Digital BW, The Print

Gee there are so many variations on inks and drivers and rips I am 
getting a bit confused....I am recently having NO LUCK at all with 
my 1280/UT2/CIS getting decent, reliable, consistant nozzle 
checks..and am looking forward to the spongeless, easy refill carts-
in the mean time I am getting no printing accomplished- I do have a 
2200 at the lab that I could utilize for prints but I am not sure I 
am following the post correctly: Are we now able to print acceptable 
black and white work using the epson color inks on the 2200 with 
QTR?-"miniscule difference to gray inks..."
any clarification is appreciated
Jack

> Gee there are so many variations on inks and drivers and rips I am 
> getting a bit confused....I am recently having NO LUCK at all with 
> my 1280/UT2/CIS getting decent, reliable, consistant nozzle 
> checks
> Jack

Jack,

I found the nozzle problem with my 1280/UT2/CFS. The black ink never worked right and 
never had a good full nozzle check with the black cart.

MIS sent me a new primed charged cart with tube but I didn't want to tape the tube to the 
existing tubes for fear of the tube eventually jamming the print head.

Anyway I took the tube off the new cart and when I took the tube off the bad cart the 
nipple broke right off, or I should say just fell off. It looked like the black cart was never 
charged because of the cracked nipple - the cart never had a vacuum.

I don't think I damaged the plastic nipple on installation because it seems there was never 
ink in the cart to begin with.

> Jack,
> 
> I found the nozzle problem with my 1280/UT2/CFS. The black ink 
never worked right and 
> never had a good full nozzle check with the black cart.
> 
> MIS sent me a new primed charged cart with tube but I didn't want 
to tape the tube to the 
> existing tubes for fear of the tube eventually jamming the print 
head.
> 
> Anyway I took the tube off the new cart and when I took the tube 
off the bad cart the 
> nipple broke right off, or I should say just fell off. It looked 
like the black cart was never 
> charged because of the cracked nipple - the cart never had a 
vacuum.
> 
> I don't think I damaged the plastic nipple on installation because 
it seems there was never 
> ink in the cart to begin with.

Unless I received two faulty carts in a row- first the black and now 
the color- I am also thinking something must be wrong with the 
prefilled carts-before this I used a CIS for a year with very little 
problem, but it was the one that had to primed by the end user to 
initially fill the carts. My symptoms come and go- as if there is a 
charge and then suddenly not-very frustrating..

I suggest that your clogs are really trapped air at the discharge port
-in my experience with my 4 Epsons that is what is happening. The
remedy is to make sure there is little or no air right at the  ports
when you put the carts in and the best way to do that, I have found, 
is to vacuum fill, if the cart is an empty, or to suck quantities of
ink  through the cart via a syringe and exit port adaptor (MIS
supplies them or  break the tip off a large needle - the plastic part
of the needle should fit the port seal  well). 

When you've pulled enough ink through the cart to eliminate the foam 
with the cart *held upside-down*, 20 - 30ccs usually does it,
carefully  raise or lower the upside-down cart in relation to the
reservoir so that you  see the ink level come right up to the port,
pushing out all the air (a  bubble may form - be careful not to get
inks contaminated with one another).  Now you can either clamp the
tube so the ink can't drain or quickly, in one  swift move, put the
cart into the holder (you might want to practice the  move with a
closed cart so that all the tubes and the head are right where  you
want it and nothing gets in the way.) 

If you're doing this without the  clamp and it takes more an a couple
of seconds to put the cart in for any  reason - do it over again from
the point where the ink is visible at the port with the cart
upside-down.  I have been doing my cart installations this way for
almost 3 years and  since then have had none of the headaches due to
so-called "clogs", which I think  really is trapped air that the heads
can't suck out. Besides that, I can  almost always start printing
immediately or with at most an hour's wait; my  first or second nozzle
check is perfect.  

Finally, the last thing is to make sure that your tubes really are
down to the bottoms of the reservoirs. I know it seems obvious, but I
just had this happen and I was intermittantly plagued by what seemed
like an air leak in the yellow cart. Somehow the tube had worked out
and up to the ink level and was sucking air/ink mix and that
eventually worked it's way down to the port.

Good luck,  

Frank

PS: I have an extra tube taped to my ribbon tubes for an optional
black cart and there has been no problems - the tape locations have to
be carefully checked by moving the head across the track manually a
couple of times and keeping an eye on it at start-up, lest the tubes
hit the drive belt and possibly jam.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "njfranknj" 
<kolwicz@e...> wrote:
> 
> I suggest that your clogs are really trapped air at the discharge 
port
> -in my experience with my 4 Epsons that is what is happening. The
> remedy is to make sure there is little or no air right at the  
ports

Thanks for the extended reply-very informative!

I'll give it a try when I get back to the house. I don't quite get 
the suctioning out of the ink part- I think I tried this with a 
syrnge and fill adaptor but could not get any ink to draw from the 
bottom-is it a really positive feel or what? I think I was able to 
put the syrnge right into the bottom circular hole part and pulled 
back on the plunger but really nothing at all happened.?? I do have 
air right at the ports- the top part of the cart where the tubes 
attach- especially at the yellow portion which is the  color not 
working on the nozzle check...
I'll keep trying but the easy refill carts sure sound good!
thanks njfranknj!
Jack

The top of the cart where the tubes attach is not the port I'm talking
about - that is the top of the cart as it is installed. The outlet
port is on the bottom where the fill adaptor can be connected. Air in
the top can be a problem, if there is enough to break the siphon
effect, but there would have to be a lot as a result of an improperly
filled cart

It sounds like you have a lot of air in your carts and that would
certainly cause the problem you described. You probably have an air
leak, too, either at the syringe/seal join (not likely with the bottom
fill adaptors) or the cart itself or the ink pickup tube is not fully
and stably submerged.

When pulling the syringe plunger back to suck ink through the cart you
should feel considerable resisitance, the ink is viscous enough that
you should be able to pull a slight vacuum for a few seconds before
the ink fills the syringe and it should take perhaps 5 seconds for the
ink to fill it - you must get ink out of the cart and into the syringe
for this to be working, if you don't, there is a serious problem
somewhere. Check the tube fittings and look for bubbles in the tube. I
believe it is possible to crack or open a seam in a cart by rough
handling or pulling too much suction on one, but it would really be an
extraordinary amount of suction.

The small rivets for sealing the carts are handy, too, in case you
have to stop the process for any reason - just remember that you must
not let the ink dry in the nozzles by leaving the carts out of the
print head for any length of time.

BTW, I tried to email you directly and the message bounced.

Frank

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "jnhugo"
<jacknadelle@h...> wrote:

> I'll give it a try when I get back to the house. I don't quite get 
> the suctioning out of the ink part- I think I tried this with a 
> syrnge and fill adaptor but could not get any ink to draw from the 
> bottom-is it a really positive feel or what? I think I was able to 
> put the syrnge right into the bottom circular hole part and pulled 
> back on the plunger but really nothing at all happened.?? I do have 
> air right at the ports- the top part of the cart where the tubes 
> attach- especially at the yellow portion which is the  color not 
> working on the nozzle check...
> I'll keep trying but the easy refill carts sure sound good!
> thanks njfranknj!
> Jack