# Epson 7110 - vertical alignment problems



## CaliChick

I decided to stop banging my head on the wall long enough so I can post my problem here and see if anyone has an answer.

I have the epson wf7110. I have the cobra cis in place. It worked great for a long time.

I made sure to run it every few days just so it wouldn?t cause me grief and clog.

Well a few days ago I noticed really bad vertical lines/banding.

I ran the epson utility. It didn?t work. 

I totally cleaned the printheads with cleaning fluid.

I updated firmware and software.

I ran the utility in the printer menu as well.....nothing works.

The banding/lines look a little odd. You know how there are 6 rows when attempting to adjust. Well 3 of the 6 are really bad and they are identical - even though they are odd rows. The other 3 rows are what we normally see when adjusting, only slightly off.

When using the utility, it states, choose the best of the examples etc., but the entire row is very bad and there is no best. So in attempting to fix it I?ve chosen number 7 at least 20 times - and there is no adjustment at all. Then I?ve chosen number 1 20 times, no adjustment at all, not even slightly.

I contacted epson - told them the same story. They said to me, what ink cartridges are you using and when we?re they installed. I didn?t reply, but of course I can?t say I have cis on it. I contacted cobra to see if they have ideas, but haven?t heard from them.

I hope it doesn?t mean the printer is toast, it isn?t that old.

Thanks for any ideas.


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## seacookie

CaliChick said:


> I updated firmware


That was a mistake. You just gave all the power to EPSON.


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## NoXid

seacookie said:


> That was a mistake. You just gave all the power to EPSON.


True. The main reason Epson changes firmware is to disable third-party ink carts/dampers. So good to note that here as a caution to others.

But that's not the initial cause of problems here ... Perhaps someone with the same experience will post something.


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## CaliChick

seacookie said:


> That was a mistake. You just gave all the power to EPSON.


Thanks for posting guys.

Yea I very rarely update firmware and selectively update software. But as you noted - it started before this and I?ve have literally searched high and low for an answer but found nothing. 

As you know I have a huge piece of costly machinery that is taking up space - so I had to do it....sigh.

I think I am going to attempt to post an image of my vertical print out so everyone can see.

I could have sworn, there was a way to allow a person adjust this without using the useless vertical adjustment program via windows or printer.


It?s insane, nothing has changed,dropped,updated or been used excessively and out of the blue it started this.


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## seacookie

CaliChick said:


> Thanks for posting guys.
> 
> Yea I very rarely update firmware and selectively update software. But as you noted - it started before this and I?ve have literally searched high and low for an answer but found nothing.
> 
> As you know I have a huge piece of costly machinery that is taking up space - so I had to do it....sigh.
> 
> I think I am going to attempt to post an image of my vertical print out so everyone can see.
> 
> I could have sworn, there was a way to allow a person adjust this without using the useless vertical adjustment program via windows or printer.
> 
> 
> It?s insane, nothing has changed,dropped,updated or been used excessively and out of the blue it started this.


I didn't have problems like you with my 7610, but I had some issues with printing once and all the cleaning and stuff didn't do anything. As a notice I don't use ciss. But I solved my issue with printing 3xa4 full color pictures on high quality... Third picture was ok, and I solved my issue.


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## CaliChick

seacookie said:


> I didn't have problems like you with my 7610, but I had some issues with printing once and all the cleaning and stuff didn't do anything. As a notice I don't use ciss. But I solved my issue with printing 3xa4 full color pictures on high quality... Third picture was ok, and I solved my issue.


Ok thx. I?m going to try that shortly.

I?m also going to attempt to post a pic of the abnormal vertical alignment.


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## CaliChick

Hope the upload works.

As you can see, #1,4,6 all look very strange. While #2,3,5 look like what we normally see when doing vertical adjustments.

Help

I have chosen any number between 1 - 7 on those really bad rows multiple times and there is no change, and I did pull out my magnifyer just to make sure I?m not missing any small movement.

Any ideas or guesses are really appreciated ...... because as if right now I can?t even use it for anything that I would want to sell since the quality is gone.


