print head repair secrets - william hor

137
1 Brought To You By William Hor www.printheadrepairguide.com ImagineX ElectronicS

Upload: jay-ilagan

Post on 14-Feb-2016

66 views

Category:

Documents


8 download

DESCRIPTION

printhead repair secret

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

1

Brought To You By William Hor

www.printheadrepairguide.com

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 2: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

2

You cannot give this E-book away for free.

You do not have the rights to redistribute this E-book.

Copyright@ All Rights Reserved

Warning! This is a copyrighted material; no part of this guide may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or transmitting by any informational storage or retrieval system without expressed written, dated and signed permission from the author. You cannot alter, change, or repackage this document in any manner.

William Hor reserves the right to use the full force of the law in the protection of his intellectual property including the contents, ideas, and expressions contained herein. Be aware that eBay actively cooperates in closing the account of copyright violators and assisting in the legal pursuit of violations. If you get this ebook from EBAY other than my website http://www.printheadrepairguide.com, please let me know so that I will reward you.

DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES

The reader is expressly warned to consider and adopt all safety precaution that might be indicated by the activities herein and to avoid all potential hazards. This E-book is for informational purposes only and the author does not accept any responsibilities or liabilities resulting from the use of this information. While every attempt has been made to verify the information provided here, the author cannot assume any responsibility for any loss, injury, errors, inaccuracies, omissions or inconvenience sustained by anyone resulting from this information. Most of the tips and secrets given should only be carried out by suitably qualified electronics engineers/technicians. Please be careful as all electrical equipment is potentially dangerous when dismantled. Any perceived slights of policy, specific people or organizations are unintentional.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 3: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

3

If you have any information regarding the illegal reselling or duplication of this E-book, please report it to [email protected] .You will be rewarded accordingly.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 4: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

4

Acknowledgement

This book is dedicated to my

business partner Jestine Yong for

his encouragement and support,

And also to my loving wife Stephanie Kok for taking the time to edit all the photos.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 5: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

5

PRINT HEAD REPAIRING EBOOK

Table Of Content

Preface 2

Acknowledgement 4

Table Of Contents 5

Introduction to Dot Matrix Print Head 8

Safety First 8

Equipment Needed To Repair A Print Head 9

Types Of Epson Print Head 13

Print Head Assemblies And Configurations 15

Identifying A Broken Print Head 18

Step By Step On Disassembling A Print Head 19

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 6: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

6

Print Head 1st And 2nd Assembly Parts And Functions 37

1. Top Cover 39

2. Long Pin Wire 44

3. Spring Assembly 49

4. Solenoid 56

How To Check From Printer Main Logic Board 62

Removing Pin Wires From 2nd Print Head Assembly 67

Taking Out A Broken Pin Wire 71

Cleaning All The Pin Wires 72

Reconfirming A Good And A Broken Pin Wire 74

Cleaning Pin Wires Guide Assembly 76

(For Bigger Size Print Head)

Cleaning Pin Wires Guide And Plates 78

Pin Wire Guide Plate Configurations 83

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 7: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

7

How To Assemble Back The Print Head 85

Cleaning The Pin Wires Guide Assembly 113

(For Smaller Size Print Head)

Cleaning Pin Wires Guide And Plates 113

How To Assemble Back The Print Head 115

Realigning Print Head In The Printer 123

How To Get Parts For The Print Head 131

Words From Author 132

Recommendation On Other Ebook By Author 133

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 8: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

8

Introductions To Dot Matrix Print Head

Print head is a piece of device located in a dot matrix printer which functions is to form images or characters from a computer “soft print” to hard copy on the papers, carbon copies or carbonless copies by moving the print head in a horizontal directions. As it moves in horizontal directions, it fired patterns of dots on paper by striking a pin wires into inked ribbon selectively to form desired characters.

Most Epson print head consist of 24 pin wires which are arranged in a 2 vertical columns. Each column consists of 12 pin wires. However, there are also some print head having 9 pin wires arranged in a single vertical column. The 24 pin wires print head have better print quality then the 9 pin wires print head.

Safety Precautions

Before we start with print head repairing, there are a few safety precautions I would like to highlight.

1. Do not wear a tie or a long necklace or a ring when you test the printing on a printer as when the print head moves horizontally from right to left and left to right, your tie or necklace might get entangled with the moving parts such as print head, platen or motor. This might cause serious injury especially if it is a heavy-duty printer.

