Epson ET-8550 Maintenance !!! Easy Way To Remove Ink From Print head And Maintenance

[Hangry Muscle]

Its been over a month since using the Epson Eco tank ET-8550 for DTF (direct to film) printing and so far everything has been great. This is the first cleaning I have done since buying the printer. Usually I just do the printhead clean function. Today I did the full on maintenance.

Epson Ecotank ET-8550 Maintenance Video

[johnson4]

5 hours ago, Hangry Muscle said:

Its been over a month since using the Epson Eco tank ET-8550 for DTF (direct to film) printing and so far everything has been great. This is the first cleaning I have done since buying the printer. Usually I just do the printhead clean function. Today I did the full on maintenance.

Epson Ecotank ET-8550 Maintenance Video

How do you mix and prevent the white ink from settling? 

[johnson4]

 

[johnson4]

5 hours ago, johnson4 said:

How do you mix and prevent the white ink from settling? 

Seems alright, keep at it you’ll figure it out.
 

I’ll just assume pull /shake/ refill daily on the white.

One advice, i would be careful sucking air back through the printhead like that when you were emptying the damper.

personally I have a hard time justifying print time and printer cost, but there really aren’t a ton of options-right now. 

[Hangry Muscle]

6 hours ago, johnson4 said:

Seems alright, keep at it you’ll figure it out.
 

I’ll just assume pull /shake/ refill daily on the white.

One advice, i would be careful sucking air back through the printhead like that when you were emptying the damper.

personally I have a hard time justifying print time and printer cost, but there really aren’t a ton of options-right now. 

I print off and on, so far no issues with white, I did start shaking the inks in printer. And yeah someone else mentioned air too, next time I'll skip that and just clear the tanks. The printer has been fantastic compared to the Xp15000s I use.

[Hangry Muscle]

11 hours ago, johnson4 said:

How do you mix and prevent the white ink from settling? 

I haven't had to do anything specific, I do have the printer on a foldable table and I just rock the printer back and forth on it. 

[johnson4]

5 hours ago, Hangry Muscle said:

I print off and on, so far no issues with white, I did start shaking the inks in printer. And yeah someone else mentioned air too, next time I'll skip that and just clear the tanks. The printer has been fantastic compared to the Xp15000s I use.

That’s good. Yea, if they ever come out with a damper style manifold for that printer, I think it would be Golden. What’s the speed on that one? The xp 15000 does a 12x12 in roughly 4 minutes cmykW. It’s hard to judge by the video. 

[Hangry Muscle]

So far it's been great. 

XP-15000 I think is faster. Here's a video of a full print. Its like 12 mins to print.

DTF Et-8550 A3+ Film  Full Printout

[johnson4]

2 hours ago, Hangry Muscle said:

So far it's been great. 

XP-15000 I think is faster. Here's a video of a full print. Its like 12 mins to print.

DTF Et-8550 A3+ Film  Full Printout

So it’s probably 90 nozzles X 6, like the l1800 and 1430. 
 

you could easily modify that ink system and run that printer with an external tank, or an automatic mixer, or simply using a syringe and recycling the ink manually which would only take a few minutes every day. The cmyk never settles, at least it hasn’t in months on my end. So doing the white only would save time. I know the eco tanks are built much cheaper, so my concern now would be the quality of the wiper/ capping station. 
 

What were the issues you had with the 15000? I designed some resin cartridge adapters and laser cut some silicone for it. I haven’t tested it yet, but it makes the 15000 have the “nipple” for regular dampers with no chance of leaking. In my eyes I’m still stuck on it being a great candidate, at least for a throw away printer. If it was $350 every 6-12 months, it would be one of the easiest and cheapest running machines, especially if you just slap in a damper and it’s golden. 

[Hangry Muscle]

On 11/26/2021 at 7:15 AM, johnson4 said:

So it’s probably 90 nozzles X 6, like the l1800 and 1430. 
 

you could easily modify that ink system and run that printer with an external tank, or an automatic mixer, or simply using a syringe and recycling the ink manually which would only take a few minutes every day. The cmyk never settles, at least it hasn’t in months on my end. So doing the white only would save time. I know the eco tanks are built much cheaper, so my concern now would be the quality of the wiper/ capping station. 
 

