Nozzle Check Reasonable Expectation of Performance

[lighttech]

I am trying to determine what is considered good or bad, or acceptable quality when doing a nozzle check.  I have exchanged 5 printers in the last 3 months because of print quality issues - fine horizontal lines that occur when printing solid blocks of either Black or Color.  I found that the "hidden" nozzle check function is quite useful to determine what is going on.  Two 8030 series printers right out of the box failed (in my opinion) nozzle check, with nozzles missing, or winding up miss-aimed when doing a nozzle check. The other 3 returned printers initially printed fine, but developed the issues shortly after swapping in Instant Ink cartridges. I am aware that air bubbles can cause intermittent missing nozzles, or splatter, but if the same issue occurs in the exact same nozzles after printing multiple nozzle checks, print head cleaning, more nozzle checks, that is NOT an air bubble.  These nozzle issues occur right out of the box - brand new printer.  Finally, I got a printer that passed the nozzle check perfectly. 

I would like to find out what is considered "GOOD" by HP.  Does HP consider it acceptable to have a few missing or miss-aligned nozzles for this series of printer?  Am I expecting too much?  Below is an example of what I was getting on one of the previous printers that are exchanged / returned.

I have a theory, and hope it can be sent to whoever can fix it.  On my last printer (the one that works perfectly) I noticed some white grease had dripped onto the rubber wipers that clean the print head.  They are on the waste ink cleaning assembly.  Before powering up the printer for the first time, I removed the grease with alcohol and a microfiber towel.  I think that the grease may have been wiped across the printhead on initial cartridge priming when cartridges are first installed.  I believe this was the problem with the previous failed "right out of the box" printers.  I did notice the grease on some of the other printers that have since been exchanged, but did not bother to clean it off until the last one that is still working  perfectly.

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Craig

[Nal_NR]

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