2. Beware of this print head as will heat up after long printing sessions. This perhaps may not get your hands burnt but still may caused your body reflex to throw or let go the print head which in turn may damage the print head. The best solution is to let the print head to cool down before you take it out from the printer.

3. As all the print head parts are small, it is best to ensure that children have no contacts with them. Some of the parts may choke a child if swallowed. Handle the parts carefully because if dropped you might easily lose sight of it. Put all your printer parts

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 9: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

9

in a small container or boxes so you will know where to find it when you need it.

Equipments needed to repair a print head

Although you can modify some of your existing tools in your garage to suit a print head repair, there are few equipments or instruments that are essentials in print head repair. Here are my lists:-

1. Magnifying glass with attached lamp

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 10: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

10

2. Multimeter

3. Pressing tool

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 11: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

11

4. Tweezers

5. Philips screw driver

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 12: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

12

6. A small flat type screw driver

7. Snap blade

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 13: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

13

I recommend you to read thoroughly the entire process of this ebook before starting your own print head repair.

Types Of Epson Print Head

There are two types of print head i would like to mention in this e-book. The first one has a bigger size print head and it is use on a printer model such as LQ-2170, LQ-2180, LQ-2190 and so on....

Bigger size print head

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 14: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

14

The second one has a smaller print head and it is use on printer model such as LQ-590, LQ-2080, LQ-2090 and so on....

Smaller Print head

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 15: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

15

Print Head Assemblies And Configurations

There are two major assemblies in the Epson print head which consist of 12 pin wires on each assembly. The 12 pin wires on these two assemble are necessary because they are in two different lengths. The 1st assembly has a longer pin wire while the 2nd assembly has a shorter pin wire. Overall there are 24 pin wires which are separated into two different lengths.

Below is the print head configuration for the 1st assembly which consists of 12 long pin wires. I labelled them in numeric forms from 1 to 12.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 16: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

16

Below is the print head configuration for the 2nd assembly which consists of 12 shorter pin wires. I labelled them in alphanumeric forms from A to L.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 17: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

17

These are the locations of all the pin wires as labelled in numeric and alphanumeric forms.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 18: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

18

Identifying A Broken Pin Wire

Broken pin wire can be identified by looking at the print head this way

Take note that normally a broken pin wires can be identified just by looking into the print head as shown above.

Good print wires normally can be seen as bright dots while broken wire as dark dots.

Please bear in mind that it is not 100% accurate to detect a bad print wire this way but it is close enough. To ensure 100% accuracy, we need to open up the print head assemblies and measure them.

By looking into the locations of the print wires on the picture above, we can pin point exactly which is the broken pin wire. In this case, it is G (shorter pin wire)

As mentioned earlier,detection may not be 100% accurate as there might be more broken pin wires inside which is not visible to our sights. For this reason, we need to open up the print head assemblies to find out.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 19: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

19

Step By Step On Disassembling A Print Head

To open up the Epson LQ-2170/ LQ-2180 print head, first you must remove the two screws located at the front of the print head.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 20: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

20

Both screws removed

The red line indicated in the below photos is where the print head is after being detached from its casing.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 21: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

21

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 22: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

22

To separate the print head from it casing, I have to place a support plate onto the print head casing and then placed it to the pressing tool.

(Note: There might be other ways to open the print head from the casing; picture below indicated the process of how I do it).

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 23: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

23

Photo of where the support should be placed.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 24: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

24

The print head assembly is glued to the print head casing by a layer of rubber glue. By using a pressing tool, apply an even pressure from the back of the print head to the circle as shown on the photos.

Adjusting the pressing tool to the print head

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 25: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

25

Using a pressing tool to separate the print head from it’s casing.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 26: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

26

Result after the process. The print head assembly dislocated from the print head casing.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 27: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

27

Closed Up photo

Another view

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 28: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

28

Side View

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 29: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

29

I do not recommend the use of any equipment which needs you to knock the circle surface to get the print head assembly to dislocate from the print head casing as this might easily broke the pin wires or other delicate parts inside the print head assembly.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 30: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

30

As mentioned earlier, there are other ways to detach a print head assembly for the print head casing. Below is a gadget which I just bought from a supplier in China. It detaches the print head with ease and instant. (Thankfully I am able to update this information just in time before the release of this ebook).

A simple gadget to detach a print head

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 31: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

31

Just turn lever and it will detached the print head with ease.

