Epson B1100 print problems

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01-12-2011
Jesus

Epson B1100 print problems

hi guys.
Two weeks ago i bought a new epson B1100, just got refill carts and some sublimation ink of the cheaper variety, still £20 per 100 ml but cheaper none the less.
I loaded up my carts and installed them, ran a first print and it printed beautifuly, iv not yet got an icc profile but Paul will kindly be doing me one soon when/if i get these problems fixed. Im using Funky Leopard pro dye sub ultra paper. As i said the first prints were great, but a few days later the black has tons of white lines going horizontaly. All the other colours are fine, its just the black. I ran a nozzle check and everything looked fine, no gaps in the lines and the colour was fine, so i printed a design again but the same problem persists. I then ran a head clean, printed again and still not much change. What is the problem? Are the heads blocked? how do i fix it without wasting anymore ink, my black carts are already down 25%.

Second problem.. I printed some coloured squares out and pressed them onto a poly shirt, and some of the print has strange streakey areas that are fainter than the rest of the print, they look like white smudges. I dont think this is an ink issue as the smudges go through the different colours. Is this the paper or heat press?

Every time i get so close to being able to launching my site i run into another problem. Im getting really frustrated. I just want to get printing.

Please help

Dan
01-12-2011
Paul

Hi Dan! What paper setting you use when printing? Also what quality? Photo? Standard...?
01-12-2011
Jesus

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Hi Dan! What paper setting you use when printing? Also what quality? Photo? Standard...?

Iv tried all of them, normal paper, gloss, semi gloss, matte, photo, best photo, all combinations, all prints turn out very much the same. Im completely baffled and so frustrated.
01-12-2011
Paul

For leopard paper and b1100 i recomend matt paperl on photo quality. Also i.recomend edge amothing on too.
01-12-2011
Jesus

ok thanks ill give that a go
01-12-2011
Jesus

ok so i tried those settings, took the carts out and put them back in, did another head clean, and its still got lines running through it :(
What else can i try?
02-12-2011
JSR

It's hard to pin down the cause of the issue. You're trying to run a business using the cheapest A3 printer, the cheapest ink you can find, refillable cartridges, the cheapest paper, etc... Going down this path is fine if you can troubleshoot for yourself, but it's difficult for anyone who doesn't use your set up to offer advice that might help.

All the main suppliers offer start-up packages using recommended items and they offer support. Going cheap means you'll have to accept that there will be times of frustration while you work through problems that arise. But at least at the end of it, you will have learnt a lot and will have plenty of experience with troubleshooting under your belt.

The settings Paul suggested should work fine if you have a good nozzle check pattern. If the nozzle check pattern isn't good, then no setting will help fix it. Are you getting a good nozzle check pattern now (both before and after your print)? If not, that's the area you need to be looking at. No amount of printing/pressing will help.

If the nozzle check is bad, then don't keep head-cleaning/printing because that doesn't solve anything. If the nozzle check doesn't improve within three head-cleans, then leave the printer alone. Poor nozzle checks don't always mean a blockage. On Epson printers, it often means you have an air lock in the printhead. This is because the printhead is so close to the cartridge. Using refillable cartridges in particular makes this issue more likely. If you remove the cartridges to refill them, then an air bubble can get into the printhead. If you allow your refillable cartridge to run dry (because of the auto-reset switch) then you have a high chance of introducing the air bubble.

The best way of removing an air lock is to let the printer alone for a while. Air is lighter than ink and so it will, eventually, migrate up out of the printhead and disappear on its own. But this can take time - sometimes a very long time. Because of this, you would be very wise to have a backup system in place - so one can be left idle while the other prints.

Air locks are less likely to happen when using a CISS or cartridges that are mounted remote from the printhead (Ricoh/Brother etc) because there's less opportunity for the ink to run dry. They are most likely to happen with entry-level Epson printers using refillable cartridges.
02-12-2011
Imme

Hi Dan

If your print head gets blocked and it doesn't clear after one or two goes of the head cleaning cycle then you will just waste ink if you keep trying.
I would recommend that you keep a cleaning solution (something like ZAPP) to hand at all times, especially if you are going to leave your printer stood for more than a day or two.
02-12-2011
JSR

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imme

Hi Dan

If your print head gets blocked and it doesn't clear after one or two goes of the head cleaning cycle then you will just waste ink if you keep trying.
I would recommend that you keep a cleaning solution (something like ZAPP) to hand at all times, especially if you are going to leave your printer stood for more than a day or two.

