Ridiculous Epson 4800 issue...

[mimosatexas]

So I'm resetting one of my ink carts, and when I pull it out two of the contacts inside the printer came with it (see attached image).  I can't for the life of me figure out how to put them back, and it is not reading the ink cart in that slow now.  WHAT THE HELL!?

Any ideas?  Do I need to rip the whole friggin thing apart?

[blue moon]

you are gonna have to call me about it, too long to type.
There is a connection board inside the printer, you'll have to pull it out and replace. the parts are only few dollars, but it can take several hours to remove the way it's listed in the manual. there is a way to do it with some dental picks and needle nose pliers without taking the printer apart and I can do it in 10 min or even less with a bit of luck. I might even have one or two left.

call me tomorrow morning Eastern Time, I'll be at work for few hours after 9am. Will definitely be gone by noon (we are closed, just going in for some paperwork). 440 942-6055

pierre

[mimosatexas]

Thanks Pierre. From what I can tell it looks like I should be able to just reinsert them, but I can't see all that well. I did find the service and field repair manual online and it looks like I can just take a few panels off and remove the entire cartridge holder to get access to that. I'll definitely give you a call tomorrow though to confirm what I'm seeing.

[blue moon]

it's probably four hours to do it the manual way! the pins are on a removable clip that you will need angled needle nose pliers for and two bent dental picks to remove. All of this is available from Harbor Freight for about $20 or less. I think the clips (with contacts in them) are under $10. Once they are pulled out, the clip is toast and you'll need a new one.
pierre

[willy35]

You need to replace the contact point
http://www.sdott-parts.com/epson-pro-4880-4800-4450-contact-point.html

And yes you are not obliged to removed all the panels, I use 2 long screw driver, and tape a needle tips to the end of them, and with patient manage to remove it.

[blue moon]

yup, that's it!
you'll need these or something like it. Beware the opening is deep and picks will have to be LONG!

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece-o-ring-hook-scribe-set-42159.html

and something like this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/11-inch-long-reach-needlenose-pliers-with-45-offset-jaws-39537.html

I can't remember if I used the angled ones or not. For some reason I think, the flat ones did not work as it was too close to the wall.

pierre

EDIT: changed the link to the correct picks

[blue moon]

OK, just went over the thing with mimo . . . here's how it's done.

two picks, one with double bend (straight would work, but double bend makes it easier to move around the post that's in front).

one pick (double bend) is wedged in under the clip and little bit of tension is put on it in upward direction.

the smaller pick goes around the back into the hole where the tabs are compressed while keeping tension on the front pick.

[blue moon]

continuing, as only 4 images can be attached . . .

after taking a couple of minutes to figure out the first one, the second clip came out in 10 seconds. It is that easy!

be careful putting the clip back in as there is a low and a high side to it.

pierre

[ZooCity]

Dude, that sucks.  I bought a used 4800 off some classifieds and it not only was full of dried ink but one of those contacts sprang loose while doing a black ink conversion.  Like an idiot, I tore it down as per epson's field repair guide and it is the worst, I just gave up and that's a parts printer now.

Did this trick work?

[mimosatexas]

Pierre's help was very much appreciated!  I was able to get it out pretty quickly and easily using the method he describes, basically using the picks to depress the little catches, then using some little pliers to grab the end and pull lightly.  Besides the two contacts that fell off of it, there were two others that were mangled a bit, so I do need a new chip which sucks, but otherwise, no pulling apart the printer and a hopefully cheap fix.

I'll update with a bunch of images and better instructions next week when I have a little more time.

edit:  I actually looked at it all again, and the little bends were really not that bad.  used some tweezers to bend them back and no issues!  Printer is up and running.

[Frog]

This sounds like a very fragile hunk of plastic and metal! Are all Epsons this vulnerable?

[mimosatexas]

Man I would hope not, but seriously this piece looks like it is designed to fail.

[Doug S]

I have the rocket launcher I image and have recently had delivered a new capping station, wipers and a ink selector unit with the dampers attached.  All of them are oem parts. I ordered them because I was doing a cleaning daily beause of a missing nozzle and a half daily.

  I've been reading about other people's experience with tearing apart the epson 7900 and replacing those parts.  One of the articles I've read it was stated that if you sneeze while doing it, you might break a piece.  I would rather just buy another printer and attach it to M&R's engineered part but I think that would be way above my ability.

 Anyway, thank God I started using a couple of drops of CLF007P in the capping station pads weekly.  It supposedly cleans while keeping the printhead somewhat moist.  I bought it from:

 http://www.americaninkjetsystems2.com/support/how_to_permanently_resolve_print_head_clog_nozzle_clog_on_an_epson_stylus_pro_9900_printer.html

It took a couple of weeks applying this but now I'm getting a nice nozzle check without having to perform cleanings.  I know that regardless I eventually will have to tear into it to replace the parts even though I'm dreading it like the plague but atleast this stuff will buy me some more time and maybe get me through until a dead part of the year. 

[ZooCity]

This sounds like a very fragile hunk of plastic and metal! Are all Epsons this vulnerable?

Yep.  The components are built like cracker jack prizes.  Gosh darn miracle they do what they do. 

[jsheridan]

This sounds like a very fragile hunk of plastic and metal! Are all Epsons this vulnerable?

yes..

bought a new epson new printer off the shelf for home use years ago. the very first time i changed the black ink.. pulled the ink cart and what this thread is about, is what happened.. pulled the ink and along with it came 3 prongs..

another epson printer.. the very first ink charge, i mean from factory sealed package, box still on table.. the ink cart punched a hole in an electronic board in the back of the ink slot.. returned it to best buy and the sales guy showed me a pile of the same printer behind him.. worst design ever.

another epson.. behind me o a shelf.. 3 of the inks are clogged.. carts are 10 bucks each and a cleaning cycle uses a 1/3 of the cart.