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Gradually disappearing colours - one by one ?

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#1: Gradually disappearing colours - one by one ? Author: jensieboy, Location: London

Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 7:03 pm
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I've not used my Epson 2100 ( Everest CIS ) for full colour for a while, but have happily been printing black only documents.

I've just gone to print a full 2400dpi print in full colour and it printed fine but no pure black Sad

I ran a nozzle check, and all fine but no black. Did a clean, then another nozzle check. This time no black... and no Dk cyan! ( the adjacent colour ) So, one more nozzle clean and another nozzle check. This time virtually ALL the lines in all colours are disappearing! Crying or Very sad

I'm reluctant to do more cleans as I feel this is an air supply thing and not a 'blockage' per se. and the last time I lost a colour ( Yellow ) I spent so muck ink trying to 'clear' the blockage only to find it was some kind of airlock which i eventually cleared by sucking a little at the air vent with a syringe ( completely un-scientifically Embarassed

) until I got a bit a glup - and then all was great.

This time with so many colours all over the place, I'm hoping for some help before I waste so much valuable ink again...

Any ideas ? Question

Many thanks

#2: Author: Peter_G, Location: Hertfordshire, UK

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:12 pm
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Just a few thoughts - if you have an Everest system which has the same ink reservoirs as mine, these have the ink feed outlets at the botton of the tank. If you are using pigmented inks, then it is possible that the pigment particles have settled out and are blocking the outlets. Whatever you do don't keep running cleaning cycles, this just wastes ink, and fixes whatever blockage you have more firmly in place.

Don't know how to solve this without unshipping the cartridges and sealing the ink outlets. Then lower pressure slightly in the ink reservoirs to suck some ink back into the reservoir. This should disturb the "sediment" and allow ink to flow properly once you get everything back to atmospheric pressure. Situation is likely to happen again though I would have thought. I suppose the long term answer is to take the outlet from a little way up the tank, but then the sediment would mean that the colour would not be accurate!! Catch 22??

To be honest I dont know how prone pigmented inks are to depositing sediment, so maybe I am barking up the wrong tree.

#3: Author: jensieboy, Location: London

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 6:09 pm
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Thanks - could have been a good starting point, but I'm on the ULTRACHROME inks.

I took a look underneath the resevoir and and there seems to be plenty of ink directly below where the tubing is connected and it does not seem 'physically' blocked. More breaks in the ink flow further down the tubes.

One further clue making me feel it is some air lock thing is that when you say physically lift the resevoir up and down ( below and above the level of the printer itself ) you can see the free flowing colour's inks glugging up and down the tubes, but not the ( missing ) yellow, black and magenta. This is too much of a coincidence that 3 colours should all disappear almost at the same time. Remember I had on good nozzle check at the beginning with only the black missing.

I have also gently tried squeezing air through the resevoirs ( by the filter inlet ) with a syringe, but nothing.. No ink flow or movement in the blocked tubes. Squeezing a syringe into the 'free' colour resevoirs manages to move ink up and down the tubes however.

This is so frustrating. A while ago I posted here with one colour missing and I managed to get it back perfectly with playing with a syringe. This time it's playing hard to get. therapy time

PS I just took out and removed the yellow cartridge ( which is transparent ) and pinched the tubing and pumped it a little. This caused some movement of the ink inside the cartridge so I think I can discount a blockage at this end too.. Grrr. And so much ink now all along the bottom of my printer track sponge.. If I bite the bullet and go and buy an MIS system will all my problems magically disappear?? Somehow I think not..

#4: Author: Peter_G, Location: Hertfordshire, UK

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 11:49 pm
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You are really having a torrid time with this printer aren't you, however I can't see a change of system providing you with a permanent cure as there is nothing unique about the Everest system. CISS aren't rocket science after all.

Hate to suggest this, but since this is a recurrence of an earlier problem perhaps you should bite the bullet and withdraw all the ink from your system (don't put it back in with the rest of your ink, but use a separate container), then dismantle and flush everything thoroughly with clean water (distilled preferably for the final rinse).

Afterwards dry the separate bits as best you can by blowing air through them, or sucking up in a syringe. When I did this to my Everest system to change inks, I found that only the cartridges retained a very small amount of water that I couldn't shift. Expect the colours to be marginally off until you have used a cartridge or so of ink.

Before refilling, perhaps you should try filtering your ink as well, because that surely must be the source of the crud that is blocking your system. Some posts have mentioned algae growth in the ink - possible I suppose - maybe thats what you have!! Mark you the algae must be pretty adaptable to grow in the cocktail of chemicals in the ink!! I guess if you have got algae, then that batch of ink is not fit for purpose.

#5: Author: jensieboy, Location: London

Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 4:34 pm
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Thanks Peter.

I've emailed Everest via ebay ( I've never ever had any response from them apart from the first question I asked about actually buying the system ) about buying a replacement ribbon. I'm not holding my breath for a reply though!

Re. Cleaning the whole system, 3 questions :

How to filter the inks ?
How to remove the tubes ( fine pliers ? )
Why not re-use the inks - or did I misunderstand ?

It's all just a bit strange, the inks coming and going like this especially with black documents printing fine before, then a full nozzle check, all colours FINE but no black ( ???? ) Then further nozzle checks and no Black, Magenta nor yellow. I'm either getting paranoid or I'm jinxed... Just seems odd. I could understand colours going here and there, but such a sequence..

