Epson B1100 print problems

[Jesus]

hi guys.
Two weeks ago i bought a new epson B1100, just got refill carts and some sublimation ink of the cheaper variety, still £20 per 100 ml but cheaper none the less.
I loaded up my carts and installed them, ran a first print and it printed beautifuly, iv not yet got an icc profile but Paul will kindly be doing me one soon when/if i get these problems fixed. Im using Funky Leopard pro dye sub ultra paper. As i said the first prints were great, but a few days later the black has tons of white lines going horizontaly. All the other colours are fine, its just the black. I ran a nozzle check and everything looked fine, no gaps in the lines and the colour was fine, so i printed a design again but the same problem persists. I then ran a head clean, printed again and still not much change. What is the problem? Are the heads blocked? how do i fix it without wasting anymore ink, my black carts are already down 25%.

Second problem.. I printed some coloured squares out and pressed them onto a poly shirt, and some of the print has strange streakey areas that are fainter than the rest of the print, they look like white smudges. I dont think this is an ink issue as the smudges go through the different colours. Is this the paper or heat press?

Every time i get so close to being able to launching my site i run into another problem. Im getting really frustrated. I just want to get printing.

Please help

Dan

[Paul]

Hi Dan! What paper setting you use when printing? Also what quality? Photo? Standard...?

[Jesus]

Hi Dan! What paper setting you use when printing? Also what quality? Photo? Standard...?

Iv tried all of them, normal paper, gloss, semi gloss, matte, photo, best photo, all combinations, all prints turn out very much the same. Im completely baffled and so frustrated.

[Paul]

For leopard paper and b1100 i recomend matt paperl on photo quality. Also i.recomend edge amothing on too.

[Jesus]

ok thanks ill give that a go

[Jesus]

ok so i tried those settings, took the carts out and put them back in, did another head clean, and its still got lines running through it
What else can i try?

[JSR]

It's hard to pin down the cause of the issue. You're trying to run a business using the cheapest A3 printer, the cheapest ink you can find, refillable cartridges, the cheapest paper, etc... Going down this path is fine if you can troubleshoot for yourself, but it's difficult for anyone who doesn't use your set up to offer advice that might help.

All the main suppliers offer start-up packages using recommended items and they offer support. Going cheap means you'll have to accept that there will be times of frustration while you work through problems that arise. But at least at the end of it, you will have learnt a lot and will have plenty of experience with troubleshooting under your belt.

The settings Paul suggested should work fine if you have a good nozzle check pattern. If the nozzle check pattern isn't good, then no setting will help fix it. Are you getting a good nozzle check pattern now (both before and after your print)? If not, that's the area you need to be looking at. No amount of printing/pressing will help.

If the nozzle check is bad, then don't keep head-cleaning/printing because that doesn't solve anything. If the nozzle check doesn't improve within three head-cleans, then leave the printer alone. Poor nozzle checks don't always mean a blockage. On Epson printers, it often means you have an air lock in the printhead. This is because the printhead is so close to the cartridge. Using refillable cartridges in particular makes this issue more likely. If you remove the cartridges to refill them, then an air bubble can get into the printhead. If you allow your refillable cartridge to run dry (because of the auto-reset switch) then you have a high chance of introducing the air bubble.

The best way of removing an air lock is to let the printer alone for a while. Air is lighter than ink and so it will, eventually, migrate up out of the printhead and disappear on its own. But this can take time - sometimes a very long time. Because of this, you would be very wise to have a backup system in place - so one can be left idle while the other prints.

Air locks are less likely to happen when using a CISS or cartridges that are mounted remote from the printhead (Ricoh/Brother etc) because there's less opportunity for the ink to run dry. They are most likely to happen with entry-level Epson printers using refillable cartridges.

[Imme]

Hi Dan

If your print head gets blocked and it doesn't clear after one or two goes of the head cleaning cycle then you will just waste ink if you keep trying.
I would recommend that you keep a cleaning solution (something like ZAPP) to hand at all times, especially if you are going to leave your printer stood for more than a day or two.

[JSR]

Hi Dan

If your print head gets blocked and it doesn't clear after one or two goes of the head cleaning cycle then you will just waste ink if you keep trying.
I would recommend that you keep a cleaning solution (something like ZAPP) to hand at all times, especially if you are going to leave your printer stood for more than a day or two.

What is this "ZAPP" that everyone talks of? Do you have a link to it? I've never run into a problem that's needed it, but I'd like to bookmark it for future reference. Thanks!

[Paul]

Search ebay for zap head unblocker
Good atuuf. Does the job perfectly. I also had cleaning solution from coralgraph as it was n larger bottles. Doas the job too.