Digital BW, The Print

Geraldine Powell <gpowell@...> wrote:
>
> 
> I am also interested in how to clean out the 1400 with Eb6 prior to 
> several months absence.  ...

When the issue is just how to prepare a printer for long storage, there is no magic formula.  The risks are primarily pigment drying on and in the head.  The point of putting in a clear base is just to get the pigments out of the machine.  

Mostly what we're doing is putting distilled water into the system.  The glycerol raises the viscosity so the water won't just run through the head.  It also helps to stop the pad from drying out.  Never put glycerol by itself in a cart.  It's way too thick.

I use and suggested the generic pigment base C6b at http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Ink-Mixing.pdf mostly because I have it and it's cheap and easy.  MIS cleaning fluid or similar commercial products would work fine also.

Epson's cleaning fluid uses a high proportion of glycol, but most don't have that sitting around.  The Photo Flo in the generic base has the glycol in it.

Once you've loaded the cleaning fluid into the printer the cleaning cycle it does at that point is probably enough.  If you print a purge pattern you'll note that there is still some pigment left in the printer, but it's a such a low percentage that it probably would never clog.  The dilute Eboni/Carbon-6 inks never clog.  Eboni itself might if left to long.  We're mostly interested in reducing the concentration of that ink in the head.

I personally don't do anything when I leave for weeks.  My 1400 almost never has any problems from clogging.  (The only serious one was due to ink incompatibility -- HP dyes and MIS pigments.)

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com