please email me again, but first make sure you do not have a spam filter on that is bouncing my email.

Here's the best way to get the most useful response from me regarding your Epson printer issues:

1) If you want the manual, please send me a short description of the problem you are experiencing with your printer (if you are having one - you can also ask for it for fun reading and the printer model(s) you are using. For some models, I have some additional info and caveats you need to know that are not included in the already very long manual.

2) Make the request to the email I have indicated above.

3) Make sure your spam filter will not bounce my email address. I will not resend, I will not track you down, and I will not be happy if I get bounces. In return, I promise I will never send you any unsolicited mail. I have nothing to sell you, and I do not let anyone else get my mailing address information. I do not even keep address books to try to thwart any potential virus/worm situations.

4) In cases where I have just sent out one of these invitations, it can take a few days to get the manual, since I literally respond to each one manually.

5) Please do not ask me in private mail which printer I suggest, or other more generic types of questions. I try to answer some of this on comp.periphs.printers when time allows. I will try to help people who have specific Epson printer problems, but you need to be very specific in your descriptions: type of printer, ink type or brand, are you using a CIS of some sort, etc. Know that there is a difference between banding caused by one or more nozzles not firing, causing LACK of ink, and a LINE of ink that is printing or smudging that isn't supposed to be there.

Before writing me with a specific problem, print a nozzle check test and describe what you see.

Do NOT send me attachments of images unless I specifically ask for them. I will then give you specific instructions on what I need to see and how the images should be configured if you wish me to analyze them.

6) Yes, I try to address some of the most common problems people encounter with continuous inking systems. When they go bad, they tend to behave very badly, and they are more problematic to resolve.

7) Although the manual is targeted toward the consumer model Epson printers, some of the concepts are common to the profession wider carriage models. However, wide carriage models don't come cheaply, and they have other complexities that are not addressed at all in the manual. I always suggest people who use those printers, and especially if your livelihood depends upon it, hire a service technician, for your own safety. Yes, I know some of them can be: costly, unavailable, nonexistent in your area, ham-fisted or incompetent, but hopefully you can find some who aren't.

8) PLEASE do not send me the manual quoted back to me, I already have a copy!! I know you want to unclog your printer's head, but I'd prefer you do not clog up my email box while we work on it.

9) Please do NOT, as a reward (or punishment) for my "kindness", place me on your chain mail, joke, political commentary, kinky pictures or other forwarding list. I am not a lonely guy who is dying for any sort of email, and I have friends who know my sense of humor and political interests (and kinky tastes (that's a JOKE, son!)

I am not a grumpy old man, I just play one on the internet.

Art
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