Digital BW, The Print

I have been printing on an Epson 1280, using the Piezography BW plug-
in and PiezoTone inks for over a year now. I have been very pleased 
with the results I have been getting, and have had hardly any 
problems at all....until now. I am pretty sure that this is a printer 
problem and not really a Piezography software or ink problem.

The problem I am having is sort of tricky to describe, but I will do 
my best. I have to start by asking a question: After completion of a 
print, the print head moves over to the "home" position at the right 
side of the printer, and then makes a kind of humming noise for about 
five seconds or so. What is this? Is it some kind of purge cycle or a 
cleaning cycle? What is happening here? (For clarification, I will 
refer to this as the "mystery cycle" from this point forward.) The 
1280 always does this after completion of a print; it also occurs 
(mid-print) when printing a large print (13x19). About 2/3 of the way 
through printing a 13x19, printing will stop, this "mystery cycle" 
will take place, then printing resumes.

Here is the problem. Whenever this "mystery cycle" occurs, 
immediately afterwards, the black position nozzles are clogged, and I 
mean badly clogged. How do I know this? After completion of a small 
print job, say a 5x7 or an 8x10, I do a nozzle check and discover 
that the black position is badly clogged, even though a nozzle check 
prior to printing was perfect! And the print is perfect, so the 
nozzle did not become clogged during printing. It leads me to believe 
that this "mystery cycle" that occurs after completion of the print 
job is what is actually clogging the nozzles. Also, when (as 
described above) this "mystery cycle" occurs about 2/3 of the way 
through a 13x19 print, the portion of the print which printed before 
the "mystery cycle" is perfect, but the remainder of the print job 
after the "mystery cycle" suffers from obvious micro-banding due to 
the clogged black-position nozzle. This is confirmed by a nozzle 
check after the print job is completed.

I am certain that this "mystery cycle" is causing the clogging. And 
is not an intermittent problem; the clogging is occurring after every 
print. The thing that has me puzzled is I can run a cleaning cycle 
and I always get a perfect nozzle check afterwards. Obviously, this 
is costing me lots of wasted ink due to way too many nozzle checks 
and cleaning cycles. And in the case of 13x19 prints, the bottom 1/3 
of the print, the portion of the print after the "mystery cycle" is 
ruined from micro-banding. Until I get this fixed I can't make any 
more 13x19 prints.

Does anyone know what this is? Has anyone else had this problem? And 
most importantly, how do I fix it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff,

you may have to clean the pads where the heads flush their ink.  Something 
you can do with a lintless kitchen towel - dry at first, slightly moistened with 
Windex eventually. Be careful, don't put too much pressure, use a flashlight 
and common sense! 

Antonis


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Jeff Moore" 
<jeffmoore17@c...> wrote:
.....

> Does anyone know what this is? Has anyone else had this problem? And 
> most importantly, how do I fix it?
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff,

I had a similar problem on my 1200.  It turned out that the rod the 
heads travel on was gummed up and needed cleaning and lubricating.  I 
went over it with windex on a q tip and then lubricated it lightly.  
I was amazed at the gunk that came off.  What would happen is that 
every time the heads parked, they would vibrate loudly and the black 
and other would clog up.

Steve


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Jeff Moore" 
<jeffmoore17@c...> wrote:
> I have been printing on an Epson 1280, using the Piezography BW 
plug-
> in and PiezoTone inks for over a year now. I have been very pleased 
> with the results I have been getting, and have had hardly any 
> problems at all....until now. I am pretty sure that this is a 
printer 
> problem and not really a Piezography software or ink problem.
> 
> The problem I am having is sort of tricky to describe, but I will 
do 
> my best. I have to start by asking a question: After completion of 
a 
> print, the print head moves over to the "home" position at the 
right 
> side of the printer, and then makes a kind of humming noise for 
about 
> five seconds or so. What is this? Is it some kind of purge cycle or 
a 
> cleaning cycle? What is happening here? (For clarification, I will 
> refer to this as the "mystery cycle" from this point forward.) The 
> 1280 always does this after completion of a print; it also occurs 
> (mid-print) when printing a large print (13x19). About 2/3 of the 
way 
> through printing a 13x19, printing will stop, this "mystery cycle" 
> will take place, then printing resumes.
> 
> Here is the problem. Whenever this "mystery cycle" occurs, 
> immediately afterwards, the black position nozzles are clogged, and 
I 
> mean badly clogged. How do I know this? After completion of a small 
> print job, say a 5x7 or an 8x10, I do a nozzle check and discover 
> that the black position is badly clogged, even though a nozzle 
check 
> prior to printing was perfect! And the print is perfect, so the 
> nozzle did not become clogged during printing. It leads me to 
believe 
> that this "mystery cycle" that occurs after completion of the print 
> job is what is actually clogging the nozzles. Also, when (as 
> described above) this "mystery cycle" occurs about 2/3 of the way 
> through a 13x19 print, the portion of the print which printed 
before 
> the "mystery cycle" is perfect, but the remainder of the print job 
> after the "mystery cycle" suffers from obvious micro-banding due to 
> the clogged black-position nozzle. This is confirmed by a nozzle 
> check after the print job is completed.
> 
> I am certain that this "mystery cycle" is causing the clogging. And 
> is not an intermittent problem; the clogging is occurring after 
every 
> print. The thing that has me puzzled is I can run a cleaning cycle 
> and I always get a perfect nozzle check afterwards. Obviously, this 
> is costing me lots of wasted ink due to way too many nozzle checks 
> and cleaning cycles. And in the case of 13x19 prints, the bottom 
1/3 
> of the print, the portion of the print after the "mystery cycle" is 
> ruined from micro-banding. Until I get this fixed I can't make any 
> more 13x19 prints.
> 
> Does anyone know what this is? Has anyone else had this problem? 
And 

> most importantly, how do I fix it?
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.