Dead Head or out of Ink?

[GeorgeJ]

I just turned on my printer to finish printing a decal order that I started on Saturday and its not printing any magenta ink.
The ink status shows about 50% remaining on all colors.
When it started printing it looks like the magenta was there and then faded away over the first 3/8".
Could I be out of ink even with the status showing 50%?
I have been doing alot of printing using an Oracal profile. Could this cause an error in the way the printer keeps track of ink usage?
Or, did something in the printer fail?

 

[PLECKO]

Line could be clogged, but more likely the pump is bad.
Mine went bad & was replaced under warranty.

 

[iSign]

what printer?
Do you have more ink?

 

[gerald]

More than likley, a bad ink vaccum pump

 

[GeorgeJ]

Sorry: SP-300V, more ink coming today.

 

[Gino]

It could be any number of things. More than likely, you ran out of ink.

Those meters are far from accurate. Don’t ever depend on them.

The simplest way to check this is to remove the cartridge and shake it. If nothing happens, you’re out of ink. Otherwise, if it sounds and feels like liquid is still in there, put it back in. Do a small test print. If the magenta is still not printing, do a medium cleaning. Try another test. If nothing, try another medium cleaning. If nothing this time comes out, then I would consider your pump might be bad. But before that, take off your cover and physically look at your magenta line and see if it looks totally red in there or if it might’ve started siphoning yellow ink back through, because they are on the same head… I think. If yellow ink has backed into it, more than likely a vacuum has been created and you should do a high or heavy cleaning. This will take a lot of ink, but should get you back to printing.

Another tip, always… always keep an extra set of cartridges on hand. We always have three sets of each color on hand. You never know when you’re going to run out in the middle of a job that’s due tomorrow. The other reason is, what if you order and vendors in your area are on back order for a few days. Famous creek without a paddle syndrome.

 

[GeorgeJ]

Thanks for all the info guys.
Problem solved.
It was out of ink.

 

[iSign]

ditto on extra ink. Not just backup... but extra backup. I have 3 sets too... remember that big rush job I got with 8 high res 4' x 8' full coverage photos... called in on a saturday? I was sweating the ink deal because my one backup set was late on being ordered. I made it with what I had, but I ordered 3 sets after that.