I'm puzzled.
I use MIS B&W pigment inks in my 3800. I also have two slots filled with color toners; yellow and magenta. They are in the Y and M slots, not that I suppose that matters.
I want to change the ink in a slot for another one. I've done this trick before in another printer (1400) with no problems. Rather than run cleanings and use up all the inks, I created a duplicate QTR test page and filled it with the color in question. In this case, Yellow, though which color hardly matters.
I first rinsed out the cartridge thoroughly and filled it with distilled water. The idea was to print that Yellow test page as many times as necessary to get to mostly water on the paper, then clean out the cartridge again, substitute the new ink and repeat the above until I get paper with the ink well represented on it.
I never got to the new ink. Several pages printed out just fine, then the ink suddenly stopped flowing. It was not because I had hit distilled water, because the change was too abrupt and the paper was no longer wet, suggesting a clogged head. (Using ordinary copy paper to minimize waste.)
I tried a deep cleaning, which did wonders for all the inks but the one in question. Not a sign of yellow!
Does distilled water damage print heads? Window cleaner didn't a few years back, so I can't imagine plain water would.
Any ideas? I'm stumped!!
Message
Re: [Digital BW] What did I do to my 3800?
2014-04-15 by Paul Roark
I don't know if distilled water does not flow properly through a modern inkjet head. However, ink bases have surfactants in them that are very important components. With my syringes, when dealing with inks, I usually pre-lubricate them with some clear base. They can be very stiff with distilled water. The surfactants are de facto lubricants for the system. I, personally, would never run plain distilled water through a printer.
Paul
On Mon, Apr 14, 2014 at 3:13 PM, <david@...> wrote: