Having a tough time with all Lexmark carts

unclefalter

Newbie to Printing
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Points
7
Hi there,

Are Lexmark carts more prone to failure/permanent plugging than HP? I have less than a 30% success rate with them.. most of the time when I get Lex's they're so dry nothing comes out. I do ultrasonic clean for a while, steam, suction.. and after all that I might get a test print with 50% of what's supposed to be on the page there.

We get product for refill sometimes weeks after it ran out. Is there anything we can do to revive these Lexs? Particularly Lex 16s and 82s. They just seem damned near impossible to get going half the time. They just don't want to unclog or something.

Thanks!
 

blinkinink

Newbie to Printing
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
7
same here, although we get 70% success by using a gentle but long steam, I would be interested in a solution that would get rid of the gunk, anyone have an info
 

ebiz96

Getting Fingers Dirty
Joined
Oct 10, 2005
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Points
22
Hi Unclefalter & Blinkinink


I had a similar problem with filling lex 16/17, since they use pigmented ink.


It was becoming impossible to get around getting them cleaned, however with little research and lot of trial and error, i found a way to get them prefect every time.


Here's what i do with my bought in empty cores..

1) I take the top of and discard the sponge, and throughly wash the casing in warm running water for few minutes until you see clean water starts to come through the print head, if you gently press the little 'well' inside the cartridge this should help speed up the cleaning process and also remove any slugg that is hard to shift other wise.


2) After the first step i put them into a ultrasonic cleaner with Deionised Water just covering the print head and run the cycle for 3 minutes, this will clean the cartridge even further and you should be able to see clean water dripping through the print head, however should you wish to further boost your cleaning process add 50% of Yellow Rinse Solution, this solution is available from promax imaging since i am based in uk, but i believe the same is available from R Jet Tek.



The reason i discard the old sponge is purely because you can buy new ones for few cents, and i am to lazy to bother with cleaning the old ones.


3) I refill all my black & colour cartridges in vacuum filling machine for prefect quality, and the success rate is almost quadrupled.



I use inks from oliser turkey branch, i have tried 'OCP' inks but am not satisfied with the results of test prints.



I hope this helps you guys.



All the best


Prosperous Regards

Ash
 

Manuchau

Printer Guru
Joined
May 25, 2005
Messages
514
Reaction score
1
Points
129
Location
B.C. Canada
The reason Lexmarks are difficult to refill correctly is because of what refilling experts call "shoe polish". Refilling oce or twice is usually no problem, but there is a fine filter just on top of the nozzles. If the cartridge has sat around for a while, residue forms on this filter....and gums it up. You can see this goo on the bottom of the cartridge. Steaming helps, but there is no guarantee..as this works about 40% of the time.

After steaming, fold a paper towel 3-4 times, and hold it to the bottom of the refilled cartridge for 5 mins or so with a rubber band. Sometimes you can wick out some of the goo this way.

The best thing with Lexmarks is to re-fill when there is about 25% percent left.

In any case, good luck!!
 

Nifty

Printer VIP
Administrator
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
3,046
Reaction score
1,405
Points
337
Location
Bay Area CA
Printer Model
CR-10, i560 ,MFC-7440N
I use to have a bunch of Lexmark Z22 printers and refilled them quite often. One of the biggest problems I ran into was that I'd all of a sudden start to get blinking lights on the printer that meant there was a problem with the contacts / cartridge. No matter how well I cleaned the contacts nothing worked and I could never bring those cart rides back.
 
Top