Piezoflush cleanout went well. I did actually have to do two ink charges but all nozzles were printing pure pink after the second charge and no missing dots. So I went ahead and charged the piezo pro inks through the machine. Everything looked clean and neat after the charge and so I printed a 51 step test chart and started measuring it. But then I noticed that it was lighter in the black end than the test chart comes out from my existing 3880 piezo pro machine.
On comparing them side by side I think I can see a faint pink tint to the R3000 chart. Would remnants of piezoflush cause the blacks to be lighter/less dense as well, or could this be something else?
I’m pretty sure I have diagnosed the problem and remedied the solution, ie. piezoflush still in the lines/head → give it a second charge of piezo inks, maybe a head clean or two.
I would very grateful of confirmation if I am right in this, or suggestion of a less costly fix if there is one (I will have to waste ink by running the carts down to trigger auto-refill before doing the second ink charge).
Here are cool, neutral and warm charts from each printer side by side. Lighting is roughly D50, but pics taken on my iphone as I had no camera to hand. All charts were printed from (NON-ink-limited) uncoated master curves. (I have actually produced ink-limited curves optimised to this paper for my 3880, but obviously I don’t yet have those for my R3000+this paper)
Did you rinse out the cartridges with DISTILLED water until clear and also pull fresh water out of the ink exit port to clear the cart valve? That would normally be the only source of pink dye remaining in the printer. If there was pink dye still remaining in the carts it would have the effect of contaminating the inks as would excess water.
Reusing the carts after PiezoFlush requires rising them until clear and pulling out as much of the residual water as possible which if done through the ink exit port would get rid of the stain trapped in the cart valve.
Otherwise I am not certain what would cause the pink stain but it is visible in the charts you printed. If another charge produces the same results, then the inks are contaminated in the carts. If another charge clears it then the ink that was in the lines and ink selector unit were what was contaminated (but now cleared.)
The other option that is less ink wastely is to print more charts to see if the contamination is limited to the ink selector unit and printing clears that.
I didn’t reuse carts that had piezoflush in them, apologies if I gave that impression. I used a fresh set of carts for piezoflush and then a second set of fresh carts for piezo inks. To be clear the piezoflush carts haven’t gone anywhere near the printer since I installed the fresh carts with piezo inks in them.
To be honest I wasn’t aware that putting ink in carts previously containing piezoflush, by rinsing through with distilled water as you suggest, was even an option. It does state somewhere in the documentation that carts should not be reused between ink and piezoflush and I have followed that to the T with my conversions. I may have been tempted to save myself some cash had I known it was possible
It is slightly concerning that you can’t think why else pink staining would remain after the initial ink charge… it makes me wonder if there is something amiss with the ink distribution system in the printer.
As I have to print purge now to get the carts to autorefill anyway I will print some test charts along the way to see if the pink staining clears up. And if not by the time they autorefill then I will run a second ink charge.
We don’t recommend reusing them but some people do because of the costs of cartridges vs the investment in inks and this is usually the cause of contamination.
Generally it is unusual that after two ink INITIAL INK FILLS that pink stain is still present to that degree across the entire system. The R3000 can only use the Windows initiated ink charge so there is no other utility that can do that differently or better.
There would only remain the possibility that the PiezoFlush in the ink dampers inside the ink selector unit were not fully cleared during the INITIAL INK CHARGES. Some possibility exists that rather than the ink being sucked into the dampers and swirling with the PiezoFlush, diluting it and pulling it out…it instead mostly slipped underneath it… and the dampers are the source of contamination. They hold about 8-10ml ink. It will more than likely work its way out either by printing or additional ink charge/s.
The physics of the EPSON ink delivery system. Some potential for aging of the dampers (possible matter in the filters causing an unusual ink flow that is straight through rather than circular)…
We do know that you have not poured pink into all the ink shades so the source is not the bottles… and the PiezoFlush does not swim upstream…
I believe it just leaves the ink selector unit as the culprit and you need either print it out or INIT FILL it out.
I have so far performed three initial ‘ink’ charges:
Charge 1 and 2 only with piezoflush during the cleaning procedure. This is because epson inks were still coming through after the first charge of piezoflush. After the second charge of piezoflush I was getting pure pink on all channels and no missing dots.
Charge 3 was with piezography inks in fresh carts. As I mentioned at the start the channels all looked good but then of course noticed the pink tint and fainter blacks in all channels once I paid better attention, so here I am now.
Today I have been purge printing and head cleaning a fair bit and the pink tint has perceptibly gone, however the blacks are still notably lighter on my 51 step test prints, than I believe they should be / than they are with my 3880.
I’m glad you mentioned the dampers and black ink switch, because I had already been wondering about this. For this R3000 conversion I went with a matte only kit. If you recall we briefly discussed it over email when I purchased and you said to just leave piezoflush in the unused channels.
Of course one of these channels is PK - so could it be that the piezoflush sitting in the PK side of the black switch could be leaking through to the MK side?
Since I put the fresh carts in the machine with piezography inks in and performed an initial charge I haven’t actually switched between MK and PK, I have been running only MK.
If this is the case then I am reluctant to perform another ink charge in case it gets me back to square one because there is just more piezoflush getting pushed through the black switch from the PK line.
I really do not have much experience or have heard experiences of users with leaking black ink switches. Usually they are plugged solid…
I read recently where someone purchased a new ink selector on alibaba or aliexpress for only $56. EPSON sold these near $200 and it is the same part. So that might be the ticket.
If it is the switch then might the following be a solution?
As I am printing matte only I am not using the the LLK channel (which is holding piezoflush not GCO)
So I move the MK cart to the LLK position and vice versa, switching the chips on the carts also.
Then edit existing curves to remap MK to LLK and vice versa. And for any new curves I remap in PPE v2 at the point of curve creation.
Thereby avoiding me having to wait on ordering a new ink switch and then faff about replacing it.
Furthermore while both the MK and PK channels would not be getting use they would both contain piezoflush so if I did want to do use all channels in future I could go ahead and replace the ink switch knowing those two channels have effectively been preserved with piezoflush.
How does that sound? Or are there any issues with delivering MK ink through the LLK channel instead that would be an issue?
Finally, if this does sound like a solution would repeated purge printing on just LLK channel be enough to force the MK ink through and push the piezoflush fully out of it? If so this would avoid me doing another ink charge and save me wasting ink on all the other channels!
It is a solution to your black channel only if it is leaking. But it doesn’t really address the pink staining in all the other channels which may also be source of dilution of your black.
But you could just QTR Calibration purge print the LLK channel until black ink hits it.
Now that I re-read I realize you did only one INIT FILL of the new ink - so I had read two… so it is NOT so unusual to still be stained after only one INIT FILL…
Now that I re-read I realize you did only one INIT FILL of the new ink - so I had read two… so it is NOT so unusual to still be stained after only one INIT FILL…
it should work its way out…
Ok thanks Jon, that’s good to know and helps me work out my priorities.
By the by, regarding purge printing from QTR calibration mode, does the QTR ink limit affect how much ink the printer ‘thinks’ is being used? Or is the epson firmware essentially blind to the QTR ink limit?
I ask in relation to using purge printing as a method to run the recorded ink level down in order to trigger the carts to autoreset - because if the printer is blind to the ink limit then I could set the ink limit at say 1% and it would take me just as many purges, but far far less ink, to get the carts to reset (and then be ready for an ink charge).
