WF1100 and CISS and nozzle issues?

[Gilligan]

Any of you guys run a WF1100 and have problems with clogged nozzles?

I've fought with this on two different units now.

Just last week magenta would get clogged a bit (down to like 20%) so I ran a cleaning and boom back in business.  Next day, same thing.

Come in today and the CMY are barely if any working and black is about 85% on each nozzle.  Run several cleanings with practically ZERO change.

All bottles are topped off, air is in the tubes (don't know how or where from) but there is still the carts are over half full (see, I'm thinking positive there)... I have them soaking in warm water now (saturated the capping station).  Going fire it up now and check it out.

Is it the weather? we just finally had our first run of cold weather.

[Frog]

I hope that this will not put the jinx on it, but I have been having great luck with mine.
I run Cobra Pigment bulk ink in their refillable carts, not CISS

[Denis Kolar]

I switched to refillable carts too. Not on CISS any more.

No issues so far

[Gilligan]

Do you have a waste ink tank/bypass on yours?

When I first did it to my last(first) one it spit out a good bit of waste ink, I was impressed.

When that one had problems and I was out of town they swapped to the backup to get back up and running... so when I got back in I had to setup the waste ink tank on it.  Not a drop has come down that line yet.  This has been almost 5 months now.

[Gilligan]

I switched to refillable carts too. Not on CISS any more.

No issues so far

Why did you go "backwards"?

[Denis Kolar]

I switched to refillable carts too. Not on CISS any more.

No issues so far

Why did you go "backwards"?

Did you see my comment? "No issues so far"

I had issues with CISS, so I went "Backwards" and now I do not have issues

[ScreenFoo]

Seems like you gotta go through a lot of pigment ink to make the CISS work well with it.  Have an 1100 right next to me I need to try to unclog before it dries out.

The kicker for me was that the 'hybrid' black I have is flowing fine, just the CMY I'm having issues with. 

Seems like if you do cartridges, you are putting fresh ink in so often you don't have to print the crap out of it to keep it running...

[Gilligan]

Hmmm....

Good information to ponder.

My problem with the carts was remembering to refill them.  I'd ALWAYS forget.  Or one black would go empty really quick and the other black was 90% full.

Guess I need to think about it some more.

[Frog]

As I said, I don't use a CIS, so have no personal experience, but how do you know it's the nozzle, and not, perhaps the tubing itself?

I just read this on the Cobra site and have no idea if it is hooey or a legitimate concern.

Great news!
We now offer most of our printer models with polyethylene plastic tubing. Our Epson Workforce 30/7010/7510/7520 with the internally installed ink system and the Epson Artisan 1430 Workforce 7010/7510/7520 CIS Kits, regardless of the ink type, are produced using polyethylene tubing. We have done a lot testing over the past few years and have concluded that PVC tubing causes pigment ink to plug the tubes and causes dye ink to thicken in the tube over time. PVC tubing is what everybody uses for their CIS systems except for COBRA INK SYSTEMS and Epson. Polyethylene tubing resists dehydration of the ink in the tube. This tubing also works well for solvent-based ink. We have it available in bulk sold by the foot. Unfortunately, this tubing costs us 5 ½ times as much as PVC tubing. We expect to have all of our systems changed to polyethylene tubing by the end of the year.

[Gilligan]

I see the ink (air bubble) moving in the tube... But you are right, not 100% sure.

I did get it rolling again, drenched capping station in hot water and parked the head on it for 20 mins or more (second time I did this), cleaned the heads and poof all but two magenta nozzles fired off. I set it running 4 purge sheets as I walked out the door.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Hey Gilligan, what's a purge sheet?

I DO have trouble with an 1100 we use for Jet Pro Softstretch occasionally. I use Cobra Pigment Inks, and have since day one with this printer...BUT not CISS. It ALWAYS requires more fiddling with than my 1400 I use with All Black carts for films--also using Richard's inks, but Dye Based. I always figured the pigment system was just more fiddly.

l'll try hot water next time too. The 1100's capping station is FILTHY right now. And a purge sheet, once I figure out what that actually is.... 

My only CISS is a dye sub setup from Cobra also, on an Epson 1710. Hate the machine, but the CISS seems to work okay.

[Gilligan]

I'll post the PDF when I get to the shop, as well as the settings to use with it.

It's a PDF that has cmyk strips (and ones with six colors and such as well for those with more than cmyk) as well as full sheets of each color.  Ross from inkjetcarts.us says as long as you have at least 20% of a nozzle check then it's better to use this vs a head cleaning. It uses less ink as well as the ability to focus on the color you are having problems with.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

I'll post the PDF when I get to the shop, as well as the settings to use with it.

It's a PDF that has cmyk strips (and ones with six colors and such as well for those with more than cmyk) as well as full sheets of each color.  Ross from inkjetcarts.us says as long as you have at least 20% of a nozzle check then it's better to use this vs a head cleaning. It uses less ink as well as the ability to focus on the color you are having problems with.

Thanks. I would like to try that. 

Cleaning cycles are messy. I imagine this will be cleaner and work as well or better.

 I wish I had a utility where I can tell the printer to spit out a few sheets on weekends, hands off.  Anybody got a lead on something like that??

Stan

[Frog]

 I wish I had a utility where I can tell the printer to spit out a few sheets on weekends, hands off.  Anybody got a lead on something like that??

Stan

Print from a network? Still manual, but at least possibly from a distance

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Hadn't thought about that Frog.

But my house is 60 miles one way from the shop. I have tried to set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) from home but couldn't figure it all out.  I did try a remote access service like Go To My PC but it was pretty klunky at our speeds, so I dropped it.  I probably should look at it again.  <edit> Just remembered: LogMeIn free version

But surely there is a "set it and forget it" printer utility out there somewhere. I'd even pay.

I might ask Richard at Cobra Ink Systems. He's pretty up on all that stuff, and I'll bet Gilligan knows something.

Stan