falcon jr no black

[JerryIrons]

Hi people,

No black at all, even on nozzle check. I know to test the fuse, but:

I can pull ink into the black damper with a syringe. New cap station by the way. I can put some cleaning fluid into the top of the black side of cap station, leaving a puddle, and successfully pull that fluid into a syringe by sucking on the black line end near the waste bottle. So it seems to me the problem is the black print head.

When I move the printhead over to try and pull ink through it all, I get a vacuum. So the nozzles are plugged up? I have been trying the trick of lint free cloth and cleaning solution soaks, but all I get is a vacuum, no ink moves through the line. Can they be so plugged up that I need a new head?

Note that I can successfully pull ink through the color side ok. I am fixing a friend's printer, and I should also mention that his waste line (the big one) was completely full of dried ink, and also I had to change some of the pump tubing (on the black side) because it was plugged up as well. The spitoon sponge was a gnarly mess and lots of ink sludge had overfilled around there.

What I'm thinking is that the black print head is totally plugged up. The fuse may be bad as well, but I should be able to pull ink through it all with a syringe at the end, bad fuse or not.

 

[SlightlyChilled]

you have a 50/50 shot if it's pluged good luck

 

[reelguitars]

I have removed the dampers from my printer, taken a syringe with a piece of rubber hose on it, and gently forced pure acentone into the print head until it cleared the nozzles. I then push some air through the head with the same empty syringe. Once you do this, you should be able to park the head on the capping station, and with a syringe, pull black in back into the head. Do a powerful cleaning or two and you should be back in business. Hope this helps.

 

[JerryIrons]

Thanks reelguitars I was thinking of trying that next, done gently, or pulling the head off and soaking in solution. I have a feeling this thing is so gunked up that it will take days of soaking. I worked on his printer once 5 years ago and haven't seen it again till now so here I am back in the forum.

I'm grateful for the reply,

-Jerry

 

[gregwallace]

You need to be careful pushing acetone through the head with a syringe. That should be a last resort option only. I agree with you though. If you have a vacuum then something is clogged. I would clean off the black captop and the wiper. Run a cleaning cycle and see if any new black ink has deposited onto the wiper or captop. If it has then you have confirmed ink flow. Its not common for every single nozzle to all of the sudden become clogged. It sounds electrical but that wouldn't explain the vacuum from the waste line. You might also switch the damper with one that you know works. Make sure your friend is prepared to buy a new head before pushing that acetone through.

 

[stoogenc]

Have you checked the fuse for the black print head?

 

[JerryIrons]

I have not yet, but that is on my list. I haven't been able to get at the printer since I last posted, but will in the near future.

-Jerry

 

[JerryIrons]

Hi everyone,

It ended up being the printhead. I did test the fuses, both F1 and F2 and they both had continuity checks. (I unplugged the printer for a while, and turned on/off switch while unplugged to discharge any residual charge in capacitors as well). I was a little unsure about being able to test fuses while still mounted on the board, I have repaired a few pinball machines, and a lot of those boards sometimes need the component removed from the board first. But I remember somebody here mentioning that the fuses can be checked while still mounted so I went with that.

The printhead was almost completely plugged up, once I pulled it off, I could see where maybe a drop or 2 of ink was able to get through after attempting to pull ink from waste line. I put a new print head on, (and changed head rank) and was able to pull ink slowly and surely, a real good sign. Nozzle check produced a real nice pattern. And a test image looked nicer than he had seen printed in a long long time. I think he has been without black for quite a while, and compensated somehow with his software ?

We also had a to fix a probem with blue ink being dumped along the left side when printing images. Also it would pour out from the head once it was well primed, just sitting there not printing. Changed out damper and some o-rings no joy. Finally, after getting frustrated I slowly looked along the ink line and found a tiny amount of ink around one of the plastic "clamps" that hold the lines along the strip. Took off my glasses and looked even closer, used my finger to feel it, and found a very tiny tear, eureka. Put on a new blue ink line, dumping problem solved!

So I fixed like 5 problems with this thing:
-plugged line in pump for black
- plugged main waste line from spitton
- tear in blue ink line
- new printhead for plugged up printhead
- plugged up waste black line
- not to mention gobs of ink throughout the spittoon etc. I'm sure if any of you guys looked at the mess I saw you would have said his black printhead HAS to be fubared.

Not trying to gain praise from anyone, just telling people what we did in case this helps anyone else, wish I had pics to show before and after. We also changed cap station, wiper, spitoon sponge, flushed system out with cleaning fluid, etc. I must say that cleaning fluid is amazing on how it can dissolve ink. (we cut up a used cartridge and put the fluid in an empty glass jar for use)

He really needs a new color head as well, but those are pricey.

Thanks again for the help!

-Jerry

 

[CRD]

Thanks for sharing the outcome.Paco