Buried

#6: Author: Peter_G, Location: Hertfordshire, UK

Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 11:21 pm
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Hi Jensieboy,

Think you can forget any support from Everest, once they have sold you a system and the so called warranty period has expired they just dont want to know. I know from personal experience. Sad

Good news is that you now have 125+ people aware of your difficulties. Smile

Your symptoms are very strange I'll admit, so that's why I suggested you go right back to square one so at least you know where you started from!! Of course it might be that your cleaning cycle pulled some trapped air bubbles into the piezo head, because the flow rate when cleaning will be very much greater than when printing. If that is so, then all my deliberations are so much prattle, but here goes anyway.

To answer your questions, a pair of small needle nosed pliers would probably be fine enough for the reservoir end, but you might need something even finer for the other end if the connections are recessed as they are on my T007 & T008 cartridges. I think I used a pair of cocktail sticks when I did mine. Don't be tempted to just pull the tube, as that just makes it grip the barb fitting tighter, just try to ease the end back a little at a time - be patient. Remember that you can always trim 2 or 3mm of each of the tubes if any of them get a bit mangled in the process. In fact it is probably a good idea to do that anyway to make sure of a gastight joint when you reassemble.

I'm sure it is fine to re-use inks if they have not deteriorated (algae or some other deposit causing your blockage?), but I must admit that I am still trying to think of a sensible way to filter the inks. It did cross my mind that the earlier Epson cartridges for my 890 incorporated a filter in the bottom, so if you could find one of those (T007 preferably, as this is the single black cartridge) remove the top and the internal sponge (very messy, so wear some disposable gloves!) and use that.

Fill with your suspect ink, and then pull it through the filter with a syringe. This will need to open the poppet valve on the cartridge and provide a path for the ink, so carefully cut a small nick in the extreme tip to allow the ink to flow in whatever angle it makes to the poppet valve..

This will be a time consuming process as the cartridge will only hold about 12 - 15ml, and like as not quite messy, as the cartridge and syringe will have to be thoroughly cleaned for each new ink colour. Force water back through the filter into the cartridge to wash out any trapped crud.

If you can't get hold of a T007, I am at a bit of a loss as to an alternative filter. Metal mesh will probably be much too coarse, and filter paper will absorb a lot of precious ink but might be the next best option.

Whatever path you choose to follow, I dont think that you should need to change any of the CIS hardware, as this can be cleaned and disinfected if you so wish.

Good luck

Last edited by Peter_G on Mon Oct 09, 2006 11:10 pm; edited 1 time in total

#7: Author: jensieboy, Location: London

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:13 am
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Thanks again..

Looks like I'll need to set aside some time for this.. And I though CIS was going to make my life easier! I'll report in when I get a chance to doo all of this..

#8: Author: Peter_G, Location: Hertfordshire, UK

Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:24 am
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Hi again - have just educated myself about ULTRACHROME inks. From what I can gather they are pigment based inks, so maybe some of my earlier comments are still relevant. Hope the particles go through the Epson filter though if that is what you choose.

One further though, the barbed connectors on Everest systems are badly finished, and may have molding "flash" on the tapered parts. This can lead to air leaks, so it might be wise to remove any "flash" by careful use of 1200 grade wet or dry paper. Cut a narrow strip 2 or 3mm wide and 2nd 3 or 4" long. There is a picture in Martin's gallery of me doing just this to my T008 cartridge when I had an air leak. Shorten your tubes to remove ends which may have been damaged by the "flash".

http://www.continuousink.info/forum/gallery2.php?g2_itemId=242

Peter

#9: Author: jensieboy, Location: London

Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 1:55 pm
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Cheers.

I've been playing a little more with a syringe and seem to get ink movement through the bottom of the resevoirs into the offending tubes. You can see ink / bubbles flowing ( although the 'clear' colours seem to flow really freely at the mere moving of the ribbon ), so getting hopeful I went to try another nozzle check.. Only to find the printer is reading the cyan as 'incompatible' or 'run out'. ( It is not ).

Question(s).

1) Do I now need to buy a chip resetter ? ( Everest do one for £2.99 although I think this is not for CIS and more likely I have a dodgy chip ? ) ( They also replied(!) to my request for a new ribbon tube which is £5 - is this a wise idea to replace it ? )

2) Should I spend £30 and buy a set of 'ink cleaning cartridges' and run these through ?

3) Do I have a vacuum problem ? I was going through the Everest site and was looking at http://www.everest-team.com/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b=gen1.3,m=1112783354,s=5 which got me thinking.

4) When to stop spending ? I thought this would be my solution for long life prints after losing 2x Epson 1290's to forever clogging LYSON FOTONIC cartridges..

5) I'm also wondering if it may not be easier to find some 'empty cartridge' system and do away with all the tubing and hassle. Some way of using quality ULTRACHROME inks in existing 'orthodox' cartridges. My needs are more for saving some cost but primarily being able to use long life inks - so a high volume system is perhaps not the primary consideration.. Is there a good source of information or I am I staring down an even bigger can of worms?!

Thanks for any encouragement as I'm rapidly losing patience..

Banging Head

#10: Author: jensieboy, Location: London

Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:06 pm
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Quick follow up - I've been looking into 'spongeless' empty cartridges as an alternative... Has anyone tried these ?

http://www.inksupply.com/spongless_carts.cfm
http://www.mediastreet.com/site/empty_cartridges.html
http://www.alotofthings.com/viartshop/article.php?article_id=47

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