HP Z3100 MK-R print head ...any solution?

[mrleonard66]

If anyone provide any help that would be great. I am looking all over for a new printhead and I guess there is a refurbished one from China I can get that will take a month....
So...the Matte seems nil on the test..with just the faintest of output. I don't really use it....and after a bunch of cleanings the Red seems to work. (See pics).
There IS a tiny black smudge at bottom.
What do you think is the best way forward to get this working? Is the MK part totally fried? Will that affect the operation of the Red head? As I could resign to not print Matte in the meantime....

[JCD]

The deal with MK ink on all these machines is they have more issues with clogging when left unused for a long time.

It’s because of all the dense concentrated carbon content.

What I have done successfully in the past is find a plastic cup that you can hang the head at the widest top part and fill it with 1/2 distilled water and 1/2 isopropyl alcohol. Fill the cup where it just covers the nozzles completely but doesn’t touch the chip on it. Overnight soaking will reveal a lot of pigment dissolved in the water.
I have saved a few ink carts like that. One I soaked for three days.

I used to worry that if my z3100 was left standing unused the ink would dry in the lines. But the HP tech told me that won’t happen because both ends are sealed off from air. But the ink will eventually dry in the heads if left in the printer.

You are lucky you only had trouble with one head. Unfortunately it is the discontinued hard to find head.

As for the Chinese refurbished heads I bought a yellow one on eBay by mistake that was cheap and it’s worked totally normally.

There may be a way for us to refurbish these MK/ red heads ourself. I hope so.

I still love these printers as slow as they are. As for me I used to use a lot of matte cotton but eventually switched to Canson Platine for most everything.

John

[Kyle Jackson]

Hi, it's the same info we replied in the other thread where you asked:
https://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=144894.msg1266423#msg1266423

In short, weigh the head to check for air. The MK side is probably empty (and maybe also clogged on top of that). And there's possibly some air in the MK line in the printer. Buy a kit to purge the air and reprime the head. Then check all the other heads and lines and do the same as needed.

Your R is being contaminated by MK because of the air issue. If you don't fix the MK side the R won't work correctly either. And if you don't fix the MK side the thermal head will burn out anyhow.

Even if you don't print with MK, the printer still uses MK during maintenance cycle, etc. It's designed to have all 12 channels working correctly whether you need them or not. Leaving one "blank" leads to other problems...

Or just find a replacement head, but it's better to preserve the ones we have as long as we can since they are discontinued.

[sportmaster]

A little late, but I have one.  Bought it buy mistake for a Z3200