• Re: Printer Technology Question (Maybe On Topic)

    From hubops@ccanoemail.com@21:1/5 to somebody@nowhere.com on Fri Aug 4 10:40:28 2023
    On Fri, 4 Aug 2023 10:27:17 -0400, ABLE1 <somebody@nowhere.com> wrote:

    Hello,

    Just curious as to how a Dot Matrix printer moves the ink from
    a storage tank to the print head. I am referring to a printer
    such as a Epson Eco Tank Printer. It is NOT Gravity!!

    Is it some sort of pump or some other technology that moves the
    ink to the print head??

    Trying to search online only gives me how to clean print heads
    and tubing but no mention of how the ink is forced to the heads.

    Thanks for any small hints.

    Les



    " Dot matrix printing is typically distinguished from non-impact
    methods, such as inkjet, thermal, or laser printing, which also use a
    bitmap to represent the printed work. "

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_matrix_printing

    Epson Eco Tank is ink-jet type.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkjet_printing

    John T.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ABLE1@21:1/5 to hubops@ccanoemail.com on Fri Aug 4 10:47:11 2023
    On 8/4/2023 10:40 AM, hubops@ccanoemail.com wrote:
    On Fri, 4 Aug 2023 10:27:17 -0400, ABLE1 <somebody@nowhere.com> wrote:

    Hello,

    Just curious as to how a Dot Matrix printer moves the ink from
    a storage tank to the print head. I am referring to a printer
    such as a Epson Eco Tank Printer. It is NOT Gravity!!

    Is it some sort of pump or some other technology that moves the
    ink to the print head??

    Trying to search online only gives me how to clean print heads
    and tubing but no mention of how the ink is forced to the heads.

    Thanks for any small hints.

    Les



    " Dot matrix printing is typically distinguished from non-impact
    methods, such as inkjet, thermal, or laser printing, which also use a
    bitmap to represent the printed work. "

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_matrix_printing

    Epson Eco Tank is ink-jet type.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkjet_printing

    John T.


    Thanks John!!

    So there is a "pump" somewhere that could be my issue.

    Appreciate the link!! Very Helpful!!

    Les

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ABLE1@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 4 10:27:17 2023
    Hello,

    Just curious as to how a Dot Matrix printer moves the ink from
    a storage tank to the print head. I am referring to a printer
    such as a Epson Eco Tank Printer. It is NOT Gravity!!

    Is it some sort of pump or some other technology that moves the
    ink to the print head??

    Trying to search online only gives me how to clean print heads
    and tubing but no mention of how the ink is forced to the heads.

    Thanks for any small hints.

    Les

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Charlie+@21:1/5 to somebody@nowhere.com on Sat Aug 5 07:04:35 2023
    On Fri, 4 Aug 2023 10:27:17 -0400, ABLE1 <somebody@nowhere.com> wrote as underneath :

    Hello,

    Just curious as to how a Dot Matrix printer moves the ink from
    a storage tank to the print head. I am referring to a printer
    such as a Epson Eco Tank Printer. It is NOT Gravity!!

    Is it some sort of pump or some other technology that moves the
    ink to the print head??

    Trying to search online only gives me how to clean print heads
    and tubing but no mention of how the ink is forced to the heads.

    Thanks for any small hints.

    Les

    AFAIR in the 70s and 80s for all dot-matrix printers we used pre-inked
    ribbons that eventually dried out and had to be repleced, noisy things!
    C+

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Arie de Muijnck@21:1/5 to All on Sat Aug 5 15:27:50 2023
    On 2023-08-04 16:27, ABLE1 wrote:
    Hello,

    Just curious as to how a Dot Matrix printer moves the ink from
    a storage tank to the print head.  I am referring to a printer
    such as a Epson Eco Tank Printer.  It is NOT Gravity!!

    Is it some sort of pump or some other technology that moves the
    ink to the print head??

    Trying to search online only gives me how to clean print heads
    and tubing but no mention of how the ink is forced to the heads.

    Thanks for any small hints.