See how it grabs both sides of the print head casing

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 32: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

32

Another photo of a smaller print head being detached.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 33: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

33

Once you have separated the print head assembly from the print head cover, remove the triangle steel which locked the print head assembly by pressing it on the edge of the steel and pull the lock. Repeat the step with the other two locks. Did you notice that I am applying slight pressure on the print head top cover so that when the 3rd lock are unlocked, the top cover will not pop out.

Opening first lock of the triangle steel

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 34: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

34

Opening 2nd Lock of the triangle steel

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 35: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

35

Opening 3rd Lock of the triangle steel

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 36: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

36

All of the triangle steel locks are opened.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 37: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

37

Print Head 1st and 2nd Assemblies Parts And Functions

Once the triangle steel is opened, gently use a snap blade to peel the top cover. Place the tip of the blade below the washer and open the top cover of the print head assembly.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 38: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

38

Once the top cover is opened, you will see there is 12 long pin wires sitting on top of the print head assembly. This is the configuration for the 1st assembly as mentioned earlier.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 39: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

39

1. Top Cover

Now, take a look at the centre of the top cover. You will see a smaller aluminum washer.

Gently peel away the smaller aluminum washer & you will see another layer of rubber ring. It served as a pin wired cushion. You could also see a layer of transparent ring. There are total of 3 thin layer transparent rings. Its job is to provide a perfect horizontal alignment in the print head assembly as shown in the picture. Note: Increasing and decreasing the numbers of transparent ring could either increase and decrease the depth seating on the pin wires which in turn may create uneven surfaces on the print head.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 40: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

40

The below picture shown a perfect print head alignment. By increasing the transparent ring will caused the pin wire to bolt out from the alignment while decreasing the transparent ring will caused the pin wire being shrunk inside.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 41: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

41

Taking out the aluminum washer

Black rubber ring beneath the aluminum washer

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 42: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

42

Below the black rubber ring, is the transparent ring

Taking out the first transparent ring

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 43: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

43

Total of 3 transparent rings

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 44: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

44

2. Long Pin Wires

OK. Now let’s get back to the print head assembly.

As can be seen, there are 12 long pin wires sitting on the print head assembly. If you refer back to the print head configuration, the 1st print head configuration consists of long pin wires

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 45: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

45

Pull out all pin wires and place it on a section of your table.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 46: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

46

Once this is done, you can pull out the whole 1st assembly out by using a snap blade as shown here.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 47: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

47

Pulling the 1st assembly out

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 48: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

48

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 49: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

49

Let’s take a look at all the components that formed a print head assembly.

3. Spring assembly

Spring function is to push the pin wires backward to the original place after they are fired when forming a dot. There are 12 pieces of spring which are held by a circular holder. You can remove the springs by plucking them out one by one from the top.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 50: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

50

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 51: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

51

or removing the circular ring below by pushing the spring downward

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 52: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

52

There is a plate which support the spring on the bottom. Once you push the spring downward, the plate will detach itself from the spring holder.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 53: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

53

The reason for taking out these springs is to see if there is any broken spring. A broken spring need to be replaced as it will affect the efficiency of the pin wires when it fires. A broken spring can also break a good pin wire.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 54: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

54

Identifying a broken spring by placing two spring side by side & compares them.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 55: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

55

Clean the springs and spring assembly by spraying video head cleaner into it and then wipe it with a clean cloth or tissue paper

A clean spring assembly

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 56: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

56

4. Solenoid

Solenoid function is to form a temporary magnet which will pull the pin wires forward when a pin wire is fired into the ribbon to form a dot. There are total of 12 solenoids installed below the 1st assembly.

Opening the cover to the solenoids

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 57: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

57

Picture of solenoid assembly

One way to test the solenoid is by using a multimeter.

A good solenoid for Epson LQ 2170 is within the range of 17 ohms to 19 ohms if measured on a multimeter. However if you are not sure, I would recommend you to take the majority with the same readings from the multimeter as a guideline. For example, if out of 12 solenoids that you measured, 10 solenoids read around 17.5 ohm (+ - 5% tolerance)& the other 2 read about 5 ohms or 0 ohm then we can safely conclude that the 10 solenoids reading are good while the other 2 are faulty. As there are many Epson print head models in the market, the best solution is to get the majority with the same reading.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 58: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

58

A good solenoid

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 59: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

59

Another good solenoid

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 60: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

60

A faulty solenoid with a very low ohm reading

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 61: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

61

A faulty solenoid with infinity reading (open circuit)

However, based from my experience on repairing print heads, solenoid seldom causes problem or being faulty. But once if you detected a faulty solenoid in a print head, the solution is to change the whole solenoid assembly as you cannot replaced the faulty solenoid alone.

