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04-26-2021, 01:12 PM
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#1
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jun 2004
Posts: 8
Rep:
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Aligning printing heads (Epson)
I've been playing with my Epson SX130 and it seems that the heads have got disaligned. I am using debian and find no tool to align them in cups web interface. The only tools related to that are mtink and escputil. As to the former, it does nothing but hanging.
When I try (it should print a nozzle check pattern):
escputil -n --raw-device /dev/usb/lp0
It answers:
Unknown printer Epson Stylus SX130!
Running nozzle check, please ensure paper is in the printer.
But prints nothing. I retry, it starts feeding paper and stops, getting this message:
Cannot write to /dev/usb/lp0: Recurso no disponible temporalmente
Trying this (it should align the nozzles):
escputil -a --raw-device /dev/usb/lp0
It answers:
Unknown printer Epson Stylus SX130!
Do you know a way of aligning this printer's printing heads within Linux?
Thanks for your help.
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04-27-2021, 10:36 PM
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#2
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LQ Guru
Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Virginia, USA
Distribution: Slackware, Ubuntu MATE, Mageia, and whatever VMs I happen to be playing with
Posts: 19,774
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I used to have an Epson that worked very nicely, so your post caught my attention
I looked around and, as far as I could determine from online pictures, this printer does not have a built-in menu panel. Perhaps this page at openprinting.org will be helpful, as it points to some sources for drivers.
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04-28-2021, 03:06 AM
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#3
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jun 2004
Posts: 8
Original Poster
Rep:
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Thanks for your answer.
It's curious. I installed the driver a few years ago and I don't remember which one, but probably the one you mention (I have at least two saved in my HD). Apart from that, I see that I also have a PIP driver which I think is by the manufacturer and in its manual it says it can perform print head alignment. I will try installing this when I have a few minutes.
By the way, do you remember whether the driver from openprinting did have this feature?
Thanks again.
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04-30-2021, 07:11 AM
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#4
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Senior Member
Registered: Aug 2010
Location: Near Edinburgh, Scotland
Distribution: Cinnamon Mint 20.1 (Laptop) and 20.2 (Desktop)
Posts: 1,706
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Epson printers generally have print heads built in to the printer which operate on the piezo electric effect; The nozzle diameter contracts and expands so the ink is squirted onto the paper, a bit like manually milking a cow.
HP printers and many others, which have the print head built into the cartridge, are bubble jet printers, the ink is effectively "boiled" causing the expanding ink to spit onto the paper to form the image. As each cartridge in a bubble jet printer contains a part of the complete print head, an alignment process is needed to... er... align the colours within the print.
The piezo electric head, being fixed to the printer, (The ink cartridges only hold the ink) doesn't need any alignment as it's not going to change with ink replacement. This is why there is no alignment procedure for Epson print heads, it's not needed!
Note: If the print head needed replacement (it's a separate part.) you still wouldn't need to align it.
Play Bonny!

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05-01-2021, 05:04 AM
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#5
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jun 2004
Posts: 8
Original Poster
Rep:
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Thanks for your explanation. I thought it should be so, but as I see this option in windows tools and the aforementioned, I had a doubt. It keeps printing blurred, though, so the cause must be something more hardware-related, maybe a dirty encoder strip. I will see if I can fix it.
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05-03-2021, 08:00 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Registered: Aug 2010
Location: Near Edinburgh, Scotland
Distribution: Cinnamon Mint 20.1 (Laptop) and 20.2 (Desktop)
Posts: 1,706
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Blurred print problems in an inkjet printer is usually caused by a dirty printhead. There should be a built-in routine which you can manually run from the printer, check out this video...
Inkjet printers have a felt/foam mat inside which sucks up the waste ink from cleaning the heads. Over a period of time it will become full and generally a sticky mess! At this point you might consider replacing the printer as changing the mat isn't really an option sadly. Some companies (in the UK) selling own brand consumables, which will supply you with a free printer; Epson, Xerox, Brother, Canon, etc, provided you buy a selection of their replacement ink and toner cartridges. (This is where the REAL money lies, the printer consumables!)
Hope this is useful.
Play Bonny!

Last edited by Soadyheid; 05-03-2021 at 08:07 AM.
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05-03-2021, 10:49 AM
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#7
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jun 2004
Posts: 8
Original Poster
Rep:
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No, it was the encoder strip that had a few stains. I cleaned it and it improves a lot. Sadly, I couldn't find anything on this on the internet, but by chance, I saw that it was in Brother's site related to their products. The system is the same, and it works.
It keeps missing some lines, but that's another story, nothing to do with linux but with hardware. I will keep cleaning it and hopefully it'll become fully usable again.
Thanks for your help, guys.
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