Capping station function:
1- When the printhead moves to its home position a square cap (called the capping station) moves up as a base for the printhead and creates a seal around the printhead. This helps create a semi-airtight seal around all the ink nozzles. This will protect the ink from drying in the printhead (which will eventually cause it to clog - especially with a water based ink like DTF ink).
2- There is a pump in the capping station which helps to move and prime the ink inside the printhead.
How to maintain it:
It is easy to maintain the capping station by dripping a few drops (2-3ml) of moisturiser solution, saturating the pad and letting it sit for 5 min. The liquid will remain in the cap for a few seconds, but will soon drain out.
Now fold a lint free cloth and gently sponge away ink and the moisturiser. Make sure you don't push too hard as this can damage the capping station. After dabbing several times, you will remove most of the liquid (a little always remains, but this is fine). Make sure the capping station sits in its normal position and sits flat for a correct seal with the print head. Repeat this a couple of times.
Do not let the liquid spill outside the capping station into the printer. Some printer models have important electrical components located under the capping station area and can be damaged by liquid.
Instead of dripping a few drops onto the pad (as described above), you can dip a clean cotton swab in some moisturiser or distilled water, and use it to wipe gently around the edge of the capping station gasket, to remove ink and dust buildup there. Again, be careful not to push the capping station out of alignment. Be aware not to leave any fibres or lint behind on the capping station sponge or gasket. This latter cleaning method is a good idea if the capping station was fairly clean already.
Wiper blade function:
When a print head clean is performed, ink is pulled through the print head for an instant and then pulled out into your waste ink container. During this process the wiper blade comes up and cleans across the print head plate.
How to maintain it:
Place a few drops of regular cleaning liquid or distilled water onto a clean cotton swab or lint free cloth, and gently wipe it onto the wiper blade. Alternatively, you can gently remove the wiper blade and wash it in a small tub of regular cleaning liquid or distilled water, drying it with a lint-free cloth before putting it back into its place.
Flushing box function:
Waste ink and cleaning solution are deposited into the flushing box which then drains into the waste ink tank to be stored until the tank is emptied. It is important to keep the flushing box and its pad clean and free of dry ink deposits to allow proper drainage for waste ink and cleaning solution during the printer cleaning cycles. A clogged flushing box means you will waste cleaning solution as the flushing box overflows. This may also will result in some printer components ceasing to function properly.
How to maintain it:
Follow the same procedure you used for cleaning the capping station.
Note 1:
After you finished manually cleaning all these parts, let the printhead air dry thoroughly then put it back into the printer. We recommend that you perform a power ink flush after the manual cleaning, but make sure you have enough ink in your tanks.
Note 2:
A power ink flush affects the service life of the ink pads by causing them to reach their capacity sooner, and outside of your manual cleaning (above) should be performed only if necessary.
When you see an error message indicating that an ink pad is nearing the end of its service life, the product stops printing and you must contact Epson to purchase a new one.