And if you had detected a faulty solenoid, it is good if you check the main logic board of the printer as well. The reason being is because a bad main logic board can cause a solenoid to be faulty thus making the pin wire pin broken.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 62: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

62

How to check printer main logic board

For most all the Epson dot matrix printer, there are 24 transistors that drive the 24 pin wires. This means that for every pin wires, they are controlled by one transistor.

A typical picture of a LQ-2180 printer main logic board

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 63: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

63

Picture shown of 24 transistors which controlled the 24 pin wires

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 64: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

64

This transistor is a Darlington transistor. The correct ways to measure this transistor is to set the multimeter to X1 and then place the black probe of the multimeter at the pin 2 and the red probe on pin 1 and 3. If the transistor is good, it should not have any reading at all.

Picture shown of black probe at pin 2 and red probe at pin 3 with no reading from the multimeter

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 65: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

65

Picture shown black probe at pin 2 and red probe at pin 1 with no reading from the multimeter

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 66: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

66

When I removed the print head assembly, I normally placed all the parts vertically like this so when I want to put it back, I know exactly which one to put in first

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 67: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

67

Removing the print wires from the 2nd print head assembly

When you have removed the 1st print head assembly, you will see there is a top cover covering the 2nd print head assembly. Basically, removing the 2nd print head assembly is the same as removing the 1st assembly.

Using a blade gently peel off the top cover.

Clean off the glue before opening the 1st print head assembly.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 68: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

68

Place the tip of the blade below the washer and open the top cover of the print head assembly.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 69: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

69

Top cover opened

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 70: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

70

Once the top cover is opened, You will see there are 12 short pin wires sitting on top of the print head assembly which is held by a rod so that the pin wires would not drop into the assembly. This is the configuration for the 2nd assembly.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 71: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

71

Taking Out A Broken Pin Wire

There are 12 short pin wires sitting on the print head assembly. If you refer back to the print head configuration, the 2nd print head configuration consists of short pin wires and the broken pin wires number is G. Pull out the pin wire number G and place it in one section on your table. Then pull out the rest of the pin wires and place it in another section. The whole idea again is to separate the good pin wires from the broken pin wires.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 72: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

72

Cleaning all the pin wires

Now, let’s start cleaning all the print wires. First by spraying a video head cleaner to the pin wires and then using tissue paper or a cloth by gently wiping the print wires. Do not apply too much force when cleaning the pin wires as this can break the print wires easily.

A Dirty Pin Wire

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 73: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

73

A Cleaned Pin Wire

After wiping all the 12 long pin wires, proceed into wiping the other 12 short pin wires.

After wiping all the 24 pin wires, it’s time to reconfirm whether the pin wires G is really broken.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 74: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

74

Reconfirming a good and a broken pin wires

Let’s confirm status of the short pin wire first. Place the suspected broken wire G next to the good pin wire side by side like this.

The picture below shows that a left pin wire is longer than the right pin wire. The right pin wire was the suspected broken wire G.

Then take a look at the end of the pin wired whether they are of the same length. If the suspected pin wire is shorter, you can confirm that the pin wire G is broken. Then compare the rest of the pin wires using this method to reconfirm if it is a good pin wire or a broken one. Good pins should have equal length when placed side by side with another.

Note: A good pin wires when compare side to side will have an equal length.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 75: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

75

Once you are done checking the short wires, check the long pin wires using the same method.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 76: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

76

Cleaning the Pin wires guide assembly (Applicable for bigger size print head such as LQ-2170, LQ-2180 and LQ- 2190)

After taken out the 2nd print head assembly, what is left is the pin wires guide assembly. Print wires guide assembly consists of 2 parts. Pin wire guide and pin wire guide plate.

