Printer acts like it is running out of ink

[turbguy]

I feel that the primary purpose of those rubber gaskets at the print head inlets is to prevent ink from drying in the sponge at the cart outlet, rather than sealing air from entering the ink column to the head.

Wayne

 

[pearlhouse]

Ok now Im starting to understand how this thing works. Thank you PeterBJ and Turbguy. After hearing this and looking at the whole thing I believe the seals serve a dual purpose both for the vacuum and to keep things from drying out. Once the ink is sprayed out of the head, - that starts a vacuum where it would draw in replacement ink into the head. (As long as you have a good seal so it cant draw in outside air) The filters being in contact with the sponge cartridge outlet will cause the ink to transfer probably
through the filter material where the replacement vacuum then draws it off through the passage ways to the head.

Well I re-assembled the print head and installed it with a full set of refilled (German method) OEM carts. The PGBK cart was the one that I had just purged.
After several nozzle checks and deep cleaning I started to get a half way decent print of the nozzle check. The colors were very washed out but I assume that was because there was some water left in the print head. Finally the PGBK pattern printed out with all but 3 lines which I thought wasnt too bad. So I tried to print the spread sheet I was having trouble with. Well to make a long story short the first page printed ok but then again the next pages started to deteriorate. If I wait for a few hours I can get a good first page or two and it deteriorates again. I agree this looks like a cartridge problem and I do recall when I first started to fill these carts the German way I had some trouble getting the needle to penetrate the sponge and sometimes had to push and twist pretty hard. But after purging the cart and the needle now goes in very easy I think this cart is probably OK. Before I filled the cart I applied strong air pressure through the vent thinking this might help get the two different sponges in good contact with each other if there was an air gap. I even applied air pressure after filling it to get a couple of drops of ink out of the exit port. Right now I have approx. 15 of these PGBK carts that I have refilled for me and another person who also uses the same carts. I have tried several of them all with the same results. So where do I go from here??

 

[mikling]

I think you have a printhead that is on its way downhill. If you let the printhead electronics cool off, or rest, it will improve but a little printing and it starts to fade. Your continued tests with other cartridges appear to produce similar results.

For the same reasons why some electronic components fail for no explicable reason, something similar might be happening. Just luck of the draw and some things can and do go bad, even with the best care unfortunately. I've lost printheads as well and there was no reason why it suddenly went, but gone it did. My prior MP500 printhead on the text black printed very light gray and then went away completely..at least when it was printing light gray it was saying goodbye I think.

 

[Grandad35]

This is similar to the problem reported here, where there was a partial blockage in the plastic portion of the print head, not the nozzles. In any case, since you have already taken the head apart, purging the plastic body should be easy.

 

[pearlhouse]

I think you guys are right. Ive had this thing (the print head) apart a couple of times now and I still get the same thing. The nozzle checks are terrible as far as the PGBK goes. The colors are ok to fair. I can print usually one page and then it starts to deteriorate. I guess I need a new print head. But this printer has had other problems feeding paper especially in the duplex mode along with a really loud squeaky roller sound so Im considering buying a MX892 refurbished from canon for $119 delivered. Ive been reading reviews on this thing but they don't seem to be very good. I would assume its got to be better than my MX860 so I wondering if you guys have any input on this thing. I realize I will need all new carts but what the heck Ive gotten pretty good use out of the other ones. Now I seem to remember that the carts for both are the same just need to change the chips? I do need this type of printer because I do all sorts of printing from pics to multiple page docs. ---- Question I thought Id ask does this 892 have the same clearance problems with the top fill method, Im considering going back to it.