I did a head soak and cleaning on my DX5. I'm pretty confident its good to go. The issue im having is now that its back in, I'm not getting anything at all to print out of it. I also cleaned out the black plastic piece between the head and the dampers. That was a bit clogged too... and is now clear. I am assuming its because its dry and there is no vacuum? I tried multiple strong cleanings but nothing comes through. I also tried a syringe to pull ink and I get air.
Do I need to do an ink fill? is there a way to do this without going through the longstore and cleaning cart. steps??
Any help is appreciated! Thank you
What model printer? When you say you did a head soak, do you mean that you put some eco-sol cleaning solution in the cap (or on a lint-free cloth) and parked the head on the cap for a long time? When you say "now that it's back in," does this mean you took the print head out? What's the "black plastic piece" that was clogged, but is now clear (can you send picture)? If you draw on an ink line with your syringe, but the plunger springs back after you pull, there's a clog. If you're able to freely draw on the line, but no ink enters the syringe, there's a leak. If you are able to draw ink into your syringe, but it's bubbly, there's a leak. If you can smoothly draw and ink flows into the syringe, you're good to go.
It's very simple to figure out where the leak is coming from . You've got the connectors and o-rings, L Tubes, Y Splits, and main ink lines. You can start by drawing on each line individually. If there's no leak from the connectors all the way back to the cartridges, then your problem is between the dampers and the waste tank.
Have you replaced your dampers/maintenance station recently? Running cleanings won't help much if these parts have been eliminated as the cause/contributing to the problem.
To answer the last question, you will need to run an ink fill or "Charge" after you evacuated the ink from the lines. Did you empty the ink from the lines? If not, there's no reason to run a charge. However, a Little Charge might be necessary if you need to pull more ink than a Long Cleaning provides. Also, you can initiate a charge without running a Longstore.
What's the background on this printer? What was going on with it before you started doing all of this?
I did get some in the board on the print head
Powering on without completely cleaning up the mess can permanently damage the head.
I’ve got the head printing but the colors are not looking good at all
Maybe still some solution in the head ??
A picture of your Nozzle Check would help. What do you mean by the colors "aren't looking good." Why would there be solution in the head--did you run a Longstore?
So I am able to pull ink through at this point except black
The black lines above the dampers keep getting air in them
I took the two lines off above the dampers and pulled black out and removed all air but then soon after I connect them the air appears back in the line maybe around 8” of air
Is this something other than the head not taking ink through ?
If the lines above the dampers keep getting air in them, then you need to determine where the leak is--
you can't go any further until you fix that part. Replace the damper connectors, o rings, L tubes, Y split, and/or main line depending on what you find. This is the first priority.
Update. So from what I can tell the head nozzles seemed clear when I cleaned it. I am able to pull all colors now with a syringe. But when I print I am getting a lot of blank nozzles and also none at all from Magenta. I saw a lot of magenta ink come through the line at fist when I started pulling and then all colors seemed to flow. Is there some reason I can pull all colors but they arent firing from the head???
If you're pulling ink from below the cap and you're seeing Magenta, in your syringe, but when you run a Nozzle Check, you're not seeing ANY Magenta, then I believe it's likely that your head is failed and will need to be replaced. Though it's possible there's a cable/fuse problem, I typically don't see just one color channel dropout when that's the case (has someone else seen that before?)
Also, be wary of pulling to hard from below the cap, the suction an put stress on the surface of the head and damage it.
