Digital BW, The Print

Hi all,

Purchased a refurb 1280 from Epson yesterday and buying UT2 later today. 
This UT2 will be the first and only ink into the printer, however I do want to do 
an inspection when it arrives anyway (I did get a refurb scanner from Epson 
once that had dust UNDER the glass and they had to replace it). I want to be 
sure the parking pads, which has been of raised concern before in this forum, 
are clean. I did some searches  for information on parking pads and have not 
come up with anything, written, photo, or diagram. Anyone have anything to 
share, schematics or places to find this information? I'm a technical person but 
pritners are a brand new thing to me as is BW printing.

Many thanks to everyone including Paul Roark and Clayton Jones and the 
information on their sites, I would not be venturing into this territory if it were 
not for them.

Craig

Craig,

> Purchased a refurb 1280 from Epson yesterday and buying UT2 later today.
> ...
> I want to be
> sure the parking pads, which has been of raised concern before in this
> forum, are clean...

To get to the pads, with the printer off move the large gear at the left of
the printer toward you.  This lets you move the print head assembly to the
left.  With a good light, the pad will be obvious.  Reverse the sequence
above after rinsing it off.

Good luck with your B&W printing.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Craig Snyder"
<forum@t...> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> <...> I did some searches  for information on parking pads and have
> not come up with anything, written, photo, or diagram. Anyone have
> anything to share, schematics or places to find this information? 
> I'm a technical person but pritners are a brand new thing to me as 
> is BW printing.

If you look into the printer from the front, the parking pad is on the
right side of the chassis.  It is where the head/cartridge assembly
"parks" when nothing is going on.

If you open the top of the printer and push the yellow button as if
you were going to change cartridges, then the head/cart assembly will
move to the left of the carriage.  Unplug the printer, then look to
the far right on the inside, and you will see the little rectangular
parking pad.  It is mounted on springs, and when the cartridge carrier
moves all the way to the right, the carrier bumps a lever which pushes
the pad up against the head.  If you reach in and touch the pad, you
can feel the assembly move around.  You don't want to push on it
forcefully, though.

You can clean it by squirting fluid (like Windex with ammonia, a mix
of ammonia and distilled water, or whatever else you think will work)
into it and then dabbing it with something that is lint-free, or even
suck the fluid back out with a syringe.

Maybe others have better methods.  The last time I did mine carefully,
I removed the screws that hold the plastic top on the printer and
removed it; this gave me much better access to the pad.  I repeatedly
soaked it with Windex via a syringe and then sucked it back out with
another syringe.  It came really clean this way.  The plastic cover
was a bit of a pain to get off because I had no manual and I didn't
want to force anything; it seemed to catch a bit, but I finally worked
it off.

Hope this verbose answer is somewhat helpful!

Eric

> I removed the screws that hold the plastic top on the printer and
> removed it; this gave me much better access to the pad.  I
repeatedly
> soaked it with Windex via a syringe and then sucked it back out with
> another syringe.  It came really clean this way.  The plastic cover
> was a bit of a pain to get off because I had no manual and I didn't
> want to force anything; it seemed to catch a bit, but I finally
worked
> it off.
The plastic top cover is held by 4 cross-head screws, all in vertical
orientation.  You need to remove the power and usb leads, and paper
trays and the lid of the printer - that pulls off easily when in a
nearly closed position. It helps to be able to get above the printer
(on a desk rather than a shelf - at least for the first couple of
times).  The basic motion is to lift up but to also rotate a little
towards the back (lift the front up more)and then push towards the
back a litte, to avoid catching on the parallel socket etc.  It should
not take much force.

After the first time, I think the better access to the parking pad
reduces the risk of damage more than any risk due to removing the top.

When closing it is easiest to put the paper thickness lever half way
between the two settings. 

Reassemble before connecting the power lead, of course.

Ken