Digital BW, The Print

Concur with Steven wrt first trying pulling ink out bottom but I try
to keep cart level if possible (maybe Steven knows better with his 45
degree advice I don't know)- but not concur with injecting windex into
head because  printer works fine with Epson carts. Therefore injecting
head will not help- head is not the problem- it's the air in CIS or
the age of ink. Possibly (and less likely) some ink got jostled out of
K cart when reseating either k or color cart and it might be good to
check nipple for gunky ink which would prevent firm seating.

I've had many problems using ink that was that old and a CIS that was
stored for a week, and infrequent printing. I'd be amazed you even got
it to work at first except that I have an unusual climate very
condusive to clogging here as I've stated in the past. Most people
don't have this trouble, and your being hassle free for such a long
time would jive with this. So My own advice if the above didn't work
would be to start with a new k cart and perhaps a new k bottle just
for  good measure.

I can't help thinking from what you describe that if your color cart
unseated enough to trip the chip, something had to apply a force to
it. And whatever applied a force to it probably yanked on the tubing
or shook cart....and probably unseated the K cart too by the same
physical action, just not enough to trip the k chip. Seems logical. If
so, drawing out ink might be all that's needed.
Jim H.




--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steven
Karafyllakis" <steve@s...> wrote:
> Thomas;
> 
> You might ring Jerry Olson's bell on this one, he just went through 
> what sounds like the same problem initializing a CIS, but here are 
> some of the suggestions offered:
> 
> Pull the black cart out, tilt it up 45 degrees, and apply a syringe 
> (w/ bottom fill adapter)to the cart's ink port. Pull enough ink out 
> to get rid of any air in the cart around the port, and verify that 
> you have vacuum in the system. If you don't, those bubbles in the 
> lines won't move, in which case you need to go looking for air 
> leaks. When all that seems in order, do a windex injection into the 
> K head by attaching some model fuel line hose or heat-shrink tubing 
> (whatever you have that fits) to the syringe. Inject slowly and 
> gently, put 2-3 ml through it. Put the cart back on and do a couple 
> cleaning cycles, etc. 
> 
> Best luck
> 
> Steve Karafyllakis
> 
> http://www.stevekphoto.com
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Thomas 
> Keesling" <tom.keesling@a...> wrote:
> > Art offered a couple of suggestions re my problem off-list, but 
> I'm now
> > certain my problem is the black CIS cart. Here's the background.
> > 
> > My 1280 with CIS and VM inks has performed extremely well for two 
> years, but
> > now will not print black at all.
> > 
> > I'm on my second set of 4-oz bottles of VM inks, and installed new 
> tubing
> > and carts when I got the second set of bottles about 9 months ago.
> > 
> > I recently had to take the printer in for minor mechanical repair. 
> I removed
> > the CIS and installed new Epson cartridges when I took the printer 
> in for
> > the repair. Upon the return of the printer, I continued using the 
> Epson
> > cartridges for a few days before reinstalling the CIS/VM inks. The 
> printer
> > was printing flawlessly before I took it in for the repair and 
> continued to
> > print flawlessly with the Epson carts.
> > 
> > The printer repair took only 24 hours, but the CIS was out of the 
> printer
> > nearly a week. During that time, the CIS carts were stored using 
> the CIS
> > plugs (metal pins on lucite-type plastic). The CIS seemed to work 
> OK right
> > after it was reinstalled, but the printer was not used for a few 
> days
> > thereafter. The next time I started the printer, the red light was 
> flashing
> > and the color cartridge indicator in the status monitor was grayed 
> out. I
> > reseated the cart and everything seemed fine until I tried to 
> print. No
> > black. I printed a purge pattern and all five "color" carts are 
> fine, but no
> > black. Initially, I could get a good nozzle check, but now there 
> is no black
> > even in the nozzle check. There are visible air bubbles in the 
> black tubing
> > and they've been stationery through half a dozen cleaning cycles 
> and test
> > prints. The cart is clearly still full of ink and the black bottle 
> is still
> > about 1/3 full.
> > 
> > Today, I placed a drop of Fantastik on the black nipple and 
> printed a purge
> > pattern. The five color carts are still fine, but the black 
> printed as a
> > medium gray briefly and then quit completely.
> > 
> > It seems I need to replace my black cartridge, but I'm wondering 
> what might
> > have happened so suddenly to my black cartridge while it was out 
> of the
> > printer. I'd appreciate your thoughts because if this happens 
> again, I'd
> > like to be able to avoid the problem next time.
> > 
> > Tom Keesling
> > Intelligent Design, Inc.