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Can't figure out why I keep getting clogs every few prints


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After my first ruined XP-15000, I made sure to take good care of the second one. I clean the wiper blade and around the capping station every day after using the printer. I clean below the cartridges on the printhead every morning before using it. After a couple weeks of using it, I'm now getting clogs every 4-5 prints and I can't figure out why. Last weekend I had to suddenly leave town for the weekend so I put cleaning carts in, ran a few head cleans til the nozzle check showed all ink out. I thought this would help the clogs but after putting ink carts back in, the problem continues to happen.

A few days ago, I had a stubborn clog on my white and I noticed that the part under the cartridge looked like ink may have somehow dried. I cleaned it with printhead cleaning solution and it worked. But again after 4-5 prints, I get a minor clog again which shows on my prints.

Any idea what could be happening? Anything I can do besides removing the whole printhead to stop this from happening? Attached is the nozzle check. It seems to get clogged in different areas every time I check.

IMG_9910.jpg

Edited by Mdrake2016
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7 minutes ago, Mdrake2016 said:

After my first ruined XP-15000, I made sure to take good care of the second one. I clean the wiper blade and around the capping station every day after using the printer. I clean below the cartridges on the printhead every morning before using it. After a couple weeks of using it, I'm now getting clogs every 4-5 prints and I can't figure out why. Last weekend I had to suddenly leave town for the weekend so I put cleaning carts in, ran a few head cleans til the nozzle check showed all ink out. I thought this would help the clogs but after putting ink carts back in, the problem continues to happen.

A few days ago, I had a stubborn clog on my white and I noticed that the part under the cartridge looked like ink may have somehow dried. I cleaned it with printhead cleaning solution and it worked. But again after 4-5 prints, I get a minor clog again which shows on my prints.

Any idea what could be happening? Anything I can do besides removing the whole printhead to stop this from happening? Attached is the nozzle check. It seems to get clogged in different areas every time I check.

IMG_9910.jpg

Are you using DTFsuperstore dtf inks? 
 

is it only the white? 
 

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2 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

How old are the white ink carts? Like how long have they had white ink in them?

The colored ones are about 2 months but no issues with them. The white I actually started using when I got the new XP-15000 a few weeks ago. I suspected the cartridge to be a problem so I just put in a new one after a head cleaning wouldn't work and it seems to be working right now. I will continue printing and see if the clog comes back.

If the cartridge is the problem, is there a way to empty them out and clean them to be able to keep using them? I actually took my last one and put it in a small puddle of cleaning solution letting is soak for a few days now thinking that might work but that'st just me experimenting.

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36 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

How old are the white ink carts? Like how long have they had white ink in them?

Well it looks like using a new cart didn't help. 5 prints in and clog once again. However, I noticed a few things. In the first pic attached, you can see ink pooling more on the gray slot. This seems to always happen and the clog is always on the gray cart.

Second, take a look at the new cartridge. It looks like the ink is not going down all the way for some reason. The red cart looks completely saturated at the bottom. The bottom of the sponge looks pretty clean. I fill these carts on the colored plug side until both sides fill up near the top (this time, I didn't let the sponge side fill to the top. I plugged it once it got 1/3 of the way up as you can see. But this is the only time I did that). Then in the printer, I leave the vent side plugged in with the color side unplugged. 

Edited by Mdrake2016
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45 minutes ago, Mdrake2016 said:

Well it looks like using a new cart didn't help. 5 prints in and clog once again. However, I noticed a few things. In the first pic attached, you can see ink pooling more on the gray slot. This seems to always happen and the clog is always on the gray cart.

Second, take a look at the new cartridge. It looks like the ink is not going down all the way for some reason. The red cart looks completely saturated at the bottom. The bottom of the sponge looks pretty clean. I fill these carts on the colored plug side until both sides fill up near the top (this time, I didn't let the sponge side fill to the top. I plugged it once it got 1/3 of the way up as you can see. But this is the only time I did that). Then in the printer, I leave the vent side plugged in with the color side unplugged. 

