WILL ONLY PRINT EVERY ALTERNATE LINE OF TEXT & TEXT BOX BORDERS

SOURCE: Epson Photo RX620: Printing Pink Lines

Hi,

None of these answers are accurate.  I know precisely what your problem is, and you aren't going to like what I have to say.  What you are experiencing will happen eventually to every Epson printer and there is nothing you can do about it other than to buy a new printer.  I have an Epson Stylus Photo 895 ( a 500 dollar printer in its day), which has the same issue.  I am just waiting for my ink cartridges to run out in order to buy a new one.

Endless research on google has turned up that there is no solution to this problem.  The issue you are having is with the Epson print head, which uses piezo technology.  What that means is that unlike HP or Canon printers which are thermal, piezo uses a small piezoelectrical cell to force ink out of the chamber.  It has advantages over thermal in that thermal requires a precise temperature to get ink on the page (what actually happens is that ink is heated, it forms a bubble, and the bubble bursts onto the page, hence the name BubbleJet).  Therefore, the ink has to have fairly precise thermal ink properties making it more expensive to manufacture.  Also, the ink on a BubbleJet (or HP) is wetter when it hits the page, and since the ink is heat resistant or order to properly form the bubble, the printer needs to incorporate a fast drying technology which consumes more energy.  The massive advantage of thermal is that the print head is on the cartridge, not on the printer itself; change your cartridges, get a brand new print head.  It makes cartridges more expensive, but reduces problems such as what you are experiencing.

Piezo on the other hand, always shoot ink through the same print head.  Once the head become damaged over time, the piezoelectric cell is no longer accurately pushing out the ink, and there is nothing you can do about it.  If you are lucky, it is only dried ink in the print head, but I can almost guarantee you that it is not.  Dried ink can be cleaned by repeated head cleanings, even manual ones involving rubbing alcohol.  However, I know that those pink lines are caused by the deterioration of the cell, and cannot be fixed.  If if were only dried ink, you wouldn't be limited to just pink lines on the page, you would see other colours.  If the cell is not doing its job, the lines are always pink (often called magenta when you google this problem).  The solution is to acquire a new print head.  Unfortunately, the cost of replacing an Epson print head is IDENTICAL to the cost of a new Epson printer.

So basically you have no choice, you need to buy a new printer.  Were I you, I would purchase a new thermal inkjet printer so that you get a new print head with every cartridge.  Look around before you buy to find out exactly how much the cartridges will cost, and then you will know which brand to buy.  Although piezo *can* make for a cheaper printer at the outset, Epson simply charged what HP and Canon do for their replacement cartridges because that is what people are used to paying, but you really do get more in a thermal inkjet catridge.

Sorry for the bad news,
DD.

SOURCE: Lines on prints

Hi kids! I decided to have another go at sorting out my 'lines' problem and have sorted it. See if this might work for you: I had previously done the head cleaning via the printer itself - holding the central ink/paper black button for 3 secs. This time I went to the Epson 1290 window on my Mac and clicked on the utility box. Though the Nozzle check print came out fine I went ahead and did the head cleaning in this box. The next print came out almost perfect so I ran the Head cleaning again and it printed a perfect print. Hope this might work for you. Keep on trying! All the best. Trant

SOURCE: I have tried everything from head cleaning, nozzle

I had the same problem. What you need to do is manually clean it. Take the ink cartridges out and clean the bottom of the ink loading bay with a Q-tip. Than, inside the printer, there is a black sponge that lines the area below the printing heads, take it out (gently). Clean it with water over a sink by squeezing it, but be gentle. A lot of ink should come out of the sponge. Once it is thoroughly cleaned, let it dry (I used a hairdryer than let it air dry for a little bit). Reinsert the sponge (make sure it is dry!) and ink cartridges. Do one head cleaning on the computer and now it should print like new.

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