CIS Mishap
2002-03-04 by Peter Lindman
This is a new one for me. While printing various versions of an image today, I noticed a slow (from print to print) degradation in the print quality (banding; grayish blacks)\ufffdespecially in the deepest blacks. I tried several head cleanings and, that failing, I printed several purge pages trying to get the black to print. Finally, upon close examination of the CIS and carts, I found that the vinyl tubing that leads to the black cart had developed a slight crimp where the tubing is fastened to the cartridge. The crimping stopped the flow of ink to the cartridge and, slowly, it had emptied\ufffdtotally. When I pulled the black cartridge out of the printer, there appeared to be no ink in it at all. I massaged the crimp out of the tube and ran a couple of more head cleanings. I also elevated the black ink bottle in order to help force the flow of ink. Finally, after printing a couple of black-only purge pages the cartridge filled back up. Has anyone else experienced this? I also noticed that the tubing is hitting the printer casing that hangs over the heads and there is actually a small wear spot on the tubing leading to the black cartridge. I'm a little concerned that this might eventually lead to a failure in the tubing. This is a nomorecarts cis that I bought in October and have used very uneventfully til now. You just never know. Thanks Peter Lindman