Interesting find, mold on CL-8 NOT CLI-42

[Photographic Memory]

OK news just in, I think this warrants it's own thread. No one is to blame here, but some of us devote a lot of time, money, and energy, including emotional. I am extremely grateful for the help and guidance of this forum, but I think the problem is forms as a whole.

I have just spent all morning flushing every one of my 5 Yellow Cartridges (3 x CLI-42 and 2 x CLI-8's ( only 3 we're being used, others had chips swapped over ), but understand this find has been discovered after repeatedly using Pharmacist's Solution (which I whole heartedly trust) - (initially prior to Pharmist's Solution) Windex "D" ONLY), then Boiled Water, 20% Isopropanol, 10% Monopropylene, and even a few drops of (Pure?) Ammonia.

My find is Mold. On the CLI-8.

Here is my beef with using these 2nd hand Carts... We don't ever know one iota how they were used, stored, treated prior to our use. For all we know they may have been sold for pocket money specifically because they had mold.

The attached Photos speak for themselves.

By sheer coincidence the Light Bulb (Starter?) stop turning on so I used what I had, an LED Spotlight and wanted to take a Photo of my shiny new Cart to post on here on my other post. Wow, I tell my Child, there are no such thing as "coincidence" 's and sometimes things that happen that initially appear bad can turn out to be a blessing.

Now I am not sure if my Print Head is ruined because what I am aware of is this Mold is evident after heavy chemical cleaning. And I am a little distraught as a good "student" that I have followed everything recommended to a Tee (not just on here, but online in general, incl. the egotistical academic intellects at DPReview) and was even supposed to be going away on a week vacation today (hence my question "shall I soak the Print Head for a week?" in the other thread) so situations like this, although whatever I am getting too old to fuss, if I had the money I would just buy a new Print Head. Just feeling let down as a whole. The weather doesn't help. But you know what, if this didind turn out to be Yellow Gello, then maybe I wouldn't have had this problem if I just stick with the original CLI-42. This beggars belief having to swap out a Chip on a perfectly good Cart for an inferior detramental one. The irony. Now what do I do? Flush that Print Head for a week for sure!

 

[kdsdata]

In all my cleaning, flushing, drying, refills I have not seen anything like this.

First I would turf the moldy cart. Mold near anything promotes more mold. Clean your hands with soap before touching anything, like the other carts or supplies. If you don't know where it's from, be very concerned about possible black mold. That's the really bad one for us creatures. Don't let it dry and become airborne.

Regarding the print head I would say if a test print look good, you are probably OK. Here is my reason, and some of it is conjecture. I would say that the mold particle is way larger than an ink particle, because it's a living thing, not just a molecule. So if the mold hasn't plugged the head then it hasn't gone "into" the head. However, I would certainly do a treatment on the sponge where the cart sits.

I can't say if Ammonia will dissolve the mold. Special soaps will do that. It's used in wine making. However I have no knowledge how that would affect the print head. Question here is if the print head could be "backwards" flushed after a soap treatment of the sponge.

Other than that only time will tell. If there is any mold particle on the print head and if it finds any kind of "sugar" like particle, it will grow. Plain and simple. That's from my canning, bread making, and wine and cider making experience.

 

[The Hat]

To be perfectly honest with you, I couldn’t answer your questions truthfully on this, because I’ve never seen it happen before.

Mould in my eye will be killed off if you use Household Ammonia or Alcohol and if that doesn’t do it then its not mould, are you sure its not just pieces of dirt or black ink...

P.S. I wouldn’t soak your print head again, because each time you do it, you run the risk of damaging it, if it Ain’t broke...

 

[Photographic Memory]

Mould in my eye will be killed off if you use Household Ammonia or Alcohol and if that doesn’t do it then its not mould, are you sure its not just pieces of dirt or black ink...

P.S. I wouldn’t soak your print head again, because each time you do it, you run the risk of damaging it, if it Ain’t broke...

Hmmm, upon further investigation possibly you are right, I am thinking maybe minute fragments of the Rubber from the Syringe? I do notice them inside the Cart around the Outlet Sponge as shown in third Photo.

Maybe THIS is now inside the Print Head.

I was racking my brains last night and what I couldn't put together was the fact it was only these CLI-8's. Having this as my defense in case it was suggested this was due to my Filling Method, why would it only be these Yellow Cartridges and not the others.
Now I realize these Cartridges (yet also the Yellow CLI-42's) are the only ones I have flushed out. Hold on, not true, also the whole batch of 2nd hand CLI-42's, but it was recently I thoroughly went to work on the "what appeared to be" mold/gello/some gunk in the Yellow Cart, and maybe that was even a CLI-42, I don't recall.

Sorry for the alarm bells, I DID soak the Print Head overnight, but after reading your comment Mr. Hat I did poor out a lot of the solution so only to have enough to enter the Nozzles, not the Ribbon Cable.

I had performed what was suggested by a kind gentleman regarding Tubing over the Ink Inlet last time round and noticed the Windex went down after blowing gently, which is what prompted me to reinstall it last time.

This time the Windex/Monopropylene Glycol didn't go down initially, well only somewhat, yet by this morning it had gone down. Refilling this tube it is now going down... Albeit a lot slower. See attached pictures.

(P.S. I used Tubing on the inside of a Hand Soap Dispenser)

 

[The Hat]

If this stuff is just dirt then it is far to big to enter your print head, you can use a sharp knife to scrap the dirk away if you so wish, but I wouldn’t bother, just get another yellow cartridge and don’t use your current ones till they are properly flushed, and then run some more nozzle print tests.
All poor printout problems are 99% cartridge related...

 

[kdsdata]

Hello @Photographic. I am glad you are getting a handle on your problem. It so satisfactory when that happens. Good luck with getting it done.

I have a question that is not totally for this forum, but it is to you as a member. I noticed that your close up photos are very good quality. Might I ask what device you use, because I have been searching for a way to get better photos with my Android, Galaxy Tab A, but have had no success.

@Others, please let me know if this is out of line "here". I would then edit out this question. Thanks.

 

[The Hat]

kdsdata, Why should anyone want to object, everything here is usually very interesting...

 

[kdsdata]

kdsdata, Why should anyone want to object, everything here is usually very interesting...

Thanks for your comments. I just thought I better ask, because there are some other forums where they get quite testy if it's slightly off topic. Best Wishes, and thanks for the discussions.

 

[Photographic Memory]

Hello @Photographic. I am glad you are getting a handle on your problem. It so satisfactory when that happens. Good luck with getting it done.

I have a question that is not totally for this forum, but it is to you as a member. I noticed that your close up photos are very good quality. Might I ask what device you use, because I have been searching for a way to get better photos with my Android, Galaxy Tab A, but have had no success.

@Others, please let me know if this is out of line "here". I would then edit out this question. Thanks.

Dear kdsdata, sorry for the late reply. Have just returned from a week long vacation and read your question.

This is a Photograph of my Grandparents married in 1946. I have the original, but I took a Photo of it and enhanced it with "post-processing".

I do have an Android, but ironically I want to get away from online-quality photography and get back to good old-fashioned traditional Printing.
I use a Nikon D5500, yet you can take good quality photos with a decent (recent) Android phone. However even when printing, the image quality difference totally shows between a photo taken with an Android phone and a Nikon DSLR

 

[The Hat]

I reckon the best way to preserve your precious family photo would be to scan it and save the file as a Tiff, then it will keep for ever...