Digital BW, The Print

Epson 1160 fans,

I posted this on the Piezo3000 list and thought you would also find 
it useful.
I ripped apart my 1160 just to see its guts before I buried it. The 
circuit board was fried and not worth repairing. I learned a bit 
about the print head that is worth passing on.  There is a picture of 
it here: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/8874/inkjet1.jpg  I 
presume other printer models are similar.
Now that I have seen the little booger up close I have a better idea 
about fixing clogs. You can just see the fine nozzle pattern in the 
pic. It is less delicate than I expected. The cleaning method of 
running the head back and forth over an alcohol or Windex soaked 
cloth on the roller bed should cause no damage and be very effective. 
The really clog susceptible area turns out to be the passages from 
the nipples (where the cart pushes on) to the nozzle cavity. I think 
that is where the clogs from hell originate.  I attached a piece of 
surgical tubing to a syringe full of alcohol and squirted it through 
each of the nipples. Two were completely clogged. I used a fine 
sewing needle to free them up and then thoroughly purged them. I see 
no reason to remove the head to get the worst clogs once you do the 
needle and flush trick. 

Getting the head off and on is not that hard. It is all snap fit once 
you remove the covers. There is some sort of adjustment lever on the 
side that I wasn't able to figure out. I marked its setting with a 
pencil. Incidentally if you haven't seen where all the yuck goes from 
purging - there is a very large, thick absorbent material that runs 
the length of the machine. I noticed that the area where I had been 
flooding with alcohol had cleared to white and the parking pads were 
white again. Hats off to Epson for a very sophisticated design.

AZ

on 1/21/02 9:41 PM, panoramas.geo wrote:

> There is a picture of
> it here: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/8874/inkjet1.jpg  I
> presume other printer models are similar.
> Now that I have seen the little booger up close I have a better idea
> about fixing clogs. You can just see the fine nozzle pattern in the
> pic.

I don't have a bearing on that pic. Could you describe exactly what we are
looking at? Is that some sort of mesh screen that the inks exit through? Do
all the ink colors pass through that one part, or does each color have one?
Etc....

Thanks, this is good to know.

Todd

Tod,

It LOOKS to me like the printing surface, ie the surface the ink droplets
get jetted from. You can just see three pairs of light black lines on the
image which will be the two rows of nozzles (each head is made up of a pair,
with even and odd 'lines' on different columns).

Nij

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Todd Flashner [mailto:tflash@...]
> Sent: 22 January 2002 03:32
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [Digital BW] 1160 print head
>
>
> on 1/21/02 9:41 PM, panoramas.geo wrote:
>
> > There is a picture of
> > it here: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/8874/inkjet1.jpg  I
> > presume other printer models are similar.
> > Now that I have seen the little booger up close I have a better idea
> > about fixing clogs. You can just see the fine nozzle pattern in the
> > pic.
>
> I don't have a bearing on that pic. Could you describe exactly what we are
> looking at? Is that some sort of mesh screen that the inks exit
> through? Do
> all the ink colors pass through that one part, or does each color
> have one?
> Etc....
>
> Thanks, this is good to know.
>
> Todd

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "panoramas.geo" <AZinn@n...> 
wrote:
> Epson 1160 fans,
> 

> Getting the head off and on is not that hard. It is all snap fit 
once 
> you remove the covers. There is some sort of adjustment lever on the 
> side that I wasn't able to figure out. 

Yes, it's in my shop manual (for the 760, similar), and you don't want 
to REMOVE THE HEAD!!!

I have the Epson shop manual for the 760 because they won't sell me 
the one for the 1160, it does exist though.. It covers removal, 
installation of printhead which is similar to 1160. It requires 
special software that I can't get from Epson or a qualified tech- they 
won't sell it to me, although the Epson tech admitted he had it. That 
adjustment lever is mentioned, and you have to run the software to 
align head three separate ways and reburn the EProm memory in printer.

There's an "angular alignment" and a "bidirectional alignment". Also a 
"voltage ID" if you're installing a new head.

I know the MIS site has info on removing head and cleaning, but don't 
do it!! There are ten pages+ in the shop manual dedicated to aligning 
the printhead, and it all hinges on having the software and a very 
good eyeloupe. They also give a screenshot of the splashscreen for the 
software, which clearly indicates it is used for the 760, the 860, 
AND the 1160. It only runs on windows 98, and only then through the 
LPT1 parralell port...this is how it re-burns the Eproms.

If some people have had sucess reinstalling their heads without the 
re-alignment software, well good luck to them. Maybe it's not that 
noticable that your head is skewed. But Epson treats the subject 
seriously- a major part of manual is given over to it.
Jim H.