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## CaliChick

Totally shameless bump.


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## seacookie

put original cartridges inside and run test and see what happens. I would assume u have it stored when you upgraded to ciss.


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## CaliChick

seacookie said:


> put original cartridges inside and run test and see what happens. I would assume u have it stored when you upgraded to ciss.


Thanks for replying Seacookie.
We were thinking along the same lines.

That is the other problem. I have all the cert., epson cartridges.....but they of course are now dried up since I’ve exclusively been using cis.

I hate the idea of spending $50.00 on new cert., cartridges....only to find out I still have that problem and then will have a, newish non-working printer and brand new open cartridges and then need to layout for a new printer.....ugh


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## Amw

CaliChick said:


> Thanks for replying Seacookie.
> We were thinking along the same lines.
> 
> That is the other problem. I have all the cert., epson cartridges.....but they of course are now dried up since I’ve exclusively been using cis.


I have put in epson cartridges that were used and then sat for 2 years and they worked fine...so yours might be fine too.


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## CaliChick

Amw said:


> I have put in epson cartridges that were used and then sat for 2 years and they worked fine...so yours might be fine too.


Seriously? 

Ok I am going to try tonight, fingers crossed....!

Going to report back happy or totally sad.


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## CaliChick

The saga continues.

My color cartridges have ink, my Black is empty it says.

Anyone know how to make the 7110 print only using the color cartridges. I can’t see any option for this on the panel.


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## seacookie

CaliChick said:


> The saga continues.
> 
> My color cartridges have ink, my Black is empty it says.
> 
> Anyone know how to make the 7110 print only using the color cartridges. I can’t see any option for this on the panel.


buy black original, or buy cheap black dye fake cartridge or buy refillable empty cartridges(fill them with color) and try it.

I would buy fake dye cartridge in your case. It's few bucks. You already lost one week if I am not mistaken. So I would try to troubleshoot if ciss is the problem on the cheapest way possible. 
But that is just my 2 cents.


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## CaliChick

seacookie said:


> buy black original, or buy cheap black dye fake cartridge or buy refillable empty cartridges(fill them with color) and try it.
> 
> I would buy fake dye cartridge in your case. It's few bucks. You already lost one week if I am not mistaken. So I would try to troubleshoot if ciss is the problem on the cheapest way possible.
> But that is just my 2 cents.


Thx for the help.

Bought the single original epson cartridge. Put it in, no change whatsoever with all original cartridges. 

Contacted epson again - telling them (in a nice way) oh btw doing all the steps I had done before with genuine epson cartridges did not change when I did the steps all again per thier request on the fix it ticket. 

Thier response, essentially get the credit card out. It goes in for repairs they don’t cover. Which we all know is not cost effective.

Unfortunately now I am the owner of a huge paperweight with an equally expensive CISS hooked up. And needing to purchase a new wide format printer and another expensive CISS. 

I won’t be spending my money on epson ever again. Looks like it will be a canon or something. Unsure as well if I will ever buy CISS again or just refillable cartridges from a different supplier.

I appreciate your help - now off to lick my wounds and research my next purchase.


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## seacookie

CaliChick said:


> Thx for the help.
> 
> Bought the single original epson cartridge. Put it in, no change whatsoever with all original cartridges.
> 
> Contacted epson again - telling them (in a nice way) oh btw doing all the steps I had done before with genuine epson cartridges did not change when I did the steps all again per thier request on the fix it ticket.
> 
> Thier response, essentially get the credit card out. It goes in for repairs they don’t cover. Which we all know is not cost effective.
> 
> Unfortunately now I am the owner of a huge paperweight with an equally expensive CISS hooked up. And needing to purchase a new wide format printer and another expensive CISS.
> 
> I won’t be spending my money on epson ever again. Looks like it will be a canon or something. Unsure as well if I will ever buy CISS again or just refillable cartridges from a different supplier.
> 
> I appreciate your help - now off to lick my wounds and research my next purchase.


sry to hear bad news. On the bright side when you get new printer, you will won another fight of many which are in front of you in your future business.

