Destroyed my HP B109a print head?

[sibbels]

I think I may have destroyed the print head (CN643A) of my HP B109a, and could do with some advice if anyone would be kind enough to offer any.

I'm using those empty 364 refillable cartridges and non OEM ink, which are HP compatible. Although the printer was working fine, I wanted to give the print head a good clean on the underside and get rid of the dried ink from the sides which had accumulated over time. Yes, in hindsight, I should've stayed away from those shiny gold jets, but I took a cotton swab to it and removed the wet ink, and after I reinstalled the print head, it started giving out lines. Since then, I run the cleaning maintenance several times, but cyan refused to give out any colour, although MYK worked fine streak-free. I have soaked the head into water for quite a few hours and made sure that no more ink was running from it, and even used Isopropyl alcolhol (IPA) giving it a good overnight soak (YouTube instructions), but everything I've tried, just doesn't work - cyan is still not working. Running a second-level maintenance clean shows a little cyan streak-free square, but then it just stops working again when printing!

Anyway, if any of the above wasn't stupid enough, what I did next probably is. I got really frustrated, and got a safety pin with a fine head and scored it gently across the cyan jet and possible others (I cannot for the life of me remember), thinking that maybe some of the cotton from the swab attempt may have got lodged inside the jet. The print head does not work now! The black streaks and produces blots on the paper, the magenta and yellow still work fine, sometimes with streaks, and the cyan is still dead. A new CN643A costs 33 inc vat and delivery, so perhaps I should just but another one? Is my old print head destroyed or can it still be salvaged somehow?

Thanks for listening, and I promise not to be so abusive to my print heads in the future

 

[barfl2]

yes it is quite likely you have at least damaged your print head. But some colours are OK The Pigment Black is one problem. However I feel your problem stems from using the clear refillable carts, which look so tempting to use but often after a short period of use start causing ink flow problems particularly Magenta.

I had a HP C5310 same 364 carts got frustrated trying to refill them ( I also was a beginner back then before I found this great Forum) and purchased refillable carts plus OCP ink. I was getting ink flow problems even though the carts were full of ink. I tried cleaning the head using Panos gentle method allowing the head to dry.

But after a short while the printer just stopped printing altogether. HP over phone support took me through various test routines but eventually said head was faulty. I was lucky Printer was under warranty ( I obviously did not mention refillable carts) I got a new head and a set of basic carts from France. I decided to sell the printer and bought a Canon and refilled using ther techniques found on this Forum. If you have got a spare Magenta cart try that.

 

[sibbels]

For the six weeks I've been using the clear cartridges, they've been perfectly fine - all prints produced have been great and crisp until I foolishly tried to fix something that wasn't broke. I never overfilled the carts, and made sure they were never empty. I wish I'd have found the Panos method of cleaning the print head before I used IPA/water, maybe I'd still have a working head. I rubbed tissue across the inlets and the jets at the bottom, which most likely contributed to the clogging of the head as well as the cotton swab.

If anyone still has any suggestions, please reply, I'd still really love to hear your thoughts.

Anyway, I think I'm going to order an Epson PX730WD this week with a CISS system from cityinkexpress.co.uk (or if anyone can recommend a place cheaper). Does anyone have any experience with this particular printer/CISS - are they any good?

 

[Pcarsba]

Try soaking the head in Windex, or amonia over night. Use a small dish and fill it 1/8 of an inch and set the head into it so only the jet area is in the liquid. Then after sitting over night gently blot the head on tissue paper. Maybe it'll free up the jets. I found that amonia is about the only media that really dissolves dried ink whereas IPA doesn't.