an easy clog to clear on one cleaning but still a nuisance

[Paul W.]

Oops, I took too long composing my last post! Larry B. has posted some suggestions. Thanks, Larry, I'll study those.

 

[Larryb]

Just so you know, the cart with the "Poor seal" is a non-IJM cart. The cart with the "good seal" is an IJM cart. I still had the odd dropped nozzle with the IJM carts until I trimmed the cellophane. The non-IJM cart continued to drop nozzles even after trimming.

Larry

 

[martin0reg]

... Apparently for inksets which have a gloss option, you have to swap out the carts, filling that extra cart with PK. ...

This may be a bit off-topic, but I think it's the other way around: a set for glossy paper is probably made of diluted PK only, and if you want to use it for matte paper, you have to switch the undiluted PK (for the K position) to undiluted MK, using the second "spare" cart.
At least this is the way how the epson color pigment inkset ultrachrome is built: "photo" pigment inks for all channels and a manual or automatic switch from PK to MK for matte paper.
I don't know the difference of pigment PK and MK in detail, but the MK seems to be "pure carbon" with less additives ("binders") and without the resin coat of "photo" pigments. So it may be more prone to settle but at the same time less prone to a clogging caused by the binders in the "photo" inks. That's what I've read in a paper from Paul Roark.
There are some long threads about mixing a self made B&W ink set... I feel like going back again to mix such a gloss compatible B&W ink set, after Paul seems to try out a new formulation too.
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Glossy-Carbon-Variable-Tone.pdf

Back to topic I just want to confirm, that filling and using a cleaning cart is a simple thing.
If this will help - is another story...

 

[Paul W.]

@martin0reg: I'm sure you're correct re: the glossy inksets. I never got into using that, I guess I only mentioned it as a way of explaining the inkset I was using for Matt paper, as distinct from a gloss inkset. According to Paul, and Aardenburg, the matt inkset with the appropriate paper, is more archival than the gloss approach, perhaps due to some of the issues you mentioned. Since I do some work for historical societies, family archives, architects, my primary interest was the matt approach. I was never a big fan of a full gloss, my preferred darkroom print was on an F finish paper air dried on a fiberglass screen, resulting in a very pleasing semi gloss. Perhaps some day that surface will be available for digital prints. Looks like I'm a little off topic, too! But, if I may brag, look at entry #144 on the Aardenburg data, that was my submission! It was beginner's luck, I submitted my prints with no idea they would become a referred-to benchmark.

Strictly speaking, I don't use the MIS Eboni 6 inkset, I mix my own with a very simple recipe from Paul, he calls it Carbon 6, or C6. It's open source, with just 4 or 5 ingredients, and he makes it public. He says C6 behaves identically to Eboni 6, which is pre-mixed and available through MIS.

Anyway, as you say... back to topic!

Paul

 

[Larryb]

Paul, did you have a look at your cartridge? I'm curious if the observations I made of my carts is common among many carts. Because a single head clean is often enough to clear the trapped air, I'm sure it's gone ignored by many for a long time.
Larry

 

[Paul W.]

No, @Larryb, I didn't check my cartridge. Since I replaced that cart with another one, brand new, and it had the same problem I rather doubt it's the seal issue you mentioned. I'm going to try Martin's idea first, ie doing a surge procedure with a cleaning cartridge in the black position. I don't think I'll be able to try that until after Christmas. But thanks for your reminder!

And now, just this morning, it looks like I'm going to have the same problem on my 1430. I've installed Injet Mall's Easy Fill color carts on this printer, and now I'm getting no black in my nozzle check until I do a cleaning. It uses a fair amount of ink for the cleaning - this didn't bother me as much in the 1400 because with the Eboni6 inkset I mix my own inks and the ink cost is minor. So now I'm faced with two printers with the same problem! This is a long shot, but I'm wondering if this problem stems from dry air. I'm in Eastern Montana where the air is dry to begin with, and now due to a forced air heating system, it may be even drier in the house.

Paul

 

[Larryb]

Paul,
take a look the second issue I referred to. This also affected new IJM carts. Try trimming the excess cellophane from the exit port of the cartridge so it looks like my second picture. This made a difference for my IJM carts.

 

[Paul W.]

Larry, sorry for the long delay!

First, am not sure what you mean by "dropped nozzle":

I still had the odd dropped nozzle

Also, I'm a bit confused as to your photos. Just above the second photo are the words "Good seal", but just below it says "The above cart gave me terrible nozzle checks". Plus that photo is somewhat blurry and I can't quite make out what I'm supposed to be seeing.

I hope I don't sound critical, I appreciate your tip and am ready to try it!

Regards,

Paul

 

[Larryb]

Paul,

I see what was confusing and have clarified it. Take another look and see if it makes sense.

What I meant by "dropped nozzles" was an incomplete nozzle check, or missing segments in the nozzle check. My solution would likely only fix random missing segments in the nozzle check.

Since I trimmed the cellophane, I haven't had one missing segment in my nozzle check. Also, I presume that the seal itself in your cart looks like my "cart #2" and the 3rd picture with the good seal. Trimming the excess cellophane (3rd picture) to look like "cart #2 " may help your nozzle checks.

Larry

 

[Paul W.]

Thanks, Larry, that clears things up a bit, although the second photo is still blurry. I'm still confused on one more thing... what's the difference between the last two pictures? Actually, the cellophane in the last picture looks untrimmed, it looks more like the first picture. In other words, how is the second issue different from the first issue?

We'll get this figured out yet!

Paul