What were the issues you had with the 15000? I designed some resin cartridge adapters and laser cut some silicone for it. I haven’t tested it yet, but it makes the 15000 have the “nipple” for regular dampers with no chance of leaking. In my eyes I’m still stuck on it being a great candidate, at least for a throw away printer. If it was $350 every 6-12 months, it would be one of the easiest and cheapest running machines, especially if you just slap in a damper and it’s golden. 

Yeah. Im testing out a CISS on right now. Still working out the kinks. 

Et8550 CISS preview

 

I've had no issues with White, Cyan and Black were starting to have a couple missing spots in the Nozzle Check so I put cleaning solution into the ink tanks, shook it a little bit and that cleared them out pretty good. Had trouble getting the solution out the Black cart so I took out the carts. Then I was able to pour the solution out of Black. No issues removing the cleaning solution from the other colors.

This printer is a tank, Its lasted way longer than any of Xp-15000s. I'm sure the quality of the wiper blade and wetcap. 

 My first and second Xp-15000 the CISS flooded the wetcap station both had fatal codes. 

The 3rd Xp-15000 broke during the maintenance process. I didn't use a CISS with this one.

The 4th had clog in the Magenta that I could not fix. I ended up with an error code trying to clear it. 

Most of those problems were probably caused my human error. They can probably be avoided if you know what you're doing. Silicone around the wetcap station is a fantastic idea. Someone else mentioned they did the same thing.

I also had issues with the Xp-15000 reading certain films and especially if I was using Acrorip. I fixed this by putting a white piece of paper in front of the film sheet.

The Xp-15000 is probably better for DTF but personally I would still choose the Et-8550. 

Low maintenance ( I did pretty much zero maintenance in the first month and no issues with white separating. )

Refilling ink is fast.

The printer has two auto clean functions, regular and powerful printhead cleans. 

It has a setting for manually setting your ink levels.

Also its chipless so no having install or buy extra software.

It has the option to install a roller feeder. There's a setting in the printer preferences.

Speed is okay, like 10 mins to print a 13x19 sheet.

My issue with this printer was the sensor not reading certain film sheets. I did the paper trick with this works everytime. 

The other was Photoblack channel was printing a yellowish color ( I haven't figured out how to fix this yet.)

 

 

 

 

 

[johnson4]

9 minutes ago, Hangry Muscle said:

Yeah. Im testing out a CISS on right now. Still working out the kinks. 

Et8550 CISS preview

 

I've had no issues with White, Cyan and Black were starting to have a couple missing spots in the Nozzle Check so I put cleaning solution into the ink tanks, shook it a little bit and that cleared them out pretty good. Had trouble getting the solution out the Black cart so I took out the carts. Then I was able to pour the solution out of Black. No issues removing the cleaning solution from the other colors.

This printer is a tank, Its lasted way longer than any of Xp-15000s. I'm sure the quality of the wiper blade and wetcap. 

 My first and second Xp-15000 the CISS flooded the wetcap station both had fatal codes. 

The 3rd Xp-15000 broke during the maintenance process. I didn't use a CISS with this one.

The 4th had clog in the Magenta that I could not fix. I ended up with an error code trying to clear it. 

Most of those problems were probably caused my human error. They can probably be avoided if you know what you're doing. Silicone around the wetcap station is a fantastic idea. Someone else mentioned they did the same thing.

I also had issues with the Xp-15000 reading certain films and especially if I was using Acrorip. I fixed this by putting a white piece of paper in front of the film sheet.

The Xp-15000 is probably better for DTF but personally I would still choose the Et-8550. 

Low maintenance ( I did pretty much zero maintenance in the first month and no issues with white separating. )

Refilling ink is fast.

The printer has two auto clean functions, regular and powerful printhead cleans. 

It has a setting for manually setting your ink levels.

Also its chipless so no having install or buy extra software.

It has the option to install a roller feeder. There's a setting in the printer preferences.

Speed is okay, like 10 mins to print a 13x19 sheet.

My issue with this printer was the sensor not reading certain film sheets. I did the paper trick with this works everytime. 

The other was Photoblack channel was printing a yellowish color ( I haven't figured out how to fix this yet.)

 

 

 

 

 

Do you wet cap? Too much ink there will cause the ink in the dampers to mix. 
 

I didn’t have those issues in the 15000, I used roll printing and swapped pre filled carts out. Each persons usage scenario though will bring out different problems though. 

[Hangry Muscle]

 

10 hours ago, johnson4 said:

Do you wet cap? Too much ink there will cause the ink in the dampers to mix. 
 

