Z6200 ask for printheads to be changed when they are new. Maintence Cart also.

[fixthecopier]

A few months ago, customer had me put a used belt and encoder on this plotter. This ia military and she had removed them from a parts machine she had. When I booted it, it started asking for some of the printheasd to be reseated or changed. Was also asking for maintence cart. The heads where new oem HP as was the maint cart.  Cus.omer called and said it is doingit again. She has tried reseating everything. Saaid it will say to change all printheads, then when she goes into mode to change them, it says it only needs one. All supplies are OEM and in date. What would the issue be.

[HarryCR]

Hi @fixthecopier 

Using used parts in Designjet printers is not recommended, first at all, then about the printheads and maintenance cartridge the issue could be related to the carriage pca, flex or something else, I will suggest the customer calling HP in case these consumables are under warranty before replacing any other parts.

[fixthecopier]

The customer is military.  An HP tech is out of their budget, I only charge $110 an hour. I have kept their stuff running for 22 years.  She has 3 of these. If I can't find a reasonable answer or a fix that is affordable, this becomes a parts machine. BTW, the last time I had a customer call HP for a critical machine, it took them 2 weeks to show up.

[D Hook]

You might want to check the Embedded SpectroPhotometer (ESP) that's mounted to the left side of the carriage.  I had a 6200 that refused to accept the maintanence cartridge and some printheads and found the ESP was not working correctly.  It's a cheap piece to replace if you need to.  Sometimes a good cleaning will do it.  The one I worked on was loaded with ink overspray all over the inside and the carriage circuit board was caked with ink so the ESP couldn't read correctly.  It's worth a look.

[HarryCR]

I understand they are military, but an HP tech is not necessary when having consumables under warranty and they are failing, I don't know what happened the last time that they needed an HP tech onsite but in this case is different because over the phone HP can determine what is wrong with the printer and if the consumables need to be replaced HP will do it.

Replacing parts from another printer can cause the printer loosing its identity and that is a big problem. Now as you have a lot of experience then check all the parts I suggested plus the line sensor which has to be clean as well when reading the maintenance cartridge. 

[D Hook]

HarryCR,

Is the line sensor the same thing as the ESP?  If so, thanks for clarifying.  I used the terminology that was in the service manual but I've always called it a line sensor too.  It has a couple leds inside that shine on the paper and then the reflection is read my the printer.  That's the way I've understood it to work.  If it gets too dirty it can't be read.  Best to replace with new one rather than from another printer.  Even new, they're pretty cheap.

Thanks!

[HarryCR]

Hi @D Hook 

They are different components the ESP or Embedded SpectroPhotometer and the Line sensor are not the same components. 

[D Hook]

Thanks for clarifying.