Recent attack of Epson Ink clogging

<p>Hi.</p>

<p>For a few years I've kept an Epson SX515W "all in one" printer/scanner/copier on my desk for office and household purposes. I don't do anything photographically serious with it. I've always bought Epson inks usually from the same source, and I've scarcely ever had problems with clogging or patchy printing even after I've been away for a while. </p>

<p>But these last few weeks have been different. I go through a cycle of poor prints/nozzle check/cleaning cycle/improvement then after only a few days I'm off again. It can affect one colour or most of the colours. </p>

<p>So-- is this maybe</p>

<ul>

<li>Just bad luck and will likely come right in the end?</li>

<li>A sign that I need to buy a new printer?</li>

<li>A sign that my "Epson" inks are in fact counterfeit compatibles? Do people do that? They were packaged normally enough.</li>

</ul>

<p>Old ink and a printer that has been used only intermittently can lead to clogging. Just in case this is your problem, here is how I 'restored' my printer.</p>

<p>I have an older Stylus Photo R1800 that sat for too long and was giving trouble.<br>

I went on-line and found some "replacement" inks for about 1/10 the price of the real thing. The quality of the substitutes was almost good enough for letters, but wouldn't do for picture printing. I'm pretty sure these cheapies are not pigment based, and in any case, the fluid is certainly thinner. I stuck them in the printer and did repeated print head cleaning (which uses up ink ferociously).</p>

<p>When the nozzles were clear, I put in real, fresh, Epson ink and everything is now working fine.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I'm guessing that you've had your Epson for at least 3-5 years, which is what some believe is the average lifespan of a moderately used inkjet printer. I recently encountered the same issues with my HP C6180 inkjet, which served me well for 8+ years. Nothing I tried seemed to clear up the sudden printing problems. I found it possible to dismantle and clean the print head but, in the end, decided it just wasn't worth the effort. And finding ink for such an old printer was getting difficult, too. Yesterday, I replaced it with a $69 Canon MG5720, which does everything the previous device did except handle FAXing ... but who sends those any more? It might be time to just replace your Epson. New problem-free printers are relatively cheap these days.</p>

<p>As noted, disuse is the main cause of failure in inkjets. They will fail under heavy or even normal use too. I need to replace print heads about every three sets of cartridges or so with a CD printer. (The cartridges hold about 30 ml of ink). The same with the imaging unit on my color laser jet.</p>

<p>These are fairly high end printers. AFIK, the print heads are only user-replaceable on higher end inkjets (e.g., Epson 3000/4000). With consumer printers, it is probably cheaper to replace the printer than send it for service. My CD printer uses two heads, which cost about $350 for the pair.</p>

<p>If you print infrequently, you might consider using a color laserjet, or better yet a dye-sublimation printer. The latter never dry up or clog, but may collect dust, which ruins the prints. Dye-subs are also good if you print a lot, because they take 10-20 seconds instead of 2-3 minutes to complete, and produce lab-quality glossy prints.</p>

<p>I make large prints infrequently, and find my local Walgreens drug store does credible work in under an hour. They have a 36" Epson, which I could never justify on my own.</p>

<p>Something many overlook is the 'wiper' that performs a squegie-like action across the nozzle surface of the head as it returns to the parked position. Over time, this rubberlike strip will accumulate a crust of dried ink and dust--which can end up forced back into the nozzle openings on a pass. When doing preventative maintenance this should be wiped down.</p>

<p>It also wears! This keeps a good wiping action from occurring. Depending on the printer, this part is often available--but requires a bit of mechanical ability on the part of the printer owner to change. As printers age and goop up, there are many points of contamination that add to nozzle clogging or poor behavior...</p>

<p>I gave up on ink jet printers several years ago. For home use I purchased a networked Brother monochrome laser printer (they make multifunction scanner/laser printers with a copier function also) nine years ago. I had to replace the toner cartridge once at a cost of $50 and have had no problems with it. Toner does not dry out and there are no heads to clog.</p>

<p>If I need color printing, I upload the files to Costco and pick up the prints later that day.</p>

<p>The next site I visited after Photo.net was Newegg. I happened to see this offer</p>

<p>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828113937</p>

<p>$100 for a Brother laser MFC, shipping included, is not bad.</p>

<p>I have <strong>not</strong> tried this particular item (mine is a much older printer only with Ethernet connect, no WiFi), but the reviews are not bad.</p>

<p>As always, the thing to look at is not really the cost of the printer--but of the replacement tanks.</p>