Epson lq 2180/printhead stops for no reason

[cucuklotz]

Hi
I have a customer who has been using This Epson LQ2180 for about 10 year.
I have had virtually no calls on this machine and it has been a workhorse.
I can sum my exp.up with these type of machines in one word,NONE
The machine now has a problem where it will print anywhere from 1 to 5,6 prints,and
the prinhead suddenly stops for no apparent reason as though it was stuch,and the display starts blinking.
If I turn off and on the machine starts working again,but will then repeat the problem.I thought about replacing printhead,but the only times I
have had to replace the prinhead was for quality issues and loud electrical pitch noise,and for ripping ribbon.
Does anyone have some experience with this model that can shed some light,and love,of course on what problem may be.
THANK YOU FOR ANY POSSIBLE HELP
ANDY

[Lance15]

Maybe the encoder strip needs to be cleaned? The encoder strip tells the carriage "where it's at". If it's dirty, the sensor in the carriage can't count the tiny hash marks on it and it "gets lost". I'm just guessing this model has an encoder strip. I know the Lexmark 2591+'s don't have an encoder strip.

[cucuklotz]

Hi
Thank you m,y friend for offering help.This machine does not have the strip.This customer has been a heavy user for the last ten years
with this Dot Matrix machine. It has worked really good,only replaced printhead twice on it.I have no experience with these.Can anyone offer a suggestion as to a refurbished dot matrix machine that I can recommend to my customer that can replace this 24pin parallel interface machine?
Thank you for any help. ANDY

[Lance15]

Looking at the LQ-2170 service manual (disassembly is the same as the 2180).

I see this printer uses several optical sensors to detect things:
PW Sensor - Paper Width Sensor
PG Sensor - Platen Gap Sensor
Rear and front paper end (PE) sensors

If these sensors are dirty or faulty, they will not work correctly. I had a similar issue on a Tally 2280+ printer. It would just stop in the middle of printing and say PAPER JAM. Turned out the paper front and end sensors needed to be replaced. It wasn't a fun job.

Ehhhhhhh. Pretty expensive printer (even on eBay). Can't even find a place that HAS parts.

[cucuklotz]

Hey Lance
Thanks for the good suggestions,I blew out the one sensor I saw that the printhead activates as it prints .
It is the one on the left side of the machine at the end of its travel .I will look for the others and looked
for the things you suggested.Sometimes you forget how connected everything is,even sensors that detect
paper width and gap.Ill be back to customer on Monday to give these ideas a try
THANKS FOR THE HELP AND IT IS NOT TAKEN FOR GRANTED
ANDY