I always filled them until the sponge side went to the top, either way the ink should flow from the “tank” side down near the exit port. It might not be sealing well when installed. 
 

you can pull the sponge out of the cartridge, clean it and put it back if you wanted. Depending on the “ foam” some soak the ink up good, some need to be fully saturated to “flow”. I dealt with this a lot on a primera label printer as well, same concept. what happens if you leave the air port open and close the “tank” side, do you get worse results? 

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1 hour ago, johnson4 said:

what happens if you leave the air port open and close the “tank” side, do you get worse results? 

I actually did that for my last few prints and they printed fine. I will be printing another large batch tomorrow and report back.

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22 hours ago, johnson4 said:

I always filled them until the sponge side went to the top, either way the ink should flow from the “tank” side down near the exit port. It might not be sealing well when installed. 
 

you can pull the sponge out of the cartridge, clean it and put it back if you wanted. Depending on the “ foam” some soak the ink up good, some need to be fully saturated to “flow”. I dealt with this a lot on a primera label printer as well, same concept. what happens if you leave the air port open and close the “tank” side, do you get worse results? 

The cartridge is 100% the problem. It happened again this morning after a few prints. I pulled the cartridge out and the foam side was practically dry while the other side was filled with ink. I tried refilling it as if it was the first time: snapping it on the orange base, removing both the colored plug and vent plug, filling it on the colored plug side and waiting for it to move to the sponge side....but the ink was not flowing into the sponge side. I never let the cartridge get empty. So I'm really not sure why this is happening.

Edited by Mdrake2016
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7 minutes ago, Mdrake2016 said:

The cartridge is 100% the problem. It happened again this morning after a few prints. I pulled the cartridge out and the foam side was practically dry while the other side was filled with ink. I tried refilling it as if it was the first time: snapping it on the orange base, removing both the colored plug and vent plug, filling it on the colored plug side and waiting for it to move to the sponge side....but the ink was not flowing into the sponge side. I never let the cartridge get empty. So I'm really not sure why this is happening.

Where did you get the carts? Do you have a spare? 
 

if you pull both plugs, and remove the orange base, it should spill everywhere. 

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5 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

Where did you get the carts? Do you have a spare? 
 

if you pull both plugs, and remove the orange base, it should spill everywhere. 

Aliexpress. No I don't remove them from the orange base with both plugs removed. I'm just describing how I refilled it to check if the ink flowed properly to the sponge side. While it was on the orange base, I refilled it and the ink would not move to the sponge side. 

It seems like ink is drying up inside the cartridge, preventing the flow from the reservoir side to the sponge side. I just don't know how to fix this without buying new cartridges every few weeks.

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12 minutes ago, Mdrake2016 said:

Aliexpress. No I don't remove them from the orange base with both plugs removed. I'm just describing how I refilled it to check if the ink flowed properly to the sponge side. While it was on the orange base, I refilled it and the ink would not move to the sponge side. 

It seems like ink is drying up inside the cartridge, preventing the flow from the reservoir side to the sponge side. I just don't know how to fix this without buying new cartridges every few weeks.

Yea, I know what you mean. the only way that’s possible is if it’s exposed to air, which sounds like is happening. If you had gloves, you could pull the sponge, and check. It’ll go back in like normal. I had an issue similar to this, which is why I removed the tank side plug instead, which worked for me. 
 

what could be happening is separation, but it just sounds like an issue with the ink flow. Maybe try making the hole a bit bigger where the ink tank side flows into the sponge side. 
 

I know it was like $4 a set for these without chips, so if you get 6 per set, realistically your getting 3 changes of your two white ink carts for $4-$5. So $5 every 4-6 weeks still isn’t bad, if that is what you have to do. I imagine if you pulled the sponge and cleaned it with water, then let it air dry it would work fine again if it’s settling. 
 

