My Epson ET 4700 "releasing" to much ink

[BCross]

I've had my 4700 for 4yrs or so now and have loved it. I'm a crafter and use it to print vinyl wraps for pens for other crafters. I had used the same brand vinyl for years, same settings, no changes. A few months back they changed out the brand of vinyl I had been getting. I got it, noticed the finish was a little more smooth than my old, but printed as good if not better. Same printer settings. Possibly semi gloss compared to what I used prior which was matte. About 2-3wks of using new vinyl I started getting pooling/ink bleed. Only way to get a clean print was using the basic paper setting with standard quality which totally changed my prints from the crisp vivid prints I had been getting to dull of course. So I ordered a different brand of vinyl, matte finish which allowed to go back to previous settings with vivid prints again. A few weeks ago I just thought to try the other vinyl again since i had several packs still. Prints were perfect again. Same settings, no issues. Until...2days ago. Same problem of to much ink.

Printhead problem?

 

[UpAndPrinting]

That's what it sounded like the entire time I was reading it. You should try manually flushing it.

 

[d90]

When you’re printing on vinyl the printer’s media setting controls how much ink is laid down. If the coating on the new film is smoother or designed for solvent printers it won’t absorb as much, which is why you saw pooling and bleed. It’s reassuring that switching back to a different brand fixed it temporarily.

Before replacing the print head, run a nozzle check and a few cleaning cycles to make sure all colours are firing. EcoTank machines also have a “power cleaning” option if the regular clean doesn’t clear a blockage. Then try different media types in the driver: photo paper and presentation paper settings reduce the ink load compared to plain paper and may help on slick vinyl. Some suppliers provide ICC profiles for their wraps that dial back the ink density; that’s worth a try.

Finally, double‑check that your vinyl is rated for dye or pigment inkjet use. Some “printable vinyl” is actually for solvent or laser printers and will never give good results with an ET‑4700. If after cleaning and using the right media profile you still get excess ink on the good vinyl, a manual flush of the print head may help, but I’d rule out media compatibility first.