Digital BW, The Print

I was partially through a print run on my CIS Gen4 1160 when the K abruptly
stopped 1/3 of the way through a print.

Nozzle check showed no K whatsoever.

In such a situation I pull the cart & suck the ink through using a small
syringe that was part of my original MIS CFS package (yes I have both
CIS/CFS). This time there was a complete vaccuum in the syringe - no ink was
coming through at all! Talk about a clog from hell!!  I persevered & held
the syringe vaccuum & after about 15-20 seconds the ink came through slowly.
I emptied the syringe & repeated until the ink was flowing freely.

The CIS K bottle could use more ink so I poured some more in and noticed a
small lump pour out in the ink! Inspecting carefully, I definitely saw a few
more soft lumps come out as I finished the refill.

This was the end of an 8 oz. bottle of Gen4 K that I had purchased in
November of 2000. It was two year old ink! The good folks at MediaStreet
offered to test the remaining ink in the bottle, but I had emptied it into
the CIS. They said they have not heard of this problem before.

I am wondering if it is simply that it has never been noticed before.

There have been many reports of CIS failures after 18 months of service.
Maybe it is not the CIS getting old, but rather it is the ink? Of course it
could be that my ink storage environment was not optimal (simply on a
shelf).

I am going to take the following actions:

1. Label & date all ink inventory as well as all CIS/CFS bottles.
2. Discard all ink inventory after 15 mos.
3. Replace all CIS/CFS ink bottles with fresh ink after 15 mos.
4. Purchase only the amount of ink that can be consumed in one year.
5. Reposition the feed lines (tubing) so that they do not draw from the very
bottom of the bottles.

Maybe some folks have ideas how to optimally store the ink inventory? Maybe
there are ways to prolong the ink life? -Though I certainly don't think it
unreasonable for the ink to fail after two years. Perhaps this is a
condition limited to pigment ink or pigment/dye hybrid ink?

This is simply my experience that I thought would be worthwhile reporting.
As always, YMMV.
-BK

Thanks for sharing your experience. 

About some details:
Do you mean you just stuck the syringe into the CIS and sucked? Did 
it fit so precisely that you could get a vacuum? 
Or did you attached the syringe to the nipple inside the printhead?

(I'm asking this because I might have a similar problem with my CIS 
and old Piezo ink).

Thanks,

Igor
Amsterdam

Check out this page Solution #2:


  http://www.inksupply.com/index.cfm?source=html/cfs_recovery.html

> CIS and sucked?
Bill Boy
bboy@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

if you have a MIS type attachment on the syringe it will give you a 
vacuum.  I have had clogged black tubes in my MIS system.  Had to 
actually replace the tube to get back up and running, but then no 
problem... apparently it is only the black that clogs the tube.

mark

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "igorw2001" <iwesdorp@c...> 
wrote:

> Thanks for sharing your experience. 
> 
> About some details:
> Do you mean you just stuck the syringe into the CIS and sucked? Did 
> it fit so precisely that you could get a vacuum? 
> Or did you attached the syringe to the nipple inside the printhead?
> 
> (I'm asking this because I might have a similar problem with my CIS 
> and old Piezo ink).
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Igor
> Amsterdam