Homebrew PCBs

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:58:23 +0100, William Nelson  
<wnnelson@...> wrote:

> I'm really GRUMPY now that I clogged up my print
> head. Have you had this problem? Best way to fix? Maybe a bad effect of  
> having a heated PCB going
> under the print head? Oh well let me go gump at somebody.


I have the _very same_ here, that's why i put inkjet aside for a while and  
fetched the fuser from the attic where i'd just stored it expecting no  
further need.

The strange thing is i disabled the cleaning vacuum pump (took away the  
gear and plugged the end of the hose with a syringe). After disabling it,  
i used the printer for some months, and it would work just perfect on all  
nozzles without any cleaning, or only very little cleaning (just draw a  
little on the syringe). I know i left it several weeks in a row without  
any use, and it would print perfect immediately after.

But then, suddenly one day, it did not print on all nozzles, and no matter  
what i tried it would not clean out. When i got it initially it was also  
clogged (and the vacuum hose was blocked by gummed up ink). Back then it  
was very easy to clean, using Steve's solution, put it on the parking pad  
and let the head stew there overnight, next day it cleaned just fine with  
a little suction on the vacuum. But now there is no positive effect when i  
do that.

I don't have that much ink left, so i don't want to waste much of it in  
cleaning attempts. I'll probably just get another printer (that one was  
only 1eur). I might also empty the carts and fill them with cleaning fluid  
to have another go.

I don't know why it suddenly acted up, especially since it worked before  
with no or virtually no cleaning at all.
One option could be that some debris or fiber got onto the parking pad,  
breaking the seal. Steve said that will kill it. May also be something  
else i don't know.

About the heat possibly drying the ink in the head, i was wondering about  
it, but if that's a probem shouldn't it show immediately?

So you see, it could be your printer is just uncooperative like mine, and  
it has nothing to do with the heat. I guess if we see them clogging all  
the time with heated boards we know for sure.

Did it stop during printing, or while standing idle? I guess that could  
tell us something regarding the heat issue.

ST