I didn’t have this issue, but I only used the printer for two weeks. Within that time I neglected it badly and the cartridges and let the ink settle. I was able to recover them quite easily. Right now, it has sat since then, so 1-2 months with everything untouched/ink installed etc. I’ll get around to seeing how it’s doing soon. 
 

realistically, I bought a resin printer so I could make an adapter for this printhead to take regular cartridges/dampers. Other Epson heads like this have adapters, even new manifolds to accept damper style cartridges. I haven’t looked into much yet with this printer , I've been too busy looking for a cheaper DX5 printhead. Overall, If they don’t seal well, then a suction isn’t present and the ink doesn’t flow well, as well as the issue with air getting in there ( lack of ink). 
 

I wish you luck with it, sorry I wish I could help more. 

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2 hours ago, anum11 said:

It looks like it can have xp-600 adaptors. Then you can add normal dampers with ciss. If catridges are the case, This is best way to go.

I did look at that, but I haven’t verified the fitment on the head or the carriage yet, but I think that would solve everyone’s problem. 

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23 hours ago, johnson4 said:

Yea, I know what you mean. the only way that’s possible is if it’s exposed to air, which sounds like is happening. If you had gloves, you could pull the sponge, and check. It’ll go back in like normal. I had an issue similar to this, which is why I removed the tank side plug instead, which worked for me. 
 

what could be happening is separation, but it just sounds like an issue with the ink flow. Maybe try making the hole a bit bigger where the ink tank side flows into the sponge side. 
 

I know it was like $4 a set for these without chips, so if you get 6 per set, realistically your getting 3 changes of your two white ink carts for $4-$5. So $5 every 4-6 weeks still isn’t bad, if that is what you have to do. I imagine if you pulled the sponge and cleaned it with water, then let it air dry it would work fine again if it’s settling. 
 

I didn’t have this issue, but I only used the printer for two weeks. Within that time I neglected it badly and the cartridges and let the ink settle. I was able to recover them quite easily. Right now, it has sat since then, so 1-2 months with everything untouched/ink installed etc. I’ll get around to seeing how it’s doing soon. 
 

realistically, I bought a resin printer so I could make an adapter for this printhead to take regular cartridges/dampers. Other Epson heads like this have adapters, even new manifolds to accept damper style cartridges. I haven’t looked into much yet with this printer , I've been too busy looking for a cheaper DX5 printhead. Overall, If they don’t seal well, then a suction isn’t present and the ink doesn’t flow well, as well as the issue with air getting in there ( lack of ink). 
 

I wish you luck with it, sorry I wish I could help more. 

This morning, I tried 3 different brand new cartridges to test my theory of the foam drying up but it didn't make a difference. Still got clogs every few prints. Eventually, I decided to use come cleaning solution with a swab and cleaned the nipple (or whatever you call it for the XP-15000 that the cartridge snaps into). I'm 10 prints in now and no clog.

It looks like somehow, that area may be drying up which is weird because I print every day and when I'm gone, I have cleaning carts in there. If that is in fact the issue (we'll see how the rest of the day goes), then that is luckily an easy extra step I can do every day.

I'm curious though...could printing at 1440x720 be causing this issue? I have been printing with that resolution lately but today I've only printed with 1440x1440. 

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18 minutes ago, Mdrake2016 said:

This morning, I tried 3 different brand new cartridges to test my theory of the foam drying up but it didn't make a difference. Still got clogs every few prints. Eventually, I decided to use come cleaning solution with a swab and cleaned the nipple (or whatever you call it for the XP-15000 that the cartridge snaps into). I'm 10 prints in now and no clog.

It looks like somehow, that area may be drying up which is weird because I print every day and when I'm gone, I have cleaning carts in there. If that is in fact the issue (we'll see how the rest of the day goes), then that is luckily an easy extra step I can do every day.

I'm curious though...could printing at 1440x720 be causing this issue? I have been printing with that resolution lately but today I've only printed with 1440x1440. 

 

I'm not sure on the resolution, I doubt it. That is just how fast it feeds the print. 

 

As for cleaning where the cartridge goes, you should do that everytime you pull the carts and if has buildup, It will prevent it from sealing very well. That screen should also be cleaned, that's what stops the " bigger" peices of pigment from going into the printhead. If your swapping cleaning carts and ink, I would clean it completely each time you do that. 

