How to avoid Epson ink clogs
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From: Arthur Entlich on 23 Jul 2007 23:40 >You can wrap your printer in a large plastic bag which you close, to >maintain humidity. You can even go as far as to set a sponge damped in >water OUTSIDE the printer in a small disk, but inside the same plastic >bag to keep humidity levels up. Just want to make some typo corrections from the above: >You can wrap your printer in a large plastic bag which you close, to >maintain humidity. You can even go as far as to set a sponge dampened >in water OUTSIDE the printer in a small dish, but inside the same >plastic bag to keep humidity levels up. As Jan stated, do NOT place the damp sponge within the printer where it can contact or be near any metal parts which can rust. Art
From: Arthur Entlich on 23 Jul 2007 23:48 You could always take your printer along with you ;-) You can just bag it without adding any humidity source. I doubt the humidity level will get very extreme from the minimal evaporation of the inks while it is sealed. I would be quite careful trying to wrap the head alone. It could be done, just be gentle. Epson uses glycerol or glycols in the heads when they are stored coming out of the factory. Adding a bit of extra fluid in the cleaning station shouldn't damage the heads. Art Mark Conrad wrote: > In article <noneof-1ACFCF.21381122072007(a)news.west.earthlink.net>, > Mark Conrad <noneof(a)urbusiness.invalid> wrote: > > >>Contemplating a 4 month vacation trip to a friends house, >>do not want to come back to a clogged Epson 4800 Pro. > > > Thanks guys for the excellent advice. > > I am a little hesitant about jacking up the humidity of the entire > printer, in fact I go out of my way to keep the humidity very low, to > avoid any corrosion of electrical contacts etc. > > Generally turn on a dehumidifier here when humidity gets above 50%. > > In my experience, any relative humidity over 60% is asking for real > trouble as regards corrosion. > > > That leaves me with a few choices: > > 1) Tape a 'custom plastic baggy' around the print head, do not > know if this is feasible because I have not looked at > clearances around the print head. > > 2) Run an automatic schedule of printing once a week, printing > a 'simulated-black' page to exercise _all_ the ink holes > in the print head. > > > I would much prefer the custom fitted plastic bag taped around the print > head to keep the 'local' humidity there as high as possible in hopes of > avoiding clogs. > > Makes me very nervous having anything on an automatic schedule, because > of several factors, not the least of which is lightning storms in this > mountain area. > > My immediate (rural) neighbor had to spend thousands of dollars rewiring > his house; lightning found his buried phone line about 200 feet away > from his house, followed the phone line into his house, melted all his > house wiring, zapped the wiring of the pump in his water well, etc. > > Phone company people buried his phone lines one foot deeper, in hopes of > avoiding any future damage. > > > Anyhow, the advice here stopped me dead in my tracks as regards removing > the print head from the printer, that would have resulted in a real > disaster. > > Mark-
From: Arthur Entlich on 24 Jul 2007 00:26 I think you have the beginnings of a new job description. You know those dog walkers and kennels they have for pets, well how about Epson printer kennels or printer exercisers who will come to you rather than you going to them ;-) Printer sitting? We will printer sit for you, at your place or ours. We can offer it as part of our house-sitting and pet sitting services... ;-) Art John McWilliams wrote: > Mark Conrad wrote: > >> > > << Snipped bits out >> > > Here's an entirely different tack: Find a neighbor and or friend to > "loan" it to, condition being they will print something once a week. > > Far safer, cheaper than anything else. >
From: Jan Alter on 24 Jul 2007 11:46 "Arthur Entlich" <e-printerhelp(a)mvps.org> wrote in message news:VDepi.1408$fJ5.1262(a)pd7urf1no... > You could always take your printer along with you ;-) > > You can just bag it without adding any humidity source. I doubt the > humidity level will get very extreme from the minimal evaporation of the > inks while it is sealed. > > I would be quite careful trying to wrap the head alone. It could be done, > just be gentle. > > Epson uses glycerol or glycols in the heads when they are stored coming > out of the factory. Adding a bit of extra fluid in the cleaning station > shouldn't damage the heads. > > Art > > > > > Mark Conrad wrote: > >> In article <noneof-1ACFCF.21381122072007(a)news.west.earthlink.net>, >> Mark Conrad <noneof(a)urbusiness.invalid> wrote: >> >> >>>Contemplating a 4 month vacation trip to a friends house, >>>do not want to come back to a clogged Epson 4800 Pro. >> >> >> Thanks guys for the excellent advice. >> >> I am a little hesitant about jacking up the humidity of the entire >> printer, in fact I go out of my way to keep the humidity very low, to >> avoid any corrosion of electrical contacts etc. >> >> Generally turn on a dehumidifier here when humidity gets above 50%. >> >> In my experience, any relative humidity over 60% is asking for real >> trouble as regards corrosion. >> >> >> That leaves me with a few choices: >> >> 1) Tape a 'custom plastic baggy' around the print head, do not >> know if this is feasible because I have not looked at >> clearances around the print head. >> >> 2) Run an automatic schedule of printing once a week, printing >> a 'simulated-black' page to exercise _all_ the ink holes >> in the print head. >> >> >> I would much prefer the custom fitted plastic bag taped around the print >> head to keep the 'local' humidity there as high as possible in hopes of >> avoiding clogs. >> >> Makes me very nervous having anything on an automatic schedule, because >> of several factors, not the least of which is lightning storms in this >> mountain area. >> >> My immediate (rural) neighbor had to spend thousands of dollars rewiring >> his house; lightning found his buried phone line about 200 feet away from >> his house, followed the phone line into his house, melted all his house >> wiring, zapped the wiring of the pump in his water well, etc. >> >> Phone company people buried his phone lines one foot deeper, in hopes of >> avoiding any future damage. >> >> >> Anyhow, the advice here stopped me dead in my tracks as regards removing >> the print head from the printer, that would have resulted in a real >> disaster. >> >> Mark- I'd bet for another $20 Epson could build a timer control into their printers to turn yjem on once a week and print a nozzle check pattern. However, if they couldn't manage that I'm sure they could train OEM print sitters certified by Epson to turn the printer on and print a page at regular visits. I would never use an aftermarket print sitter. Who knows what other printers they may have been sitting. Jan Alter bearpuf(a)verizon.net jalter(a)phila.k12.pa.us
From: Mark Conrad on 24 Jul 2007 14:06
In article <VDepi.1408$fJ5.1262(a)pd7urf1no>, Arthur Entlich <e-printerhelp(a)mvps.org> wrote: > You can just bag it without adding any humidity source. > I doubt the humidity level will get very extreme from the > minimal evaporation of the inks while it is sealed. > > I would be quite careful trying to wrap the head alone. > It could be done, just be gentle. Yes, that seems to be the most practical way to solve the problem. > Epson uses glycerol or glycols in the heads when they are > stored coming out of the factory. Adding a bit of extra > fluid in the cleaning station shouldn't damage the heads. Thanks, I will check with Epson to make certain it is safe. BTW, I gather you run the big Epson printers. If so, did you ever need to ship them back to Epson for maintenance under warrantee? I imagine that would be a gigantic hassle, given the size and weight of those big Epson printers, plus the likelihood of damaging them during shipping. Mark- |