Epson B1100 - Constant Blockages!!

[karens]

Then it sounds like you need to replace your cart & tube assembly on the EasyFlow system. If you'd like to email us with your account reference/ invoice number relating to the original purchase of the EasyFlow system from us then we can take it from there.

Email winging it's way to you Martin! Thank you!

[karens]

refillable carts are about £10 off flebay
and you can use the same ink

Cheaper than I thought actually )
I need to get up and running without spending anything for now (having spent so much already!) but I'll definitely look into the refillables at some point! Thank you!

[karens]

Hi again people!
Thanks Martin for sending the replacement tube & cart, due to various personal reasons I have only just been able to try and get the system up and running again - without much success I'm afraid and I'm looking for help again!!

Starting at the beginning of todays story... I checked the printer was still in full working order with the Epson inks that I'd left in it - which it was. I then replaced the Epsons with the sublimation unit and connected the tubes to the tanks. I noticed a lot of air in the yellow tube which didn't clear on the initial charge so I pulled the ink through with the syringe though the bung on the cartridge - seems to be ok. I then noticed that there was no ink in the magenta tube so tried the same thing but all I was getting was bubbly ink. On closer inspection I can see that the magenta isn't getting from the tubes attached to the tank to the tubes attached to the carts. I undid and re-did the connection and tried doing it up tighter and leaving it looser etc but to no avail. I have pulled ink out of the tank-tubes with the (needle-less) syringe and it come through easily. As far as I can see there is no blockage in the cart-tube attachment so I'm now completely stumped again...

I have an event this Thursday and need to catch up making stock after this long gap - I had hoped that a whole day on it today would've given me a good start but again the system is sitting on the desk useless!!

Please help!!

Karen x

[bms]

Hi again people!
Thanks Martin for sending the replacement tube & cart, due to various personal reasons I have only just been able to try and get the system up and running again - without much success I'm afraid and I'm looking for help again!!

Starting at the beginning of todays story... I checked the printer was still in full working order with the Epson inks that I'd left in it - which it was. I then replaced the Epsons with the sublimation unit and connected the tubes to the tanks. I noticed a lot of air in the yellow tube which didn't clear on the initial charge so I pulled the ink through with the syringe though the bung on the cartridge - seems to be ok. I then noticed that there was no ink in the magenta tube so tried the same thing but all I was getting was bubbly ink. On closer inspection I can see that the magenta isn't getting from the tubes attached to the tank to the tubes attached to the carts. I undid and re-did the connection and tried doing it up tighter and leaving it looser etc but to no avail. I have pulled ink out of the tank-tubes with the (needle-less) syringe and it come through easily. As far as I can see there is no blockage in the cart-tube attachment so I'm now completely stumped again...

I have an event this Thursday and need to catch up making stock after this long gap - I had hoped that a whole day on it today would've given me a good start but again the system is sitting on the desk useless!!

Please help!!

Karen x

I'd suggest removing the carts from the printer and seeing if you can push ink from the connector into the magenta cartridge. Will it go that way? Or put the syringe (without needle) into the base of the cartridge where the ink comes out and suck back with the syringe body - can you pull ink through? If you have a vacuum being created, is there any evidence of a blockage (where the right angled plastic enters the magenta body from the tubes?).

Have a go at disassembling the old cart & tube assembly first rather than mess up the new one to test this first!

[karens]

Hi Martin, thanks for the quick reply.

Still no luck I'm afraid... I tried to push the ink through but with no joy, I couldn't get a proper seal between the connector and the syringe as they're the same size but certainly gave it my best shot! I then tried to pull the ink through from the underneath of the cartridge but all I was getting was vacuum and no ink. I then looked at the top of the carts to see if I could spot any oddities here, the only thing I could see to try was to give the tubes a little wiggle where they sit under the clip in case one was being squashed or something. Convinced this would have solved the problem I tried printing again only to find the situation seems to now be worse...!! Having run a couple of headcleans in desperation now all I am getting is one slightly patchy black, one very patchy black and no C, M or Y at all

I can't believe this! Surely I can't be the only one who has all this trouble??!

[bms]

Hi Martin, thanks for the quick reply.

Still no luck I'm afraid... I tried to push the ink through but with no joy, I couldn't get a proper seal between the connector and the syringe as they're the same size but certainly gave it my best shot! I then tried to pull the ink through from the underneath of the cartridge but all I was getting was vacuum and no ink. I then looked at the top of the carts to see if I could spot any oddities here, the only thing I could see to try was to give the tubes a little wiggle where they sit under the clip in case one was being squashed or something. Convinced this would have solved the problem I tried printing again only to find the situation seems to now be worse...!! Having run a couple of headcleans in desperation now all I am getting is one slightly patchy black, one very patchy black and no C, M or Y at all

I can't believe this! Surely I can't be the only one who has all this trouble??!

Is the vacuum issue the same on both cartridge blocks?

[karens]

Just reconnected the old magenta to the tank and tried to pull ink through from underneath of cart - same problem, pulling doesn't bring anything through and the syringe wants to pop straight back if I were to let go.
Checked that I could still pull ink from tank into syringe at connector and that's fine, no problem/vacuum at all. This is making less & less sense to me! :-/

[Paul]

might be silly question but you removed rubber bungers from ciss??

[sensor]

Hi Karen,

Just an idea have you tryed this....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i78Tu3RVO3s

[karens]

might be silly question but you removed rubber bungers from ciss??

Hi Paul

Haven't done anything to the tanks, other than attach / re-attach cart tubes. The bungs are in as they always have been...