 

Glad it's working though!

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34 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

 

I'm not sure on the resolution, I doubt it. That is just how fast it feeds the print. 

 

As for cleaning where the cartridge goes, you should do that everytime you pull the carts and if has buildup, It will prevent it from sealing very well. That screen should also be cleaned, that's what stops the " bigger" peices of pigment from going into the printhead. If your swapping cleaning carts and ink, I would clean it completely each time you do that. 

 

Glad it's working though!

Well I spoke too soon. After 12 prints, clog again. I'm completely stumped why it keeps happening and it's the Gray cart everytime. I do clean that area every time I swap carts (which I rarely do...I use the same cart and refill it in while it's in the printer).

I'm not sure what screen you're referring to?

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45 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

 

I'm not sure on the resolution, I doubt it. That is just how fast it feeds the print. 

 

As for cleaning where the cartridge goes, you should do that everytime you pull the carts and if has buildup, It will prevent it from sealing very well. That screen should also be cleaned, that's what stops the " bigger" peices of pigment from going into the printhead. If your swapping cleaning carts and ink, I would clean it completely each time you do that. 

 

Glad it's working though!

It looks like cleaning the nipple area fixed the problem again. Just not understanding why it keeps drying up there.

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It is clearly the ink if nothing else. I dont know what you are using but xp-15000 like printheads needs more fluid inks with lesser particle size. Or they clog. To prevent This, Epson seems to be used catridge carrying adaptors. 

If xp600 adaptors works for xp15000 printhead, This would solve your issue. However then your printhead May get clogged instead.

So maybe a diffirent ink would solve your problem. I would try to change ink first then adaptor.

For example Dupont p5000 dtg inks works good with dx5 and dx7 printheads but clogs l1800 and xp600 printheads. That is why there is another version recommended for them.

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32 minutes ago, anum11 said:

It is clearly the ink if nothing else. I dont know what you are using but xp-15000 like printheads needs more fluid inks with lesser particle size. Or they clog. To prevent This, Epson seems to be used catridge carrying adaptors. 

If xp600 adaptors works for xp15000 printhead, This would solve your issue. However then your printhead May get clogged instead.

So maybe a diffirent ink would solve your problem. I would try to change ink first then adaptor.

For example Dupont p5000 dtg inks works good with dx5 and dx7 printheads but clogs l1800 and xp600 printheads. That is why there is another version recommended for them.

That would make sense since only the white has clogged. Not 1 clog on the other colors.

I want to look into that adaptor thing. I'm not experienced in printing hardware so I've never even heard of that,

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1 hour ago, anum11 said:

It is clearly the ink if nothing else.

I had a bottle of white ink from a different supplier. It seemed to look much better while printing and didn't see any clogs. After 4 prints I ran a nozzle check and saw 3 broken lines. So then I ran a head clean and after testing the nozzle check again, the whole Gray channel became clog. WTF is going on here? How does a head clean make the clog worse?

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35 minutes ago, Mdrake2016 said:

That would make sense since only the white has clogged. Not 1 clog on the other colors.

I want to look into that adaptor thing. I'm not experienced in printing hardware so I've never even heard of that,

I just want to point out, I didn’t have this issue with my 15000, using DTFsuperstore inks. 

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19 hours ago, johnson4 said:

I just want to point out, I didn’t have this issue with my 15000, using DTFsuperstore inks. 

Yea it’s not looking like an ink issue. It happened the same way with the new inks as well. 
 

Can you tell me about the xp600 adapter? What is the purpose of that. I tried looking it up but can’t find much info. Is it so that I can use xp600 cartridges in the xp15000? I thought they’re pretty much the same foam design so I’m wondering how this would help. 

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Alright guys....printhead dead. The screen is flashing all crazy and after it being 100% clean, this is how it looks after running a couple head cleans.

I'm really not sure what I could have done differently. I was as careful as I possibly could be with this printer. Cleaned it every day, used cleaning carts when I was away for a few days, made sure there were no ink spills.

IMG_9931.jpg

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