Hey everyone,
I finally got everything in place yesterday, and set up a used, but excellent condition Artisan 1430 with the MIS Eboni-6 ink set. The quality of the images so far is great, but was having trouble with some blotching ink on 3 out of the 4 test prints I ran. I thought the blotches of ink would go away after a couple runs, and the second one was perfect, but then it got worse with the next two, so I did a cleaning, and then a head check, then repeated that, and found that I am getting inconsistent results from the head check prints.
I've now done the cleaning through the Epson printer drive 4 times, and done a check each time, and each time there are different results. Never perfect, but always a different head that isn't quite right.
I know that heads work, as I ran two tests with the Epson ink before I purchased the machine, and both came back flawless. After bringing it home, I ran a couple prints with the original ink, and they looked good as well. It's only after installing the MIS cartridges that I've had problems.
When starting the new refill cartridges, if anything, I underfilled the cartridges, leaving room at the top (about 10ccs, when they will take up to 12 or 13 it seems). I replaced the fill hole plugs tightly, but removed the clear vent caps, as per the MIS instructions on the inksupply.com website. I used a knife to lightly puncture the plastic covering the bottom hole, but left the plastic in place, and drew enough ink out of the bottom to get past any air pockets. I also let the printer sit overnight, wondering if maybe the problem was air bubbles, but picked up the next day exactly where I left off, with the same problems. I've also tried removing the ink cartridges and reinstalling them.
I can keep running cleanings, but I don't seem to be making progress with that. I'm looking for other suggestions...
Thanks,
Stephen
Message
Re: [Digital BW] Artisan 1430 with Eboni-6 - Blotching and inconsistend print heads
2013-10-11 by Paul Roark
Foreign objects on the bottom of the head sometimes gives me problems. (I suspect it's mostly dog hair in my house, and rare in any case.) The wiper blade doesn't always do it's job of removing the offending stuff. I use sewers' bias tape from Walmart, soaked with Windex, to gently pull back and forth across the head to remove whatever is there.
Paul
On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 10:48 AM, <climballday@...> wrote: