Digital BW, The Print

Hi Jim,

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "jim0266"
<jim0266@y...> wrote:
> 
> Here's an update....
> ...
> 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!

Whew! So the printhead is still functional. Great. I think
you're getting closer.

> 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.

You may find a tubing that can step-down from the bottom fill
adapter to an excess piece of CIS tubing, or a piece of tubing
found inside something like a hair spray bottle. I think the
bottom fill adapter is too hard to make a good seal. However
if you feel you get a good suction that's probably fine.

> 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 think I have a clue here. I analyzed the functional
description of the MIS spongeless cart and I feel here maybe
the reason you don't get good nozzle checks right away. You
need to prime the cart using a modified bottom fill adapter.
The ink damping chamber may not have any ink in it so
subsequent cleaning cycles will cause foam to develop (just
like the inkreplublic dampers you had seen earlier).

I hope this is the case. But if you already ensured that the
ink damper chambers are filled then I'm stumped. Because the
problem can't be with your printhead. With all the cleaning
you did and perfect nozzle checks I don't think you need to do
any additional cleaning. What you need to do is properly prime
your system.

So how do you prime a cartridge that has a poppet valve? The
valve effectively prevents you from using the bottom fill
adapter to draw ink out. Earlier I mentioned a step-down tubing
that connects the bottom fill adapter with something else. Here
that something else is a piece of brass tubing (or just use a
piece of plastic tubing found in a ball point pen or the piece
they provide with a compressed air can). I cut a tiny slit
across this tubing so ink can flow into the syringe when you
press it against the poppet valve. This is how you can draw
ink into the damper chamber and the outlet port.

Maybe I should describe this at my website because all these
words can be confusing.

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

A Walgreens Pharmacies. Look for household ammonia.

--nick