Digital BW, The Print

Paul Roark wrote:
>> ...heads that I cooked. When the heads get hot,
>> I lose a couple of nozzles, that comes from 
>> running them at 100% too often with a bad supply of ink. ...
> 
> Would this overheating problem argue against my strategy of purging the
> lines by printing purge patterns as opposed to doing lots of cleaning
> cycles?
> 
> One frustrating problem I have with infrequent use of the 7500 is that the
> toned, blended B&W inks separate in the lines and/or dampers.  So, to get
> the tones back to where they should be I have to purge the toner lines.
> I've been printing just the toner inks on cheap butcher paper to do this.
> The strategy avoids wasting the un-affected inks, but I wonder if I'm
> wearing out the heads and running up my costs more than if I'd just use lots
> of cleaning cycles or doing an "initial fill."  Those actions, of course,
> probably wear out the pump.
> 
> I've also wondered if it would work to put a "Y adapter" (like the one shown
> at http://www.inksupply.com/vacfill.cfm) just in front of the damper, and
> then just pull the problem ink out of the line with a syringe if the printer
> has been sitting for a while.
> 
> I'll probably try some sort of daily printing with the "autoprint" program
> MIS recommends for CFS units first.  (See
> http://www.inksupply.com/cobra.cfm) 
> 
> Paul
> www.PaulRoark.com 

Paul,

I usually do one or more KK2 cleanings when the printer has 
been idle. After that a CcMmYk pattern to get the heads in 
normal condition again. I think printing waste paper doesn't 
create enough flow in the lines to get rid of accumulated 
pigment. It's all more intuition than science though.

One way to avoid any wear on pump or heads is having a waste 
bypass to bottles outside the printer and using a vacuum pump 
on them to pull inks through. Have that on the 9000's and a 
similar arrangement on the 10000. But in practice after idle 
time I use the KK2 cleaning on both models.

Ernst


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           Ernst Dinkla


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