Troubleshooting Missing Colors in Converted Printers: Diagnosing Black and Magenta Issues

Question:
I’m so frustrated with my printer! I carefully followed all your videos and instructions for the conversion process, and while I consider myself pretty tech-savvy, I’ve encountered persistent issues since completing the setup. After many trials and errors, I’ve confirmed that the ink flows through the tubes and dampers without clogs. I even ran a printhead cleaning, and all colors seemed represented. However, when I try to print, black and magenta are missing. When I print magenta, yellow comes out instead, but yellow prints fine. I’ve tried printing outside CADlink to rule out software issues, but the colors are still incorrect. I’m at my wit’s end and can’t figure out what I’m overlooking. Could the problem be hardware-related, or have I misconfigured something during the process?
 
Answer:
Thanks for getting in touch, and I apologize for my delay in responding. Printer issues can be extremely aggravating, especially after a conversion. I know how urgent these issues are, and I appreciate your patience. You can watch this and our other videos on our YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@bchtechnologiesathome), and we appreciate your subscriptions, shares, and comments. Our expertise in that field is what you think, and we can offer you a better solution.
 
Since the ink is being pumped through the printhead well, and the printhead cleaning shows all colors are OK, the problem is not a clogged printhead, as seen in your description. Instead, the symptoms indicate that something may be wrong with the internal membrane inside the printhead. Here’s why that may occur and what to do about it:
 
Understanding the Problem
The printhead has membranes that isolate the various ink colors. If a membrane is ruptured, one color can intermingle with another. For instance, magenta prints as yellow, which means that the magenta channel is dirty and contains yellow. Excessive use of the power cleaning function can cause such damage. Epson explicitly writes that users should refrain from doing power cleans consecutively or even within 12 hours of each other. Twelve hours or so of waiting may lower your risk, but I recommend not doing a power clean period.
 
Suggested Steps to Troubleshoot the Problem
 
Perform a Park and Prime:

• Park the Printhead: Power on the printer and incline the printhead to the capping station while the printer is on. Since DTF ink is thicker than regular ink, you may have to help the printhead sit down over the ink cartridge.
• Prime the Printhead: Attach a syringe and a tube to the printer’s waste line. Slowly draw 2 ml of air:

Start by drawing 1.5 ml. It should feel slightly resistant. If you only suck air, the printhead coupler may not be appropriately parked, or there may be a gap in the capping station seal.
If it completely refuses and nothing prints out, the capping station is likely clogged and thus requires cleaning or replacement.
When the nozzles open, you might hear a slight crinkling noise from the damper membrane. Draw to the 2 ml mark and pause for 10 seconds.
 
Run a Cleaning Cycle: Perform a standard cleaning from the printer’s command center, but do not run intense cleaning cycles or repeat the process within 12 hours. Too many cleaning cycles can make things worse.
Look for Hardware Damage: If it continues, the printhead membrane may already be irreversibly damaged. In that case, you may need to replace the printhead.
 
Prevention Tips
To prevent such problems from recurring:

• Avoid excessive power cleaning and use cleaning methods such as park and prime.
• Periodically check the capping station and waste lines for clogs or leaks.
• Utilize superior ink, customizing it to your printer model and conversion type.

There are quotes from printer companies and everything. Fixing printer problems is very physical, and figuring out what's broken can be challenging. So, we can’t offer remote troubleshooting, recommendations, or repair support for printers. Please note that we provide an in-person evaluation/diagnostic and repair service through our local diagnostic facility (https://bchtechnologies.com/printer-repair-service). Due to the high demand for our services, we operate on a first-come, first-served basis. It may take a few weeks to drop off your printer. Our services are designed to fix the whole printer or specific parts with easy-to-follow steps on what to do. But indeed, we realize our rates are not the cheapest. Hence, we highly suggest you do self-help through an online search. You can go through YouTube or directly go to our YouTube channel homepage (https://youtube.com/@bchtechnologies) to explore a variety of videos. Moreover, you can use the search icon next to the ‘About’ section on the right-hand side of the menu bar to find the specific video. I get a dozen each day asking for videos about their topics. I've been making videos for nine years now, and it’s tough to remember them all. So, the search function on YouTube would be the most convenient. YouTube may also recommend videos from other channels that help you with what you’re searching for.
 
Again, thanks for reaching out. We appreciate your continued support and engagement!