Thank you for your purchase of Piezography K7 inks for your Epson 7800 or 9800 printer. The instructions below will allow you to install the K7 inks in your printer.
Additional help on a variety of topics is available at the Piezography Technical Support Web Page: www.piezography.com/support, and by email, to [email protected].
Contents of this document:
Background Information: information about the ink set, the cartridges and testing your printer before installing K7 inks.
Changing inks in your printer. Instructions on how to install K7 inks, depending on which Epson black ink cartridge, either photo or matte, is currently installed.
Troubleshooting Guide, and additional information. Information on removing color tint after the ink change procedure, and on ink cartridge placement in the printer.
Background information:
Contents of your cartridges. Your Piezography K7 ink set consists of eight cartridges. Seven of the cartridges contain the seven shades of Piezography K7 ink, and the eighth cartridge, the Light Light Black cartridge, contains PiezoFlush fluid, a pink-tinted flushing fluid not used in printing images. The Black position cartridge contains Piezography K7 shade #1 ink, the darkest of the seven inks. The Piezography K7 shade #1 cartridge has a “Photo Black” chip on it, and will be recognized as a photo black cartridge by your printer.
Testing the printer with Epson inks. Please test your printer with Epson inks prior to installing Piezography inks. This holds true whether your printer is brand new, or has been in use with a different ink set. Testing your printer with Epson inks is important, because it allows you to evaluate your printer for any potential problems due to missing nozzles or unfixable banding issues, which you will determine by printing and examining nozzle check patterns and test images. While such problems are unlikely to occur with a new printer, they do occur from time to time. If you install third party ink in a new printer before testing it with Epson inks, and you do encounter printing problems, it becomes more difficult to evaluate the cause of the problem.
Changing inks in your printer. Depending on whether the black position cartridge of your installed Epson ink set is Matte Black or Photo Black, you will need to follow different procedures for switching the printer over to Piezography K7 inks, as described below:
· If your installed Epson ink set contains a Photo Black Cartridge, then you will run an “Initial Fill” cycle to install the K7 inks.
· If your installed Epson ink set contains a matte black cartridge, then you will run two cycles. You will first run a “black ink change” cycle to convert your printer so that it accepts the Piezography photo black-chipped shade #1 cartridge, and then you will run an “initial fill” to complete the installation of the K7 inks in your printer.
Steps to changing ink in your printer. Determine which ink change sequence you will need to follow:
· If your printer contains an Epson Photo Black cartridge initially, follow the “Initial Fill” cycle, Procedure A, below.
· If your printer has an Epson Matte Black cartridge installed, follow the “Black Ink Change” cycle first, followed by an “Initial Fill” cycle, described in Procedure B, below. The Black ink change cycle converts your printer to accept a Photo Black cartridge, and the subsequent “Initial Fill” cycle allows you to fill your printer with Piezography ink.
Ink Change Procedure A: Initial Fill cycle. Use this cycle when either:
Your printer initially has a Photo Black Epson cartridge in it, or you have just completed the “Black Ink Change” cycle, outlined in Procedure B, below, and your printer now has the Piezography Shade #1 cartridge installed in the black cartridge slot, and Epson cartridges installed in all other slots.
Important Notes: In order to run an initial fill cycle, your new cartridges must each be at least 30% full. If they are less than 30% full, the printer will not allow you to continue until you replace those cartridges determined to be too empty to proceed. Once beginning an initial fill cycle, there is no way to abort it, and so your printer will be waiting for you to replace those cartridges it instructs you to install. If your Piezography K7 and PiezoFlush cartridges are new, they will be full, but if they have been used in the past, removed, and you are now in the process of reinstalling them, you need to know how full they are before you go forward with the procedure. If you are not sure how full your Piezography cartridges are, install them and turn the printer on normally. The ink status monitor will display the ink levels. If they are not all at least 30% full, turn off the printer, and order the replacement cartridges you will need.
Additionally, during this procedure, your maintenance tank may fill up, requiring you to replace it. If your maintenance tank is partially filled, it is a good idea to have a spare on hand. Maintenance tanks are available from Epson ink retailers.
1. Test your printer with Epson ink: print and evaluate nozzle check patterns and test images. Look for missing or misplaced lines in the nozzle check pattern, and examine your prints for potential banding problems, which will appear as unintended light or dark lines running through parts of your image. Fix any printer problems you may find, before you proceed to the next step. Note that if you have a brand new printer, you must install your Epson ink cartridges, including a Photo Black cartridge, in order to run these tests. Please follow the instructions in your printer manual for information on how to do this.
2. Turn the printer off, remove the Epson ink cartridges and install the Piezography K7 ink and the PiezoFlush cartridges into the slots of the printer matching the color name on each cartridge. If your printer already contains a Piezography Shade #1 cartridge, from a Black Ink Change cycle you just ran, leave that cartridge in place, but replace all the others. Close the ink levers.
3. While the printer is off, press the Enter, Down arrow and Right arrow buttons on the printer’s control panel. Turn the printer on and continue holding these buttons until the printer starts in “Self Testing” mode. Release the three buttons.
4. Press the Down arrow button several times until the word “Cleaning” appears on the LCD screen on the printer. Press the Right arrow button to display “Std. CL1” shows on the screen. Press the Down arrow button until “Init Fill” (initial fill) is displayed. Press the Enter button as directed on the printer, to begin the initial fill process.
5. Follow the instructions on the LCD screen to complete the Initial Fill cycle. After it completes, turn the printer off and back on, to exit the “Self Testing” mode.
