Problem with the yellow only

[bemaponline]

Hi all,
I have problem with the hp 57 and hp 95 . After opening and thouroughly cleaned them up (took out the sponges and flush with distilled water ). I vacuum refilled them then I printed 10 pages 3 large blocks of colors . The first few pages are perfect for all colors but after the 5 pages the yellow became fade away or horizontal lines showed up . Cyan and Magenta are OK . It happend to both hp57 and hp95 but only the yellow wouldn't print after few pages . Any advices ?
Thanks.

 

[ltsang]

Hi bemaponline,
I used to refill my hp56s and 57s, but now I give up. Yes, they are refillable, but only for a few times and you have to buy another cartridge especally the color one that only takes a few mils of ink. I tried the 95 also and it is no better especially if you have a few 8x10 pictures to print. The black 56 is a bit better because it takes 18 mils of ink at a time. In your case I think you have air trapped in your ink line because the OEM cartridges get fill in a vacuum so no air get trapped inside. If you try to draw the ink from the 57, you can see a lot of bubbles in the ink and I think thats what stops the ink flow. You might try to inject a bit more yellow into its compartment and see if the cartridge prints solid yellow again. I think since the magenta is in the middle, its got the shortest passage to the print head, and the yellow or cyan has to travel a longer curve passage, it is easier to get air bubbles trapped.
I wonder how can you cut the top off the 57 off without breaking the top piece. It bonds really well.Last time I took one apart, the top broke into 4 pieces. Although you said you did a thorough clean up , I don't think you can clean the nozzles, and after a few rounds of refill, they can get partially clog which one might not notice, but the printout become weak makes refilling much more difficult.
Another thing I should mention. I got a 56 which did print well but when printing heavy black lines as in the diagnostic test on my photosmart 3180, the black thick line printed good for first half and became fainter and then no black ink comes out. I sucked out as many black ink as I could using a syringe, then filled the cartridge with Windex, I then print a whole page of solid black, no problem except printout is light. I then drew out most of the windex mixture and injected normal ink in it again. I then printed another 2 pages of solid black, worked fine except on the third page, the printer told me to replace both cartridges. I replaced the black cartridge and printer worked again. I guess I must have overheated the resistors inside the 56, there goes another hp cartridge. So don't try to print too many solid color blocks which will blow your hp cartridges easily.

 

[bemaponline]

Hi,
I submerged the printhead in windex for 12 hours and flushed with distill water through the printhead then vacuum filled.
The hp57 top was removed by a fine sharp knife and a flat-head screw driver. First start each conner and go around till it falls off.
You problably right, print too much solid color may burn the resistors in the print head . I did try once too see if this is true. Right after the yellow get fainter and fainter, I stopped and removed the sponges then I did everything again . The first few pages, block of yellow was fine but after that it got lines and yellow stopped come in out ! I think for the hp93,95,97 the yellow is closer to the printhead than other colors because the sponge is square .
May be the ink composition of yellow is different in term of viscosity, surface tension etc.

 

[ltsang]

Just a thought, since you got the cartridge opened, to clear your doubts, how about switch the cyan and yellow ink and try to print, whether it is the ink that causes the problem or it the print head itself. Of course you have to wash the sponges again, but at lease that will clear up one possibility. I think it is important to know that the ink you use better be good otherwise you'll have doubt when filling your 95s or 57s in the future. I am still trying new ink to use on my Cannon ip4300, trying to find one that is accurate in color. If you can find the reason why this happens, I took it as an accomplishment. Wonder why there is so little response whenever it is not about Canon printers especially the bci cartridges.

 

[Ken_CW_Honolulu]

I am having a similar problem with the HP 93, 95 and 97 series (all green "lidded"). After vacuum filling, they footprint and test fine. After a few days the yellow ceases to flow. I've tried suction on the nozzles, soaking the nozzles, flicking 'em hard and even injecting air from a syringe into the top. Nothing seems to get the yellow ink flowing again.

 

[mikling]

Sponge needs a good flush. Ink residue buildup will do that. Similar phenomenon with canons tanks but does not show up as quickly. The residues within the sponge is literally grabbing the ink too well and won't allow it to flow off.

The problem is that by the time you notice that the printing is poor you may already have done damage to the head, so even flushing etc may not bring it back to like new again as the nozzle heaters may already have been damaged by the lack of ink.

 

[Hendo]

Hi

There are several issues discussed that could be the problem.

I think the issue maybe the ink and/or punctured screens.

 

[tigerwan]

Also, some HP & Lexmark cartridges have to be flushed because of the "shoe polish" problem. After a while, the ink in these cartridges hardens on the screen and inside the ink reservoir.

 

[Hendo]

Hi Tigerwan

The shoe polish only happens in Lexmark/Dell black pigment cartridges.

 

[Ken_CW_Honolulu]

What was happening with our 93's, 95's and 97's was that the yellow ink in the middle of the nozzle was drying up within a week of storage due to the clear clips we were using to "seal" the nozzle. An atomizer blasted the dry ink loose and we are now using a different sealing method.