Life is getting a little frustrating with the pro inks. It’s been working fine and I made a point of running a test print fairly regularly if not every day. And then I started getting a few little lines in the black channel and one of the middlel channels. So I tried all of the various recommended procedures for cleaning the heads and nothing was happening. I tried a couple of more than a couple of power cleanings and every time I would do that after words I would run a test prep and they looked horrible there were missing lines everywhere so I just stuck with the regular head cleanings and they don’t seem to be doing anything either. So I’m starting to think there’s something wrong with his printer and I’m just tempted to try the second printer that I have and see if I can get it to work. It’s been sitting in my studio for a couple of years with piezo flush in it and I write write a test print and it looks like the black links are totally clogged so it will be interesting to see if I can get this printer to work I think that’s what I’m gonna try next unless you have some better suggestion.
sounds to me like it needs a full cleaning under the head (capping station etc)
best
-Walker
One thing that I have found, especially on some of the older models like the 3880, is that after doing a clean a lot of nozzles will be missing, if you do a nozzle check straight after the clean (or power clean). This is because, I think, air gets into the head during the cleaning process
Its best to do a clean and then wait at least half an hour and then do a nozzle check.
1, check if the sealing of the capping station is good and clean, if it cannot create a vacuum because it does not seal well, the head cleaning will not work either.
2, capping station sponge should be wet with some window cleaner and soak up the ink with a paper towel so that it is permeable and the vacuum works. The vacuum does not work with a sponge filled with dry ink, the ink cannot be emptied from the sponge and does not come out of the head during cleaning.
3, you will not know that the sealing fits well, but if you print a “flush image” sample image from the Quadrotone RIP program with it and the channels improve, then there is a problem with the sealing of the capping station
4, you are beyond these and it still does not work, replace the dumpers. If you don’t have time to wait for the new dumpers, rinse them under the tap, but don’t use a syringe because it has a spring valve
5. If you don’t want to wash out all the dumpers, just replace two working and non-working channels.
6. Always check if the color is continuous in the tubes that go to the head from the cartridges.
7. Don’t forget that ink can build up in the space directly behind the cartridges, if you take the tubes apart, it’s worth washing it out as well.
Good luck!