Rescuing a DesignJet Z3100

[cyruspy]

A year ago, I bought a second hand not functioning Z3100 with the idea of repairing it.

Little by little I bought components to replace them via a local repair shop (main board, plastic gears, rubber belt, all the printheads, ink cartridges, etc).

That shop got to a point where the printer asked to replace all the printheads again. I got the printer back, found a recommendation in the forum to basically take out all the printheads and run the procedure of installing them back. Bingo, got it working only to find that the printer didn't detect the paper coming from the roll.

Now, after a couple of weeks having the printer on, it suddenly started to complain the red cartridge being empty. Tried to reset it a couple of times only to find ink leakage on the cartridge side

The ink tubbing system was fully replaced a couple of months back, somebody recommended changing the print head because the clog could be there.

The printer refuses to start a printhead change procedure because there is a pending ink cartridge change.

I would prefer to have a professional fix this, but couldn't find another shop in my country (Paraguay) willing to take a shot

Got two questions:
- anybody knows how to bypass the ink cartridge change requirement to start the printhead change?.
- does it make sense to keep investing time in a machine like that?, It seems to be very delicate and things already repaired seem to break again.

I already invested a lot of money in this and would really love to see it working, but the efforts seem futile.

[deanwork]

I wouldn’t give up, especially at this point. These are actually very durable printers though they don’t seem that way because they are so light.

I still use a 3100  that is in perfect condition after about 13 years or so, and have a 3200 also that has always been totally trouble free, except my first belt was not one of the lifetime warranty teflar belts that I use now.

My suggestion is to replace the problem heads or inks and buy them cheap on eBay and see what happens.

I would also change the coin shaped battery in the formatter board. Those are easy to find and super easy to pop out and replace.

John

[cyruspy]

I already changed the red cartridge and red/black printhead in the past months. I'm willing to get them again from eBay once more, the only problem is the print refuses to change the printhead without changing the relatively new ink cartridge.

The expectation would be that the current cartridge is really the issue?, If that's not the case I don't see how to change the printhead

Should I discard the tubing as the leakage reason (Broken somewhere)?

[deanwork]

This is the guy you need to talk to. He knows it all. Just be patient he’s sort of a one man operation and will have to call you back most likely.

https://www.lpscomputer.com/

John

I already changed the red cartridge and red/black printhead in the past months. I'm willing to get them again from eBay once more, the only problem is the print refuses to change the printhead without changing the relatively new ink cartridge.

The expectation would be that the current cartridge is really the issue?, If that's not the case I don't see how to change the printhead

Should I discard the tubing as the leakage reason (Broken somewhere)?

[Loek49]

Maybe air in the hose? Remove the print head and draw a few milliliters of ink from both MB and R ink tubes with a syringe.

[cyruspy]

Hello!, Trying to get to the printheads I powered off the printer while moving the printheads tray.

I got the timing wrong, fiddled a little bit until leaving the printer doing a full boot. A lot of noise and time later, it showed a "ready to load paper message" (without me touching the printhead)

Tried selecting 4 or 5 paper types but all the paper roll loading attempts were canceled. Apparently it can't detect the paper.

Any hints?, Looking for a sensor swap?

[cyruspy]

Growing suspicious of the mate paper roll that came with the used printer, went to the library to buy glossy photographic paper sheets (generic/Chinese).

That glossy paper was detected!, So either it's the roll mechanism or the paper.

Oh, and before being able to print, the printer started demanding the change of the Blue/Green printhead 🫠

I think somebody mentioned the printer being temperamental, but this is ridiculous.

[deanwork]

I have found that when the Z3100 has one bad head or head going bad you start to get all kinds of strange error messages. I just went through this for the first time last week. I had one bad way out of warranty head and it was causing the printer to say I needed to replace several heads which I didn’t. I replaced the old head and it’s back to normal.

Growing suspicious of the mate paper roll that came with the used printer, went to the library to buy glossy photographic paper sheets (generic/Chinese).

That glossy paper was detected!, So either it's the roll mechanism or the paper.

Oh, and before being able to print, the printer started demanding the change of the Blue/Green printhead 🫠

I think somebody mentioned the printer being temperamental, but this is ridiculous.

[cyruspy]

Current state:

Printer demanding swap of green/blue.
Printer stopped demanding swap of magenta/yellow
Waiting for both green/blue & magenta/yellow heads to arrive (ETA: 20 days)

I just hope in 20 days I don't get any other clogged component (piping, printhead or ink cartridge)

[deanwork]

I hope you have been keeping this printer plugged in at all times. This is very important with these thermal head printers.

John

Current state:

Printer demanding swap of green/blue.
Printer stopped demanding swap of magenta/yellow
Waiting for both green/blue & magenta/yellow heads to arrive (ETA: 20 days)

I just hope in 20 days I don't get any other clogged component (piping, printhead or ink cartridge)

[cyruspy]

I hope you have been keeping this printer plugged in at all times. This is very important with these thermal head printers.

John

yup, it's plugged in 7x24. I just wonder if it actually does any maintenance with the pending changes (given the several failures I've seen)...

[cyruspy]

As a quick update, started the printhead replacement procedure, it turns out no printhead required replacement anymore. Now going back to the "red cartridge is empty although it's not" error

[deanwork]

Did you change the battery in the formatter board on the back of the printer. You can get one at the local drug store. Seems to me I was getting some odd errors before I did that once upon a time.

John

As a quick update, started the printhead replacement procedure, it turns out no printhead required replacement anymore. Now going back to the "red cartridge is empty although it's not" error

[cyruspy]

Hello!, no, I haven't. Is it difficult to access?.

New update:

1. Passed the "no red ink error". I was able to pull the printhead, with a syringe on the printhead side tested that the tubing is not clogged taking out some ink. Not sure if that helped, but it was all I did on that front.

2. The change printhead request for Blue/Green reapered. I changed it and was happily accepted.

3. Now I get asked for a "paper suitable for printhead alignment", got some A3 glossy paper since the paper roll I have doesn't seem to be recognized. Paper gets accepted!.

4. When the alignment process starts, I get a paper jam error, but seems to be a carriage issue (some metallic noise involved). Read about some "oiling requirements", kit Q6675-60061 nowhere to be found. Would silicone based lubricant be an acceptable replacement?

Current issue with funny noise of the carriage after crossing the middle of the printer: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7BAP11T7FjN2moE2A

[GST]

sounds like a broken carriage bushing, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J0BbPY6ZZY

cu

[cyruspy]

sounds like a broken carriage bushing, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J0BbPY6ZZY

cu

Thanks for the hint. I'm ordering:

Q5669-60687   Carrieage bushing --> per your hint
Q6675-60043   Carrieage rail oiler --> the sponge is all melted/broken

I also would like to order the correct oil, but cannot source the HP part number mentioned in the manual (Q6675-60061). Any recommended replacement?

[cyruspy]

Update: Ordered Oil from LPS (https://www.lpscomputer.com/products/oil-for-carriage-rail).

Waiting for all 3 orders to arrive.

[cyruspy]

Hello!, reporting back.

After receiving the spare parts I can confirm the printer didn't have a carrier bushing at all.

I installed the new carrier bushier and oilier. The printer finally stopped complaining and printed a less than stellar print job, which I take as great success (first print job in 1 year since I bought it)

[cyruspy]

Installed carrier bushing

[cyruspy]

Installed new oiler.