Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

I got a bad nozzle check with the Matte Black in one of the 3880 after only one week  (The 3880 doesn't clog my foot!).  Only one small bar was visible in that darkest black diagonal area out of maybe 100.

Ran the Unclog routine of Black ink only.  Sadly, it did an ink change to Photo Black since that was the last one I used in the Unclog I guess.  Didn't want to do that.  Big waste of ink.

Had to switch it back to Matte again - another waste of ink.  Still plugged according to the manual Nozzle Check.

Ran a Power Clean (Another big waste of ink), or whatever it is called, and it is starting to flow again.  Ran Unclog again and it is clearing up the clog.

Question:  "Can there be a way for either the Matte or Photo Black ink to be selected from within the Unclog window, rather than flipping back and forth doing ink changes pending how it was set prior?"  QU seems smart enough to know that last ink selected in paper profiles and adjust there, but I'd rather it be done at the Unclog window since once it starts, it can get wasteful.  Couldn't stop the ink switch-out once it started either.

Now I need to go flip it back to Photo Black and see if it is clogged too.  Ugh!

Mack

Hi Mack,
Yes, there it's already.
When a new driver set-up is made, you are asked if you want to save it and give it a name.
See screen shot where I have a setting for PK and one for MK. Although the unclog pattern is always printed on plain paper, the driver paper settings are different, gloss or matte so the appropriate ink is invoked.
Terry

Thanks Terry.

Looks like I got some Set-upping to do.

Mack

This is a great Qimage feature, but I have not tried it.

Keeping that in mind...
Does this only run on 8.5x11" ?
The added feature to run on an set interval is great, to keep printer unclogged.  I wonder if that could be done with a less ink - that is just exercise the nozzle, but not as much ink as is used for unclog routine.

When running the unclogger in maintenance mode, all ink colors that your printer uses should be selected.  For example, on my Epson R1900, I check all colors and then uncheck blue and green because it doesn't have those inks.  Still, 7 colors are selected so when that pattern prints, very little of each color is used because with a full page print, only 1/7 of the page gets used per color (less actually since it isn't 100% coverage per color).  That is really the minimum amount of ink that should be used to keep the carts primed and clog free.

Regards,
Mike

Thanks Mike.

I just went thru unclogging my Epson 4800 using Epson driver routine  - it is a process that always stresses me out as I listen to all the whirring and clunking in the printer thinking of all that $/ink going into the waste tank, and not knowing if that last unclog routine will be the final one or not.

My Qimage upgrades ran out at .240 - having an automated 'keep printer flowing' routine is enough to convince me to re-new upgrades for a year!

If a printer (in this case Epson 4800) has these 8 inks: light grey, med grey, black, yellow, light cyn, drk cyan, lt magenta, dk magenta.  How do I map this to the Qimage print unclogger color selections?
Can I selectively run unclog on just one of the 8 Epson inks?

Hi Alex,
Yes, you can, se screen shot below.
There are tick boxes for each colour so for your printer, you would need to permanently leave red, orange, green and blue un-ticked and selectively tick the others as required.
As I said in a previous post, you can save a set up for your printer so red, orange, green and blue are never ticked.
It's time for you to upgrade then you will see for yourself Mike has thought of everything!
Terry

I have upgraded to a version with the print unclogger and was trying to use it last night, but noted that the color selection in the dialog box
(your screen shot above) does not match the 8 colors in the Epson.

You said your printer has:
"light grey, med grey, black, yellow, light cyan, drk cyan, lt magenta, dk magenta."
So tick Black/Grey, Yellow, Cyan/PC and Magenta/PC, that covers all your cartridges. It makes no difference whether they are called "light" or "dark", QU unclogger will pulse all your nozzles with those ticked.
Terry

OK. I'll try that, but it is not obvious from the instructions/dialog box.
It seems that one can not selectively run the routine on for example just light grey as if one checks the black/grey box it will run the routine on black, med grey and light grey ink.  That is better than running all the inks of course if just one is clogged.

Click the red  V at bottom right of the dialogue and watch the instruction video, I'm sure that will help.
Terry

My Qimage PC is not connected to internet so I can't see these videos.  I also learn so much better from written material.

You can see all the Learning Videos here if you have another PC that is connected to the internet:
http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u (http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u)
Terry

Just an idea, not sure of possible or really all that practical.

I use 17" roll paper and usually before I print I switch to sheet feed and print the Epson test page on 8.5x11 plain paper to ensure all ink channels are unclogged.  I could print the pattern on the 17" roll, but it uses paper which costs more than a single plain sheet.  But it does take a bit of time (and ergonomically not good or easy for me due to my printer location) to switch paper source and sometimes I damage/crinkle/fingerprint the leading edge of roll when re-feeding into printer.

