Problem with R3000: Head strikes? Rogue inkclot?
2016-04-23 by florian.radke@...
Hello all, Glad to hop aboard this group! I see there are many knowledgable people here, although I'm still getting used to the yahoo group UX and categorization of threads. Recently I purchased a R3000 at deep discount. The inks had been installed in February, some unknown number of prints run through, and then left to sit on the store floor until March, when I purchased it. Got it home, sure enough, nozzle check revealed clogs in all black cartridges. Three cleaning cycles improved the nozzle check, but there was still a clog in 1-2 of the nozzles for PK. I used the bounty paper towel trick with "Magic Bullet" printhead unblocker—which I'm starting to suspect is snake oil. Effective maybe, but not worth what they're charging. I suspect it may be dilute ammonium hydroxide with surfactants and wetting agents, which I could just as easily mix myself (does anyone know a recipe btw?). The "trick" being folding one towel section into an inch long strip and dousing it in the solution, pulling power on startup to allow manual travel of the head on the chassis, pulling the head over the towel in the carriage, waiting about 30 mins, then gently lifting and flossing the heads with the towel. Very, very gently. However, even after a clean nozzle check and a bounty paper towel clean. I'm still getting two unacceptable problems with both H. Photo Rag and Canson Platine, on every print. And an additional two problems that occur some but not all of the time. 1) Deposition and smearing of small amounts of magenta ink on the right (facing the printer) edge of paper, that seem to begin approximately at a point along the print that corresponds to where the head starts laying down ink. The edge smears go away as the print progresses. New to terminology, but I think this may be what is called "head-strike." Here's an image of these ink splotches on H. Photo Rag: http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/DSC039_with_line.jpg http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/DSC039_with_line.jpg http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/DSC039_with_line.jpg http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/DSC039_with_... http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/DSC039_with_line.jpg View on cdn2.hubspot.net http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/DSC039_with_line.jpg Preview by Yahoo Closer on the Photo Rag: http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/closeup_1.jpg?t=1461453453396 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/closeup_1.jpg?t=1461453453396 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/closeup_1.jpg?t=1461453453396 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/closeup_1.jp... http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/closeup_1.jpg?t=1461453453396 View on cdn2.hubspot.net http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/closeup_1.jpg?t=1461453453396 Preview by Yahoo Closest (on Platine): http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_closeup_ink.jpg?t=1461453448653 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_closeup_ink.jpg?t=1461453448653 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_closeup_ink.jpg?t=1461453448653 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smea... http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_closeup_ink.jpg?t=1461453448653 View on cdn2.hubspot.net http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_closeup_ink.jpg?t=1461453448653 Preview by Yahoo (thanks, Canon Macro 100 2.8!) 2) At least one conspicuous drag-line on the surface of the image area. The line has no color, but looks more like mechanical alteration of the ink or substrate surface due to friction. Here's a picture of said dragline on Platine. I also notice one, and only one of these lines on photo rag as well, but they are less conspicuous. http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_image_smear.jpg http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_image_smear.jpg http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_image_smear.jpg http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_imag... http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_image_smear.jpg View on cdn2.hubspot.net http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_image_smear.jpg Preview by Yahoo There seems to be correlation between the location of the smear and the head strike (I am self-diagnosing, and using new terminology—I don't actually know if this is "head strike" or not). http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_context.jpg?t=1461453452415 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_context.jpg?t=1461453452415 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_context.jpg?t=1461453452415 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smea... http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_context.jpg?t=1461453452415 View on cdn2.hubspot.net http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_context.jpg?t=1461453452415 Preview by Yahoo http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_context_copy.jpg?t=1461453456007 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_context_copy.jpg?t=1461453456007 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_context_copy.jpg?t=1461453456007 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smea... http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_context_copy.jpg?t=1461453456007 View on cdn2.hubspot.net http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/platine_smear_context_copy.jpg?t=1461453456007 Preview by Yahoo Here's an overhead view of the two prints I've done on Photo Rag, if you're getting disoriented. The green blob is where I placed the paper down on a Magic Bullet & ink soaked paper towel, damage that occurred after the print emerged from the printer. http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/hprag.jpg?t=1461454695786 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/hprag.jpg?t=1461454695786 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/hprag.jpg?t=1461454695786 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/hprag.jpg?t=... http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/hprag.jpg?t=1461454695786 View on cdn2.hubspot.net http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/hprag.jpg?t=1461454695786 Preview by Yahoo 3) On the first run using Photo Rag (this is after 4-5 prints with Platine, and countless nozzle checks on staples inkjet paper), a trail of drops deposited in a row as the printhead passed over the paper and positioned itself to print the image. As you can see, I'm trying to be economical and testing by printing multiple small images on one piece of paper. http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/DSC03950.jpg?t=1461453455141 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/DSC03950.jpg?t=1461453455141 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/DSC03950.jpg?t=1461453455141 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/DSC03950.jpg... http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/DSC03950.jpg?t=1461453455141 View on cdn2.hubspot.net http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/DSC03950.jpg?t=1461453455141 Preview by Yahoo 4) The printer just doesn't sound right! When loaded with either of my fine art papers, while printing there's a great deal of scratching and scraping sounds. Maybe that's normal. I don't know. But it doesn't sound normal: http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/IMG_9331.mov?t=1461454699401 http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316692/inkjet/IMG_9331.mov?t=1461454699401 Thank you to any and all who are able to help diagnose and cure these problems. There don't seem be stickies in yahoo groups, and the search function for conversations didn't bring up much, so if this has been asked countless times before just send me over to the most canonical post and I'll work from there. **** I'd like to get this up and running for digital negatives, but I need to ensure that it's working, first. And it would be good to use it as a hybrid machine—switching back and forth between DN and positive inkjet prints using K3. The last time I used inkjet was in 2009, small format epson, terrible looking B&W. Dropped $600 or so for a neutral Cone inkset and got acceptable results. I'm shocked, aside from my technical troubles, how good B&W prints can look using turnkey profiles on good papers and stock K3 in 2016. There is tremendous room for improvement, especially when it comes to truly neutral and dialed in toned prints with complex warmth, but the prints I'm getting are good enough to go on a wall without objection from untrained eyes. Since 2009, I've learned much more about code, mechanical engineering, and EE, so I'm thrilled to climb as swiftly as possible the learning curve on QTR, M. Nelson's system, and advanced inkjet literature. Also interested in the Eboni/Carbon-6 concept. But that will have to wait, and I'm unsure as to its suitability for a hybrid positive/DN printer. Thank you, -Florian