Epson 1400 Mods & Troubleshooting

Epson Stylus Photo 1400 Inkjet Printer Mods

2011 – Present

Mods & Troubleshooting

This is a tutorial that will guide you though printer problems, learn about maintenance and mods. (Note: moding a printer will void the warranty) Our setup is an Epson Stylus Photo 1400 with CISS ink and an external waste tank. This model was purchased in 2011.

It has been very reliable over the years. This machine can print up to 13×19 inches. It is possible to print longer with roll paper but you will have to build your own external feeder and manually cut the paper.

Epson Stylus Photo 1400 with CISS & Waste Ink Setup - Graphicsbyte

CIS/CISS Ink System Research

This is a external tubing system that pulls ink from an external source. The Epson 1400 model has six tanks hooked together. The tubing sucks ink out of the cartage when printing or doing a cleaning cycle. It will keep doing this until the external tanks are empty. CISS tanks should be placed at the same level as the printer. If the tank is on a shelf higher or lower you will experience splatter marks in your prints. Amazon and Ebay are good spots to buy the setup.

Note: Usually when the tanks are half full they will need a refill due to the internal siphon not reaching the bottom.

CIS/CISS Ink System Research

Note: Usually when the tanks are half full they will need a refill due to the internal siphon not reaching the bottom.

Waste Ink Tank

Over time the printer will get errors and one of the big ones is when the eject paper and ink refill light turn red and flash repeatedly. This means there is an error of some sort. But when you’re using a CIS/CISS setup it probably means your waste ink pads are full. You will also get an error about this on your monitor. On the bottom of every Epson machine, they use cotton pads. The software comes with the printer that tells the user to run through a series of tests to help with clogging.

The printer cleans itself with its own ink. But that waste ink doesn’t disappear it soaks up in the cotton pads until the machine breaks. This is another way for Epson to make money because the user will send in the machine if it’s still under warranty. The repair costs around $200+ to replace these pads. To get around this we used a company called Octoinkjet. They have tutorials on how to open the side of the printer and redirect the waste ink tube so it hits an external tank.

Waste Ink Tank

WICReset Key

After redirecting waste ink tubes, the printer won’t just “magically” work. Epson may or may not still provide a WICReset Key. When the printer is plugged in download the key and go through its brief software install. The key tells the machine everything is working correctly. If you can’t get the key through the Epson website there are many companies out there selling the keys for $10. Keep in mind a lot of the keys are free if you’re using a Windows computer.

Example: Here is a situation where a key will be needed.

WICReset Key

Example: Here is a situation where a key will be needed.

Unclog Epson 1400 Printheads

After installing the mods mentioned above your ready to go. However, if you ever let the printer sit longer than a week without use, your increasing the chance for a clog. Epson wants you to waste your ink so that’s why they gave you print head test software that does just that. Sometimes the clogs are so bad you need extra help.

Ebay has plenty of cleaning solutions available. We used to use Inkjetcarts but when they went out of business we switched to a different brand. Here is one on Ebay that we will be testing soon. Some people use Windex for this purpose but we usually stick to transparent fluids. Before using this solution you will need to purchase empty print cartridges then use a syringe to place in the fluid. Next run a cleaning cycle a few times. The solution runs through the printer and works on the clogged areas just like Drano. You will see the gunk flow though the external tubing if a waste ink tank is installed.

For extra tough clogs you can fold a paper towel into thirds and cut 2 inch strips. Then unplug the printer so the ink ink carriage is free moving. Place the towel on the printer bed and then soak it with cleaning solution. Carefully move the ink carriage back and forth over the towel until ink smudges are gone. Sometimes you may want to let the printer sit on this soaked paper towel over night.

Unclog Epson 1400 Printheads

Test Print Patterns

We have a nice test print package you can download. This package includes multiple color patterns so you can test your printer for color matching. This is critical if you ever needed to use the cleaning solution. These test prints will help the user get their machine back in top-notch working order.

Test Print Patterns

Banding in Prints

Vertical Banding: This is a clog in the printhead. Do nozzle check & head cleaning.
Horizontal banding: Do a printhead alignment test.
Red band in head alignment: Clean encoder strip.
Encoder Strip Cleaning: This is the band behind print heads. This ribbon controls and verifies the position of the print head. If it’s smudged in any way the sensor may not read the little vertical microscopic lines and this will cause problems with head alignments. Also, check for anything being tight on the CISS ink ribbon along its whole travel.

Banding in Prints

Vertical Banding: This is a clog in the printhead. Do nozzle check & head cleaning.
Horizontal banding: Do a printhead alignment test.
Red band in head alignment: Clean encoder strip.
Encoder Strip Cleaning: This is the band behind print heads. This ribbon controls and verifies the position of the print head. If it’s smudged in any way the sensor may not read the little vertical microscopic lines and this will cause problems with head alignments. Also, check for anything being tight on the CISS ink ribbon along its whole travel.

Paper Jam Issues

After several years of heavy use, we recently encountered a paper loading problem. The printer was able to print letter-size documents but anything larger would wrinkle up and get jammed. We found out this is usually caused by dust and small paper fibers sticking to the printer feed rollers.

On the back of the Epson 1400 where you load your paper, there is a rubber roller that grabs the paper. To clean this, use a damp microfiber dusting cloth and apply a little bit of water or rubbing alcohol. Be sure to turn the roller all the way around so you clean each side. After this, the printer should be able to grab all paper stocks once again.

Paper Jam Issues

Troubleshooting the Ink light

Sometimes after cleaning a nasty clog, the change ink light will stay on. If this happens follow these steps:

Power off the printer and turn it back on.
Unplug the printer after its startup cycles a couple of times.
Take out cartridges and clean off cartage chips with a towel.

If you make it to step three this is because one of the cartage chips is blocked. Be sure to clean those off before placing the CIS cartridges back into the machine.

Troubleshooting the Ink light

Sometimes after cleaning a nasty clog, the change ink light will stay on. If this happens follow these steps:
1. Power off the printer and turn it back on.
2. Unplug the printer after its startup cycles a couple of times.
3. Take out cartridges and clean off cartage chips with a towel.
If you make it to step three this is because one of the cartage chips is blocked. Be sure to clean those off before placing the CIS cartridges back into the machine.