I didn't went ciss and in my case I think I didn't miss anything. But I guess we all are different.


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## TABOB

Cannon is not much better...and their chips are harder to crack. The only thing I like about them is that their print-heads are removable, and tat makes them very easy to clean. The A3 size models at least.


I cannot see the image you posted, but lines usually mean clogged nozzles. Cleaning solutions don't always work. Sometimes the clog is too bad, and you have to remove the head and clean it. 



These new variable nozzle print-heads are a pain. A few times I had to live my print head soaking in cleaning solution for a week, until it worked again.


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## CaliChick

TABOB said:


> Cannon is not much better...and their chips are harder to crack. The only thing I like about them is that their print-heads are removable, and tat makes them very easy to clean. The A3 size models at least.
> 
> 
> I cannot see the image you posted, but lines usually mean clogged nozzles. Cleaning solutions don't always work. Sometimes the clog is too bad, and you have to remove the head and clean it.
> 
> 
> 
> These new variable nozzle print-heads are a pain. A few times I had to live my print head soaking in cleaning solution for a week, until it worked again.


If you get the chance. Take a look at the imagine I posted. When I do a nozzle check it is perfectly fine. 

Would clogged nozzles still print a nozzle check perfectly yet a vertical alignment really bad and unadjustable?

Thx


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## NoXid

CaliChick said:


> If you get the chance. Take a look at the imagine I posted. When I do a nozzle check it is perfectly fine.
> 
> Would clogged nozzles still print a nozzle check perfectly yet a vertical alignment really bad and unadjustable?
> 
> Thx


No. Nozzle check would show clogs, that is what it is for.

I saw your photos before the migration glitch hid everything. To me it looked like on the messed up rows that it was indenting slightly before starting to print the first block. As a result, it printed the next block overlapping with the first.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the head or the ink. There is something FUBAR about the positioning. Perhaps that plastic tape the position sensor reads ... don't know.

I imagine the fact that it alternates rows, printing one fine, then the next off (if you don't count the first row), is some sort of _*MAJOR*_ clue to anyone who really understood these things. But that wouldn't be me


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## TABOB

Actually this is not exactly true.
Sometimes partially clogged nozzles cause what is called "deflection".
When this happens, the the nozzle check looks fine, but if you look more close you will see one of the lines is out of place. 



I really think this is the problem you have, but it can be very difficult to clear. 



Personally I remove the Print-head, let it soak in cleaning solution, and then use distilled water. Not an easy job on these small Epson printers.


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## CaliChick

TABOB said:


> Actually this is not exactly true.
> Sometimes partially clogged nozzles cause what is called "deflection".
> When this happens, the the nozzle check looks fine, but if you look more close you will see one of the lines is out of place.
> 
> 
> 
> I really think this is the problem you have, but it can be very difficult to clear.
> 
> 
> 
> Personally I remove the Print-head, let it soak in cleaning solution, and then use distilled water. Not an easy job on these small Epson printers.


Ok I’m going to do this - since it’s best to save money if and when possible, and I still need to do extensive research on a new printer which takes time.

I can’t pull the head, I just am too frightened (figure that even though I’m a chick and have pulled the head on a car..anyhow) I will every day do the usual soaked in solution napkin tucked beneath the head, for the next five days ..... let’s just try it and I will post back . 

Hey you never know!!


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## TABOB

You pulled the cylinder head on a car, but you are frightened to do the printer? This is odd... Are you sure it was the cylinder head and not just the valve cover? The printer head is piece of cake in comparison.


You are right though... try the way you said first, and see what happens.


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## CaliChick

TABOB said:


> You pulled the cylinder head on a car, but you are frightened to do the printer? This is odd... Are you sure it was the cylinder head and not just the valve cover? The printer head is piece of cake in comparison.
> 
> 
> You are right though... try the way you said first, and see what happens.


I actually put an entire engine and three speed Hurst shifter and clutch in by myself - but see it was a really old car. A 64 Ford so it was actually easier then these stupid printers!

