Digital BW, The Print

A few days ago I was whining about my Epson 1280's printing problems 
when using MIS UT2 inks in spongeless manually-reloaded cartridges.  I 
attributed missing tones and uneven printing to easily clogged print 
heads which required repeated cleaning cycles and short idle times.

Well, I may have the culprit all along.  The problem may not have been 
clogging print heads, but "vapor lock".

After refilling one of my cartridges a couple of nights ago, I noted 
that a LOT of air remained in the chambers despite my having filled them 
to overflowing.  That's because I filled the cartridge as it rested 
nearly level on a table top.  Tilting the cartridge about 30 degrees 
down toward the nozzle end, however, revealed that the chambers were 
actually only about half-filled.  Refilling the chambers with the 
cartridge tilted resulted in much more complete job and few, if any, air 
bubbles.  I've also adopted the technique of purging my syringes in the 
bulk ink bottles by immersing the needle, filling the syringe, then 
pushing the plunger home and repeating the filling while the needle is 
still submerged.  I'm also inserting the needle deeply into the 
cartridge chambers and filling them very slowly to avoid  creating air 
bubbles and froth.

Since adopting the new ink refill routine, my Epson 1280 has been 
working as it should.  I'll let you know if the old problems reoccur.

All the best,

Craig
Washington, DC