At 04:50 AM 1/22/02 -0000, you wrote:
>Tod,
>
>It LOOKS to me like the printing surface, ie the surface the ink droplets
>get jetted from. You can just see three pairs of light black lines on the
>image which will be the two rows of nozzles (each head is made up of a pair,
>with even and odd 'lines' on different columns).
>
>Nij
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Todd Flashner [mailto:tflash@...]
>> Sent: 22 January 2002 03:32
>> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
>> Subject: Re: [Digital BW] 1160 print head
>>
>>
>> on 1/21/02 9:41 PM, panoramas.geo wrote:
>>
>> > There is a picture of
>> > it here: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/8874/inkjet1.jpg  I
>> > presume other printer models are similar.

That is correct - it is the face of the print head with the jet orifaces
showing. I couldn't tell what the material is.  It is sealed so I don't know
what the inside looks like. I may break into it but it will ruin it.

AZ
Maker of Lookaround panoramic camera.

www.geocities.com/soho/gallery/8874/
         or
keyword.com lookaround

Jim,
every word seconded.
I once whitnessed the changing of an Epson 3000 printhead by 
a serviceman in my office.
It took him 2 1/2 hours, mostly spent for software-guided 
printhead alignement using his Win-Laptop.
Bernd



-- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "jimhayes361" 
<jimhayes@j...> wrote:
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "panoramas.geo" 
<AZinn@n...> 
> wrote:
> > Epson 1160 fans,
> > 
> 
> > Getting the head off and on is not that hard. It is all snap fit 
> once 
> > you remove the covers. There is some sort of adjustment 
lever on the 
> > side that I wasn't able to figure out. 
> 
> Yes, it's in my shop manual (for the 760, similar), and you don't 
want 
> to REMOVE THE HEAD!!!
> 
> I have the Epson shop manual for the 760 because they won't 
sell me 
> the one for the 1160, it does exist though.. It covers removal, 
> installation of printhead which is similar to 1160. It requires 
> special software that I can't get from Epson or a qualified tech- 
they 
> won't sell it to me, although the Epson tech admitted he had it. 
That 
> adjustment lever is mentioned, and you have to run the 
software to 
> align head three separate ways and reburn the EProm 
memory in printer.
> 
> There's an "angular alignment" and a "bidirectional alignment". 
Also a 
> "voltage ID" if you're installing a new head.
> 
> I know the MIS site has info on removing head and cleaning, 
but don't 
> do it!! There are ten pages+ in the shop manual dedicated to 
aligning 
> the printhead, and it all hinges on having the software and a 
very 
> good eyeloupe. They also give a screenshot of the 
splashscreen for the 
> software, which clearly indicates it is used for the 760, the 860, 
> AND the 1160. It only runs on windows 98, and only then 
through the 
> LPT1 parralell port...this is how it re-burns the Eproms.
> 
> If some people have had sucess reinstalling their heads 
without the 
> re-alignment software, well good luck to them. Maybe it's not 
that 
> noticable that your head is skewed. But Epson treats the 
subject 
> seriously- a major part of manual is given over to it.
> Jim H.

Oh, so it appears that the individual nozzles may not even get dried out,
but the bottom of this "screen" material does.

It's easy to see how any drying of ink down there could "deflect" the ink,
preventing it from hitting the paper precisely where the nozzle is trying to
put it.

It's amazing these suckers work at all. ;-)

Todd

>> Tod,
>> 
>> It LOOKS to me like the printing surface, ie the surface the ink droplets
>> get jetted from. You can just see three pairs of light black lines on the
>> image which will be the two rows of nozzles (each head is made up of a pair,
>> with even and odd 'lines' on different columns).
>> 
>> Nij
>> 

> That is correct - it is the face of the print head with the jet orifaces
> showing. I couldn't tell what the material is.  It is sealed so I don't know
> what the inside looks like. I may break into it but it will ruin it.
> 
> AZ
> Maker of Lookaround panoramic camera.
> 
> www.geocities.com/soho/gallery/8874/
> or
> keyword.com lookaround

At 11:21 PM 1/22/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Oh, so it appears that the individual nozzles may not even get dried out,
>but the bottom of this "screen" material does.
>
>It's easy to see how any drying of ink down there could "deflect" the ink,
>preventing it from hitting the paper precisely where the nozzle is trying to
>put it.
>
>It's amazing these suckers work at all. ;-)
>
>Todd
>
>
>>> Tod,
>>> 
>>> It LOOKS to me like the printing surface, ie the surface the ink droplets
>>> get jetted from. You can just see three pairs of light black lines on the
>>> image which will be the two rows of nozzles (each head is made up of a pair,
>>> with even and odd 'lines' on different columns).
>>> 
>>> Nij
>>> 

The parts inside the head are way-fine. It is hard to determine exactly how
it works. There seems to be only three double rows of jets. 
I added some more pictures of the opened head on my web pages:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/8874/inkjet1.html

AZ
Maker of Lookaround panoramic camera.

www.geocities.com/soho/gallery/8874/
         or
keyword.com lookaround