Ink Head clogging

Cory Smith

Well-known member
Have any good suggestions to reduce ink head clogging? the epson 7800 and 9800's seem to clog quite a bit more than our older 7000 (guessing smaller head size on new printers?), have a tendency to get visible clogging in the middle of a job which can be hard to spot sometimes.
 
Re: Ink Head clogging

i have heard a lot about this complaint with the epsons...we have had a 9800 for 6 months, and this has not been an issue for us. we dont make an enormous amount of proofs, but a steady amount. at what point does this problem start occuring? i look for the problem, but i guess we are just lucky so far.

also, we print a lot onto clear plastic material, as well as on paper. could the substrate have somethign to do with the problem? i know that i didnt help answer your question, but the topic is of interest to me. we are very impressed with the proofer so far, seems like a real winner.

cr
 
Re: Ink Head clogging

The usual scenario where it will happen for us is this.
Turn printers off at night, fire them up in the morning, run a proof - heads look clean. Run a second proof and you might see the clogging midway through that proof..

If it was going to clog I would think it would be on the first proof of the day, but that isn't always the case.
 
Re: Ink Head clogging

My experience has been that some Epson Ultrachrome printers clog a lot, and some fairly infrequently, but they all clog now and then. This might be more problematic in dryer environments. There are many techniques (theories) to reduce clogging...dampening the sponges the head parks on and turning it off overnight. Leaving it on constantly, or running daily cleanings to purge the lines. We've tried everything. Running a lot of proofs probably reduces the amount of clogs, but it'll still clog occasionally. And I would say that its more likely that the first proof of the day would be clogged, but its by no means unusual to have a clog mid print or even near the end of a full day of heavy printing...happens all the time. Perhaps there's a chunk of coagulated pigment in the lines that works its way to the nozzle...kinda like deep vein thrombosis on an air traveler. I used to try turning off the printers overnight, but didn't see any improvements. Here, we leave the printers on constantly...not that I think that helps or hinders, but because they can be printed to at all hours.
 
Re: Ink Head clogging

Have to hop in here. After five years and over 400 units installed I have found that the worst two things for Epsons are drafty rooms where the printer is left on 24/7 and, "dust-bunnies". Keep the Epson clean.
The only other major problem has been that some mfg. of paper are sending out dusty or dirty rolls of paper. The trimming dust gets into the roll and the printhead will pick it up and clog.
 
Re: Ink Head clogging

> The trimming dust gets into the roll and the printhead will pick it up and clog.

Yeah, what he said...
 
Re: Ink Head clogging

I must agree with leaving the printer on 24/7.
We have and HP...might be a little different than the epson.
But, the HP techs told us it's better to leave them on because the heads can purge to keep the heads clear.
No issues here...but that could be the HP too. I've heard the epsons are better for contract proofing.
We use our HP for posters and outdoor banners, yard signs, etc.
 
Re: Ink Head clogging

thanks for all the feedback...I have a feeling part of this might be humidity, it's pretty dry where we live. we have all our proofers in a small room so I setup a humidifier to help the situation a bit. Will also try leaving them on 24/7 and see if that helps at all to..

Today we lost our yellow head on the 7800, not a single drop was coming out. took several cleaning cycles to get that cleared up
 
Re: Ink Head clogging

You might have misunderstood, I suggest you turn the printers off at night and over weekends. The print head will go to the "rest" position which has a felt pad that keeps it moist.
 
Re: Ink Head clogging

Not that I'm an expert...just going by what the HP techs told me.
Cory has said he turns his epson off at night.
Just give it a shot...leave it on 24/7 see if it helps. Worth a shot.
 
Re: Ink Head clogging

I've heard both leave on and leave off, it might differ by manufacture as well. Not sure if the HP's rest the heads against the cleaning pads like the epsons
 
Re: Ink Head clogging

>the epson 7800 and 9800's seem to clog quite a bit more than our older 7000 (guessing smaller head size on new printers?)

Smaller head size perhaps, but also pigmented inks versus dye ink. Pigmented ink tend to clog much more readily than dye ink from my experience. We used to have HP printers (HP DJ 20 and HP 5000) with dye ink, and they never clogged...they were inferior to Epsons in other ways, but they never clogged.
 

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