The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Head alignment issues, 7600

tjv

Active member
Hi all.

Today I finally got around to replacing the capping station and dampers on the Epson 7600 UC I was gifted. Before I replaced these parts the heads were aligning perfectly but the nossels were clogging if the printer was left unused for over six hours. Pulling the old parts out, it was obvious that the sponge in the capping station was dry and hard beyond repair due to the printer being left dormant for a few years. The new capping station and wiper unit has fixed this problem. Brilliant.

After putting the covers back on the printer I performed a power clean to try make sure all of the old ink was purged – I swapped the expired ink with fresh carts – and performed a nossel check. All nossels firing as they should and no gaps in the pattern.

Next I performed the head alignment routine. This is where things got a bit hairy... As you can see by the attached picture from a uni-directional all routine, the alignment pattern is best at position 5 (this is one example taken at random, although perhaps the worst case), but there are some nossels that are dramatically off. Does anyone know why this might be?

I wonder if it might be I need to run more ink through the heads because while off the capping station during repair (about three hours, total,) there are some dry particles in some nossels deflecting the dot spray?

Or perhaps there is a mechanical misalignment caused by during the repair?

Has anyone seen this before?

Thanks all!

Tim
 

tjv

Active member
Just for the record, this morning I printed some large patches of each colour and did another head clean and the alignment pattern came out spot on. Must have been some grit on the head. It's amazing how these printers work, really. So incredibly accurate!
 

takomaru

Member
tjv, hi:

When you first got your printer, I wrote you a couple of notes. There are some inherent complications on the 7600. The Epson technitian at my home, run every possible test with me before I finally switched it completely to K7 and since then no problems, except for vertical microbanding in uniform backgrounds in some especific zones, so I have to work on my files extensively.. The major head alignmet printout in a roll on Epson Enhanced Matte paper, did give me one tiny broken line in the Cyan and half a broken line in the LMagenta. Heads all flushed and evreything considered in perfect order. The conclusion of the technitian as of similar odd, inherent, unreasonable behavior, have no explanation, it is their behavior, and had the same problem with a pile of 7600/9600, but suggested strongly I keep it, for it was the last printer built 100% in Japan, and now on 7900/9900 have to change Chinese heads once a year at least, without counting on the rest of servicing, motherboards, etc. . Now I am perfectly happy with it running K7 B&W Matte. I have 4 other dedicated printers, and the rest is just continuous tone in both B&W and color. This is not going to help. But keep it, it is a very good printer with some faults and limitations, if you work with them, it will give you a very good output for a long time.

Now, I am rebuilding a 9600 exclusively for textile pigment inks, for printing on (canvas types), I use crepe de chin and wrap and strech it in a coarse canvas, and Belgian Linens but fix the ink with heat to be a part of the material rather than just glued to it. It's just fantastic. I was using a 9800 for this purpose, but all things considered the 9600 runs better. The 9800 broke weekly. I gave it away.

Best,
Takomaru
 

takomaru

Member
tvj:

Sorry, I did not answer your question. I never had any lines as yours, all flushed and straight. No quirks I will show this to the Epson techbiitian that will come to service a printer this week and I will let you know exactly what he has to say about this.

Best,
Takomaru
 

tjv

Active member
Thanks Takomaru,
Always great to receive information from members, no matter how seemingly insignificant. You never know what you learn and how things might come in handy in the future. My printer has worked itself out and is now printing perfectly. Loving this machine and so far it's just as capable as the 7800 I'm used too.
Thanks again,
Tim
 

takomaru

Member
tjv:

For me it is a better printer than the x800 series, which I had2, but with the 2 blacks limitation, the reason of some recurring to different inkset solutions. Less problems, as all made in China.

I forgot to ask you if you have performed a complete head alighment diagnostics? This is only done with a roll of 24 inch Epson Enhanced Matte, and will give you an exact diagnosis channel by channel and also the metric adjustment in the frame which is supposed to be 1m exactly. Sometimes ir is short or lonfer a bit, only milimiters and it is a way to alighn perfectly your output, which is milimetric.

I am glad your printer is working fine now,they tend to set with use, and I will let you know what my technitian has to say in that printout when he returnes from Singapore.

Best,
Takomaru
 

tjv

Active member
Thanks again Takomaru,

I performed all three alignment routines, the uni-all, bi-black and bi-all. Is there another alignment routine / diagnostic routine? I haven't got a roll of Enhanced Matt but was going to order some soon anyway. What you describe sounds very technical but interesting and I'd like to perform the test to satisfy my curiosity!

