Digital BW, The Print

About five days ago I put a new black MIS FS cartridge in my Epson 980 and have been unable to get a clean nozzle check for the black cartridge ever since.  My 980 has performed flawlessly for the past 10 months, but it seems my luck has run out.  I ran two cleaning cycles after initially inserting the new cartridge (with nozzle checks before and after each cycle).  I've printed several photos (with varying degrees of banding, which I've NEVER had before this) and MIS 4 color purge prints.  I've run cleaning cycles again (never more than 3 at a time, with nozzle checks between cleaning cycles) and still I'm getting banding and imperfect nozzle check prints (only in the black grids).  All total, I think I've run 9-10 cleaning cycles (again, never more than 3 at a time), let the print sit for 24 hours or more, but the problem only seems to have gotten worse.  So now I'm wondering if I've somehow got more air bubbles in the print head nozzles (as a result of the cleaning cycles) and what I should do next.  Some sort of windex treatment?  Replace with a new black cartridge and hope for the best?  This is the first time I've had any problems with this printer and I'm at a loss for what to try next.  It's been such a reliable and terrific printer for me.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  :-(

Gary Benson
Eagle River, AK


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Maybe a little more info would help. Esp, what does the k nozzle check 
look like. Is it completely missing? Are only some specific postions 
missing? Or does it jump around, always with spaces missing, but in 
different places?
Jim H.





--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Gary Benson" 
<bensonga@g...> wrote:
> About five days ago I put a new black MIS FS cartridge in my Epson 
980 and have been unable to get a clean nozzle check for the black 
cartridge ever since.  My 980 has performed flawlessly for the past 10 
months, but it seems my luck has run out.  I ran two cleaning cycles 
after initially inserting the new cartridge (with nozzle checks before 
and after each cycle).  I've printed several photos (with varying 
degrees of banding, which I've NEVER had before this) and MIS 4 color 
purge prints.  I've run cleaning cycles again (never more than 3 at a 
time, with nozzle checks between cleaning cycles) and still I'm 
getting banding and imperfect nozzle check prints (only in the black 
grids).  All total, I think I've run 9-10 cleaning cycles (again, 
never more than 3 at a time), let the print sit for 24 hours or more, 
but the problem only seems to have gotten worse.  So now I'm wondering 
if I've somehow got more air bubbles in the print head nozzles (as a 
result of the cleaning cycles) and what I should do next.  Some sort 
of windex treatment?  Replace with a new black cartridge and hope for 
the best?  This is the first time I've had any problems with this 
printer and I'm at a loss for what to try next.  It's been such a 
reliable and terrific printer for me.  Any suggestions would be 
greatly appreciated.  :-(

> 
> Gary Benson
> Eagle River, AK
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Jim,

I searched the archives and distilled information from the many posts 
to the list on clearing clogs using various windex and paper towel 
techniques.  Over the weekend I tried these and on Sunday evening 
tried the printer again -- still no luck, the black nozzles are still 
partially clogged resulting in very noticeable banding.

Specifically, the left most black grid on top is mostly there, with 
just a few gaps showing up here and there.  The black grid on the top 
right is the one that has been the worst and gotten worse over time.  
Lots of gaps, not always in the same place after a cleaning cycle.  
The three grids below from the color positions have always printed 
out perfectly.

So, since the windex and paper towel techniques did not work for me, 
I'm wondering what to try next.  The windex direct injection as 
described on the MIS website?  I've thought about pulling both of the 
cartridges and putting in Epson OEM cartridges for awhile (read 
something about the Epson inks being good for clearing air bubbles).  
Or purchasing some cleaning cartridges from MIS and running those for 
awhile before installing new cartridges.

Any suggestions?  I sure would like to get back to making prints 
again.

Gary Benson
Eagle River, AK


<jimhayes@f...> wrote:

> Esp, what does the k nozzle check 
> look like. Is it completely missing? Are only some specific
> postions missing? Or does it jump around, always with spaces
> missing, but in 
> different places?
> Jim H.

> <bensonga@g...> wrote:
> >Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  :-(
> > 
> > Gary Benson
> > Eagle River, AK