digitalartist71
Getting Fingers Dirty
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2006
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here is a old post you can also read later as part of the mystery why my printer stopped printing black. Seemed not to be the case.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=241
The print head was not the culprit...but probably the third party generic cartridges I had used from www.summitimage.com. ($1 each)....the other colors CMY are fine though...no problems...seems to be ONLY pigment version of Black (BCI-3). So assuming any brand could also do this?
Also seems the heads are actually pretty heavy duty...just for info!
*But the part that was preventing any black ink to print was the PURGE UNIT or at least the tubing for it. Mainly the exiting lines to the waste portion of the printer.
In the beginning I had cleaned and ripped apart many times over, the printhead.... got nowhere.... then ripped the screen off the inlet port to see if any clogging. There COULD have been...but more the purge unit and tubing than the printhead. I probably could have not bought a new head:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=103001382272&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1
but it was a great price..and great to start new again anyways.
So basically took the casing apart,(all snap together). (use flathead screwdriver to release tabs etc) First the sides, then pulled top straight up...then removed the small envolope feeder thing (or cd thing?)...then unscrewed the four screws in bottom from top to remove bottom plastic casing to get to the purge unit/lines. note: removed power supply first to access screw in upper left hand portion. easy... release 2 tabs then slide out from bottom after unplugging power connector.
there are 2 black lines running from each capping unit (one for black (left), one for CMY (right)). clean the hard filters in these (run under hot water)...inject hot water into lines with syringe to clear dried up pigment black. Seems the clear lines exiting the PURGE UNIT was the culprit...inject here immensily...back and forth...i only had to do this for the BLACK side...not CMY. LOTS of thick dried particles came out!!!!!! ****use paper towel to absorb around capping station and exit clear tubes. seems one purge unit is shared between the black and CMY. Seems to use cams that alternate. since the exiting line was PLUGGED...the pump (purge unit) still pumped, but not effective at all until clear lines were cleared.
Printer WORKS perfectly now! NO MORE MYSTERY OR HEADACHE!
Hope this helps!!!! maybe whoever attempts this fix again.. can take photos and make a tutorial.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=241
The print head was not the culprit...but probably the third party generic cartridges I had used from www.summitimage.com. ($1 each)....the other colors CMY are fine though...no problems...seems to be ONLY pigment version of Black (BCI-3). So assuming any brand could also do this?
Also seems the heads are actually pretty heavy duty...just for info!
*But the part that was preventing any black ink to print was the PURGE UNIT or at least the tubing for it. Mainly the exiting lines to the waste portion of the printer.
In the beginning I had cleaned and ripped apart many times over, the printhead.... got nowhere.... then ripped the screen off the inlet port to see if any clogging. There COULD have been...but more the purge unit and tubing than the printhead. I probably could have not bought a new head:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=103001382272&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1
but it was a great price..and great to start new again anyways.
So basically took the casing apart,(all snap together). (use flathead screwdriver to release tabs etc) First the sides, then pulled top straight up...then removed the small envolope feeder thing (or cd thing?)...then unscrewed the four screws in bottom from top to remove bottom plastic casing to get to the purge unit/lines. note: removed power supply first to access screw in upper left hand portion. easy... release 2 tabs then slide out from bottom after unplugging power connector.
there are 2 black lines running from each capping unit (one for black (left), one for CMY (right)). clean the hard filters in these (run under hot water)...inject hot water into lines with syringe to clear dried up pigment black. Seems the clear lines exiting the PURGE UNIT was the culprit...inject here immensily...back and forth...i only had to do this for the BLACK side...not CMY. LOTS of thick dried particles came out!!!!!! ****use paper towel to absorb around capping station and exit clear tubes. seems one purge unit is shared between the black and CMY. Seems to use cams that alternate. since the exiting line was PLUGGED...the pump (purge unit) still pumped, but not effective at all until clear lines were cleared.
Printer WORKS perfectly now! NO MORE MYSTERY OR HEADACHE!
Hope this helps!!!! maybe whoever attempts this fix again.. can take photos and make a tutorial.