Newby already pestering.

[Wendy]

Hi .... To anyone who may be able to help me. I have an Epson SX215 printer which is just over twelve months old, and I mean just over (2 weeks infact). My cyan ink ran out so I changed in usual way, then the problems started now it will only print in orangish colour. Tried other Cyan cartridge and that the same. Did all the usual - cleaning print heads, nozzle checks and all that did was drain the other ink cartridges. Admittedly I am using compatible inks but I always have in my other Epson printers and never had a problem. I just don't know whether the problem is the inks or if infact the printer is "Dead". I don't make much money (just starting out) and I don't want to waste my money buying a new printer or by buying new cartridges. Has anyone had this problems before. I know this is a bit of a novel but am not very good at explaining myself.

Any help would be received with a huge Thank You.

Hugs xx
Wendy

[bms]

Are these ordinary compatible inks or sublimation inks? If just ordinary compatibles are they a brand with an authorised distributor warranty or just a third party cheap ink?

[Wendy]

They are just ordinary inks, I have a feeling I am troubling the wrong people in here as I have just looked at your site and your printers all seem to be top end expensive stuff and here's me with my little £50. printer and I don't have a clue what sublimation inks are (I will plead my ignorance now). I do not want to be a trouble to anyone here but I am fed up with writing to people in other Forums that are supposed to help and they just don't. I purchased the inks off e-bay (I know as a professional you will probably laugh). The purchase was made through a verified seller and they came with a 12 month guarantee but I cannot get a response from them. The cartridges where great upto this point, good quality and all that I just don't know if they could have broken my printer. The main point is shall I start all over again and buy a new printer.
I really appreciate your reply and Bless Ya.

Hugs Wendy xx

[Matt Quinn]

Well...

Assuming your printer produces a perfect head check pattern it ain't broke! If it doesn't you may have a blocked head... But let's assume all is well for a moment...

Colour management is a fairly complex subject... But briefly the range of colours that can be reproduced by any system is known as the 'gamut' of colours.

Colour gamut is system dependent... That is to say a combination of original image, software, hardware, inks and even the substrate (paper or whatever) your printing on all affect the range and balance of colour.

Your original epson inks will have been tailored to give a good average result (gamut) with most substrates. Compatible inks are often quite different from the manufacurer's inks and produce a colour 'caste' which seems to be what you're describing...

I've posted this before but...

One possible technique to deal with a gross colour cast is to use Maxwell's Triangle as a 'map' to helping you decide which way to adjust the CMY elements in your printer's 'settings' menu so as to pull your overall balance more of a neutral shade...

http://photographybasicsonline.com/color_fund/maxwell.html

You'll see that Cyan opposes Red, Magenta opposes Green and Yellow opposes Blue on the triangle...

This is primarily a description of ADDITIVE colour space where the centre tends to white...

Now... To use Maxwell's triangle you look at the colour cast you have... Orange would be probably in the orangy-yellow direction on the triangle; you want to 'shift' you colours so, increasing Cyan slightly and decreasing Yellow should pull it more neutral, possibly with either a Green or Magenta cast... Which you can then probably adjust by altering the Magenta levels...

Sublimation inks incidentally are a special (expensive!) type of ink used for creating heat-activated dye transfers. The ink turns to a gas when headed in a press. that gas is absorbed by the 'specially coated surface of the item the transfer is being applied to...

People make photo mugs, plates, signs t-shirts etc this way...

Re-reading your original post though I've a feeling you MAY have a problem with the cyan channel being blocked; in which case you need to research some of the more serious cleaning techniques used on these printers.

Do a head-check and see what the results are like...

[gorgall2]

What was the result of your nozzle check?

[Wendy]

Thanks for taking the time to explain all this, the last nozzle check I did was showing good quality lines of yellow. magenta and black but the cyan was really rubbish or didn't show at all so you could be right with the cyan being blocked. Dah! I never thought of that. You don't know how greatful I am for your explanation and I am sorry to be a bother.
Hugs
Wendy xx

[Matt Quinn]

You're not a bother... They do say the only really dumb questions are the ones no-one dares or bothers to ask but should!

Looks like the cyan channel is indeed blocked or airlocked.

Get a cocktail stick, remove the cyan cartridge and make sure there is ink coming out of it by gently poking the outlet of the cart where it would normally feed the head... There is a little ball valve in there... You want to give it a wee push - Just a very quick gentle poke to get the inkflowing is all that is necessary... You don't need to get ink dripping everywhere; if the stick comes out with a good bit of ink on it that's fine...

Wear rubber gloves while doing this; and be careful of the inevitable mess... Then headcheck again. Try running a purge pattern through the machine...

http://www.inksupply.com/purging.cfm

'purging' the errant channel can often help unclog a head. - You just need a block of solid colour (C, M Y or K) on a page to purge that particular channel. If that doesn't work it's deep-clean time...

Some clues as to deep-cleaning techniques are here....

http://www.printerhacks.com/how-to-really-clean-an-inkjet-printer-in-5-simple-steps/

http://hardware.mcse.ms/message309697.html

... Do a search for 'iso propyl' on ebay and substitute that for the 'windex'. - We had a discussion here a few weeks ago on cleaning solutions. And people do use various concoctions. IPA is a standard electronics solvent though and I'm very sure it works... Also get some blunt syringes - you may need to introduce a little IPA down the feed tube of the cyan channel on your print head...