This has me wondering what the smallest/shortest strip of roll paper Qimage could print a head test pattern on?  Maybe if it was short enough I wouldn't always be compelled to switch paper to check.

As I understand it, the optimal size print is 8 x 10 for which the unclogger was designed.

Fred

Most roll printers have a minimum length of 5 to 6 inches.  If you print the entire 17 inch width x 5 inches tall, that'll give you about the same print area and put down about the same amount of ink as an 8x10.  So you could try that.  While it was designed around an 8.5 x 11 page, it does conform to any page size.

Mike

I use a 24 inch roll of HP plain paper and a page size of 24 wide by 6 inch. I wasn't sure if the unclog software would deal with the 24x6 page size, but it works fine.

Another feature request: add the date and time to the unclog print. If I leave my printer alone for days, a pile of 24x6 strips will accumulate under the printer. With the date and time stamp I'd know the timeline of any head clogging.

I had a light light black clog last week.  Ran Qimage unclogger with only black/grey checked and could not tell from the Qimage print if the lt lt black channel changed, so between sheets of Qimage unclog pattern I had to run the Epson driver's print head check pattern, eventually gave up gong back and forth and just used the Epson driver auto check and unclog routine and it fixed the problem.

Another thought I have is if Qimage could print a very small footprint nozzle check pattern that could be included in (or just outside) margins of a printed image?  I suggest this as when i had the lt lt black clog it was not immediately apparent in the images as missing lt lt grey just reduces texture gradient and for some images this is very subtle.  I made about 6 prints before I realized what was going on.

+2

I have to run a Epson nozzle check first, then maybe a QU Unclog if a nozzle is clogged on the diagonal, and then another Epson nozzle check after that QU Unclog pattern run as I am not sure what colors, bands, or stripes in QU show the nozzle clog.

Fwiw, on the other B&W printer I have to remember not to ever use the Auto Nozzle Check (only Manual) from the printer's menu with K7 Piezo inksets as they confuse the printer as there is no color.  Big waste of ink if it cannot figure out what is going on, but that's not a QU problem.

Mack

Alex,
The QU Unclog print is not intended to show which nozzles are clogged although it may in bad cases. Use the driver nozzle check.
That's not particularly difficult - do do you realise you can access all the driver functions including nozzle check from within QU? Use the Printer/Page setup icon, top right of the main screen.
Terry

While it may not be particulary difficult, it is bothersome, and requires an additional piece of paper.  It would be extremely useful if the unclog routine could print a nozzel check pattern at the bottom of the page on which the unclog pattern is printed.  Granted it would require reducing the height of the individual stripes in the pattern, but would give an immediate indication of whether another unclog print should be run.  Now, it may be that due to technical reasons this may not be possible, but if it is possible, it would provide a direct metod of determining the success of the unclog operation.

I can add a sweep pattern that consists of diagonal lines for each color at the bottom.  That will provide some idea of the overall condition, but it will never be a replacement for a true nozzle check.  I cannot control each individual nozzle via the driver so even diagonal lines will look perfect if only a few nozzles are clogged.  Best you could do is look at those lines for "roughness" but honestly, banding shows up in the bottom row of the nozzle pattern if you have more than just a couple clogged nozzles.

Mike

Mike, wouldn't a diagonal show a clogged nozzle easier than the current straight "unlcogger lines" now?  I cannot tell from the straight band-type lines if a nozzle isn't firing as the bands are only straight parallel lines and maybe not utilizing a nozzle in the head that is indeed clogged in the straight line printed.  A diagonal that utilizes all of the head may show it?  Might show up as being a jagged block where it could be a smooth band now if that one nozzle is out of the loop in the unclogger pattern.

Personally, the Epson Nozzle Check pattern is very fine and almost hard to see (Yellow), or the Gloss Optimizer (clear) or a very light black in the K7 piezo inksets.  Epson must have some reason for doing it that way, or maybe their method utilizes all the nozzles in the head and sets the bad one apart?

My two cents.

Mack

Hi Mack,
I don't think the unclogger pattern is intended to show blocked nozzles - it doe what it says in the tin "unclogg".
I agree the Epson test pattern is difficult to see and yellow needs a careful examination but it does work well.

I should say I've never had the need to use the unclogger in QU; my Epson 2000 has sat idle for 2 or 3 weeks now and again and the Epson test pattern is always clear after installing a new cartridge. I've had it for about 18 months now.
Terry

Try to examine the patterns in blue led light.
It makes it much more visible, especially the yellow.

A blue glass filter, or acetate sheet filter, will also increase the contrast of the yellow lines.