What is this "ZAPP" that everyone talks of? Do you have a link to it? I've never run into a problem that's needed it, but I'd like to bookmark it for future reference. Thanks!
02-12-2011
Paul

Search ebay for zap head unblocker :-)
Good atuuf. Does the job perfectly. I also had cleaning solution from coralgraph as it was n larger bottles. Doas the job too.
02-12-2011
Imme

Hi,

I don't work for them or get paid by them but I have got out of "dead print head syndrome" more than once by using this stuff. I guess I've got too many Epson printers lying around!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ZAP-Cartri...item4155bed6b9
Cheers
02-12-2011
JSR

Bookmarked, thanks!
02-12-2011
Jesus

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imme

Hi,

I don't work for them or get paid by them but I have got out of "dead print head syndrome" more than once by using this stuff. I guess I've got too many Epson printers lying around!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ZAP-Cartri...item4155bed6b9
Cheers

awesome! thank you so much. ill give that a go. how does it work? do i fill the carts with it and hit print? As luck has it i got 4 years worth of tax rebate through the door yesterday, fecking amazing timing, so now i can afford to fix the problem!
Ill let you guys know how it goes, in the meantime ill have to use my crappy sx125 and Jet pro sofstretch inkjet paper :/ Iv got a photoshoot booked tomorow for my website, and cant even use the shirts ill be selling, sucks bigtime lol. ahh well shit happens.
02-12-2011
John G

Language Timothy. :wink:
30-12-2011
Justin

Just for the record, whilst my B1100 miraculously came back to life by itself :-) I dug out my Epson 1400 which had a couple of blocked nozzles and Zapp didn't help in the slightest :-( In fact it's made the problem worse.....I'd already decided to trash the printer but thought I'd give this miracle fluid a go first!
30-12-2011
Paul

dont trush it just yet Justin!!
30-12-2011
Jesus

Hi again guys, well i bought some zap, and as my luck has it, it just made the problem worse, at forst all of my heads became blocked, even after leaving zap in overnight as advised by the instructions, and now it doesnt print a thing, it goes through all the motions of printing but no ink comes out on the paper, i did a nozzle check and got a few lines, not many, but they were all in black! there were no coloured lines? i did another clean and after that it wouldnt even print a nozzle check, its just completely *****d! new printer used about 3 times and broken due to dye sub ink and ZAP, and of course now the warenty is void.
Anybody have any suggestions to this one? lol
30-12-2011
Imme

Sorry to hear that Justin. Usually a good soak (overnight if needed) cleans my printers out. Don't know if it will help but there's a You Tube video on deep cleaning a stubborn 1400. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=eUysQFDH6u0. Never quite get over the amount of ink they find in there:tongue:
Cheers
30-12-2011
Imme

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jesus

new printer used about 3 times and broken due to dye sub ink and ZAP, and of course now the warenty is void.
Anybody have any suggestions to this one? lol

Are you trying to head clean it with the dye sub ink?
If so this may be the problem if it is of a questionable age or quality, it may contain large particles (lumps).
Try using ordinary inks to clean with and it may just work fine
30-12-2011
Jesus

no straight away I bought a bulk supply of normal dye inks and a big packet of A3 jet pro sofstretch transfer paper, then discovered it wont work anymore, yet another £100 down the drain.
30-12-2011
swimwivsquid

I have been using inks from this company for a while now and have found the support very good. On their website they have this tip which might be worth a try before slinging the printer........

http://www.cobraink.com/supportphotos/support.htm

Soaking a Print Head

I have had good luck clearing a dried up print head by soaking the print head in hot water. We have a chemicals available called clog busters that is also very effective. Hot water works good. To do this turn on the printer and just as the print head starts to moving to the left unplug the power cord. This will unlock the head so you can move it right and left. After moving the print head away from the park position (full right) look under where the print head was parked and you will see a small silver grate covering a cores piece of foam this is the ink pump head. Using a syringe and needle (or eye dropper or even a straw with your finger sealing one end will work) fill the sponge with hot water (the hotter the better use this to fill the pump head until it domes up from surface tension and then slide the print head slowly back to the parked location. This will place the print head directly in the pool of water after 30 or 45 min. repeat one more time and then let it set over night. The next day run a head cleaning and a nozzle check if still plugged repeat this entire process. I normally use a Styrofoam cup and the microwave to make a small amount of hot water.
If when you do a nozzle check the paten changes and areas that were there now are not and other are that were not before the head is not plugged you are losing ink supply for some reason.
30-12-2011
Paul

dye sub ink is not for A3 jet pro sofstretch iam affraid any way...
30-12-2011
Jesus

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

dye sub ink is not for A3 jet pro sofstretch iam affraid any way...

I didnt use dye sub ink for JPSS paper, i used funky leopard hd sublimation paper. It wasnt the paper thats been a problem, its the printer lol. I decided to switch from dye sub to inkjet transfers, thats why i bought the jpss
30-12-2011
Paul

got you!
sorry about your printer... I wouldn't chuck it away just yet tho...
30-12-2011
Justin

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imme

Sorry to hear that Justin. Usually a good soak (overnight if needed) cleans my printers out. Don't know if it will help but there's a You Tube video on deep cleaning a stubborn 1400. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=eUysQFDH6u0. Never quite get over the amount of ink they find in there:tongue:
Cheers

Great video, may as well have another shot at it! Just remembered....I have no ink and no refil carts to work with, oh well, better wait until another day!