Use of flush cartridges with the SC-Pxxxx Printers.
Normally the use of flush cartridges is suggested and recommended when switching to Piezography inks from a non-Epson or non-Piezography ink set, or if you have been experiencing clogging problems with your current ink set. Otherwise, the actual Piezography inks can be used to "flush" out the pre-existing color inks from your printer. Because of the limited supply of expensive 1-time chips we are currently recommending that you do a straight switch from Color Ink to Piezography ink on these printer models. We will update this page with more relevant workflow information when we have a good Piezoflush workflow figured out for this model printer. If you do not use flush carts, you may need to print some additional media before all traces of color ink have been removed. The yellow position is where the lightest shade 7 (Light Grey Warm) is installed. Shade 5 which is darker is installed in the light magenta position. On very old printers which will have deposits of color pigments in the dampers, a yellow and magenta cast in the highlights and 1/4 tones will be present for awhile without the use of flush carts. So weigh the costs of flushing with PiezoFlush (which will easily get rid of old pigments) or flushing with or printing out with Piezography ink to eliminate the initial color cast.
Items needed to have on hand when changing inks
A set of ink cartridges; a set of ink; a spare maintenance tank (available through Epson).
Note about the maintenance tank: Instead of replacing a full maintenance tank, you may use a chip resetter to reset your maintenance tank chip to read empty, and reuse the tank many times. Follow instructions for reusing maintenance tanks, here: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?141-Reuse-Waste-Ink-Tanks
Changing inks in your printer
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 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, refill with ink and reset chips to read full (do NOT reset chips on carts that are less than full, because you can risk running the cart empty and getting air in your ink system).
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, or you can follow our instructions for reusing them.
We recommend using the Epson Service Adjustment Software. This software may be available from many sources, but we find it convenient that this website offers these software utilities and also Epson printer Service Manuals: 2manuals.com The cost is reasonable. It provides all of the functions that an Epson repair technician would use to adjust your printer. It runs only on Windows, but we use it by running Windows on top of Parallels for Mac. This is Ink Change Procedure A immediately following this section.
We do not recommend running 6-15 heavy cleaning cycles – so we will not give an instruction to do so. This is easily figured out. But, we believe that it will not remove residual stain in an efficient manner.
Initial Fill cycle using the Epson Service Adjustment Software: