Digital BW, The Print

Last year I purchased an Epson R1800 for use as a "pure carbon"  
printer (3 MK).

Then about three months ago I splurged for an Epson 4880.

The R1800 sat unused for a month or so as I experimented with the  
4880, and when I came back to it, several colors were clogged.  No big  
deal, I thought. That happened with a 2200 as well, and a few cleaning  
cycles and/or Windex overnight and/or pigment-less cleaning cartridges  
always put it right.

With the R1800 I had a dreadful time cleaning the heads. It took me  
nearly two weeks of cleaning. soaking, sitting, cursing, threatening  
etc. to get it more-or-less working again.

The questions:

1)  Have others had unusual difficulties cleaning the heads with 1.5  
picoliter droplets?  I would *guess* that some of the difficulty is  
related to the smaller dot-size-possibility with the R1800 (in  
comparison with the 2200, C86 and similar "older" versions).

2) If you are using the 3-black version of printing, how do you test  
and clean the third black... the one in the "glop" position?  The  
usual head test does not print a test pattern of that position.   Does  
anyone have an efficient alternative head test?

3) Does anyone know whether the Epson cleaning cycles clean the "glop"  
position?

Myron

Which color inks did you have in the 1800?

I have not had any clogging issues, but, nonetheless, I've set mine 
up now with Eboni in C, MK and PK, and cleaning fluid "insulatore" 
next to the 3 Eboni positions.  

Because I do want to continue to experiment with the glossy papers 
and 100% carbon printing, I also have MIS Pro PK in the Y position 
and glop in the GO and Blue spots.  This leaves one space on each 
side of the Eboni spots for cleaning fluid.  I think there may be 
some value in separating the high load MK from the glossy ink and 
glop, which obviously have a fair amount of binder in them. 

The GO position is just like a color position with respect to 
cleaning.  For nozzle checks, the checkerboard pattern seems to 
indicate how it is performing, though I am clueless as to how it does 
so.

Paul   
www.PaulRoark.com  

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Myron Gochnauer 
<goch@...> wrote:
>
> Last year I purchased an Epson R1800 for use as a "pure carbon"  
> printer (3 MK).
> 
> Then about three months ago I splurged for an Epson 4880.
> 
> The R1800 sat unused for a month or so as I experimented with the  
> 4880, and when I came back to it, several colors were clogged.  No 
big  
> deal, I thought. That happened with a 2200 as well, and a few 
cleaning  
> cycles and/or Windex overnight and/or pigment-less cleaning 
cartridges  
> always put it right.
> 
> With the R1800 I had a dreadful time cleaning the heads. It took 
me  
> nearly two weeks of cleaning. soaking, sitting, cursing, 
threatening  
> etc. to get it more-or-less working again.
> 
> The questions:
> 
> 1)  Have others had unusual difficulties cleaning the heads with 
1.5  
> picoliter droplets?  I would *guess* that some of the difficulty 
is  
> related to the smaller dot-size-possibility with the R1800 (in  
> comparison with the 2200, C86 and similar "older" versions).
> 
> 2) If you are using the 3-black version of printing, how do you 
test  
> and clean the third black... the one in the "glop" position?  The  
> usual head test does not print a test pattern of that position.   
Does  
> anyone have an efficient alternative head test?
> 
> 3) Does anyone know whether the Epson cleaning cycles clean 
the "glop"  

> position?
> 
> Myron
>

my r1800 is horrible, clog-wise. i can't wait for the day i can dance
on its grave. running cleaning cycles actually makes mine worse. every
week to ten day i have to typically spend two days cleaning.

i'm pretty sure all channels get cleaned during a cycle, regardless.

sometimes i run out the quadtonerip calibration image to check/purge.
(after soaking the head, i sometimes get a bit of contamination from
the pads in the head-park area.)

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Myron Gochnauer
<goch@...> wrote:

>
> Last year I purchased an Epson R1800 for use as a "pure carbon"  
> printer (3 MK).
> 
> Then about three months ago I splurged for an Epson 4880.
> 
> The R1800 sat unused for a month or so as I experimented with the  
> 4880, and when I came back to it, several colors were clogged.  No big  
> deal, I thought. That happened with a 2200 as well, and a few cleaning  
> cycles and/or Windex overnight and/or pigment-less cleaning cartridges  
> always put it right.
> 
> With the R1800 I had a dreadful time cleaning the heads. It took me  
> nearly two weeks of cleaning. soaking, sitting, cursing, threatening  
> etc. to get it more-or-less working again.
> 
> The questions:
> 
> 1)  Have others had unusual difficulties cleaning the heads with 1.5  
> picoliter droplets?  I would *guess* that some of the difficulty is  
> related to the smaller dot-size-possibility with the R1800 (in  
> comparison with the 2200, C86 and similar "older" versions).
> 
> 2) If you are using the 3-black version of printing, how do you test  
> and clean the third black... the one in the "glop" position?  The  
> usual head test does not print a test pattern of that position.   Does  
> anyone have an efficient alternative head test?
> 
> 3) Does anyone know whether the Epson cleaning cycles clean the "glop"  
> position?
> 
> Myron
>

> Which color inks did you have in the 1800?

I'm using MIS inks, with all of the colors "normal".  Eboni is in MK, PK and GO.

> I have not had any clogging issues, but, nonetheless, I've set mine 
> up now with Eboni in C, MK and PK, and cleaning fluid "insulatore" 
> next to the 3 Eboni positions.  
> Because I do want to continue to experiment with the glossy papers 
> and 100% carbon printing, I also have MIS Pro PK in the Y position 
> and glop in the GO and Blue spots.

So lineup, from left to right is as follows? ---

Normal:  Y       M     C      MK   PK     R     B       GO
You:         Pk     cln   Eb    Eb    Eb     cln   GO   GO