    Les


    Air pressure. After the droplets are ejected (by thermal or piezo action), less volume is present in the printer head causing a low pressure. The capillary action in the print nozzle prevents ink from flowing back. The pressure in the tank is higher,
    hence new ink will flow from tank to head.

    Arie

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ABLE1@21:1/5 to Arie de Muijnck on Sat Aug 5 10:31:08 2023
    On 8/5/2023 9:27 AM, Arie de Muijnck wrote:
    On 2023-08-04 16:27, ABLE1 wrote:
    Hello,

    Just curious as to how a Dot Matrix printer moves the ink from
    a storage tank to the print head.  I am referring to a printer
    such as a Epson Eco Tank Printer.  It is NOT Gravity!!

    Is it some sort of pump or some other technology that moves the
    ink to the print head??

    Trying to search online only gives me how to clean print heads
    and tubing but no mention of how the ink is forced to the heads.

    Thanks for any small hints.

    Les


    Air pressure. After the droplets are ejected (by thermal or piezo
    action), less volume is present in the printer head causing a low
    pressure. The capillary action in the print nozzle prevents ink from
    flowing back. The pressure in the tank is higher, hence new ink will
    flow from tank to head.

    Arie


    Hi Arie,

    Thanks, now that does make better sense. Somehow I had a blockage
    in my printer 'Black' ink. I somehow cleaned or cleared the obstruction yesterday. Now, the printer is back in operation after running about
    20 pages with a very large BLACK line thru the Epson that didn't start
    printing anything until the last page.

    After all the time spent on working on this problem I am now a more
    better educated technician than before!! :-)

    Later,

    Les

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From steve1001908@outlook.com@21:1/5 to somebody@nowhere.com on Sun Aug 6 13:56:03 2023
    On Fri, 4 Aug 2023 10:27:17 -0400, ABLE1 <somebody@nowhere.com> wrote:

    Just curious as to how a Dot Matrix printer moves the ink from
    a storage tank to the print head. I am referring to a printer
    such as a Epson Eco Tank Printer. It is NOT Gravity!!

    Sorptivity

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From three_jeeps@21:1/5 to All on Sun Aug 6 14:48:15 2023
    On Saturday, August 5, 2023 at 10:31:14 AM UTC-4, ABLE1 wrote:
    On 8/5/2023 9:27 AM, Arie de Muijnck wrote:
    On 2023-08-04 16:27, ABLE1 wrote:
    Hello,

    Just curious as to how a Dot Matrix printer moves the ink from
    a storage tank to the print head. I am referring to a printer
    such as a Epson Eco Tank Printer. It is NOT Gravity!!

    Is it some sort of pump or some other technology that moves the
    ink to the print head??

    Trying to search online only gives me how to clean print heads
    and tubing but no mention of how the ink is forced to the heads.

    Thanks for any small hints.

    Les


    Air pressure. After the droplets are ejected (by thermal or piezo
    action), less volume is present in the printer head causing a low pressure. The capillary action in the print nozzle prevents ink from flowing back. The pressure in the tank is higher, hence new ink will
    flow from tank to head.

    Arie

    Hi Arie,

    Thanks, now that does make better sense. Somehow I had a blockage
    in my printer 'Black' ink. I somehow cleaned or cleared the obstruction yesterday. Now, the printer is back in operation after running about
    20 pages with a very large BLACK line thru the Epson that didn't start printing anything until the last page.

    After all the time spent on working on this problem I am now a more
    better educated technician than before!! :-)

    Later,

    Les

    In my experience with perhaps 4-5 inkjet printers (hp, epson) with printing issues, I find the print head is usually clogged. I've read online about many ways to unclog the print head. Nowhere have I seen a chemical, made by the ink mfg, that one could
    put in place of the ink cartridge to clean/dissolve the clog. Seems ridiculous to me. Repeated cleaning cycles with 'fresh' ink cartridges seems to waste a lot of ink and is not all that effective. If anyone knows of a cleaning solution that works,
    I'd like to hear about it.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ABLE1@21:1/5 to All on Sun Aug 6 19:16:39 2023
    On 8/6/2023 5:48 PM, three_jeeps wrote:
    On Saturday, August 5, 2023 at 10:31:14 AM UTC-4, ABLE1 wrote:
    On 8/5/2023 9:27 AM, Arie de Muijnck wrote:
    On 2023-08-04 16:27, ABLE1 wrote:
    Hello,

    Just curious as to how a Dot Matrix printer moves the ink from
    a storage tank to the print head. I am referring to a printer
    such as a Epson Eco Tank Printer. It is NOT Gravity!!

