clogged 3800 nozzle

Piezography Professional Tools
1

 

This clogged nozzle has been really frustrating. This is the first time I’ve had a pattern like this. Usually I just get a few broken lines, if I run a normal head cleaning they clear up. This time the Head cleaning gave me this really odd pattern that almost looks like it’s smudged. I cleaned the heads and Wiper thoroughly and then after soaking the docking pad with cleaning fluid and letting the printer sit , after doing this repeatedly I thought I got it to clear up. I then ran an auto check and got missing squares and bands smudging. Any thoughts on what to do next? I do have a set of Piezo flush carts.

 

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2

A nozzle check like this is very very rare on the 3880 and much more prevalent on new printers like the 9890. You see the slanted curved section to the middle gap of nozzles? That indicates delayed fire which indicates shorted nozzles.

How old is this 3880?

 

W

 

3
It's several years old at least. I had been doing a soaking the docking station and letting it sit overnight and And after repeatedly doing this I got the nozzlelooking pretty good, but then I ran a regular cleaning and it just went haywire again. I decided to put in cleaning carts with the flush and in the process it clogged up all the nozzles partially. I'm thinking I should just cut my losses get a refurbished 3880 from Epson. They are pretty cheap now.
4

I recommend the refurbished route.

 

Keep the current 3880 for parts though.

-Walker

5

I am going for a 3800 to a 3880 so how useful will the 3800 carcass be?

6

Same printer different head, ribbon cable, and different M and LM carts, that’s it.

7

I heard though the grapevine that since the Magenta channel was the most clogged channel on the 3800, they changed the Magenta chemistry to fix the issue and called it Vivid Magenta… so the 3880 should clog a LOT less than the 3800 for that channel.

I had a 3800 that had permanent clogs, and I now have two 3880 without any issues so far.

8

Also, that pattern looks like ink is escaping the head, but landing all over the place. Also, since its a large gap in the middle, I bet its dry ink or something on outside of the print head… you could try manually cleaning the head with paper towel. Also look at the rubber scraper cleaner thingy… (I can’t remember the name of that thing)