- Joined
- Nov 3, 2004
- Messages
- 3,049
- Reaction score
- 1,409
- Points
- 337
- Location
- Bay Area CA
- Printer Model
- CR-10, i560 ,MFC-7440N
Hey All,
I got an email from a friend here on the forum wondering what was up because I hadn't posted in a while. He said, "Notice youre not about so much of late though Keeping busy?"
I replied,
I refilled all of the carts except 3eBK and heard the cleaning cycle go once I closed the cover. I printed a check pattern and it looked terrible. I did a cleaning and all my colors looked perfect except black... not a single drop. I pulled the cart, blew into the maze and ink dropped out no problem. I did a few more cleanings and still nothing at all from the 3eBK!
I was getting impatient and decided to take some (relatively) drastic measures.
NOTE: I don't necessarily suggest this method, and have heard that you can short out the printhead. I've got a new backup so I wasn't terrible worried.
I pulled the printhead out of the printer and took it into the bathroom sink (the wife loves when I do this). I used a brand new syringe / needle and blew a bunch of distilled water to clean out the ports, screen, and around the nozzles. I then used my air compressor to GENTLY blow away as much water as I could off of the print head.
After letting the printhead air dry I put it into the printer, ran a cleaning cycle and printed a test patter.... PERFECT!!! Not a single blank bar, squiggly line or missing spit of ink... no problem at all!
I got an email from a friend here on the forum wondering what was up because I hadn't posted in a while. He said, "Notice youre not about so much of late though Keeping busy?"
I replied,
Well, I must not have knocked on wood because things got a bit sticky. Over the past 5 years I've refilled my carts right when the "low ink" warning first comes up. Well I put it off and put it off until the wife said, "You're printer isn't printing". I had yellow bone dry and the rest were pretty low except pigment black - 3eBK."Man, Im really busy! Ive got a full time job (work really gets in the way of hobbies) and I commute 80 minutes each way. I also have a site that exploded with popularity over the past 4 months the forum has about 50 new members every day: www.BackYardChickens.com. Ive got the family (wife and two young girls) and a house with 32 years of deferred maintenance... but yea, other than those things Ive got oodles of time on my hands. I stop by the forum pretty often but dont post as much because I just dont print nearly as much as I use to (or would like to) and the refill system Im using is working well."
I refilled all of the carts except 3eBK and heard the cleaning cycle go once I closed the cover. I printed a check pattern and it looked terrible. I did a cleaning and all my colors looked perfect except black... not a single drop. I pulled the cart, blew into the maze and ink dropped out no problem. I did a few more cleanings and still nothing at all from the 3eBK!
I was getting impatient and decided to take some (relatively) drastic measures.
NOTE: I don't necessarily suggest this method, and have heard that you can short out the printhead. I've got a new backup so I wasn't terrible worried.
I pulled the printhead out of the printer and took it into the bathroom sink (the wife loves when I do this). I used a brand new syringe / needle and blew a bunch of distilled water to clean out the ports, screen, and around the nozzles. I then used my air compressor to GENTLY blow away as much water as I could off of the print head.
After letting the printhead air dry I put it into the printer, ran a cleaning cycle and printed a test patter.... PERFECT!!! Not a single blank bar, squiggly line or missing spit of ink... no problem at all!