Dustin Logan • New Member • Posts: 1 Re: Epson Photo R3000 drips black ink onto prints. In reply to Hugh Paterson • Sep 5, 2016 2 This is indeed a common problem with Epson pigment-ink photo printers. I have seen countless posts, on numerous forums, with folks pulling their hair out, over this. After much research and experimentation with my printer, I have found that the cause is a clogged ink damper (fine screen filter). With the damper clogged, there is simply not enough pressure to shoot the ink onto the paper. It just pools around the nozzle. This seems to happen after the printer is 18 to 24 months old, usually on the black---regardless of amount of use. Unfortunately, Epson only offers replaceable dampers on their high-end "pro" printers. Replacing a damper on the R3000, requires replacing the entire inking system---often more than the cost of a new printer. That does not mean, that there is no solution. Try purchasing a refillable cartridge for the black, and filling it with a good quality printer flushing solution (I used a cartridge and "Piezoflush" from Inkjetmall). Download the Quadtone RIP (QTR) program, and use the calibration utility to print test pages, until the black comes out the color of the flushing solution (I believe that the Quadtone RIP program is free, if just used as a utility). Cheap photo paper works good for this. Now, let the flushing solution sit in the printer, for at least a week, to dissolve all of the old pigment in the damper. Print another calibration page, with the Quadtone RIP. If a lot of black ink is again evident, allow the printer to sit for a few more days, before printing another sheet. Keep repeating until little evidence of black remains. Once clear, use the Quadtone RIP to refill the line with black ink. A word of caution: If you decide that you want the QTR calibration to print only the black, use this color: R 127, G 0, B 255---NOT actual black! Attempting to use actual black in the QTR calibration, will result in a really nasty mess of overflowed ink. You can open the QTR calibration image in Photoshop or Gimp. It is a simple TIF file, and you can see the colors that QTR actually uses, on each of the ink lines. I hope this was of help. It worked for me, though I have found that I need to routinely flush my printer once a year, to keep the problem from returning.