Digital BW, The Print

Here's an update....

Over the weekend I used some of the latex dissolver that Nick
mentioned. I applied it six or seven times over a day and a half,
dropping it onto the spike that goes into the cartridge. Then I also
soaked the pad with it and then slide the print head over to the right
to cap it.

Last night I started to flush it out with hot distilled water. I also
tried sucking out anything from the post as described by another
member. I simply put a bottom fill adapter over the post to do this.

Then for the last step I loaded up an Ink Rerepublic cartridge filled
with Windex and put the end of the tube into the windex bottle. I now
had a CFS Windex system. :) As an aside, I only BO print with this
1280 and thusly am not concerned with the color positions.

It took about 30 pages of printing an 8x10 solid black purge image,
but I finally got two clear pages in a row. Before that I was getting
ink on the pages. Generally anywhere from 5 to 12 one to two inch wide
lines on the left side of the paper. Then at the I would get a big
dumping of ink/windex. As time went on the liquid coming out was less
ink, more windex.

One I had a clean page I popped in a cart of MIS photo black I had
handy and printed a nozzle check. It was perfect!

Next I filled a new MIS spongeless cart with Eboni ink.  It was
missing few teeth. I ran a few cleaning cycles and it did not help.
Then my color cart ran out. After replacing it ALL my black nozzles
were missing. Whaaaaa?

I called MIS and they are sending me their cleaning injection kit. Why
Bob Zeiss of MIS didn't send that in his "Care Package" I don't know.

So now I appear to be right back where I was before I started this
adventure. The guy at MIS said that the photo black carts a mixture of
pigment and dye inks and not as thick as Eboni. So their theory is
that I still have some clogging and that the thinner inks can squeeze
through the print heads where Eboni cannot.

Where can I find the pure ammonia? I can't seem to find any at local
stores?

--Jim



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Nick H. Nugent"
<nghin@p...> wrote:
> 
> Hello Bob,
> 
> I got some service manuals for the 1160s and 740s. The
> head removal procedures for both printers are almost
> identical. Using the same knowledge I was also able to
> figure out how to remove heads from my C80s as well. So it
> appears that the techniques are very similar between at
> least desktop printers.	Still if you read on you will find
> that there may not be a need to remove the head for
> cleaning at all.
> 
> As to cleaning solutions Windes is the most recommended
> liquid to use, however I believe the inkjet maintenance
> guru (Art Entlich) has begun to recommend certain dilution
> of household ammonia to handle tough cleaning jobs.
> 
> What I usually do is use an old cartridge, flush it out
> pretty well and prepare a Windex solution (or something
> stronger that can dissolve latex paint  :)  ) and mix in a
> little amount of black ink to make your cleaning
> cartridge.
> 
> I think preventative maintenance is a good thing. While I
> don't exactly know what is in an MIS inkset or the
> original Epson Ultrachrome ink, I believe there is
> something in the so-called encapsulation of the pigment
> that is the culprit behind most inkjet clogs. Also the
> clotting that occurs when one switch between inksets of
> different pH.
> 
> The ammonia in Windex can dissolve most of these clogs if
> ... and only if you can successfully get it into the
> printhead. If you can get a good nozzle check pattern
> using your cleaning cartridge, this is all you need to do
> for routine maintenance. For the clog from hell do the
> step below.
> 
> One group member suggests using a syringe to first pump
> the liquid into the head, then suck it back out. Now I
> think this is a great idea as it doesn't require head
> removal. Do this a couples times then end with the last
> stroke that leaves the liquid inside the head.
> 
> In my experience if the head was badly clogged, you'd want
> to follow after an overnight soak with the same procedure
> using warm distilled water. The ammonia may have softened
> the clog but the piezo electric action may not be strong
> enough to dislodge whatever that was sitting inside.
> 
> I was able to restore one of my 1160's after accidentally
> getting some liquid latex caulk into the head. Don't ask
> me how I did it but it happened during an experiment. This
> was the time I needed to use a mild paint stripping
> solution and it worked. Actually it worked so well that it
> is now my most reliable printer despite the fact that it
> is the oldest and most screwed up one I got on Ebay. Like
> Jim who started this thread I was about to save this
> printer for parts.
> 
> Anyway, after playing with these printers for so long I
> got really good at getting them back to peak performance
> again. And I can ramble on and on about things that I have
> learned which sometimes are very difficult to communicate
> to others who may never have gone through the same
> experience to understand.
> 
> Get to know your equipments and they will serve you well,
> --nick
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Bob
> Marsolais" <bob@m...:
> 
> > Nick,
> > 
> > Where did you learn how to change out the jet heads?  Is
> > there a reference you could direct me to?  I just
> > purchased a 1280 for use with both MIS UT2 and color
> > pigmented inks, and am building up my reference library of
> > "Recovery Data" for the day of that inevitable clog!
> > 
> > While I'd like to have a 1280 for B&W and a 2200 (or 1800)
> > for color, this amatuer doesn't do enough printing to keep
> > two printers happy. My approach is to use three sets of
> > cartridges.  The sets will be filled with UT2, A color
> > pigment inkset that I have not yet selected, and cleaning
> > solution.  The cleaning cartridges will be used between
> > every ink change to prevent mixing and also for proactive
> > preventative measures.
> > 
> > From your experience, what would you recommend for
> > cleaning solution.  I've seen several mentions of Windex,
> > but there is also "cleaning solution" you can buy.  What
> > is you experience?
> > 
> > Thanks for sharing your experience.
> > 
> > Bob M
> >