Digital BW, The Print

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doug Fisher" <dougfisher@...>
To: "Digital B/W Printing List"
<DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2003 8:02 AM
Subject: [Digital BW] MIS Ink Experience/Warning


> When I bought my first set of inks (the original VM inks) with the MIS CFS
> for my 1160 about this time last year, I didn't have any serious clogging
> issues for something like the first 6 months.  There were the occasional
bad
> nozzle checks, but they could usually be corrected with nozzle cleanings
and
> in my mind were pretty normal.  Somewhere between 6-9 months, I started
> getting more major clogs that were occurring in the plastic tubing lines.
I
> was not using the system a whole lot, so the ink was not moving through
the
> tubes that much.  These clogs were pretty easy to break loose using the
60cc
> syringe to create a fairly strong pull/draw through the bottom of the
cart.
> One knew they had broken a clog when they would feel the syringe jump and
> the ink would start flowing.  It was a 10 minute hassle to do this, but it
> always worked and cleared things up for a while.  Others have reported
> similar problems and most theories centered around tubing that was
somewhat
> porous and the co-solvent evaporating or whatever.
>
> When the new Ultratone inks came out, word was that a new formulation
> minimized the co-solvent issue.  With that said, I have had the Ultratones
> loaded in my printer for the past couple of months.  Until today, there
had
> been a few times where I had not used the printer for a week or so and it
> just required a few cleaning cycles to get decent nozzle checks.
>
> Tonight I decided to do a preventative cleaning cycle + purge pattern to
> move ink through the heads because it had been sitting for about 3 weeks.
> After this, the black ink was barely pumping anything out of the black
cart.
> The subsequent nozzle check was totally blank for all black bars, so I
> started the bottom draw/pull procedure.  Unfortunately, the clog didn't
> break loose.
>
> After an hour of trying to pull ink through the bottom of the cart, push
air
> back through the cart, and manually exercising the tubing (bending,
> stretching all along the length) I finally got the clog to break free.  It
> happened to break free as I was pushing air back up through the cart and
> gave a nice pop.  I am 99.9% sure that the clog was in the tubing near the
> at the bottle end.   I have never had a clog like this one before and
really
> thought I was going to have to throw the CFS out.
>
> My reason for posting this is to see if others have had a similar problem
> with the new Ultratone + photo black and to warn others to keep the new
> Ultratone black inks moving through the system.  It would be better to use
> up/waste a bit of ink each week in order to avoid the situation I
> experienced which I almost couldn't fix.  This problem has cropped up MUCH
> sooner than it did with the original VM inks.  The weather has been nice
> here in Atlanta, so I have not had to use any type of heating or airco and
> soggy spring means that humidity levels have not contributed to the
problem.
> My guess is either the reformulation didn't improve the shelf life and/or
> there is an issue with the CFS tubing.
>
Doug,

Other people have posted problems with clogging in the CIS tubing from time
to time but is seems to be uncommon. The lines do sludge up and anyone who
disassembles a CIS will be amazed at how much sludge accumulates there. I am
not completely sure why that occurs but the tubing is are permeable. Whether
this is a case of solvent evaporating through the walls of the tubes as the
printer sits unused or oxygen entering and causing a reaction I don't know.
I don't think local humidity would be a factor.

In three years I have never had a clog in the lines on my NoMoreCarts CIS
but I print something with the printer at least once every couple of weeks.
They may use a different type of plastic in their lines as well.

Several people have discussed the need to do periodic maintenance on CIS
units including taking it apart and flushing out the lines. Since the
problems did not occur at regular intervals for people there was no
agreement as to how often it should be done. An annual replacement of the
CIS cartridges and a clean out of the lines and bottles would seem
reasonable.

In your case I wonder if you have a particularly low quality piece of
tubing. I know there is a lot of variation in the permeability of different
types. I would suggest that you replace the tubing. The plastic may have
deteriorated and new tubing might solve your problem. It might be a
combination of the different chemistry of the Ultratone black and the age of
the tubing. (I assume you cleaned thoroughly when switching from the old to
the new black.) You can get tubing from MIS and there must be other sources
as well.

Let us know how you get on with this. I haven't made the switch yet myself
as a have a bottle of the old black to use up.

Martin Wesley

http://www.borderless-photos.de/guests.html