Epson Stylus Pro 4880 -- Recurring smudges especially with thick paper

Love my 4880, the thing has been a workhorse. Lately though I have been having recurring problems with irregular streaks and smudges (not pizza wheels). The smudges are always black. I have cleaned the print head and capping station. My gut is the streaks are decaying foam rubber than has gotten sucked into the rollers.

 

Does anyone have a tutorial on how to disassemble the 4880 and clean the innards beyond the capping station and print head?

 

Note: I have adjusted the platen gap and paper thickness with no impact on smudging.

 

Thanks.....

Isn't there a foam lined reservoir for ink expelled during the cleaning cycle. That can dirty the heads. If so, it's replaceable.

Ink dries up on the paper path side of the print head platen and will transfer onto prints and the paper path. Head cleaning does not get rid of it.

Fold a layer of paper towels to fit into the head transport path, soak it with 90% Ispropyl Alcohol, unlock the print head and slide it over the wet towel, let sit 15 to 30 minutes then slide the head over other towels until the head leaves no ink trace on the towel. Now clean all accessible rollers with the alcohol.

A factory service manual is available at Epson 4880 C Service Manual

This is what the smudges look like.

 

The head and head path needed cleaning -- thanks 13thumbs, these streaks are not coming from the head because I can see the paper emerge with the streaks already on it. I guess I'm going to be disassembling!

On second thought, does anyone know how to get at the rollers without wading through the 200+ pages of methodical disassembly in the manual? I think my interest here is limited to the transport mechanism.

Is the smudge and streak ink, grease or rubber? Ink came from the print head at some point, grease comes from a failed sealed bearing, rubber will come from a deteriorating or dragging roller.

When passing paper through with the paper feed do the streaks appear? yes= transport, no= print head.

 

I extensively trouble shot a 4800 for missing inks, ewasted it when cleaning did not solve the problem and air pockets were consistently in the supply lines, bad ink pumps.

The head should be easily removed from the transport mechanism and if careful realignment will not be needed as the original position can be reestablished.

Once the head is off the transport then the rollers should be easy to access for cleaning.

 

I still have a copy of the service manual , SEIJ04008 in the lower right corner covering from the 4400 to the 4880C if you have specific questions.

13thumbs thanks -- it is definitely coming from the transport mechanism. Based on your description, I believe it is rubber coming from a deteriorating roller. I have the helpful link to the 4880 manual am just bewildered where to start I guess I will re-attack over the weekend. Thanks.

I would start by downloading the service manual to my computer.

Several copies can be opened in Adobe reader at one time.

Remove the covers as needed.

Position a smeared print/piece of paper in the paper path and determine which roller is causing the problem.

Open copy 1 of the manual to the transport servicing section then open additional copies to the sections called for in copy 1 disassembly procedures.

 

Option B: send/take it to an Epson repair service shop.

Update: A local printer tech (DC) suggested cleaning out the paper transport path to get at little bits of foam that have been contaminating the paper path and creating smudges. I used a somewhat thick but flexible plastic 8.5 x 11 sheet with a piece of paper towel taped over it and soaked with windex -- as much windex as I could get on there without the paper towel disintegrating. I inserted this from behind the printer (4880) and did my best to get at the trouble spots, taking care not to leave any paper towel shreds inside the printer. Worked great, I just have to repeat every few months.