MX892 - White, tapering bands in black areas

[Grandad35]

That means you have to almost completely fill the sponge compartment, above the sponge, while injecting into the ink compartment. It will spill out the ink compartment refill hole first, no?

I occasionally get ink above the top sponge while refilling, and that's why I always blow into the end of the serpentine vent path after refilling to push any free ink down into the sponge and out through the exit port. In my experience, lots of free ink above the sponge will sometimes cause a drip out of the print head and potentially cause cross-contamination.

To clog the serpentine vent, the ink would have to dry in the channel. When the printer runs its cleaning cycle after the new cart is installed, it should pull enough ink out of the cart to clear out the serpentine path.

 

[Photog]

Still no joy. First tried a new BK OEM cartridge, and got the same results. Next put in a new PGBK OEM cartridge, leaving the new BK in also. Printed on plain paper, standard quality.



I'd thought that maybe the Hobbicolors old ink might have been a problem since I've had it for a year and eight months. Also thought overfilling might be a problem since I really maxed out the ink amount in the refills. Thanks for the suggestions. With the new cartridges, I guess those are ruled out as possibilities.
I really appreciate the help. Where should I go from here?

 

[The Hat]

That’s was one of the reasons why I recommend not to fill the reservoir side more that 75% full !
Photog
Could you copy this test print and then printed it out on standard mode using plain paper and then upload here again please.

 

[stratman]

Looks like the clogged nozzle of the PGBK nozzle check portion has corrected itself following the addition of a new PGBK cartridge. One small victory we'll take.

The balance of your nozzle checks look good. However, the plain paper printing of the flower still shows what looks like ink starvation. The first image of the flower after the addition of just the new PB cartridge shows a nearly solid black horizontal band of ink at the top of the page that gradually loses ink coverage as printing continues. If this an accurate description of how the orientation of the page was printed, especially after the print head had sat around for a while and there for had a small amount of ink more available for printing and then exhausted this "surplus" rapidly, then ink starvation is still a viable explanation, though we may need to look elsewhere than the cartridges.

Since the colors of the flower look solid without any streaks or stripes of missing ink, the issue is probably not from Cyan, Magenta or Yellow. Black may be made from a mixture of colors in plain paper setting. For this reason, The Hat's test image is a better test of printing to determine which color(s) is/are involved.

If the printer sat around a while between prints of the flower then it could be there was more time for ink to overcome flow issues and the flower print after addition of the PGBK cartridge appears to have less ink starvation in the background black. It could be that after letting the new cartridge sit in the print head over night that your issue will improve further. It could be some thickened ink in the print head is making ink flow more difficult and the new cartridge with fresh ink will liquify the gunked up ink inside the print head.

Further suggestions based on all this:

1) You could wait over night and then try The Hat's test print. This would allow time for ink to fill the print head IF, for example, there is an obstruction to the BK nozzle.

2) You could take out the cartridges from the print head and drip Original Formula Windex with Ammonia D onto the print head's ink inlet screens, then replace the cartridges back in the print head and wait over night to see if this helps. This would be for a print head clog scenario.

3) You could check if your purge system is functioning properly. This is for completeness of information as we troubleshoot and should be done before Suggestion #2 above.

In order to check to see if the purge pump is working:

1) Locate the rectangular pads that the print head sits over when the printer is idle or turned off. Looking at the front of the printer, the print head usually parks itself to the extreme right. The rectangular shaped purge pads, one for the PGI-225 cartridge and the other purge pad for all the CLI-226 cartridges, will be visible (flashlight helpful) because the print head will move to the center of the printer after you lift the cover. The purge pads may be blackened.

2) Using a syringe or other suitable tool, drip water or Windex-D onto the surface of each purge pad until the fluid visibly pools. If the fluid doesn't pool then you have a problem with the purge system.

3) Now close the cover, allowing the print head to park itself over the purge pads.

4) Perform a cleaning of all colors. (I do not do this step as closing the cover may cause a maintenance purge of ink from the cartridges and my pooled fluid always vanishes from the purge pads)

5) Now open the cover and look to see if the fluid has drained from on top of the purge pads.

