Printheads go bad quickly. Not getting refilled from Ink Cartridge?

[LANL_Lowell]

This printer sits idle most of the time.  Just had a need for 4 large posters and it was perfect for the job.  Almost immediately, it said one color had a bad printhead.  Well, we had spare printheads, so I replaced it.  Then, after the next print, the next color went bad, and so on, until all the printheads had been replaced.  It printed out the quality tests just fine, I went home for the night.  I got two of my posters to print correctly.  Three printouts failed because a color printed fitfully and then not at all.  Next day, try to print more.  No good prints and it says I need to replace a printhead--again!!!

I'm wondering if the printheads aren't being properly refilled from the ink cartridges.  That could be because the ink cartridge itself is drying up or because the transfer mechanism is clogged.

Is that something I can try fixing or is this a service call?  Any other ideas given my symptoms?

(The replacement printheads came out of the original packaging--including tearing open the sealed bags inside.  However, they may have been purchased years ago, and the sealed bags do have holes in them.  So, did our dry New Mexico air dry them out inside their packages?  They did all work, at first.)

[davidzuts · Accepted solution]

Air can be anywhere in the tube assembly and also in the printhead. What you need to do is get a syringe and remove each printhead and draw about 8ml of ink from each color's nipple. Now you have to use new printheads since odds are the one in the printer now have air in them and will cause the issue all over again.

[D Hook]

This is the best syringe tool I've found to get the air out of the tubes:

https://www.lpscomputer.com/collections/designjet-repair-kits/products/designjet-ink-tube-priming-to...

No connection, just very satisfied customer.

You might check ebay too but the tip is what's important on these tools to be sure you get something that won't damage the little check valve inside the tube system.

[LANL_Lowell]

Thanks to both "davidzuts" and "D Hook"!  That's probably what's going on and thanks for the tip on where to get the syringe.

[styloid]

The tube system on the 1050 printer has many seals within it. 

They perish with age  - and ether let ink out or air in.

This is a major cause of head failure.

I dont think HP sell the systems any more but there at least one company in America and one in Europe who can rebuild them and sell exchange units of the shelf

I have seen them listed on ebay

Kind regards 

Peter

[D Hook]

Indeed, that's true.  LPS, same vendor that carries the syringe listed above, carries replacement systems.  Can get a little spendy though.  If you're close to where I'm located I would GIVE you a 1055CM for free!  I just need to get rid of it.  Omaha, NE.

[davidzuts]

If you can not find a taker I would strip it down and sell the parts on ebay. Should get at least 100.00 for the tube assembly.

[styloid]

It's your choice to scrap it. Sad as they are great machines, despite their age. Personally I think if you need wide format printing it's worth spending the cash. I'm in the UK so won't be popping in to collect.