DSF

Now that I'm commited to coming out of retirement, but going the dye sub route this time, I looked on ebygum for a printer first, and my eye lit upon a lonely (no carts, no cables, no history etc.) 4015 for £25.
So needing yet another challenge to a life filled with too much to do, I bought it.

The machine looks to be in good condition, and while there is a reasonable amount of ink in the 'maintenance box', there's only a small amount of paper dust inside, and might have been looked after - no scuff marks - so I'm happy with my purchase so far.
I've downloaded the user manual, installation guide and the 'universal driver' for the 4015 from epson's pages.
Questions
1. Is the default icc profile contained in the driver file ?
2. As I don't know what ink was used previously in this machine(though it was listed as a sublimation printer)
I assume it would be a good idea to fill the carts(when they arrive ) with a flushing solution ?
3. It's a long time since I set up a printer in Windows xp, as my last six years have been with Ubuntu, so if I just connect up, and the wizard starts, asks me for the CD, I browse for my downloaded files (unzipped?)
and press on ?
4. If the answer to Q1. is 'yes', fine. I'll start tweaking colours later, but if 'no', what do I do next ?

I'm familiar with icc profile from previous life of graphics, but I've forgotten a lot. The old grey cells aren't what they were.
Regards all,
John

You will need a new profile for the sublimation ink you have purchased, any default profile will be useless.

To install, unplug the USB cable, run the installation set up file and insert USB cable when the wizard starts.

Does anyone have both a fairly new(ie empty) 'maintenance box' for the 4015, and a digital scale that could weigh it to the nearest gram ?
My one of unkown use weighs 176 gms.
There will be a variable weight loss from drying out of the residual ink, but at least it would give me some idea of how much use its had.
I can see that there is an 8 pin chip mounted on the outside of the box, and a couple of aligned cut outs in the felt block inside, so I'd guess that a simple led/optical sensor tells the machine when the ink level has got high enough to trigger a 'full' warning by interupting the optical path.

John

I've now got ipa + ammonia solution in all the cartridges, and the cyan and yellow show clogged noddles.
A few cleaning cyles shows no change, so I need to get at the head.
I've got the head running free, with the power off, but getting at the printhead for manual cleaning would be a lot easier if I could take the top cover off.
Any ideas ?
So far I can only see two screws at the back, and removing them allows a small amount of movement, but not freedom.

John

Found disassembly of a 4020 on u-tube showing the solution !

Taking just the outer top off does give a couple of more inches access, but I think I'll have to take off the next layer as well, as per video.
So, re-assemble (good practice) and start again fresh tomorrow.
Date with a banjo tonight - building, not playing !

John

IPA is quite harsh on print heads, or so I was told by my brother in law who was trained as an repair tech for Epson.
Get some proper head cleaning solution/flush fluid... preferably from a manufacturer that also makes sublimation ink - i'd normally advise to buy the flush from the maker of the ink in the printer, but you don't know who that is.

Hi pisquee.

I think I might have to agree to disagree with your brother-in-law.
I wonder what he means by 'harsh' in this context.

Isopropanol is so widely used industrially as a cleaning solvent especially in sensitive electronic areas, and has no effect that I know of on any of the plastics commonly found in printers.

Added to that the fact that people have been successfully cleaning their printheads with it included in their recipes for several years now suggests to me that I am unlikely to have a problem.

I would be interested to hear any specific evidence of what component(s) might be affected.

Regards
John

Ammonia would be harsh on print heads if not diluted sufficiently. I'd wager that all commercial printer cleaning solutions are diluted IPA with a few extra ingredients.

Ammonia is nasty, period.
I once got a lung full of the gas while standing in front of a fume cupboard that had a faulty extractor fan, and it temporarily paralyses them, so I couldn't breath in or out !
Household ammonia is a 10 - 15% w/w solution if memory serves, and I would dilute that a further factor of 10, so you would be looking at no more than 1% - 1.5% in reality.

John