Digital BW, The Print

Hi,
every printer I've had has occasionally dropped ink - usually in the margins, but sometimes on the print itself.

You said you've cleaned everything you can get access to, so may have already done these things, but here's what I've found, anyway:

It seems that if ink builds up on the head, it starts to drip off. I find a cleaning cycle usually fixes it for a time ... but running the head to and fro over a clean lint-free cloth is what I've had to resort to at times. My vendor advised starting with a damp cloth and then using progressively drier cloths until you finish with a dry one. I've not done this with my 3800, but with my 2100 it seemed to help, though I then had to run cleaning cycles to get the ink going again properly. With that printer you had to turn it off at the wall while it was switched on, so that the head could then be moved.

These things always seem to happen to me when:
1. I'm on a deadline 
2. It's a big print on my most expensive paper

The other printer maintenance technique that you were considering, namely shooting yourself, does not sound like a method that is likely to work, to me. I'm pretty sure your print head would still drop ink, even after rigorous and repeated practice of this technique.

Good luck,
Richard

At 10:43 p.m. Sunday 5/09/2010, you wrote:
>Suddenly, I have a problem with random gobs of ink around the white margin of my prints. This is not every time but it is frequent. It is costing more than enough in wasted prints which would otherwise be perfect.


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