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what causes these little drips?

gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
Yesterday I ran a 1 hr head soak...today I cleaned the capping station and the print head. This print had a lot of black in it and this is what I find when I come back after the print was completed. It did not ruin any of the prints and only seemed to do this drip at the capping station end. I figure it has to be a small hair or fiber that is sucking ink and then when the head changes direction it drips off. I have looked at the capping station and the head but can't find anything even with an led light.
I seem to get these more and more lately. The printer is not a workaholic and probably sits idle more than it prints. The printer is about a year old, but with covid, it has run probably less than 50% of normal operation.

What more can I do?
 

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WYLDGFI

WYLDGFI

Merchant Member
For something of that sort, it usually seems to be a bit of dust hanging. did you inspect the PH faces?
 
J

Joe House

Sign Equipment Technician
Are there pets in your shop? Or are you losing your hair? I see hairs from people/animals cause this quite often as well. Pretty much any fiber that hangs on the bottom of the printhead will wick ink away from a nozzle or two and cause these drips.

Good Luck
 
Boudica

Boudica

I'm here for Educational Purposes
I've had this happen from time to time - almost always - it's something like a hair or fiber on the print head dropping ink. I just give it a manual cleaning and it stops happening.
 
cstone94

cstone94

Pro-Graphx
Looks like he has checked around the bottom of the carriage for any fibers, based on his messages from earlier.

OP, can you show us a picture of your capping station with the carriage out?
 
Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Normally I would agree with everyone above about a hanging fiber etc. But these little drops don't have the typical streak that happens when it's a fiber. I thought it might be dripping out of the head but OP doesn't see that happening. I'd still probably just change the dampers to be sure especially if they are older than a year.
 
cstone94

cstone94

Pro-Graphx
Solventinkjet said:
Normally I would agree with everyone above about a hanging fiber etc. But these little drops don't have the typical streak that happens when it's a fiber. I thought it might be dripping out of the head but OP doesn't see that happening. I'd still probably just change the dampers to be sure especially if they are older than a year.
Click to expand...

For sure. Guess we will see once OP updates! :)
 
Johnny Best

Johnny Best

Active Member
I have a spit pad on my printer. You can turn off the head dropping ink on each pass and it will drop it on the substrate instead.
Or maybe your spit pad needs cleaning.
 
L

Lindsey

Not A New Member
If the drops are located at the left and/or right ends only, and not really anywhere else on the print, it's likely that a fur, fuzz, hair, or other teeny-tiny thing that you can barely see, is there dangling from the print head, and as the print carriage changes direction, the ink drops get whipped off towards the sides.
 
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