Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Cooke" <rcooke@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Folks,
> 
> Is there any way to move the heads of a R1800 to the exchange position without triggering a cleaning cycle?  I've tried turning it off and then on and unplugging it but it will still do the cleaning cycle and use up more ink.  I've tried the SSC utility but it just causes the LEDs to blink red without moving the heads.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Richard Cooke
> www.cookephoto.net
> Lake Forest, CA USA
>

Normally, if you look in under the heads when they are parked, you will see a white or black piece of plastic near the front (paper discharge side) of the head. On many Epson printers you can flick this plastic piece toward the front of the printer (where it spits out the prints) and this will let you slide the head.

Note that Epson has changed the design and that at some point they went to locking this mechanism so that you can no longer just move the plastic stopper out of the way. My RX680 is like this. On the RX680 you must select on the control panel that you want to change an ink cart, this unlocks the heads and moves them over. If you wait for about 30 seconds to 1 minute you can then move the heads by hand, before the timer expires the heads are held in the change position by the drive motor. You can also unplug the power which will allow the heads to move once they are unlocked.

Also on the newer printers like my RX680... DO NOT turn the head guide rod!!! This rod now turns to allow for raising the head for thick paper (rides on an offset cam on each side). If you turn it, it will throw the mechanisms out of time and you could have a useless printer. Unplugging mine for more than a weekend seemed to fix this issue, but I wouldn't tempt fate. I'm not certain when they started the new method of locking the head and raising the head, hopefully they will remove this design as it makes the printer very fragile, especially since it doesn't seem smart enough to go through and re-time each mechanism individually to get it all back in working mode. This same thing will haunt you if you have a paper jam, don't just reach in and pull the paper out, follow the directions or it will again be out of time.