Doug Kerr
Well-known member
I use an Epson Stylus Photo R800 ink jet printer. Often I don't use it for a week or more, which might be a factor in the situation I will describe.
Often when I start a printing project, I find I have banding (often with thin bands). Running a nozzle check pattern always shows a few nozzles not printing.
I then run the cleaning routine. Often I must run it two or even three times until every nozzle is printing.
I think that a cleaning run consumes as much as 10% of the capacity of the ink cartridges, so this occurrence is economically disastrous (not to mention an operational pain). (That would be about $11.00 per cleaning cycle, maybe $33.00 per occurrence!)
Is there any regimen I can use to avert this? For example:
- should I run a nozzle check pattern every x days if there has been no actual use, to keep the paths clear?
- does it matter if I keep the printer powered up all the time (I do, although it is a waste of energy, and I probably should get away from that).
Will Thompson has suggested that perhaps the printer does some kind of "priming" when powered up (God knows, it does something!) and perhaps I should keep it powered down between projects, and maybe even power it up every x days if there has been no real use.
Is it possible that I might need my head assembly replaced, for example?
Thanks.
Often when I start a printing project, I find I have banding (often with thin bands). Running a nozzle check pattern always shows a few nozzles not printing.
I then run the cleaning routine. Often I must run it two or even three times until every nozzle is printing.
I think that a cleaning run consumes as much as 10% of the capacity of the ink cartridges, so this occurrence is economically disastrous (not to mention an operational pain). (That would be about $11.00 per cleaning cycle, maybe $33.00 per occurrence!)
Is there any regimen I can use to avert this? For example:
- should I run a nozzle check pattern every x days if there has been no actual use, to keep the paths clear?
- does it matter if I keep the printer powered up all the time (I do, although it is a waste of energy, and I probably should get away from that).
Will Thompson has suggested that perhaps the printer does some kind of "priming" when powered up (God knows, it does something!) and perhaps I should keep it powered down between projects, and maybe even power it up every x days if there has been no real use.
Is it possible that I might need my head assembly replaced, for example?
Thanks.