Epson SX438 missing segment in nozzle check

[elshiftos]

Hi,

I have an 'old but gold' SX438 that I would like to keep going as long as possible because it suits my needs and is very compact. It has an issue where it is missing a single segment in the black nozzle check that's in the same place every time, and I can't figure out what's causing this. In my mind a blocked nozzle would result in missing/feint print across the page, not just in one small area.

Can anyone shed any light on this issue?

Many thanks

 

[elshiftos]

Image attached. The same part of the test pattern is missing every time, and yes I have tried cleaning the nozzles.

 

[elshiftos]

Replying to myself here

So I did another nozzle clean which fixed the black problem but then the magenta started showing gaps (huh??)

I replaced the magenta cartridge with a cheap 3rd party one from ebay but it had gaps in different places. I did another nozzle clean and guess what....it's fully working again!

I gave up with this printer months ago due to random gaps in the test pattern, but I guess this proves that it does and can work, and that the problems were a random combination of blockages and cheap 3rd party cartridge failure.

 

[jacktheprinter]

Good that you solved the issue, but it's still a weird one! I am facing a similar problem: https://www.printerforums.net/threa...always-missing-the-exact-same-segments.72457/
However, I did like 15 nozzle cleanings with 3 different brand of cartridges (including Epson originals), but nothing helped!