Digital BW, The Print

Louis de Stoutz <loudest@...> wrote:
>
> ... Although my carts were not 
> empty when I last used them, now they are!


I confess I dislike the auto-reset chips.  They seem to get out of sync with the actual amount of ink in the carts.  It's all too easy, particularly if you use QTR, to simply miss the fact that a chip reset.  I didn't have these problems with the older manual-reset chips.


> Does this mean that carts just empty themselves over time? 
> A combination of leaking and evaporation?

I have occasionally been suspicious of carts emptying themselves, but I've never been able to pin down whether it really happened or I just forgot to check.  The latest instance of this was my old Dad's printer, where I found 5 empty carts.  He keeps his room at the old folks' home at close to 80 degrees F. all the time, so that could be a factor, but I just don't know. Low viscosity might cause ink to pour through a printer.  But there, the Eboni 100% is actually lower in viscosity than the Carbon-6 mid-tones, and I don't hear any complaints about Eboni flowing through printers.  (It did in a 1400 that was taken the a workshop on a mule's back.  But that is hardly a normal situation.)

 
> Anyway, I now have a new task at hand: cleaning the carts 
> and flushing the ducts and heads. 

If you're not changing inks, you might just consider re-filling the carts (and priming them).

 
> Questions:
> How do I mix flushing liquid, I have:
> - clear base b (with Edwal)
> - ammonia
> - isopropyl alcohol
> 
> Are all of these mixable?

Yes.  Don't leave a significant concentration of ammonia in the head too long.  At some point it could cause damage.  (I have no idea what that point is - just repeating what I've been told.)

> Should I avoid Photoflo and Edwal 

They are your cleaners.  Edwal is particularly impressive.

You may be doing more work here than is necessary.  Are you sure you have any clogs?  If so, Windex (dilute ammonia) on the parking pad overnight may be all you need.  Typically, it's only the 100% Eboni that is a problem where Eboni/Carbon-6 is left un-used in a printer for extended periods, and the parking pad trick almost always is enough to take care of that.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com