[Stitch Up]

Or mix up some Windex, these are the ingredients all easily available, even from eBay. Household Ammonia can be bought off the shelf @ Boots, distilled water from any motor factors - not Halfrauds, unless you like paying over the odds:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v111/datasafe/Printing%20and%20Dye%20Sub/Neoflex/NeoFlex%20Maintenance/MakeyourownWindex.png

[boristrump]

whoa! big thanks to Matt Quinn and Stitch Up very informative info indeed! hope it helps Wendy! i use Wizz Glass & Mirror its 95% isopropanol it has unblock my heads very successfully as i sometime leave the printer unused for over 2 weeks. It might help here to explain that some refillable carts need to be prime and other carts you can just refill them in situ just thought for any newbie having trouble with their printer and not known its really the refillable carts thats at fault
can anyone add to this post more info for beginners needing know this about refillable carts

[JSR]

If this discussion is about third-party regular normal inks used in a printer for regular office use (i.e. printing to paper), then my advice would be to check out the Brother printers.

I've tried refillables in Epson printers before but these printers seem to be incredibly susceptible to air blocks when changing the cartridge. I have a B40W here in which the cyan "blocked" in barely a couple of weeks - and it's not a blockage, it's an airlock because there's been nothing to block it. The more expensive R1400's with refillable cartridges seem more durable and resilient to air locks.

For office use, I switched to a Brother printer (in my case the MFC-5890CN because it's A3 with scanner and ADF and has an iPhone/Android app, but the A4 printers start at around £60). Brother printers use stationary cartridges, which are inherently more resistant to air locks than cartridges that sit on the printhead (because ink is always in the line, unless you frig it to drain it dry).

For this printer (and similar), you can get massive cartridges that stick out the front and each hold over 80ml of ink. The refill caps are in plain view for easy refilling without removing the cartridges. No priming necessary, no chips, and no running out every 8ml of ink.

The cartridges themselves cost about £20 for a set, and I have cheap ink that cost £10 for all four colours. Colour accuracy is reasonable given the cost (if you wanted the best photos, you'd obviously go for a high-end Epson or HP with archival inks anyway).

The only downside is that the printhead is inaccessible in the event that it does block - but I've seen no indication of that so far. This set-up has never needed a headclean.

For the cost of a £60 printer, £20 cartridges, and £10 for a bundle of ink, you can't go far wrong. Next time you're looking for a cheap printer to run cheap ink, don't discount the Brothers.

[Wendy]

A huge thanks to each and everyone who has replied with what seems some very excellent advice. I will go try the cocktail stick remedy to see if that works.

Thanks to JSR for the info on brother printers too. I have only ever purchased Epson printers except for one occasion when I had a Lexmark and that I didn't get along with at all. I guess we just become complacent with what we know. I will certainly consider buying a brother next time.

I am sending you all huge HUGS xxx
Wendy

[JSR]

Thanks to JSR for the info on brother printers too. I have only ever purchased Epson printers except for one occasion when I had a Lexmark and that I didn't get along with at all. I guess we just become complacent with what we know. I will certainly consider buying a brother next time.

I'm a bit of a dye-in-the-wool Epson fan myself - but only when using OEM inks, and only when using their more expensive printers. The bottom end of their range does seem a bit hit-and-miss. Some people get on with them fantastically, others don't.

We always end up thinking of "the big three" - Epson, HP, and Canon - and we rarely think of the others. It's no wonder really given that Lexmark have a reputation for being awful, Dell used to just rebadge Lexmark and make the ink even more expensive, and even Brother started off on shaky ground (their printers are probably still one of the slowest to print on Earth - but speed isn't always the guiding factor).

I used to have one of the Brother printers that used smaller cartridges that sat inside the printer (you had to raise the scanner body just to change the inks). That was fine until I used a third-party cartridge, then the old "air-lock" problem raised its ugly head.

But now there are those printers that have their inks slotted in from the outside and that's led the way to these "extended" cartridges that stick out the front of the printer. The cartridges really are so big that you just set it up and forget it for a few months.

[Wendy]

I have just purchased a cleaning kit off Ebay. Will give this a try was not expensive, if that doesn't work. I am throwing the printer out of the window and going to have to save pennies to buy another ---- Will certainly look at a brother one, just done a bit of price checking and they are reasonable for what I need it for so we will see....
watch this space will let you all know how I get on.

Hugs
Wendy xx

[Stitch Up]

There is a piece of software available that allows you to target a particular ink channel, the software is called Printer Jockey http://www.printerjockey.com/ChannelFlush.html I use it topurge one channel that failed a nozzle check - saves on ink.

[boristrump]

Don't give up on your epson printer here's a link how to prime or vacuum your carts they have some tools for the carts
http://www.inksupply.com/direct.cfm

[Wendy]

Hi All,
Just thought I'd let you know. I am sorted. Used the cleaning unblock stuff I bought, had to use about 3 times over past few days, then ran out of ink so had to buy new. Did a Purge on the Cyan and Hey Presto all is sorted it seems. My Epson has had a repreive, it's not going through the window after all.
I would like to thank all that replied to my plight with all your help. It is so much appreciated.

Hugs
Wendyxxxxxxxxxx