If the fluid has drained away then the purge unit is working, if not then there is a problem with the purge system requiring a different approach.

4) The Hobbicolors ink may be a causative factor in the problem. Consider purchasing fresh ink once a successful resolution to your problem occurs.

5) You may need to soak/flush your print head depending on results of these suggestions. We will cross that bridge when we get there.

6) Worst case scenario would be a new print head. It is possible you could permanently damage a print head by printing without proper ink flow since the ink is used to cool the nozzles as they heat up during printing. But let's not jump to this conclusion yet as the variable results of your last two flower prints, as well as the excellent nozzle check, give me hope that your print head is still able to function properly.

 

[Photog]

Thanks for the great color chart, Hat. Here's the print, printed about 24 hours after last night's printing with the new cartridges.



Stratman, I'll start with suggestions tomorrow, unless this latest print reveals something new. I feel confident the printer can be revived. (Just blind faith)
I was just about to order some new ink, since I'm about out of PGBK. I sure there's no total agreement what the best refill inks are in the USA these days, but what do people tend to lean toward?

 

[The Hat]

It definitely looks like your pigment ink is suffering from some sort of ink flow issues, so I reckon you should soak your print head in Windex for a day or two to see if you can unblock the ink inlets.
And it' s over to you @stratman

 

[stratman]

I agree with The Hat. It is time to soak your print head for a day or more. Cap the ends of the ink outlets of the cartridges to slow down or prevent drying up of ink -- you can use Saran Wrap / Plastic Wrap. If you prefer to bypass trying to revive your print head then buy a new one.

There are a number of methods to soaking and flushing out a print head. The most critical issues are using a solution that will unblock clogs, such as Windex with Ammonia D (the original Windex) or Dawn dishwashing detergent (do not use automatic dishwashing detergent!), to make sure all the electronics of the print head are DRY before putting it back in the printer or else risk a short circuit and true print head failure, and to have PATIENCE!.

The following are posts dealing with cleaning a print head. Choose what you want to start with and if that doesn't seem to help then try another one. This is not an exact science and we rely on anecdotal experiences.

http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/staples-buying-empty-cartridges.3318/page-3#post-22901

http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/can-i-unscrew-pro9000-print-head.7010/page-2#post-53582

http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/mx870-and-5c00-error-code.8337/#post-65220

To assist in removing water after flushing out a print head: http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/draining-a-canon-cartridge.4760/

I use Image Specialists inks and recommend purchasing through Precision Colors on eBay at http://stores.ebay.com/PrecisionColors if in North America, or, if you are in Europe, from Octoinkjet at http://www.octoink.co.uk/. Both of ebusiness owners are respected forum members who provide fantastic service and quality refilling inks and equipment.

 

[Photog]

Started the soak. Print head's sitting on some paper towels in a pan with a enough Windex to cover the paper towels. Put a bit of Windex to pool on the inlets.
Got a couple of shots of the nozzles and purge pads. The excessive ink around the PGBK nozzles looked suspicious.

 

[stratman]

Another link for cleaning out a clogged print head using dishwashing liquid like Dawn (in the US) or Fairy (in Ireland/Europe): http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/a-little-fairy-story-or-is-it.8579/

Forum member @The Hat has had excellent results with his Fairy washing up liquid. Makes sense as dishwashing liquid is used to clean greasy, fatty, dried, and burned protein and vegetable matter from dishes. And it's gentle on his hands, too.

 

[Photog]

Found the problem. The purge tubes for the PGBK were totally clogged. The ink was like Jello. You can see that it just piled up in the waste area before the stoppage was complete. Hardly touched the pad. The large discharge tube was total gunk. I'll give a shot at cleaning the system, but I have massive doubts about reassembling the rascal. Lots of screws to put back into almost inaccessible places.

In the meantime, I'll probably go for An Epson all-in-one. Either the WF-2540, WF-3520, or WF-3540. They're on sale at Staples. Just gotta check about the ease of refilling those.

Note to self: In the future, pool some Windex in each purge pad for a monthly "flush".

Once again, thanks for all the help. You guys are the best!