Photos of pin wire guide assembly and pin wire guide plate.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 77: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

77

If you see from the top of the print wire guide assembly, there are 6 plates seated vertically. These plates are unique & cannot be mixed or matched with each other. It has to be placed in its original positions. If it is done wrongly, the pin wires will not be able to go through all the plates. Look closely on each plate and you will be able to see there are marking on each plate.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 78: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

78

Cleaning Pin Wires Guide And Plates

Gently pull out all the guide plate starting from the top plate.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 79: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

79

And then placed the plates vertically like this so the chances of them being mixed up are minimized.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 80: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

80

Sample of a dirty plate

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 81: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

81

And clean all the plates by spraying them with a video head cleaner and then gently wiping them as clean as possible by using a cloth or tissue paper.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 82: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

82

A cleaned pin wires guide and plates

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 83: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

83

Pin Wire Guide Plate Configuration

There are 24 small holes in each pin wire guide plate and these 24 holes are to hold the 24 pin wires together. This configuration is the same as the pin wires configuration.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 84: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

84

After cleaning the pin wire guide plate, the next step is to clean the pin wires holder. Normally dirt is accumulated at the end of the pin wires holder. Just use a video head cleaner & sprays the dirt away.

Once all these are done, it’s time to assemble back the print head.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 85: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

85

How To Assemble back the print head

It is utmost important to align the entire pin wires back into the pin wires guide plate. What I did is by using 4 broken long pin wires which I have collected after years of print head repair.

A picture of a wire which I broke from the holder.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 86: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

86

and insert 2 broken long pin wires into the top left and top right of the pin wires guide plate like this in a plate guide..

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 87: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

87

Next I will use another 2 broken long pin wires and insert them into the bottom left and bottom right of the pin wires guide plate like this ….

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 88: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

88

Once done, place the pin wires guide back into the pin wires guide holder

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 89: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

89

Picture 2: from inside

Place the spring assembly back

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 90: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

90

followed by the 2nd print head assembly

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 91: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

91

And then gently push the 4 pin back in. You will see the broken pin came out from the 2nd print head assembly through the hole of the spring assembly. If you refer to the print head configuration, the 4 broken pin wires should be coming out to pin wires number 1, 7 and A, G.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 92: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

92

Now it’s a time to place the good short pin wires into the 2nd print head assembly. Starting with B as A was already occupied by one of the broken pin wire. Insert the good pin wire into the spring assembly hole which is nearer to the wall.

(Note: Notice that in the spring assembly, there are 24 holes which 12 holes are nearer to the spring assembly wall and the other 12 holes are situated further from the spring assembly wall. The short pin wires are supposed to be inserted into the 12 holes nearer to the spring assembly wall and the longer pin wires are supposed to be inserted into the holes further away from the wall.)

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 93: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

93

As you can see, at the wall of the spring assembly, there are 12 slopes. Insert the pin wires into it.

Inserted pin B

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 94: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

94

Checking pin B coming out correctly according to print head configuration.

Then continue with C, D, E & F. Pin number G has been occupied by a broken pin wire. Proceed with H, I, J, K & L. After inserting each pin wire, you need to check if you have placed it correctly by pressing the pin wire and look at the end of the pin wire whether it comes out correctly from the hole according to the print head configuration on page 17.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 95: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

95

Inserted pin C

Checking pin C coming out correctly according to print head configuration.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 96: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

96

Inserted pin D

Checking pin D coming out correctly according to print head configuration.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 97: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

97

Continue to insert the pin wires in E, F, and then H, I, J, K and L. Once you have done that, you can now removed the pin wires from A,G and 1 and 7 and replaced it with a good pin wire for A and G. This is how it looks like when you have finished inserting all the short pin wires.

12 short pin wires inserted to 2nd Print Head Assembly

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 98: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

98

Photo showing how pin wires inserted in C,D,E,F, G,H,I,J,K and L and to check if the pin came out from the hole

After all the short pin wires are in its place, adjust the entire pin wires holder to the center and then placed back the top cover.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 99: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

99

Please note that on the print head assembly, you can see there are two holes on the left and right. These holes are to be cupped by the print head cover where there are 2 tiny pins. The function is to secure the print head assembly so it won’t be able to move.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 100: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

100

Once you have placed back the top cover, you now can place the 1st assembly spring holder on top of the top cover.

Please note that the spring holder assembly has a bulge where you can place it on the top cover as shown in the picture below.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 101: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

101

And then place the 1st assembly on the spring holder assembly.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 102: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

102

You now can start to insert the long pin wires into the spring holder assembly starting from 1. Please refer to the pin head configuration.

