Whats Happening to my Head?

[MrSalumi]

So I had a head strike a couple weeks ago and thought that I got everything handled. But my printer has been acting very strange lately.

I have checked the physical condition of the head and it looks good as far as I can tell. I have also recalibrated everything.

First off there is a lot of overspray (primarily from the black head but also from Magenta). I chalked it up to static as my machine is not grounded and it's been dry here for the last couple weeks.

Then I did another test print yesterday and my black head printout looks like CRAP!!!

What do you think ?

 

[MrSalumi]

Anything?

 

[SlightlyChilled]

Your black has deflecting nozzles.

 

[MrSalumi]

Thank you. I'll read up on this for a solution.

 

[Jester1167]

Did you do a nozzle test print after your head strike? Did it look like that or was it ok? Sometimes deflected nozzles can be caused by dirty or partially clogged heads. We got in the habit of dating and saving nozzle test prints so we could see and understand the progression. With the history you will get a sense of what is permanently damaged and what isn't.

 

[MrSalumi]

Thats a really good idea. I did a nozzle test after the strike and after I replaced a manifold on the magenta head (post strike). It did not look like this at all. This is the first test that has looked like this. Ill try cleaning the head again and see if it changes at all.

 

[player]

If you carefully touch the deflecting nozzles/head with a cleaner soaked sponge without any pressure and no movement or wiping this can unclog deflecting nozzles. Great care must be taken with no pressure or movement.

Jon taught me this trick...

 

[hbb2008]

I have this problem too.

I also have deflected nozzles in my print head. I have done numberous nozzle washes, cleaning the head with a cleaner soaked sponge and changing the fliters/dampers above the head to see if this would bring the nozzels back to the correct position, nothing has worked. Unfortunatly, with these deflected nozzles, my prints have a white line across them when I print dark colors, ( they are present in all colors, but most apparent in dark colors.) I have routinly cleaned the head, and nozzle washes each week to try and bring them back.

Any ideas how to fix the nozzle deflection?


Thank you.

 

[MikePro]

there's no sure-fire way to fix deflected nozzles. best bet, is that they're clogged with ink, and can be treated by soaking/cleaning/flushing with care. worst-case, permanent mechanical damage in the form of bent/scratched/jammed/etc. nozzles. Much like the woven-mesh holes in your screen door, after your dog decides to paw at it, there is no acceptable fix aside from replacement. I've limped on a printhead for a few extra months, that was firing at 75%, by swapping it to the yellow channel since the deflections are less noticeable, but all printheads eventually need replacement.

ultimately, nozzles will degrade over time. Which is why routine nozzle checks/test prints should be done to track their rate of decline and anticipate eventual replacements (hopefully at the end of a fiscal year, when business dollars are easier to spend on repairs).