Digital BW, The Print

The Epson certified repair technician that is servicing my 1160 had a
potentially very interesting observation.

He noted that the 1160 might have problems with pigmented inks due to the
design of the ink pad and waste drain on the left side of the carriage.  It
is designed for dyes, which soak right through the pad and then drain down a
tube to the main ink waste reservoir at the bottom of the printer.  However,
pigments do not soak through this pad.  The liquid carrier may, but the
particles make a sludge on top of the pad and ultimately start to get
re-deposited on the head -- causing clogs and other problems.

So, what this person did with my 1160 is simply remove the pad so that the
ink would just flow straight down the tube.  The tech says that newer Epsons
do not have the pad, which he claims is not needed.  He recommends that
anyone using pigments on an 1160 take some tweezers and pull out the pad.

I guess I'll find out whether this pad is needed or not, since the tech did
remove it from my 1160.  I'll let you know whether I find any differences.

Does anyone have any information about this pad and why it's there?

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com