Restarting HP Z3200ps accidently disconnected from power for 1 year

[HCHeyerdahl]

After a year accidentally disconnected from power, I am trying to get my HP Z3200ps up an running again.

After trying to salvage the print heads I gave up and installed new print heads.

After replacing the print heads I have printed a number of both color and black&white images to get the inks going. The images look good.
I am printing on glossy paper (Ilford IGS smooth pearl)

Diagnostic print, directly from printer panel shows 2 problems:
Problem 1: No MK (matte black) patch
Problem 2: Upper left patch E is all gray and not showing a inner smaller patch.

Regarding Problem 1: No MK

When I started the printer I "washed" all print heads with water and did a diagnostic print from the printer panel. MK was among the inks working (on the diagnostic patch test image). I did several attempts with cleaning and replacing the ink heads to get all inks going, and then MK suddenly stopped.

I changed all print heads. Still no MK.

I have tried to clean the new MK-R ink head, and was surprised to se a lot of debris in the water mostly black. Are ink heads sold with ink inside? Putting the head on paper towel clearly shows both black and red ink. Still, the test image shows no trace of MK ink.

Any suggestions on what to do?

I see some suggest using a syringe to pull out ink at the point where the print head is mounted, but have not tried.

Do I really need the MK going if I only print on glossy media?

Regarding problem 2: Upper left test patch is completely gray - no inner patch is visible

I am not sure what this means?

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I do not have much experience. Help and suggestions appreciated



Chris

[kers]

I never have had a problem as you have :  printing with new heads and still no ink.
apparently the tubes are closed for some reason.
My first reaction would be : print MK  and GE  ( for that also seems blocked) and see if things are moving towards flowing ink.
use a roll of cheap paper for that.
and print all colours to get to a state where the printer is running again.
no square in grey means no GE i would think.

[HCHeyerdahl]

Thank you for your reply,

you were right about why the upper left grey patch did not show a smaller inner patch: The gloss was indeed not flowing. Washing the ink head cleared this and gloss is again working.

While I was at it, I made a new wash of the Mk-R ink head too, but it still does not print.

My records show I use very little MK ink, so I am still curious if MK is used when printing on glossy media. Since I only print on glossy/pearl, perhaps I only have used MK it to make test patches! If that is the case, perhaps I can safely let that problem rest and save me the task of changing MK ink tubes.

Thoughts and advise on this would be very helpful.

[kers]

I thought somehow you used new printheads; a new print head is around 100$ and a simple solution to the problem.
some peple have had good results with soaking the heads in water overnight..
 you can try that - otherwise buy one new... often the best solution if cleaning does not work.
It is one of the good things of this printer: for 600$ you have 6 heads: a new printer.

[HCHeyerdahl]

All print heads are indeed new. Sorry if I was unclear about that.

Problem is MK ink is still not printing. 

If I soak the (new) MK-R in water and put it to dry on paper there is both black and red.

Perhaps the new print head is faulty. I will try and get a replacement.

[sportmaster]

How about the electrical contacts where printhead connects to the carrage?  Maybe try cleaning those.

[CharlesGast]

The printheads have ink from the factory since running with air in them rapidly destroys them.
I recently purchased a 44 inch  Z3100 PS which had sat unplugged for 3 or 4 years. 
The ink cartridges were 10 to 14 years old with the exception of a couple of new carts with third party inks.
I replaced all ink cartridges, but before replacing the printheads I used a kit from LPS Computer to purge all the lines. I wasted about 10cc from each line to get the old ink out. If I had a 24inch model I might have only purged 5cc due to shorter lines.  After purging each ink channel I would thoroughly clean the syringe and blunt needle with distilled water to prevent cross contamination.

