P400 fresh install of refillable carts, then horrible test pages

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Last week I re-installed my piezo pro system into a P400. I haven’t been able to get a decent test pattern since the install. In the past, I’ve had similar problems swapping the PK/MK inks, but those have always resolved with a few cleaning cycles and/or sitting overnight. I’ve been troubleshooting this for a week with essentially no progress. I found many forum posts on clogged heads, but none of them addressed this particular issue, or proved very helpful.

The printer is a refurb replacement for a failed unit. I have been running it with the OEM carts for several weeks. The refillable carts were stored upright and double-bagged in ziplocks for about 6 weeks while Epson processed the replacement and I ran/tested the new unit with the OEM inks. All was well and I got a perfect test page right before swapping in the refillable carts. The attached image is pretty typical of what I see now, though it’s actually a pretty good one, relatively speaking. The really frustrating thing is that the patterns are very inconsistent and running cleaning cycles sometimes seems to help, but just as often, makes no difference or makes things worse.

Other details and things I’ve already tried:

  • tapping/flicking the carts to dislodge air bubbles

  • priming the carts with the priming tips

  • running many cleaning cycles (probably a total of 30 or more at this point)

  • cleaning the printer according to all the steps in this older IJM video. Flushing the print head using the dummy cart did help one channel (MK in the attached pattern) but I did the Y and M channels at the same time and you can see the results there.

Any help or suggestions are most welcome! It’s been a week, so I’m beginning to worry that if clogs weren’t the problem initially, they may start becoming one soon.

Thanks,
Brad

test page
test page1600×1200 205 KB

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This indicates something is up with the air-flow into the cartridges. Are the vent tabs off? If so good. And are the vent air filters full of ink? If so not good. If the vent tabs are full of ink, take the fill plugs out, tape over, and prick a hole through the tape with a needle to let a small amount of air flow through. If all this does not work please email me a photo of the carts. (walker at inkjetmall dot com) and I will figure something out. Any wasted ink we will compensate along with replacement carts if need be.

best,
Walker

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Thanks, Walker. I tried to follow your advice but ran into more issues:

  1. yes, vent tabs are off. (I placed scotch tape over the holes when the carts were stored and removed the tape before installing.)

  2. Yes, vent air filters are full of ink, visible in all carts (except GO, obviously).

  3. I tried the “vent through the fill hole” test but didn’t get very far. I taped over the holes and punctured it as you said, but at least three of the carts started leaking into the print head as soon as I installed them. The ink bled out around the points and filled the inside of the print head. One cart (M) bled out entirely and dumped several mL of ink in just a few minutes. The other two I tested (Y and C) were slower, but leaked steadily and quickly enough that it was visible. I guess the good news is that they’re venting!

Anyway, I’m not sure where to go from here. (Is it possible the system was pulling in air through the leak instead of ink from the cart since the vent filter was clogged?) I’ll email you a photo of the cart.

Thanks,
Brad

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Please private message me photos so I can verify the look/build/lot# of the carts.

Thanks,

best,
Walker