    Is it some sort of pump or some other technology that moves the
    ink to the print head??

    Trying to search online only gives me how to clean print heads
    and tubing but no mention of how the ink is forced to the heads.

    Thanks for any small hints.

    Les


    Air pressure. After the droplets are ejected (by thermal or piezo
    action), less volume is present in the printer head causing a low
    pressure. The capillary action in the print nozzle prevents ink from
    flowing back. The pressure in the tank is higher, hence new ink will
    flow from tank to head.

    Arie

    Hi Arie,

    Thanks, now that does make better sense. Somehow I had a blockage
    in my printer 'Black' ink. I somehow cleaned or cleared the obstruction
    yesterday. Now, the printer is back in operation after running about
    20 pages with a very large BLACK line thru the Epson that didn't start
    printing anything until the last page.

    After all the time spent on working on this problem I am now a more
    better educated technician than before!! :-)

    Later,

    Les

    In my experience with perhaps 4-5 inkjet printers (hp, epson) with printing issues, I find the print head is usually clogged. I've read online about many ways to unclog the print head. Nowhere have I seen a chemical, made by the ink mfg, that one
    could put in place of the ink cartridge to clean/dissolve the clog. Seems ridiculous to me. Repeated cleaning cycles with 'fresh' ink cartridges seems to waste a lot of ink and is not all that effective. If anyone knows of a cleaning solution that
    works, I'd like to hear about it.

    Hi Three_Jeeps,

    I will not say that what I did was the real answer, but it
    seems that I may have been successful. If you (or others)
    are in for a read I will type out what I did. For the most
    part was NOT Successful until the end.

    Honestly I think it may have been the accumulation of all my
    attempts that got it fixed.

    Again, I will type if there is a decent desire to read.

    Les

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jeff Liebermann@21:1/5 to jjhudak@gmail.com on Sun Aug 6 22:22:45 2023
    On Sun, 6 Aug 2023 14:48:15 -0700 (PDT), three_jeeps
    <jjhudak@gmail.com> wrote:

    In my experience with perhaps 4-5 inkjet printers (hp, epson) with printing issues, I find the print head is usually clogged. I've read online about many ways to unclog the print head. Nowhere have I seen a chemical, made by the ink mfg, that one
    could put in place of the ink cartridge to clean/dissolve the clog. Seems ridiculous to me. Repeated cleaning cycles with 'fresh' ink cartridges seems to waste a lot of ink and is not all that effective. If anyone knows of a cleaning solution that
    works, I'd like to hear about it.

    There are plenty of head cleaning cartridges available. For example: <https://premium-inks.com/collections/printer-head-cleaning-cartridges> <https://www.inkowl.com/inkjet/ink-refill-tools/epson/120ml-printhead-cleaning-kit-for-epson/P6218/>
    <https://www.amazon.com/epson-printhead-cleaning-kit/s?k=epson+printhead+cleaning+kit>
    I don't use these, so I don't know if they work.

    HP print cartridges have the print head as part of the cartridge. If
    the head clogs, you recycle the cartridge, buy a new cartridge and
    continue using the printer. Epson and Brother inkjet printers have
    the print head as part of the printer. When head clogs, replacing the cartridge does nothing useful. The head needs to be cleaned or the
    printer ends up as eWaste.

    I used 91% isopropyl alcohol for cleaning. The hard part is removing
    the head from Epson printers. There are videos available for various
    Epson: <https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=epson+printhead+replacement>
    and Brother models: <https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=brother+printhead+replacement>

    Sorry, but I have no experience with Epson Ecotank printers. However,
    these videos might help: <https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=epson+ecotank+printhead+replacement>


    --
    Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
    PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
    Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
    Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)