The blunt needle in the kit is specifically modified to be pushed through the rubber plug the printheads penetrate to connect to the ink tube. The kit is for getting bubbles out of the lines which form when the rubber stoppers leak air. The seals in the kit keep the printhead from getting air in it since air in the printhead ejection component causes it to overhead and fail.  Patience is required when purging the ink from the whole line. Trying to pull the syringe plunger too fast does not allow the ink cart time to deliver.
Here's a link. Great source for parts!    https://www.lpscomputer.com/collections/designjet-z3200-parts/products/upgraded-printhead-seals-and-purger-kit-for-t-and-z-models
  Before replacing the printheads I took the right cover off to use a torx  driver (I think a T8 or T10) to manually open the service station cover and carefully clean the wipers and other surfaces where ink, especially matte black, tends to build up.
Upon replacing the heads test prints showed the Red/Matte Black cart was showing broken lines in the black channel. I replaced it with another new Red/Matte black head and all was well. BH accepted an exchange on the head.  I always keep a spare Red/Matte black head on hand since that one failed the most often in my 13 years of use of a 24" z3100.
I had the whole thing apart, since it sat for so long, and cleaned it thoroughly. The printhead carriage bar should be cleaned and lubricated. I cleaned it with the oil which LPS has. Do not use any other oil. The HP sold and LPS has a correctly spec'd substitute for is a light synthetic oil.
In case you don't have it: http://z3200.com/Belt_replacement_HP-Z3100_Printers-Z3200.htm

[HCHeyerdahl]

Thank you for some very useful information and suggestions.

I have cleaned the ink and carriage terminals, but save for a tiny hint of ink on a test chart after print head replacement, there is still nothing on the test patches.

Since the print heads are supplied with ink, it seems like a good idea to first by a new print head. If that does not work, I will order the kit from IPS, and try to purge the ink tubes.

I am still very curious to know if the MK ink (matt black) is ever used when I only print on glossy or pearl paper. I purchased the printer when they were introduced and seem to be using very little of this ink. If I do not use it, then presumably it would soon clog up again. Perhaps I could just leave it as it is?

[Ernst Dinkla]

Thank you for some very useful information and suggestions.

I have cleaned the ink and carriage terminals, but save for a tiny hint of ink on a test chart after print head replacement, there is still nothing on the test patches.

Since the print heads are supplied with ink, it seems like a good idea to first by a new print head. If that does not work, I will order the kit from IPS, and try to purge the ink tubes.

I am still very curious to know if the MK ink (matt black) is ever used when I only print on glossy or pearl paper. I purchased the printer when they were introduced and seem to be using very little of this ink. If I do not use it, then presumably it would soon clog up again. Perhaps I could just leave it as it is?

There will be no MK ink squirted om glossy or pearl papers if on loading the paper specified on the printer panel is based on a glossy paper, either the default ones or custom made paper specs. There will still be MK ink used when the printer does it maintenance runs. The head aligning actions will require MK ink too and it has to be seen whether that action will fail if it can not measure the MK output. There could be more firmware actions that could depend on it.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

[HCHeyerdahl]

Thank you,

this is very useful for me to know. For the time being then, I will just continue printing and see if the clogged MK eventually creates problems.

It creates test patches without complaining and also runs the print head alignment after cleaning/changing print heads even if none of these tests actually produce any inc on the test patches.

[Kyle D Jackson]

Thank you,

this is very useful for me to know. For the time being then, I will just continue printing and see if the clogged MK eventually creates problems.

It creates test patches without complaining and also runs the print head alignment after cleaning/changing print heads even if none of these tests actually produce any inc on the test patches.

Hi @HCHeyerdahl , did you succeed in getting the MK to print?  Did you purge the air from the ink tube? 

I've been digging deep into these printers while working to revive a rescued Z3200.  One of the most useful pieces of info I found is that a brand new HP 70 head weighs 60g. If air gets into the head it will weigh less because less ink. So try weighing the head on an accurate scale to see how close it is to 60g, to see how much air may have entered the head. This is important because although you may have started with a brand new head, you might quickly end up with air in it if there was still air in the ink delivery system (or worse, an on-going there's an air leak).