Can I unscrew pro9000 print head?

[stratman]

There is no true scientific data on this topic.

My recollection of all the posts concerning liquids used on this forum to unclog a print head is that original Windex with Ammonium D is more likely to be effective than isopropyl alcohol - unless we consider the one time mention of moonshine that was successful. The latest and greatest contestant is LA's Totally Awesome Cleaner (which I cannot find in my area so far).

 

[rodbam]

Last night I did a very thorough clean by first flushing the head in purified water & then using the syringe to flush through the heads with warmish water. I then made up 8 tubes about 3" long & placed them on the inlet stubs with the rubber washers removed as per Mikes photo post. I then covered the head in windex & filled each tube with windex & went to bed. The tubes were all empty in the morning so I syringed windex through every inlet stub & washed out with warmish water. Dried the head with paper towel & let it stand for a couple of hours then did a nozzle check, the PM was the same but I had no cyan. I did a printer head clean which brought back the cyan but with some lines so I did a deep clean of all nozzles which gave me the same print as before with all colours OK except the PM. I tried a few plain paper prints which had bad lines so did another nozzle check & the cyan had some bad lines in. I then did another deep clean & got a good nozzle check. I then printed another photo & now I have no red, cyan or magenta in the nozzle check.
It seems I'm digging a deeper hole for myself but I will now leave the head alone for a few days & let the inks settle while I drink a carton of beer.

 

[stratman]

It seems I'm digging a deeper hole for myself but I will now leave the head alone for a few days & let the inks settle while I drink a carton of beer.

If you are running out of options or patience...

Have you tried aiming Australia's national past time at the print head yet? The beer should give you an excuse and plenty of ammunition, so to speak?

 

[rodbam]

Bugger it, I'm now printing B&W onlyhic

 

[Emulator]

Your inks haven't fermented I suppose??

Regards Ian

 

[The Hat]

With all thats happening to your printouts I dont think a new print head will solve your problem.

You have being working the cleaning cycles hard over that period and its quite possible
that the purge unit has now started to play up too.

It could be blocked both sides or some tubes have come loose because the Cyan and Magenta are on the other side
of the print head which were not effect previously and now the red is gone from the Photo Magenta side also.

Whatever chance you have of saving this print head will be lost totally if you continue to print test sheets other than nozzle checks,
also when you reinsert your print head after external cleaning it is wise to do a head clean before you print a nozzle check.

P.S. order another carton of beer just in case you need extra pee for sprinkling..

 

[stratman]

The Hat:

Rod said he altered his colors/contrast in order to make the missing ink easier for us to see. Unless there is something else going on I'm unaware of, and that is entirely possible after all the beer, I don't think the purge unit is the issue.

The shifting position of the missing ink in the nozzle check may be either an electrical gremlin formerly featured on The Twilight Zone or a nasty ink concretion upstream of the nozzle channels that keeps shedding clots of ink (ink embolisms) as he soaks and flushes the print head.

Since soaking and flushing cause changes to the pattern of missing ink, continued soaks and flushes seem reasonable. However, purchasing a new print head is reasonable as well for a Plan B, unless Rod can find a deeply discounted new Pro9000 Mark II like we see on Craigslist in the US (usually around $200 in my area).

 

[rodbam]

The PM is now looking very different & worse, I'm also having problems with the Cyan. I can get a very good nozzle check after a deep clean on all colours except the PM & on about the 4th nozzle check the Cyan starts getting some streaks But it's now testing OK, probably the after effects of the cleaning. I tried putting the 3' tube on the PM inlet & dropping a few drops of ink on the inlet but it didn't change the nozzle check. Here's the latest & not so greatest nozzle print.

I have one more thing to try. I have flushed out & cleaned a whole set of spare carts & when I refill them I will see if anything changes. I have ordered a new head from Printhead Express from Grandads link $125 = $15 postage & if that new head doesn't fix this then I will reluctantly buy a new set of OEM carts (sniff sniff) & see if that is the problem. I hope I don't have to put another printer in the bin because I can't really afford another A3= printer. The Pro 9000 still is selling down here for about $800. The postage cost from the States make buying one there a no go.
I'm off to the bottle shop for another carton

 

[Grandad35]

When you remove a cart, a little meniscus of ink should remain on top of the print head's ink inlet port if the cart is feeding properly. Do you see this on the inlets for the PM and C carts?

If the inlet is dry, the cart is starving the nozzles. Questions:
1. How do you refill?
2. How many refills have you done on your PM carts?
3. Have you ever purged your carts? If so, how many refills have you done since the last purge.

If you top fill, remove the refill screw and count how many drops/second you get. 2 drops/second indicates a clean cart; 1/2 drop/second means that the cart needs to be purged.

 

[joseph1949]

To: rodbam

rodbam, why dont we do something low tech. Before I tell you what the low tech thing is you should follow Grandad35s advice in reply #29. I believe that if you follow Grandad35s advice your carts should be good to go.

With your carts good to go (inside the print head) you can follow my low tech adviceplace the carts in the print head and just walk away. Do not do a thing to the printer for at least 8 hours. Just sleep on it. When you get up run a nozzle test and see what happens.

Patience, grasshopper, patience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you.