maintanence for a 5500

[VinylLabs.com]

Since this is my first printer, I'm not too familiar with upkeep of it, It did not come with a manual. I noticed in someone else thread they empty their overflow resevoir, I don't even know if I'm supposed to do that. I've printed maybe 5-6 posters and a canvas print, I don't know when i need to do maintanance, (probably not at this point)

I've done a print test, and the solid blocks of colors look good enough, although there are some white lines, and the magenta block is not perfectly in place. would replacing the head fix this?

I have a friend that knows some HP technicians and I've asked him to have them come over (still running this from home) but they've never got back to me with a price.

what do I need to do to my printer and at what times?
i'm at work right now so I will post more specifics on the printer when I get home.

 

[Bly]

You need to do nothing if it is printing well.
Usually a new head will fix whatever quality problems you have.
They are only meant to last around two ink carts but sometimes last much longer..
If they are playingup a bit - check by printing the image quality test print - try a recover printhead or if that fails, reseat the heads. Sometimes the contacts get a bit dirty so clean the head contacts.
You say the magenta block looks misaligned. Do a printhead alignment.
I've never had to empty the cleaners.
The only other problem I've had with mine are belts. If the belt goes you'll get an error and will see bits of shredded rubber in the carriage path.

 

[Antonotron]

what would you recommend to clean the head contacts?

i've got some cleaning swabs for a mutoh--would that work with some ISO alcohol?

 

[Tony McD]

There was a cleaning kit with that printer when it was new.
Might help with things if you had the manual and kit.
It had a brush, some cleaning swabs, bottle of oil, a special tool
to put the oil on the rails the print carriage rides on, etc....

Like Bly said, if it's printing good...don't do anything, just use it.
Try and print a little something every couple of days...even a little test print.
I had four long rectangles on a page, one black, cyan, magenta, yellow,
to print just to keep things flowing if it wasn't being used in a day or two.
If you get an error, try the recover print head in the menu.
Did have to change the belt from the rubber chunks coming off
and the carriage hanging up.

The machine will tell you when to change a cleaner.
They used to come with the print head, but not sure now.

 

[Billct2]

Get the manual, it's available on ebay as a download.
It needs to be cleaned and oiled occasionally, I used only the recommended oil.
Coffee filters are best for cleaning.

 

[Antonotron]

thanks so much for the input! i really like the idea of running a regular "test print"--i just made one in Illustrator and i'm going to be adopting that method, for sure! sometimes these machines are printing all day--and sometimes they'll sit for half a week (at least one of them will...)

cheers!

 

[Billct2]

One of the great things about these machines is their ability to sit for days/weeks without it casuing a problem.
There are also onboard test prints.