Starved for magenta, HP C309a

[ThrillaMozilla]

Another update

Last night I changed cartridges. The yellow XL cartridge had been very carefully and thoroughly filled and stored for a few weeks. It had 11.47 g of ink (that's a lot), but the first nozzle check (i.e., QC print) showed a little starvation in the light yellow nozzles. A second print was better, and 15 pages later, a third print the next morning was perfect.

Yellow is hopeless at the moment. Streaks persist after level 3 cleaning. The cartridge outlet is rather light in color, so it doesn't appear that the ink is getting out of the cartridge. It's also quite hard to blow ink out of it by blowing on the vent, even though it still has LOTS of ink left. I'm off to buy a new one.

I don't know what has happened here. This was a used cartridge that I received in unknown condition, and then purged and dried. I like it because it has a window so I can see inside. Bummer.

The other cartridges are performing splendidly so far.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Barfl,
Agreed. You should NOT press the plunger. That will always inject air. I seal mine so it will usually hold a vacuum for some time, so I never have to push the plunger.

I'm aware of those problems. I overcome the foam problem by putting extra ink in the syringe. Also, to be sure of getting all air out, I fill it until I can get no more bubbles. It's hard to see with some ink, so I tend to wind up with a LOT of ink in the cartridges. Yes, the vent often gets filled, and it has to be cleaned. If I had a stiffer connection, I could avoid that by tipping the cartridge the right way. I also tapped one cartridge and I think it cleared an obstruction between chambers.


(As an aside, I find that I can fill the cartridges VERY full. Even after removing some excess ink I can get 11 to 12.5 g into a color cartridge and 30 to 36 g of black! I'm not trying for that much. It's just a consequence of the way I get all the air out. No problem with leaking so far.)

You might consider telling your HP564 story in my thread here: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7382 . Thanks.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

There's an update here on the yellow cartridge. The sponge was not in contact with the filter at the exit port. No wonder I couldn't blow ink out of it. Fixed, hopefully, by knocking it back into place.

The next time I have to change cartridges I'll check the others.

 

[The Hat]

There's an update here on the yellow cartridge. The sponge was not in contact with the filter at the exit port. No wonder I couldn't blow ink out of it. Fixed, hopefully, by knocking it back into place.

The next time I have to change cartridges I'll check the others.

Could it that that when the HP cartridges become empty their sponge design to shrink slightly is deliberate to cause ink starvation when refilled..

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

I don't think they're smart enough to engineer that. I found that set of cartridges in a recycling bin, and they could well have been dry. You would think, though that it would get revived when wet, but no, it stayed stiff, even though it was VERY thoroughly vacuum filled.

Rereading this thread, it appears that all the cartridges show symptoms that are consistent with the sponge shrinking back. For the record, these cartridges were purged with 20% isopropanol (no humectant added), although I don't think I purged this one yellow cartridge.

It does appear that these are the only cartridges that have given me problems, although I have only 1 refill to speak of on others. I'm fond of this set, though, because they have transparent windows, so naturally that's the one I started with to experiment with refilling. Time will tell whether that's the problem.