nozzle check: air or clogs?

I've been away from this forum for a while, my two Epson 1430'a were giving me perfect nozzle checks every few days. Then one of them started giving me bad nozzle checks, actually in just one position, the Magenta.

The Magenta pattern is getting worse... but can the folks on photo.net tell me if this looks like an air or a clog pattern? It would help me start my work of cleaning up the Magenta position to know what I'm dealing with. I tend to think of this pattern represents some air in the lines but I could be wrong. It's getting worse... yesterday I had about half the dashes, today I just have a few lines.

I've tried the cleaning utility, that didn't help.

Thanks all!

Paul

You can try cleaning the nozzles directly. Epson has a procedure for this on line. If I recall correctly you moisten a cloth with distilled water and rest the print head on it for a few minutes. Don't scrub, blot only, and DO NOT use alcohol or any solvent other than water.

Cleaning has never worked for me, but it's worth a try. You will likely need to return the printer to Epson for repair or replacement. Although I like the results from Epson printers, I chose Canon the last pass. in part because the heads are user-replaceable. None of my Epson printers have survived as long as the Canon Pro-10, which I bought in 2017.

This is the guy who's video(s) to check out on this topic:

My apologies everyone. I pulled the Magenta cartridge just to check it out. I'm embarrassed, very embarrassed. These are new carts and when I pulled the air intake tape it must have left a small piece covering the hole. Hardly visible.

I ran the nozzle check several times and the pattern still has just a few lines. Still, it's an improvement over what my Magenta shows in the original post. Will this pattern continue to improve? Did I cause any harm?

Sorry, everybody.

Paul

It goes without saying that I pulled off that small piece of tape!

BTW, how long does it take for the air to get removed? (that's like asking how long is a piece of string) Do you think it's been a couple of weeks this way... would that expose any remaining ink and then harden?

I don't use an Epson printer, but it seems to me that it shouldn't take long to get rid of the air. After all, a printer does this in minutes when you start it up for the first time.On the other hand, since the other lines are full, perhaps the machine doesn't know to force more of a flow in that one particular line.

Have you tried the cleaning utility again since removing the tape? That might force ink through the lines.

In the case of Canon printers--and I think this is true of at least some Epsons--there are two levels of cleaning, a standard utility and a deep-cleaning utility. In the case of my printer, you can run the standard utility repeatedly, but you can only do a deep cleaning about once per day because it heats the nozzles, and doing it too often can warp them. Just check your documentation, or check online, before you do repeated cleanings.

It's been a couple of weeks but sorry to report no progress. Partly my fault, got involved in some other issues.

I took my printer in to a guy with a very good reputation in town. Over a period of several days he ran about 18-20 nozzle checks, as well as inserting some Windex (I know, I know!) in the magenta cart nipples and letting the printer's pad soak overnight. No luck, but what's interesting is that all carts but the magenta position are perfect. See my photo above. As for the magenta cart's position: its pattern is different each test, very different. It acts like air in the lines, but air positions would eventually fill, right? I confess I myself have not yet run what I call the shoe-shine cleaning, where a soaked paper towel is moved back and forth under the head.

But first I want to raise another issue: I've heard there's something faulty about the magenta position in an Epson 1430. This position cart is more likely to clog than the other carts. Anyone heard this? Or am I spreading an old wive's tale?

Paul