I didn’t have those issues in the 15000, I used roll printing and swapped pre filled carts out. Each persons usage scenario though will bring out different problems though. 

Not sure how to so I haven't. I think i might be having that issue with the inks mixing right now using the ciss. 

Can you explain? I have a  wet cap solution 

Yeah I think most of mine probably could of been avoided haha. 

 

[msheffield]

What did you do about the waste ink tank? Is there a resetter?

[johnson4]

9 hours ago, msheffield said:

What did you do about the waste ink tank? Is there 

Edited December 6, 2021 by johnson4

[anum11]

On 12/5/2021 at 7:39 AM, Hangry Muscle said:

 

Not sure how to so I haven't. I think i might be having that issue with the inks mixing right now using the ciss. 

Can you explain? I have a  wet cap solution 

Yeah I think most of mine probably could of been avoided haha. 

 

If ciss is placed high or even if it is sometimes full, inks May leak onto cap station and from there to waste ink tanks. If you have this problem it may also go back into printhead and mix there a bit. But if this is the case, after you print a few mixed ink should go out and you should get correct colors again.

If not maybe your wiper blade is too dirty or your printhead channels may ve leaking inside to eachother. If this is the case when leakage grows some inks start to wont fire and inks may mix and go back way inside of ciss also you will start to see some channel nozzles fade away. However This may usually seen on chinese refurbished printhead or manually cleaned printheads or if you suck ink from capping station hoses with syringe too often.

 

[Hangry Muscle]

On 12/6/2021 at 8:45 AM, anum11 said:

If ciss is placed high or even if it is sometimes full, inks May leak onto cap station and from there to waste ink tanks. If you have this problem it may also go back into printhead and mix there a bit. But if this is the case, after you print a few mixed ink should go out and you should get correct colors again.

If not maybe your wiper blade is too dirty or your printhead channels may ve leaking inside to eachother. If this is the case when leakage grows some inks start to wont fire and inks may mix and go back way inside of ciss also you will start to see some channel nozzles fade away. However This may usually seen on chinese refurbished printhead or manually cleaned printheads or if you suck ink from capping station hoses with syringe too often.

 

I was asking about the wetcap but I figured it. I'm only using the CISS for two of my colors. 

[Carlos4072]

On 11/26/2021 at 9:15 AM, johnson4 said:

So it’s probably 90 nozzles X 6, like the l1800 and 1430. 
 

you could easily modify that ink system and run that printer with an external tank, or an automatic mixer, or simply using a syringe and recycling the ink manually which would only take a few minutes every day. The cmyk never settles, at least it hasn’t in months on my end. So doing the white only would save time. I know the eco tanks are built much cheaper, so my concern now would be the quality of the wiper/ capping station. 
 

What were the issues you had with the 15000? I designed some resin cartridge adapters and laser cut some silicone for it. I haven’t tested it yet, but it makes the 15000 have the “nipple” for regular dampers with no chance of leaking. In my eyes I’m still stuck on it being a great candidate, at least for a throw away printer. If it was $350 every 6-12 months, it would be one of the easiest and cheapest running machines, especially if you just slap in a damper and it’s golden. 

This printhead have 180 nozzles, hangry muscle is printing at 1440x1440. After watch a video from Hangry Muscle, i can affirm that the printhead is an xp600 with a different manifold, very similar to the xp1500 manifold. This printer is more or less like a p600, and is available, one of the best option until p700 and p900 get chipless firmware. Also the printhead replacement is cheap, not sure about the compatible model, but look like this one: 
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005002522746966.html?_randl_currency=MXN&_randl_shipto=MX&src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=494-037-6276&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&albagn=888888&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&albcp=6516758312&albag=75664784622&trgt=1460151206306&crea=es1005002522746966&netw=u&device=c&albpg=1460151206306&albpd=es1005002522746966&gclid=CjwKCAjw682TBhATEiwA9crl3_N__Ma1sDJ5GAnfav6rmMfsuWvSQFCRDIiK8RFL61UD3r5sk-MWuhoCL8IQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&aff_fcid=5d18ec09c87d4b5ca1eec48ccb7fa6e2-1651769953216-00351-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=5d18ec09c87d4b5ca1eec48ccb7fa6e2-1651769953216-00351-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=2ce3918d62804b338283b3a31b3606d3&afSmartRedirect=y

[johnson4]

5 hours ago, Carlos4072 said:

