Homebrew PCBs

This inkjet thing really annoys the hell out of me. Luckily it isn't a hot  
day today or you'd probably find scattered printer parts on the drive  
outside.

Now the flat carrier thing works, i have yet to fit the guiderails for  
alignment but for tests this does not matter.
Only the ink is giving me grief.

First, the ink counter is seriously insane. I'm not talking about a slight  
annoyance here, the chip level drops like 30% for every movement of the  
printer, not even head cleaning. I am sure something must be wrong with  
this printer, because nobody could possibly use it, i mean you would need  
a new cart every page at least.

Also, i have a problem with the real ink. I dunno why but the ink just  
seems to "vanish". I refilled my first cart with the "cut open and wash  
out" method. Assuming i didn't close it well i thought this is the reason  
why the ink was all gone the next day. So i refilled another cart by  
sucking out all ink, sucking distilled water through until clear, then air  
until dry. Then i refilled. i could print a test a few days ago, but today  
the cart is empty again! Where does the bloody ink go?!?

This nonsense is driving me insane! I have seen direct inkjet printing  
work, once, on a tiny PCB. I feel like a donkey with a carrot dangling in  
front of me. I'm running and running but the chip nonsense, and the  
vanishing ink, it's holding me back.

Now i need to sort the chip issue. At the moment i can only reset to 100%  
or 50%. 50% isn't even enough to make a head cleaning cycle, and 100%  
probably forces priming which might cause the ink vanishing act.

This is _SO_ annoying. I must sort this because if i keep going like this  
i will need a refill for every PCB, and that woud empty the 2oz of ink i  
have rather quick.

So as i see it, the chip issue must be resolved, so that the printer never  
sees a 100% and never sees a empty chip either. I don't care how i solve  
this, but it must be done somehow. I would really like to shoot the person  
at epson who came up with the chip idea.

Then i must find out what is happening to my ink. Maybe add a valve to  
manually disable the vacuum pump so it will only work when i say so  
(during an intentional head cleaning cycle). I believe the ink is all  
sucked out by the printer in an attempt to get me to buy more. I believe  
it is pretty hacked off about me fooling with the chips, and taking so  
many parts of and cutting others to bits.
I hate this printer. I wouldn't consider for one second ever using it if  
it wasn't for this direct PCB printing.

Anyway, this is not a useful post, i was expecting i can now finally print  
PCBs, only to find the ink dry again.
Maybe someone knows what i'm doing wrong.


ST