6. Print a nozzle check pattern, in “Manual” mode. (Do not use the automatic nozzle check pattern utility). A correctly printed nozzle check pattern will contain seven gray sections and one pink-colored section. The lightest shades of the K7 inks are very faint, and their nozzle check patterns may be difficult to see. However, if you can see them, then they are correct.
Ink Change Procedure B: Black Ink Change Cycle. Use this cycle if your printer initially has an Epson Matte Black ink cartridge installed. This is the first part of a two part procedure.
Important Notes: each of the Epson cartridges in your printer must be at least 30% full in order to run the Black Ink Change Cycle. If any of your cartridges are less than 30% full, you will be instructed to replace those cartridges during the process. If necessary, you may substitute a Piezography cartridge for any of cartridges except for the Black position cartridge. Be advised, however, that this will cause you to use additional Piezography ink from those cartridges you use during this step.
Additionally, during this procedure, your maintenance tank may fill up, requiring you to replace it. If your maintenance tank is partially full before you begin, have a spare maintenance tank on hand. Maintenance tanks are available from Epson ink retailers.
1. Test your printer with Epson ink: print and evaluate nozzle check patterns and test images. Look for missing or misplaced lines in the nozzle check pattern, and examine your prints for potential banding problems, which will appear as unintended light or dark lines running through parts of your image. Fix any printer problems you may find, before you proceed to the next step. Note that if you have a brand new printer, you must install your Epson ink cartridges, including a Matte Black cartridge, in order to run these tests. Please follow the instructions in your printer manual for information on how to do this.
2. Turn on the printer, and allow it to start up. When the LCD panel displays “Ready” press the Right arrow button.
3. Press the Down arrow button until you see “Maintenance” and then press the Right Arrow button.
4. Press the Right arrow button until “Bk Ink Change” (Black Ink Change) is displayed. Press the Right Arrow button.
5. Press the Enter button to execute the Black Ink Change cycle. Follow the instructions in the Epson printer manual, and on the LCD display of the printer, with one modification: when the printer asks for the new black cartridge, insert the Piezography K7 Shade #1 ink cartridge. During the Black Ink Change procedure you will also be asked to remove four cartridges and place Epson “conversion” cartridges in three of the slots. When the printer instructs you to remove the conversion cartridges and replace them with their original cartridges, DO SO. Do not yet install the Piezography K7 cartridges in any of the slots except for the Shade #1 (black) slot.
6. After the Black Ink Change cycle completes, your printer will be converted to a Photo Black printer. Your printer will have the Shade #1 Piezography cartridge installed in the black slot, but Epson cartridges will still occupy all other slots. You must now run the “Initial Fill” cycle, described above, to complete the ink conversion, starting with step number 2 in the process (in other words, do not re-test your printer with Epson inks).
Printing images with Piezography K7 inks. After you have completed switching over your inks to Piezography K7, and are able to print a perfect nozzle check pattern, you may begin printing, using either Studioprint RIP or QuadToneRIP software. Studioprint RIP support is provided by Ergosoft, and you must call them for help to set up your print environments with these inks.
Help with setting up QuadToneRIP is provided in a separate document, on the Piezography tech support web site, at: http://www.piezography.com/support/getting_started.htm.
Troubleshooting guide, and additional information
Have enough ink and flush fluid in your cartridges and enough empty space in your maintenance tank, before you begin. As mentioned above, you cannot terminate a procedure once you begin it, and the printer will stop until you replace empty cartridges or a full maintenance tank.
Color Cast in your prints. If you continue to see a color cast in your prints after installing the new inks, particularly a yellow or magenta tint to your prints’ highlights, try cleaning your printer’s capping station, which will help to remove all traces of color from your printer. This link describes how to clean your capping station, and it explains what the capping station is: www.piezography.com/support/printhead_cleaning_tips.htm#capping. If this procedure does not fix the color problem, run one or two normal print head cleaning cycles to push out any remaining color ink in the print head or capping station. In most cases, cleaning the capping station fixes this problem.
Problems printing a perfect nozzle check pattern. You should be seeing a perfect nozzle check pattern, but if you are not, again consider cleaning your capping station, to help remove the buildup of waste ink that may be preventing your print head from working perfectly. Cleaning your capping station is definitely important if you see that your nozzle check pattern gets worse, as you run more and more print head cleaning cycles. www.piezography.com/support/printhead_cleaning_tips.htm#capping.
Note about the nozzle check pattern printing utility: your printer offers both automatic and a manual nozzle check pattern capabilities. Do not use the automatic feature, because the printer will reject the pattern, even when it is perfect. This is because the printer is designed to measure specific colors in these patches, and now that you have removed the color ink from your printer, it will no longer work. Use the manual nozzle check pattern utility instead.
Location of you ink cartridges in the printer: Insert them according to color position labeled on each cartridge.
|
Color ink cartridge position in printer, from left to right |
Piezography cartridge that fits in this slot |
|
Light Light Black |
Piezography PiezoFlush Cartridge |
|
Light Magenta |
Piezography K7 Shade #5 |
|
Light Cyan |
Piezography K7 Shade #3 |
|
Light Black |
Piezography K7 Shade #6 |
|
Black |
Piezography K7 Shade #1 |
|
Cyan |
Piezography K7 Shade #2 |
|
Magenta |
Piezography K7 Shade #4 |
|
Yellow |
Piezography K7 Shade #7 |