After inserting pin wire to no 1, check if you have placed it correctly by pressing the pin wire and look at the end of the pin wire whether it comes out correctly from the hole.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 103: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

103

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 104: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

104

Continue insert the pin wire to no 2

Pin wire correctly coming out from hole no 2

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 105: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

105

Insert the pin wire to no 3

Pin wire correctly coming out from hole no 3

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 106: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

106

12 pin wires inserted into the assembly

12 pin wires coming out from the hole

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 107: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

107

Arrange the entire pin wires rod holder to the middle

Close the top cover

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 108: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

108

One you have closed the top cover, lock the triangle steel.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 109: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

109

This is how the print head look like after changing the pin wires. You can see that its surface is uneven & does not look exactly like a new print head. It is still ok as long as you can see the pin wires from the print head. Of course we still need to test it by installing the print head into a printer and then test print it.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 110: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

110

Putting it back to the printer head casing…

This is how it looks like after putting in into the print head casing.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 111: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

111

View from the back…

Tighten back both screws.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 112: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

112

View from the front.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 113: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

113

Cleaning the pin wires guide Assembly (Applicable for smaller print head such as LQ-2070, LQ-2080 and LQ- 2090)

There are some different procedures in cleaning and inserting pin wires into a LQ-2070, LQ-2080 and LQ-2090.

As you can see, for a smaller printer head, there is no detachable print wire guide. The print wire guide plate is attached to the print wire guide assembly.

Here, I will only mentioned the different procedure in cleaning and inserting pin wires into LQ-2070, LQ-2080 and LQ-2090. The rest of the procedure will be the same as LQ-2170, LQ-2180 and LQ-2190

Cleaning the pin wires guide and plates

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 114: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

114

To clean the print wire assembly and pin wires guide plate, first of all, take out all 5 pin wires guide plate from the pin wires assembly. Clean them using the same way as cleaning the LQ_2180 print head. Do remember to insert back the pin wires guide plate into its’ original position or else it will be impossible to insert all the pin wires back into the print head.

Picture below shows a correct position of the pin wires guide plate. Please take note of each marking on the pin wires guide plate.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 115: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

115

How to assemble back the print head

You can use the same method as in LQ-2180 to install back the spring assembly and the 2nd assembly. However installing back the pin wire will be a tricky part. You can use the 4 broken pin wire and insert them to A, G, 1 and 7 as in LQ-2180 but I found this method does not guarantee 100% success in installing all the pin wires.

My way is ,instead of using 4 broken long pin wire and insert them to A, G, 1 and 7, I use the 24 broken long pin wires and insert them into the entire 24 pins hole.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 116: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

116

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 117: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

117

Installing back the 2nd assembly

Pull out the broken pin wire located at A.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 118: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

118

And then insert a good pin wire in to A

Check the pin wire if it is inserted correctly from the outside

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 119: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

119

Use the same procedure for pin wire no B. Pay attention from the photo below that you need to skip a pin wire to go for no B. The pin wire between configuration A and B is for 1st assembly long pin wire.

Check if the pin wire correctly came out from outside

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 120: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

120

Proceed with pin wire no C

Check again from the outside

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 121: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

121

Proceed using the same method; insert all the 12 pin wires into the 2nd assembly. Check from outside if the pin wire are inserted correctly.

Close the 2nd assembly with the top cover

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 122: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

122

Insert the spring assembly and 1st print head assembly and start all over the procedure by pulling out a broken pin from no 1 according to the print head configuration, and insert a good pin wire into it. Repeat this procedure until reaching pin 12.

For the rest, just follow the procedure as in LQ-2170, LQ-2180 and LQ-2190.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 123: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

123

Realigning a print head

Before putting in the print head into the printer to test, you need to check or to align the gap between the printer platen and print head. This is necessary because if a print head’s alignment is out, it will caused paper to jam or perhaps no images will be printed on the paper.

To align a print head, take out the card holder.

