My printer is not printing black ink. I have never used any other cartridges but the Epson ones for my machine. I keep cleaning and priming and wasting new cartridges.Epson Workforce WF-2630
My printer is not printing black text
printer
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Having worked at an Epson and HP warranty shop for over 10 years, I can say many "compatible" cartridges cause significant issues. Blocked print heads is one. I have not worked for that shop for several years and have no interest in ink sales :-)
Epson cartridges normally have a very fine screen at the bottom of the cartridge above where it goes into the print head. This screen keeps dried ink particles from entering the print head. As the ink level goes down, ink dries on the sides of the cartridge and then movement allows it to drop into the tank. Many compatible cartridges do not have this screen. We cut many open to check this.
If the printer has not been turned off properly, it will also cause clogged print heads. It is important to turn off with the power button and allow the printer to properly cap the printhead/cartridge. Turning off with a power bar will assure issues like plugged heads/nozzles.
A good technician may be able to clean the printhead with a solution from Epson( or others) but it takes some time and patience. Given the cost of printers today, most will skip this due to cost.
There are some "kits" offered that have the cleaning solution and a syringe. One is here I also see some videos on the process online. The Epson fluid was red but I belive that was for easy visibility when cleaning. I would certainly check your local repair shops and see if they will give an estimate for a proper cleaning.
Also note there are absorbant pads under the print head rest position that can become saturated and must be replaced or you will have ink smeared across the paper.
As a side note, we tried two different compatible inks in an Epson printer and then printed the same image on the same high quality paper. The difference in quaility was clear to anyone who looked at the image. Epson ink was much better.
I have had a similar experience - twice. The first time I got flooded with yellow, got it fixed under warranty and now it has just happened again after adding new black ink cartridges. This time flooding with cyan. Back to the repair shop. I have just spent $400 in new extra large cartridges. Back to the repair shop on Monday. I only use my Canon XP600 for printing CDs.
Solution - buy a Brother printer which has a CD printer tray.
The printer had a fault caused by downloading an update when I installed the drivers for a new computer. Don't install any updates offered if you are asked!
Best Answer
Epson printers have a print head separate from the ink cartridge. It is easily possible that your print head has either clogged on the black ink portion or that the head itself has failed.
I have replaced a print head for a friend which solved the problem, but failed again less than a year later.
Consider that you have little to lose if the head is bad by performing an out-of-printer cleaning. Remove the ink cartridges, remove the head assembly and place the bottom portion in an alcohol bath. You can also pour some alcohol into the top bay for the black cartridge. The best thing that can happen is that the alcohol will dissolve the clog. The worst thing is that the print head will cease to operate on all colors.
This is an option only if you are planning to purchase a replacement if this method fails. Use as high concentration alcohol that you can find for best results. Isopropyl alcohol, also known as rubbing alcohol. I believe that denatured alcohol will also work.
It will be necessary to re-prime the head after returning it to the printer, as the alcohol will have cleaned away all pre-primed ink.