# 4880 flatbed not printng



## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

Hi guys,

I am having a problem with my flatbed based on 4880. It moves but it does not print a single colour. It seems its print head does not fire at all. The pump and capping station both are working and inks are coming through during the power cleaning cycle.

I have replaced F1 fuse but it does not help. Also I do not have paper censor installed so it is not related to it either.

What else can cause this?

a bit of history before it starts happening.

I did a lot of work in the last 2-3 weeks with my flatbed printer and I believe I could screw it up at some point.


I restored valve systems as they were originally removed from both ink bays. The printer has CISS re setter built in so ink chips readers are not connected with an original epson boards with ribbon cables, the only cable from each ink bays that are connected are just two wire cable which I think read each lever LOCK/UNLOCK position.
So I do not think that restoration of valve systems could cause the problem with the print head stop working. However I did some extra replacements and it screw something up. This is what I have done:

1)I replaced print head cables with the ones from an old 4800 printer. They seem to be in much better condition than the ones I had installed in my 4880. I also replaced all tubing and dumpers with a brand new ones. To do it I had to disconnect all print head ribbon cables but I believe I finally put them back exactly as they should be connected.

2)I also tried to use a regular print head(no Teflon coating) from the old 4800 instead of the one installed. I did it just to see if it could fix some inks flowing back problem I had from the beginning. The 4800 print head had one channel clogged badly and the same colours kept flowing back so I put the original 4880 head back. I may have done some mistake at this point and connected ribbon cables to the 4880 print head in a wrong way. I think I turn the printer on with the cables connected in a wrong way. But then I released it should be other way around and they are all connected in a right way. I have also checked that other ends of the print head ribbon cables connected to the right connectors on the other end. 

3) I also tried to clean both print heads when they were removed from the printer by running Windex and alcohol through them and I cannot be sure no liquid was spilled on either print head boards. I must say it does not look good based on an effort required to push liquid through the nozzles. Each print head I used was out of the printer for at least 7-10 days after cleaning. 

4) When I was playing with switching print heads I disassembled them and switched the top plates of each print head assembly. This was done to see if the top plate from the 4800 print head that I thought had better nipples and sealing would fix the problem with some inks flowing back. They top plates seem to match but it had not fix the problem with ink flowing back so I switched the top plates back.

Now I am trying to get it working with the original 4880 print head but the print head cables I am using are from the 4800 printer. I have checked each cable pins and they seem to be ok. 

I would probably get a new print head anyway as it may be a print head problem. However I just want to be sure nothing else is wrong before I install the new print head.


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## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

Just tried to check what is in 4880 repair guide about it and found the following

Check Printhead Fuses on Main Board.
3.1 If the Fuses are blown, replace the Main Board.
3.2 If the Fuses are good, replace the Printhead.

What fuses they are talking about and how many of them should be on the mainboard? I can see only F1 ceramic fuse but it is on a power board, not on the main board. This one I have replaced but it did not look to be blown. May be they refer to some soldered fuses but I do not know where to find them on the main board.


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## lazographics (Mar 5, 2009)

When a 4880 is going through the motions of printing but no ink is coming out, the issue is a bad F6 fuse on the main board. It is labeled F6. You can check the fuse for continuity with a multimeter. If its bad then you will have to solder on an external fuse to it.


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## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

lazographics said:


> When a 4880 is going through the motions of printing but no ink is coming out, the issue is a bad F6 fuse on the main board. It is labeled F6. You can check the fuse for continuity with a multimeter. If its bad then you will have to solder on an external fuse to it.


Thank you. I think I have found f6 fuse on the main board.

If it is blown what type of external fuse I can replace it with?


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## lazographics (Mar 5, 2009)

ozstockman said:


> Thank you. I think I have found f6 fuse on the main board.
> 
> If it is blown what type of external fuse I can replace it with?


Use an external fuse like what's in the picture.


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## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

Sorry I meant what fuse max current and voltage this f6 fuse should support?


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## lazographics (Mar 5, 2009)

Sorry. Try a 500ma 250v fuse.


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## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

ok, here is what I have tried

1) Installed the new print head
2) replaced a capping station
3) added a fuse holder for F6 fuse and installed a new fuse

And.. it still does not print a single line. Moreover there is some new strange thing happening. It is either purge only black ink during power cleaning or it is doing much more black than any other colour. Capping station is filled with black colour and I cannot see any traces of other colours in it. However I can see through 90 degrees connectors that at least a few other colours are coming to the dampers.

And even with a black going through print head it does not print even black. 

I may have a few different problems but the most import one to fix is with printing. What else apart from f6 fuse can stop a print head firing? Please help. 

The print head ribbon cables seems to be ok but they have been taken from another printer.


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## andyzee65 (Jul 6, 2011)

hi,
I wonder if you could help me?
I was just reading through 4880 fuse problems and saw this thread.
I'm having a similar problem with my R-Jet 4 where it wont print anything.

Did you find out in the end what the problem was with your printer?

thank you
Andy


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