Epson Ecotank ET3600 Printhead

[KenwoodTS830]

HI All. I haven't called Epson since I'm assuming it would not be cost effective to purchase a printhead for my Ecotank ET3600 from them. Searched ebay and such for a printhead listing but to no avail. Anyone have any idea if printheads for the Ecotank ET3600 are available? I've tried the usual printhead cleaning procedures, power flush, etc then flushed the head with professional printer head cleaner, removed the head and flushed it again using syringes, pushed ink through the plastic tanks at the head itself then getting rough with it using Windex, alcohol, etc but still get terrible nozzle checks. I have two of the ET3600 printers and don't really have to have the problem child but I'm stubborn and would just like to fix it. Any source for a replacement printhead or other ideas?

Thanks

 

[VA1DER]

Here are the contact numbers for Epson's authorized parts distributors:

Compass Micro, Inc: (360) 836-8122 or (800) 388-8595
Encompass Parts Distribution: (800) 432-8542
Micrologic Systems, Inc: (903) 561-0007
TSAworld, Inc: (770) 417-2323 or (800) 633-6626

That being said, I have not yet found an Eco Tank print head at a reasonable price, though I haven't shopped for one for a while (I've switched most of my printing from Epson to Brother).

The ET-3600 is basically just a WF-3620 with an Epson-built CISS bolted onto the side and with nerfed printer drivers. You might be able to directly swap a WF-3620 head. Or, better yet, get a WF-3620 and use either refillable ARC-chipped 252 cartridges, or bolt on your own CISS.

 

[KenwoodTS830]

VA1DER

Thank you for all the good detailed information and your time sharing your knowledge. Not sure which road I'll follow. The WF-3620 printhead ( at least a picture I found on the internet) had two ribbon cable connections , one at either end, and two of the green nozzle outlets so I'm not sure it would work. Here is a picture of the single nozzle area of the 3600 printhead with it's single ribbon cable connection. The top of this printhead does look like the WF-3620 printhead. Anyway, I removed the screws you see here taking apart the printhead and used a syringe to clean each internal jet. Each internal sections seems to flow OK individually and a fine ejection of cleaner sprays from the printhead. I'll put it back in the printer tomorrow and if it still doesn't print well I'll just declare a bad printhead and either wait until I find a reasonably priced one or maybe use this printer for parts for my other ET3600.

Thanks again for your help and a salute to this website. Sorry for the large pix.....

Roger

 

[KenwoodTS830]

One more time! Found a printhead on ebay (new) said to be for Epson WF-2650 at $34.06 & free shipping. It looks like my ET3600 printhead shown in the pix above. If my latest cleaning does not take care of my problem I'm inclined to gamble $34.06 and see if it works. If so I'll post results.
Roger

 

[VA1DER]

Hi, yes, I was just responding when you wrote your last that I had a brain malfunction and I said the ET-3600 was a rebadged WF-3620, I must have had "36" on the brain. It's a rebadged WF-2650 with the bolted on CISS.

So that head should work fine, assuming it's ok to begin with.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[KenwoodTS830]

Update! Received printhead from eBay and installed it. Used syringe to suck ink from tank to cartridges to ensure cartridges and lines were full. Put syringe on printhead nozzles and inserted ink to try and not have first print attempt on empty printhead. Did nozzle print and it was much worse than old printhead. Did a power flush and left it overnight. To my surprise next morning only black nozzle had missing segments and text printed almost OK. More head cleanings & nozzle checks made no improvement. Another power flush and no improvement. Finally I changed print set up in dialog box to "high quality" and unchecked the "high speed" checkbox. Printer now prints more slowly but quality is excellent and even photo printing is excellent. Still nozzle checks show a few missing black segments. Not sure what is going on but I'm happy with a slightly slower print speed. I've set default values to "High Quality" and unchecked speed box and the printer is fine. My other ET3600 ( bought about a year before this problem unit prints fine with standard print and speed box checked. Cleaned the ink waste tank ( but ordered a new one anyway) and reset the ink waste counter to zero and I now have a good printer for my needs. Wish I had more knowledge on the subject and knew more about why the two printers don't perform with same quality settings ( they use the same paper type too) . Software/firmware? They are operated by the same computer. Anyway, I'm a happy camper with printer number 2 now. Thanks again for this printer forum.

