Epson 9890 - Missing Nozzles

[prepressdork]

Hello everyone,

I have two Epson's 9890 that are barely 3 years old. I run two nozzle checks per day and clean the heads as needed and while I expect missing nozzles to occur from time to time, I seem to be experiencing this more often than not. Here are some scenarios of what I am seeing:

1. Run a nozzle check and all is fine so I print my first job and one or more nozzles clog while a job is printing.
2. Sometimes, cleaning a print head leads to more missing nozzles on said print head than there were before.
3. Sometimes, cleaning one print head causes other printhead(s) to clog.
4. I sometimes must do a powerful head cleaning to get all nozzles back and sometimes additional head cleanings are still needed after that.

I had service in and they indicated that the heads looked good and there was little to no dust or other debris on or around the printhead assembly (we have a pretty clean environment). They did replace the wiper pad no each machine.

I suppose this could be normal but I thought ask other Epson users about their experiences.

Here's what I just experienced with one of my Epson's:

Thank you in advance,
pd

 

[Stephen Marsh]

What you describe seems normal to me! :]

Epson recommend powering the printer off when not in use, which caps the heads and stops them from drying out. These machines “love to work” and seem to behave better with regular printing, even if it is just a small test strip or even regular nozzle check patterns.


Stephen Marsh

 

[Johu]

I'm right there with Stephen. What you show in the image is pretty normal behavior for an epson printer. Also second point is correct by my experience. The more you use it the better it stays.

 

[prepressdork]

Hmmmm. We normally leave them on overnight (but turn them off over the weekend). I will try turning them off each night and see if anything improves. Thank you for the suggestions

pd

 

[Johu]

Actually, the most effective long term cure for nozzle glogging has been increased humidity. One of my clients moved their 3 Epsons and a Roland to a dedicated printer room where they have a simple humidifier. Their print head problems went down about 90%.

 

[Lorenzo lab guy]

Actually, the most effective long term cure for nozzle glogging has been increased humidity. One of my clients moved their 3 Epsons and a Roland to a dedicated printer room where they have a simple humidifier. Their print head problems went down about 90%.

1. We also run a humidifier right next to our 9890 in the winter and I believe it helps.
2. I think big dropouts may not be head clogs at all but pressurization problems. Putting a fresh cartridge in in place of a nearly empty cart can help when one color appears to clog frequently - the system primes that line when you install a new cart. Or, maybe old ink could be causing it.
3. We clean the wiper monthly and replace it annually - very easy and cheap.
Our 9890 has been reliable and we do a head clean perhaps once every 60 days or so.