u/mx-dot

My Epson ET-8500 stopped printing both blacks: both pigment and ink one went one after the other, never to be seen on paper again...

I have been stuck with this issue for weeks now, and don't know what else I could do: I have ran cleaning cycles every day (not the deep cleaning, I don't want to do that as I feel it's a waste of ink), I tried soaking the nozzles in IPA/surfactants, I have tried printing the pages that are fully black: nothing helps.

I am wondering if black inks are somehow different in their composition, which causes them to clog up more? The other colours print perfectly fine, and if they clog up,. they clean up easily.

I would be really grateful for any hints or resources that could help me address this issue, as I am at my wits end!

About a month after deciding to upgrade from a modern machine to a vintage one, and here I am with my four beauties 😅

They are, from right to left:
Elna Supermatic (1958),
Elna Supermatic (1961),
Bernina 530-2 record (1962) and
Bernina 830 record (1975)

The mint Elna still needs a proper cleaning and a new pulley (already printed one), the older Bernina's feed dog doesn't drop when switched to the darning mode (has to be manually pressed down and then it stays down, I'm trying to figure it out, any ideas welcome), but other than that all work like magic and make me so very happy: what a joy to look at all this incredible engineering, and think of how much work each of them has reliably done in the past!

So, things have escalated quickly since I first posted here few weeks ago: I now somehow own two Bernina machines (530-2 and 830), Elna Supermatic, and this collection of (mostly Bernina) presser feet and other accessories: I picked them all up from a thrift store in bulk, so many of them are doubled or even tripled, but there are some single gems there, and I'm very excited since up until I got my Berninas I only ever used the standard foot on my previous machine: it's a whole new world to explore!

Some of them are easy to identify using Bernina manuals and guides, but others are quite a mystery: sometimes they look like a variation on a presser foot I can identify, but with an added twist, like the two on the second photo. A lot of them do not have a number on them, as was the case with the older feet.

On top of those I have ~20 feet that came with my machines, so I was able to identify any that look like those.

I would be really grateful if you could share any links or resources to help me get all of them ID'd and numbered.

I saw Big Book of Feet by Bernina mentioned in one of their materials but I don't see it available where I am, and maybe it's not sold any more.

Thank you, and happy sewing!