Anyhow!!

Update is......no change at all! (Reminds me of that twilight zone episode)

Same exact lines in the very same rows.

So now.....l need to make the jump (fall, leap) into a new wide format printer. I think this time, I might just do refillable cartridges now - sigh.

Maybe canon. I just feel burned by epson, don’t know if I want to drop more money to that brand.

Thank you soooo much everyone for any hints you posted for me.


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## Amw

CaliChick said:


> So now.....l need to make the jump (fall, leap) into a new wide format printer. I think this time, I might just do refillable cartridges now - sigh.


I recommend using refillable cartridges regardless of the amount of ink you go thru. You will have less trouble. We have 14 of these printers running and we use refillable cartridges in all of them. We used to use cis but there were too many issues with them that cartridges were a much better deal.


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## TABOB

All brands have good and bad models unfortunately.
Some models are bulletproof and some are trash.
One expensive example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf6kOEtgQqE


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## CaliChick

TABOB said:


> All brands have good and bad models unfortunately.
> Some models are bulletproof and some are trash.
> One expensive example:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf6kOEtgQqE


I love it thanks for the laugh, so funny! And true.


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## lilsuz

Re: Video- LOL!!! Exactly how I am feeling right now about my own Epson 7110!!!!

CaliChick,
Good luck with your printer. Please update us. I hope you get it working again. Sounds like you are not int he market for another Epson, but if you are, there seems to be some pretty good deals right now on the WF 7210, I may have to pick on up myself.
Keep us posted.


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## CaliChick

lilsuz said:


> Re: Video- LOL!!! Exactly how I am feeling right now about my own Epson 7110!!!!
> 
> CaliChick,
> Good luck with your printer. Please update us. I hope you get it working again. Sounds like you are not int he market for another Epson, but if you are, there seems to be some pretty good deals right now on the WF 7210, I may have to pick on up myself.
> Keep us posted.


Well.... yep I literally did everything known to man to that printhead. 

The only other thing possible was replacing the printhead which of course was costly, and took time, plus the only ones available were from China and I am guessing older ones that were cleaned.

I called epson and told them the issues and the best they would do was like 10% off a new purchase of a certain price.

Yea....nope. I told them nicely if that is the best they can do on a well cared for printer that has caused grief I would go with another brand. They didnt budge. 

So I bought a canon IX wide format with refillable cartridges. Wow....nice improvement and small and sleek.


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## lilsuz

That's great! I'm glad you found another printer you are happy with! Refillable cartridges too! Good work!


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## Jamesm80

I know this is a very old thread but someone may find this info very useful and save them a lot of money. I have a 14 month old Epson printer with the same issue as the op. Vertical alignment got to the point where all the options it gave me to choose from looked identical. Impossible to choose one. Gaps everywhere. Epson said printer has hardware fault but I would have to pay. Not worth cost.

In the end I decided to waste lots of paper and keep choosing an alignment value of 1 or 7 for everything and repeating until I could see what kind of change occured. If any. I'll cut to the chase, after about 10 alignments choosing option 7 I saw a slight movement in the printed bars and made a note of the direction the bars seemed to be moving. Then I tried option 1 a few times to confirm it went in the opposite direction. For me doing lots of number 7's began to close up the gaps.

After a lot of alignments I've got my printer perfect.

Main point of this story. If you get this issues I believe the alignment has gone so far out of whack that you need to keep maxing out the values either with 1 or 7 depending on which way the alignment has drifted. So ignore what the printer is telling you to choose and don't worry that they all look the same. Persevere and look at the differences between your alignment print pages themselves as you print them, and not the numbers blocks. You may need to do 10 or 20 at option 7 and then assess the prints and see how they altered. Once your alignments are starting to close up again you can follow what your printer wants you to do and choose the best numbered block instead. I also discovered that choosing block 4 essentially means "leave this alignment alone". So if a one or more blocks actually look good you can ignore making changes to those by always choosing 4.

Saved myself buying a new printer.

Sorry for the long message. I hope this helps another person like myself one day!

James.


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