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Repair and disassembly guides for Epson printer. The company was founded in 1942 as Daiwa Kogyo, Ltd., but merged with another company in 1959 to create Suwa Seikosha Co., Ltd.

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EPSON ET-4550 doesn't work on the ADF

I have an EPSON ET-4550 Printer. Just recently it started acting up with the ADF. It'll print the top page, but when I flip it to print the other side, every single time it gives me the error message "Paper Jam or Out of Paper". I've checked and there's no paper jam and it's not out of paper. I've even used the air can to get rid of any dust.

I really need this printer for legal stuff that I print out. It's past the warranty, so I really can't afford to bring it somewhere to get it fixed as I'm on a very fixed income.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you in advance!

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Given the age of the machine and the fact it's based on an entry level inkjet with a bolt-on ink tank and a modified ink carriage without chip monitoring, it's probably due to worn ADF rollers. It's not too unusual for them to wear down like this in 5-6 years, especially on cheap models like this. These are based on the WF-25XX and 26XX cartridge-based variants.

It looks like it can be serviced and you can replace the rollers but you have to replace the ADF cover as an assembly as Epson doesn't sell the part piecemeal, or you can see if you can find a rough cover and take it from there if someone will just give you the part to try. It may even come down to needing to get a used part if it's just not available new or even at all given Epson doesn't repair the printer when you send it in most of the time, rather they exchange it out and repair or dispose of the old one.

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@suzanneakers besides the great answer provided by my colleague @nick, I would take a look at the PE sensor in the ADF unit. To work on your printer and to replace the needed parts use this manual Epson ET 4550. It's not the best of all scans but it will definitely come in handy to repair your printer.

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I suspect if the rollers are worn out they'll need to find a like new set after this long. Preferably from a dead printer which has a low PC and clogged heads, even a bad print mech or some other major failure which is the end of the road. I wouldn't want to pull from a WIC error unit unless the rollers were in perfect shape due to WIC printers usually having a high PC. Clogs are a pain in these so most people dump them once they clog, especially Gen2 and up EcoTank. It's a lot harder to remove the "ink cartridges" once you get to Gen2. At least with these they put a tank on the side and basically made a cartridge block assembly to replace the chipped carts so it's far less difficult but it's still a rough repair due to Epson being sensitive to air in the lines.

Normally it's not worth trying with Inkjets, even these tank based ones. But if OP can get the part for $20 or less it's probably worth a shot. WIC might be fine if the ADF was seldom used but you can do better then picking from the absolute worst faults for a donor part most of the time but you can't tell since Epson completely nukes the printer from operating, even as a scanner.

Reminds me of the C3426 I tried to replace the HVPS and LVPS on which was a loss due to the controller being at fault. Cost me nothing since I pulled them from a money pit.

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Suzanne Akers will be eternally grateful.
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