I started getting some color streaks in my red and yellow. I did some cleaning cycles and a little charge with no help.have had this before after a head soak, some time ago. I ran some pure yellow and red stripes through it has cleared mostly up but it seems worse in the morning when I first fire things up.
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mutoh 1204 red and yellow contamination streaks
- Thread starter Larry L
- Start date
Solventinkjet
DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Contamination comes from 4 main sources.
The number one source is dirty maintenance parts such as the cap top and wiper but also just ink build up on the bottom of the head. Clean everything really well and make sure there are no inkcicles forming on the bottom of the head. +
The second most common reason is the cap top is not draining fast enough. Fill the cap top with cleaning solution and wait for about a minute. The solution should naturally start to flow down the tubes. If it just stays in the cap without draining, you have partially or fully clogged pump tubes. You can usually unclog them by flushing solution through with a syringe. When the cap top doesn't drain fast enough the colors get sucked up into the head when it caps.
The third most common is failing dampers. If one damper is failing, it causes the other side to start pulling back on the system. This pulls ink up from the waste tubes and cap and gets sucked into the head. Replacing the dampers should be a yearly maintenance item so if they are older than a year you might a well change them all out. Having one strong damper and one weak will cause this issue so it's always good practice to change either all 8 at a time or at least 2 dampers per color.
The fourth and least common, but not as rare as you think, is the head is damaged internally and is unrecoverable. This happens on older heads and heads that have been flushed manually with a syringe too hard. A membrane inside the head separates the channels. If it breaks, you get contamination that is only fixable by replacing the head.
The number one source is dirty maintenance parts such as the cap top and wiper but also just ink build up on the bottom of the head. Clean everything really well and make sure there are no inkcicles forming on the bottom of the head. +
The second most common reason is the cap top is not draining fast enough. Fill the cap top with cleaning solution and wait for about a minute. The solution should naturally start to flow down the tubes. If it just stays in the cap without draining, you have partially or fully clogged pump tubes. You can usually unclog them by flushing solution through with a syringe. When the cap top doesn't drain fast enough the colors get sucked up into the head when it caps.
The third most common is failing dampers. If one damper is failing, it causes the other side to start pulling back on the system. This pulls ink up from the waste tubes and cap and gets sucked into the head. Replacing the dampers should be a yearly maintenance item so if they are older than a year you might a well change them all out. Having one strong damper and one weak will cause this issue so it's always good practice to change either all 8 at a time or at least 2 dampers per color.
The fourth and least common, but not as rare as you think, is the head is damaged internally and is unrecoverable. This happens on older heads and heads that have been flushed manually with a syringe too hard. A membrane inside the head separates the channels. If it breaks, you get contamination that is only fixable by replacing the head.
It is not that old, I will do a good cleaning of everything, Thanks.
Thanks, that was some great info! I will start with #1. I have taken the printer apart many times, the head, the cleaning station,,,tubing replaced, fussed with the encoderstrip....Just not sure about the damper? What does it look like?
Solventinkjet
DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Dampers are the white plastic pieces on top of the head with a clear film on one side so you can see ink in them. There is one per channel for a total of eight.
Been busy with a huge rush of small jobs, perfect timing right?,,Anyhow I had the same thing happen this morning. I have never changed the dampers out.... BTW I had squirted in some cleaning solution into the cap station before even asking for help thinking it might not be draining well, I will do more to see if it is draining OK and plan to get a set of dampers, Thanks
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