HP Latex Light magenta replacement heads still patchy.

[James Batchelor]

Hi Everyone, I have an HP Latex 315 just out of warranty. The light magenta head started banding so after unsuccessful cleaning I bought a new one. This worked fine for a week or so but the same thing is happening to the new head.
Any suggestions on what the problems is? Many thanks.

 

[balstestrat]

How much ink in the LM cartridge? When was it last replaced?

 

[James Batchelor]

The Ink cartridge was very low so I have just put in a new one tonight. The fist couple of test prints are still patchy. Is it possible that it will improve with the new ink cartridge? Is there a way I can flush the new ink through?

 

[balstestrat]

Yeah that's probably your issue. You can try to run for example 10 cleanings from the maintenance menu (select LM-LC only).
If that doesn't help you might have to warranty the head.

Or continue printing but turn your spit bars on.

 

[James Batchelor]

Thank you so much for your help, what are spit bars?

 

[balstestrat]

You can enable from your rip. It will print out small bar of pure CMYKcm on the side.
You can very easily follow from it to see if LMLC is performing well or not during printing.

 

[James Batchelor]

Ok, I am printing out of Caldera (on Mac) so will see if there is an option for me to turn that feature on tomorrow.
Once again I am so grateful for your help.

 

[balstestrat]

I still recommend to first run some cleanings from the menu.

 

[James Batchelor]

Wow, amazing! Can't wait to try all your suggestions in the morning.

 

[Ronny Axelsson]

I had a similar issue on my 365, where a cartridge ran low on ink and it clogged the print head so bad I had to replace it.
Ink level indicators can be a bit unreliable when the cartridges are almost empty so I try to keep an eye on it and replace them a little earlier than I would like to.

 

[balstestrat]

Also if you don't use the machine much, consider to start shaking the ink cartridges once a week or monthly.

 

[James Batchelor]

All excellent advise thanks, I cleaned the head 10 times and although it improved I still had to get a new head. I now get how the empty cartridge can damage the head. A good idea to replace before hand if possible. Cheers everyone, the knowledge I have gained from you all as been so valuable.