This printhead have 180 nozzles, hangry muscle is printing at 1440x1440. After watch a video from Hangry Muscle, i can affirm that the printhead is an xp600 with a different manifold, very similar to the xp1500 manifold. This printer is more or less like a p600, and is available, one of the best option until p700 and p900 get chipless firmware. Also the printhead replacement is cheap, not sure about the compatible model, but look like this one: 
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005002522746966.html?_randl_currency=MXN&_randl_shipto=MX&src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=494-037-6276&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&albagn=888888&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&albcp=6516758312&albag=75664784622&trgt=1460151206306&crea=es1005002522746966&netw=u&device=c&albpg=1460151206306&albpd=es1005002522746966&gclid=CjwKCAjw682TBhATEiwA9crl3_N__Ma1sDJ5GAnfav6rmMfsuWvSQFCRDIiK8RFL61UD3r5sk-MWuhoCL8IQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&aff_fcid=5d18ec09c87d4b5ca1eec48ccb7fa6e2-1651769953216-00351-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=5d18ec09c87d4b5ca1eec48ccb7fa6e2-1651769953216-00351-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=2ce3918d62804b338283b3a31b3606d3&afSmartRedirect=y

this post is old, I have since found the specs for it. 180 nozzles X6.

Yea, the xp600 is a good head. It’s different than the 15000 head. I don’t know specifically about the eco tank printer. The xp600 has two channels 360 nozzles, 4 channels 180 nozzles. 
 

the 15000 does well, with the exception of the poor aftermarket cartridges. So if it’s similar but with an actual ink port- should be a good printhead. My 15000 printed the same speed as the p400. 
 

I wouldn’t agree it is in any way similiar to the p600, unless you are referencing to the print speed. Then it would be the same as the xp-15000/p400/p600/p800 speeds. All these printers print within 1-2 square foot an hour of each other, the speed difference coming from the head pass speed and how long they pause every 20 head passes. 
 

overall for a $600-700 printer it works well, depending on the durability of the rest of the machine like the capping station and CR motor. I still feel this is very expensive for what it is, but there isn’t much else available in current generations. 
 

Me personally I’d rather buy a dual head xp600 printer from China for a little bit more, I just don’t think the eco tanks are designed with any type of durability in mind. 

Edited May 5, 2022 by johnson4

[Carlos4072]

On 5/5/2022 at 5:01 PM, johnson4 said:

this post is old, I have since found the specs for it. 180 nozzles X6.

Yea, the xp600 is a good head. It’s different than the 15000 head. I don’t know specifically about the eco tank printer. The xp600 has two channels 360 nozzles, 4 channels 180 nozzles. 
 

the 15000 does well, with the exception of the poor aftermarket cartridges. So if it’s similar but with an actual ink port- should be a good printhead. My 15000 printed the same speed as the p400. 
 

I wouldn’t agree it is in any way similiar to the p600, unless you are referencing to the print speed. Then it would be the same as the xp-15000/p400/p600/p800 speeds. All these printers print within 1-2 square foot an hour of each other, the speed difference coming from the head pass speed and how long they pause every 20 head passes. 
 

overall for a $600-700 printer it works well, depending on the durability of the rest of the machine like the capping station and CR motor. I still feel this is very expensive for what it is, but there isn’t much else available in current generations. 
 

Me personally I’d rather buy a dual head xp600 printer from China for a little bit more, I just don’t think the eco tanks are designed with any type of durability in mind. 

Yes, im only talking about print speed, but i agree about the quality and durabilty are not comparable. Right now im using also a L1800 Ecotank with very good results, but this machine is too slow. 

 

Im not sure about get a chinese dual head machine, for me at this point is more easy and cheap buy this old printers (p400-p800-3880) or ecotank options (L1800, 8550).

 

 

[anum11]

This machine can print good quality at 720x720. it is same head with xp-15000 with a diffirent manifold. 
 

 

[Jana]

Hello, I'm asking for advice. I have an L8180 (ET-8550) and suddenly I didn't like the white one. I almost fixed that. But now the capping has stopped sucking the paint during cleaning. What with this?

[anum11]

Clean the cap and wiper blade

[Donnabees]

On 2/10/2023 at 2:57 PM, Jana said:

Hello, I'm asking for advice. I have an L8180 (ET-8550) and suddenly I didn't like the white one. I almost fixed that. But now the capping has stopped sucking the paint during cleaning. What with this?

Did you ever find a fix for the capping station not sucking the ink out during cleaning???