So far my printer is working really well. I'm currently only using it with doubleweight matte paper for basic colour proofing but images seem sharp edge to edge.

Interesting you think the 7600 is a better choice for you than the 7800. I don't print greyscale images but so far the colour is fantastic and every bit as good as the 7800 I'm used to using. The only thing I can say for certain is that the 7600 UC inks are not quite as scuff resistant compared to the newer K3 inks.

Thanks again!

TJV
 

takomaru

Member
tjv:

With the full diagnostic printout you will be able to tell exactly on head defficiencies. It is a bit complicated; as compared to a x800 it is much more limited, so there are quite small inherent defficiencies on the way it works, and some do have to be obviated and to work around in its performance, The metric function, which should be exactly one meter from the beginning to the end, both points marked, is one. I could only get 3mm closer to the mark on the downside. For the technitian, this behavior does influence the printing alignment. Also in the large printout, with the thick color lines of all channels of the printing head, you will be able to see exactly the conditions of your nozzle patterns. I had only one white line and a half. Minuscle and unpercieveable any other way, but it does influence output, and you can work around the limitations that this causes. knowing it.

In regards to the comment you made on the older set compared to the newer inksets of K3, the cartridges of 220mls are interchangeable between both models, so if you feel that your inkset in the newer x800 is more scuff resistant, by all means just substitute the ink cartridges. I did find the color saturation a bit more radiant in the 7600, and used it primarily for printing 3D art, which does require saturation on my HSL. Not so hot for skintones.

I do not use Epson Blacks in any of my Epson printers, for I do not like the green/yellowish cast of the OEM. Instead I use cartridges to load pure carbon inks from Cone, this is easily balanced in a profile, but gives me better results when printing B&W in RGB mode, I can switch to warmrone ones if I wish. I think that a better understanding on the capabilities of what an inkjet printer can do and it's possibilities, allow you to output exactly what you need. Nobody should have a say in what we can do, it is up to us to develop our own tool and to reconform them to our needs.

Please don't take literelly the part where I mentioned that it is a better printer. The x800 is a newer printer and has a better dithering pattern plus an extra black, that for printing says it all. I only refer to the mechanical functions as I already have gone thru a couple of x800's fast. They brake easier, and my technitian warned me on the pumps and the dampers, but it was all I could get to continue testing in my projects. So they did not last, and now I am finishing reconditioning the 9600 I bought and had to rebuilt, but for textile pigmen inks, I do need a workhorse, and that is exactly what the x600 series are.

Please do post when you do your full printout with the Enhanced Matt. I'd like to know how it went, and will try to help with anything if possible. I could not give you a response on your printout, for my technitian is still training in a labelling machine in Singapore.

Best,
Takomaru
 

tjv

Active member
Wow, great reply. Thanks Takomaru!
I did not know I could perform such a detailed test and I will definitely run it when I get some Enhanced matte paper.
Also, I did not know that you could use the 220ml 7800 carts in the 7600. Interesting, as my printer was given to me with 220ml carts. I have since bought a set of 110ml carts as I don't print enough to justify the extra cost.
My printer is working amazingly well now. Other than some nossels dropping out if I leave the printer for a couple of days, it's printing like a dream.
Thanks again, you have been extremely helpful!
T
 

takomaru

Member
tjv:

Glad I could be of any help. The 110 mil carts in both series are the same size, physically, so are the 220 ml. Only difference in the three Bl vs the 2 in the 7600. This does not change up to the 7880 with the new Vivid Magenta, so the color names and chips still are a match until then, So it also affects using third party inkset, because the x600 series does not need to be reset, once it is set to READY 0, it will stay that way including your maintenance tank. Basically the x800 series functions similarly, with only an initial setup.

I cannot understand the reason of clogging nozzles in your 7600. Are you leaving it on all the time? Have you tried just a simple swipe in case the ink is just caked on the print head? When you do the full printout, the white thin lines, will tell you exactly the condition of your nozzles. A whole thin white line, means almost one gone nozzle, and a partial one, partial flow. My 7600 in K7 only requires a nozzle printout once a week to be
perfectly functional, without any power or head cleanups, and the Cone Mk is denser than the OEM. It still does not clogg any nozzles, unless I leave it off for acouple of weeks. Then I have problems.

I like that you have a good understanding with your printer, and you seem to be capable of developing its potential.

Keep it up.

Best,
Yakomaru
 
Top