Need Help L25500 cyan ink bleeding out every orifice

[Doug Allan]

well, I haven't posted much here in a long time, but I do recall many of the regulars back then had owned the L25500, so I had my first experience with a failure like this, and after 7 or 8 years of keeping a maintenance plan, I no longer have that.

I really have no idea if this is death, or merely a flesh wound, so here I am with the events, & some pics...

I put in a new C/LC Printhead...
The alignment page was pristine, but it tried to do an auto-cut, & my blade is dull so I never use that.

Since it didn't cut all the way through, I didn't even notice it was cut at all, and when I started to send a print, I got a head strike. It seemed like one of the more subtle or minor strikes of the dozens over ten years... but the next 1 sq. foot test had a few cyan smudges on it, which seemed to be phasing out at the end of the 1 foot.

Well, then I tried a larger print, walked away for a couple minutes, and the cyan was getting everywhere!!

The other part of this whole challenge is that I am on a plane tomorrow night & will be gone for a month.
I was mostly caught up & I have people around here to help print a few things before i go, but I just wonder what to do about this mess?

I have no idea if this is easy to clean, or if it's so hard it's not worth doing.
Anybody had this issue?
Know what to do?

 

[SignosaurusRex]

Uhgh! I feel your pain Doug. Sorry, I wish I could help. Are you hitting the PNW at all while gone?

 

[Doug Allan]

Uhgh! I feel your pain Doug. Sorry, I wish I could help. Are you hitting the PNW at all while gone?

as a matter fact, I am
I'll be staying on Orcas Island for a few days, flying in & out by seaplane to my brothers cottage!

I land at Seatac Friday around 10am, & plan to go to REI & then find a dispensary

I'll stay that night at my brothers house near Volunteer Park, where you picked me up once, or dropped me off.
My plane leaves from Lake Union at 2:00 pm, so I'll probably be at that volunteer coffee place at some point.

 

[Jayefkay531]

Doug - we still keep a 25500 on reserve and had the same exact issue a year or two ago. It turned out to be the ink lines that split from the assembly (no idea how it happened). A tech was able to fix it within a day for under $1000. It was suggested to me to shut everything down, clean whatever ink you can see (you'll be away a month - better to not let it sit until you return), then let the tech take care of it. Hopefully problem solved!

 

[ColoPrinthead]

Cleaning up latex ink sucks, I feel for you.

 

[Kevyar]

I had this happen on our HP26500. HP tech came out and replaced parts I think the total cost was $1900. Runs fine now.

 

[rupley]

Have the same issue, what did you find was the problem? My cyan is flooding the front of the carriage by the ink supply tubes.

 

[Doug Allan]

I got a quote for $2k, based on HP's assumptions around what they expected to need in terms of parts and labor, plus whatever they charge to send someone to Maui, from Oahu where they have tech's. I had hoped there would be the ability to reinstate a service contract. or at least get a 1 year warranty if i spent the $2K, but they couldn't even confirm it would get fixed for $2K, and if not, they would have to do whatever they said they would have to do. at whatever price... and still it could break a week later & that would be on me...

So, I signed the paperwork on one of the last new HP 110 latex printers, which seems perfect for the chill paced version of Island Sign I'm running these days, & at a great price that includes a one year warranty.

I guess I heard that parts for the L25500 would not be available after the end of the year. Does anyone know if that's true?
I will probably try to sell my printer to someone that wants to fix it, but out here in such a small market, there may be no interest. In that case, I guess i'd try to ebay some of the best parts like ink, printheads, spindle, main board??