This is how a card holder looks like…

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 124: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

124

Card Holder taken out from the printer…

Place the print head into the carriage assembly…

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 125: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

125

Push the paper level forward up to the front…

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 126: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

126

Now, look at the side ways of the print head. You will see the gap between the platen and the print head. A good alignment will have a gap around 1mm between the print head and the platen. Anything less, the print head will touch the platen which will results in paper getting jammed as the paper cannot move upward. Any gap more than 1mm will results in blur images in the carbon copy. Example; 4 layers of carbon copy were being printed and the paper level being push to 4 ply of paper.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 127: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

127

If the alignment is off, first thing you need to do is make sure the paper level is moved upfront. (Refer to page 157) and hold on to the paper level. Then loosened the nut beneath the paper level.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 128: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

128

Then adjust the alignment gap by inserting any small rod or screw driver into the hole on top of the carriage rod. Move forward or backward to get the 1mm gap. Once you get the 1mm gap. Hold on to the screw driver and lock the nut back.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 129: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

129

Please be aware, if you turn the carriage rod around, you can see actually there are two types of holes. These two holes do not look the same. This hole must be facing on top

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 130: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

130

And this hole must be facing on the bottom. A correct way for a paper level to function is when you push the paper level forward, the gap between the platen and print head will get closer and when you pull the paper level to the back, the gap between platen and print head will get wider. If you mix match these two holes, it will give a reversal effect on the paper level.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 131: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

131

How To Get Parts For Print Head

Once you have gone through all the information on how to repair or refurbishing a print head, the ultimate question will be, ‘Where can I get a good print wire?’

If you search through websites like Google on buying print head pin wire, I’m sure there are plenty of places that can you buy from.

For your information, below photo are new pin wires which I bought from Shenzhen, China for my own research on their durability and reliability. The price is about USD45.00.

However my preference will be on buying all the old print heads from recycle or printer repairing centers. (Make sure there are more good pin wires than bad ones before buying).From this old print heads, I will take out the good pin wires. How reliable are pin wires taken out from the old print head? Out of 100 units of print heads that I refurbished, there are about 2-3 units returned back .This can be considered a very good investment as not only I can get good pin wires, I can also salvaged other parts from this print head. These salvaged parts can be used to replace other faulty parts, others than pin wires.

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 132: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

132

Words From Author

My sincere hope is that this ebook will help you to start your journey into print head repair. It is not a difficult task to repair a print head but what it does required is a lot of concentrations and also a fairly good eye sight. If you encountered any problem related to Epson print head repair, you can always email me at [email protected]

Thank you And God Bless….

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 133: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

133

Recommendation on other Ebook by Author

My Review:

Comes with 200 pages and 322 photos and diagram. With step-by-step blueprint for guiding you how to easily repair LCD monitor, it is

great ebook for beginner and even for seasoned tech!

For More Information,

Please Click Here

My Review:

Comes with 176 pages and more than 190 colour photos with

instructions. Its cover everything you need to know about getting started in measuring electronic

components. This ebook is suitable for a complete newbie, hobbyist

who wish to venture into electronic repair.

For More Information,

Please Click Here

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 134: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

134

My Review:

If you are looking for information to repair a switch mode power

supply (SMPS), this is the ebook for you. With 271 pages and 346

photos and diagrams, its provide tons of information you need to

repair a SMPS. This ebook is not for a newbie to electronic field and it

requires you to have some experience in electronic repair.

For More Information,

Please Click Here

My Review:

This ebook will shows you how to get the resistor value even if the

colour band of the resistor is burned beyond recognition. This book is a MUST HAVE if you are

into electronic repair field.

For More Information,

Please Click Here

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 135: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

135

My Review:

This is a LCD TV Repair membership site. They offered more than 900 plus different brands and models of LCD TV

training manuals, service manuals, schematic diagrams, service

bulletin, LCD TV inverter secret information, firmware and

program. It is recommended to anyone who are into LCD TV repair.

For More information,

Please Click Here

My Review:

This is a Plasma TV Repair membership site. It provide training manual, schematic

diagrams, service manuals, SMD components code, MCU files to

more than 60 different brands and models. It is recommended to

anyone who are into Plasma TV repair.

For More Information,

Please Click Here

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 136: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

136

My Review:

This is a Projection TV Repair Membership site. Its provides training manuals, schematic diagram, service manuals,

troubleshooting and repairing information, service bulletins, lamps assembly information,

firmware and many more for more than 400 types of brands and model. It is recommended to

anyone who are into Projection TV repair.

For More Information,

Please Click Here

My Review:

This ebook comes with 195 pages of comprehensive guide with

photos. It is suitable for beginner in electronic s repair.

For More Information,

Please Click Here

ImagineX ElectronicS

Page 137: Print Head Repair Secrets - William Hor

137

My Review:

This is the compilation of common fault on LCD TV makes and models. Based on the author encounter with LCD TV faulty symptoms and his

solutions. It is good ebook as a guide for LCD TV repairer

For More Information,

Please Click Here

ImagineX ElectronicS