HP PSC 1610 All in One

[PeterBJ]

....What mesh? You may have hit on the answer?

Here is a HP300BK XL (EU) / HP60BK XL (US) cartridge with the top and sponge removed. This was done to unclog the print head much in the same way you would treat a clogged separate Canon print head. The mesh/filter is similar to the ink inlet on a Canon print head. Its primary purpose is not to act as a filter but to act as a surface tension breaker to allow ink transfer to the print head. If the filter is punctured, it no longer acts as a surface tension breaker, and the cartridge cannot print.

 

[pearlhouse]

Interesting..... So we are saying both carts have had their mesh filter punctured possibly by the blunt end of the needle used to refill the cart. I have this same printer and hp1610 and have never experienced this exact same problem but other unexplainable problems that I usually just give up on and go buy a refilled one from a local source and the just continue to refill it until it acts up some wheres between 5 and 7 refills. Then I just start the whole cycle over again. Now that I am into refilling Canon carts I have never thought about going back and looking at depth the make up of a HP cart. Every once in a while It kinda gets messy in there so I just wipe it out with a damp tissue and then dry it out reall good. I have seen traces of spray all over in there but never enough to cause damage to a print out.
By the way Im am now having trouble getting this installed on a win 7 professional pc. I have two different win 7 pcs and cant get a good complete installation on either one. I realize this is off subject but maybe someone else is having the same problem and I should start a new thread...

 

[Emulator]

I am running WIN 7 Prof on a PC and let MS install the printer driver originally. The printer is now playing up as yours is, but previously it was running OK, this I am sure is a cartridge refilling issue.

I think it is worth investigating further in view of Tudor's and Peter's explanations. I will have to buy a couple of new cartridges and take the old ones apart.

 

[Emulator]

I have flushed and disassembled one of the old 338 black carts.

The mesh filter is undamaged, the foam block (surprisingly dense) is OK and adsorbent with the odd mark of the blunt needle.

The rest of the cart is OK and surprisingly simple in construction although clever in design, while the actual print head which is where all the magic occurs surprisingly compact compared with say a Canon.

So no obvious answer to the original problem.

I think the next step is a closer examination of printer body and the associated working parts.

pearlhouse's comments and my recent experience do tend to point to some built in redundancy mechanism.

 

[PeterBJ]

Have you tried a stamp test with the cartridge? The cartridge must not leak and it should be able to produce a a stamp of the nozzles when pressed against a soft piece of paper like a paper pocket handkerchief. Does the tri-colour cartridge still work?

 

[Emulator]

Have you tried a stamp test with the cartridge? The cartridge must not leak and it should be able to produce a a stamp of the nozzles when pressed against a soft piece of paper like a paper pocket handkerchief. Does the tri-colour cartridge still work?

Yes, before I destroyed the black cart, the colour works OK.

 

[PeterBJ]

If you install another black cartridge, can the printer still print colours even if the black cartridge doesn't work?

But if both black cartridges failed simultaneously an electronic failure in the printer is possible, I think. Do both black cartridges show the same behaviour, not printing but spilling ink?

Maybe the black cartridge isn't destroyed by being opened up. After I cleaned the print head in the HP300BK XL, I put it back together and glued the lid back in place using 10 second glue. The operation was successful, it revived the HP cartridge.

 

[Emulator]

I have been trying to work out the purpose of the various features of the opened up black cart. Why the separate compartment with the removable plug in the base and the access hole in the top? I am not sure whether the lid will allow overflow into the main chamber, it looks as though it might.

See the abrasion on the upper part of the lid and case, where I cut into the joint to separate them, indicating that the lid if fitted in the reverse way to what you might expect. I don't think this is a mistake in assembly, it is the same on the other 338 cart I have. I suspect it may be multi purpose. (The foam block is reversed vertically in my image)

I notice on the label, in very small print it says "Intended for single use only"

I think the 338 is a larger capacity cart than standard, if I remember correctly.