 

[morrisohbig]

Here are the contact numbers for Epson's authorized parts distributors:

Compass Micro, Inc: (360) 836-8122 or (800) 388-8595
Encompass Parts Distribution: (800) 432-8542
Micrologic Systems, Inc: (903) 561-0007
TSAworld, Inc: (770) 417-2323 or (800) 633-6626

That being said, I have not yet found an Eco Tank print head at a reasonable price, though I haven't shopped for one for a while (I've switched most of my printing from Epson to Brother).

The ET-3600 is basically just a WF-3620 with an Epson-built CISS bolted onto the side and with nerfed printer drivers. You might be able to directly swap a WF-3620 head. Or, better yet, get a WF-3620 and use either refillable ARC-chipped 252 cartridges, or bolt on your own CISS.

 

[morrisohbig]

Hello, i beg to differ. Epson wf3620 uses a different printer head from that of et-3600. I have a number of suppliers of the same head but not in usa.

 

[morrisohbig]

One more time! Found a printhead on ebay (new) said to be for Epson WF-2650 at $34.06 & free shipping. It looks like my ET3600 printhead shown in the pix above. If my latest cleaning does not take care of my problem I'm inclined to gamble $34.06 and see if it works. If so I'll post results.
Roger

A piece of advice, those ebay sellers for epson printer heads are scummers. I did try them and on reception the heads were faulty. I had bought 3 pieces because the price was too good. Infact they left me at a worse position because they blew out my main boards. Be careful with printer heads if its not from a trusted source

 

[morrisohbig]

Update! Received printhead from eBay and installed it. Used syringe to suck ink from tank to cartridges to ensure cartridges and lines were full. Put syringe on printhead nozzles and inserted ink to try and not have first print attempt on empty printhead. Did nozzle print and it was much worse than old printhead. Did a power flush and left it overnight. To my surprise next morning only black nozzle had missing segments and text printed almost OK. More head cleanings & nozzle checks made no improvement. Another power flush and no improvement. Finally I changed print set up in dialog box to "high quality" and unchecked the "high speed" checkbox. Printer now prints more slowly but quality is excellent and even photo printing is excellent. Still nozzle checks show a few missing black segments. Not sure what is going on but I'm happy with a slightly slower print speed. I've set default values to "High Quality" and unchecked speed box and the printer is fine. My other ET3600 ( bought about a year before this problem unit prints fine with standard print and speed box checked. Cleaned the ink waste tank ( but ordered a new one anyway) and reset the ink waste counter to zero and I now have a good printer for my needs. Wish I had more knowledge on the subject and knew more about why the two printers don't perform with same quality settings ( they use the same paper type too) . Software/firmware? They are operated by the same computer. Anyway, I'm a happy camper with printer number 2 now. Thanks again for this printer forum.

You might also be surprised that the printer head is not faulty, these epson series of printers have a common manufacturer default or if not one its an intended way to make people buy more parts. Your printer ink system pump assy might be worn out. I wish you would be able to remove it from the printer and send me afew images of the pump and i may be able to advice better. Probably your old printer head is in perfect condition

 

[KenwoodTS830]

The printer, other than a little slower than my first ET3600 is printing fine, even photos so I'm a little reluctant to push my luck since I don't know where the pump is located and my knowledge of printers is limited. I appreciate your knowledge though and appreciate your insight into ebay printheads. Without this forum and the sharing of knowledge I would have ended up trashing my second ET3600. I actually use it now more than my number one ET3600 I suppose just because of it's having brought back to life.

 

[VA1DER]

Hello, i beg to differ. Epson wf3620 uses a different printer head from that of et-3600. I have a number of suppliers of the same head but not in usa.

Yes, as I already posted, I made a mistake when relaying the equivalent model number. The ET-3600 uses the same print head as the WF-2650, not the WF-3620 as I originally posted.

 

[Laurenmarie]

What size printheads are compatible with wt-2800

 

[Laurenmarie]

I meant et2800