Hi folks!

I recently posted a video on my YouTube channel about how to change the printhead for an Epson 16500. If you own this printer, you may have noticed that it’s absolutely massive. It’s what we call a wide-format printer. They also tend to be pretty expensive.

If your Epson 16500 printer needs a new printhead, you should know that it’s the same as the Epson WF-3640 printhead, which you can get pretty inexpensively from eBay. If you have a bit of extra money, you can get one of higher quality from my website, BCHTechnologies.com.

We get our printheads directly from an Epson channel, which ensures quality. On the other hand, eBay sellers tend to get theirs from activities such as dumpster diving. If they find one in the trash that looks decent, then they’ll mark it and sell it as new.

Remove the Old Printhead

The first thing we’ll do when changing the printhead on an Epson 16500 is take off the cover, thus exposing the cartridges. Underneath, you’ll be able to find a little tab that clicks into place. To remove them, you’ll need to be able to hook your finger underneath and pull on the tab to release the cartridge so you can lift it out.

Once the cartridges are out, you’ll be able to see three little screws that are holding the printhead in place. Go ahead and remove those as well. As you begin to pull the printhead out, you can flip it backward. This will give you access to the FFC cables you want to remove.

With the printhead I was working on in the demonstration video, I noticed something a little different going on. It had a little piece of tape that I was holding back, but it also had a little plastic piece on the right side of the printhead. I had to be careful not to damage it.

Install the New One

Once the printhead is accessible, we can install the new one. After I pulled the plastic piece out of the way, I put my printhead back in, and then I just laid the plastic side cover back down and screwed the three screws back in.

That piece will hold the cartridges in, so now we can go ahead and reinstall those. Make sure you don’t get the tubes twisted up, and they go in the right spot. You should be good to go!