Epson Stylus Photo 820 Teardown

This is a teardown of the Epson Stylus 820 Photo color printer.

The ink cartridges are replaceable. That is a good sign.

Only one screw on the outside. That looks like a good sign.

After removing the screw, the three tabs on the back can be unhooked.

What are these strange slots on the bottom of the printer?

Answer: according to the existing iFixit guide, they allow access to the tabs holding the cover in place.

Now it is time to unlatch two more tabs.

The case has started to separate.

It was necessary to pry this piece of plastic away from the USB port while removing the case.

The cover is finally off!

Not much more can be seen by taking off the cover.

Next step: the stepper motor.

The drive belt can be easily removed by pressing on a tensioner on the other side of the printer. +1 for reparability!

After removing 4 screws, the stepper motor comes out.

The stepper motor cable is routed through a series of plastic tabs that hold it down.

It eventually connects to the (hidden) logic board.

A closer look at the stepper motor.

In order to access the paper tray, 3 screws must be removed.

One in an obvious place.

One in a less-obvious place.

And one hidden in a dark place.

The paper tray has been removed.

This magnificent specimen was found deep inside the paper tray.

A close look at what is behind the paper tray.

The object at the bottom of the last photo was 5 layers of absorbent padding to contain all the ink that the printer has wasted while cleaning its nozzles, in this case almost 8 years of ink.

The power supply is held in place by 3 screws, but it seems to be missing two on the front.

The power supply is connected to the main board by 4 surprisingly thin wires.

The inside of the power supply.

The logic board's shielding is held in place with 4 screws.

Two cables remain connected to the logic board.

The heatsink is attached to the logic board by these screws.

The large dual ribbon cable for the printhead attaches to two connectors on the logic board, one on each side.

The chips on the logic board.

A2037 and C5694 transistors

A6615SED stepper motor driver

219A254UN proprietary EPSON chip

IC41LV16256 256K x 16 bit dynamic RAM

M62510FP bus termination regulator

29LV400TC 8 mBit CMOS flash memory

LVCZ161284A high speed IEEE 1284 transceiver

The plastic clip that holds the dual ribbon cable in a folded position.

The main axle/rod/shaft/round metal thingy is held in by spring clips.

The other side.

The rod can now be extracted from the printer.

Now that the rod has been removed, the print head can be unhooked from the drive belt.

The print head

The six lines on the print head visible in the second and third pictures are actually rows of microscopic ink nozzles.

An unusual metal bar in the paper feed path is held in by two screws.

The metal strip contains many spiked wheels rotating on springs which allow them to be pushed out of the feed path.

This inky mess is the nozzle cleaner.

The assembly is spring loaded so the nozzles can be pushed into a pad to collect ink, which is then somehow transferred into the large absorbent ink pad.

To remove the metal midframe of the printer, three screws must be removed.

The midframe can now be lifted out of the printer.

After removing a gear, another metal rod can be removed.

After removing another screw, the second stepper motor can be removed.

The tensioner wheel and drive belt can be removed by pushing it down out of the tensioner.

The gearbox is going to be the next thing to be removed...

The gearbox drives the paper feed and the nozzle cleaning processes all from one motor.

A close look at the peristaltic pump used to move ink from the nozzle cleaner to the large absorbent pads.

This is what is left of the paper feed mechanism. The circuit board contains two microswitches to detect if there is paper present.

Another rod is removed from the printer.

This rod is coated in something that helps it grip onto the paper better.

Lastly, here are the three spring-loaded rollers removed from the paper feed mechanism.

The main stepper motor, the part most likely to fail, is easy to remove.

The ink cartridges are easily replaceable.

Many parts inside the printer have ink on them, making repairs messy.

The other stepper motor is very hard to access and requires disassembling most of the printer.

The midframe, which contains the gearbox and secondary stepper motor, is attached to the case with blobs of melted plastic that must be cut off to remove.

The case is very hard and tedious to open without breaking tabs.

Bonus Teardown Time!

Time to see what is underneath the 'Do not remove' sticker located on the ink cartridge.

What is this network of labyrinthine passageways?

The answer is a capillary tunnel to reduce ink pressure. The lower row of holes leads into the cartridge itself, while the top row leads to the ink nozzles.