HP Z3100 color problems with new MK-R head..HELP PLEASE :)

[mrleonard66]

ALways something new...and one day Im throwing this printer into the lake...lol.

Anyway...after I got a new MK-R head from china (which took a while)...is it me or is the R , purple?
Also example of what the print looks like. (take a look at pics with diagnostic and portrait)
I have an OEM HP red ink, so is this maybe just the ink that is 'in the head' or something?
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated as I have a large artwork I need for XMAS and don;t want to spand a fortune bringing to a lab.
Thank you!

[Kyle Jackson]

Hi, it sounds like you installed a non-HP MK-R printhead and it doesn't contain the correct ink. The HP red ink is rather orange and I'd say your diag plot "red" patch looks more like some kind of magenta ink.

Using an HP head is the obvious fix. If that's not an option, you need to purge all the ink from that non-HP head, then hopefully your HP red ink will come thru it. It might not be easy to decontaminate that head tho and the colour might continue to drift for some time. You might need to re-calibrate and re-profile frequently, which might cost you a lot of time, paper, and ink. Using a printhead purge / priming kit might speed it up.

[mrleonard66]

Hi, it sounds like you installed a non-HP MK-R printhead and it doesn't contain the correct ink. The HP red ink is rather orange and I'd say your diag plot "red" patch looks more like some kind of magenta ink.

Using an HP head is the obvious fix. If that's not an option, you need to purge all the ink from that non-HP head, then hopefully your HP red ink will come thru it. It might not be easy to decontaminate that head tho and the colour might continue to drift for some time. You might need to re-calibrate and re-profile frequently, which might cost you a lot of time, paper, and ink. Using a printhead purge / priming kit might speed it up.

What would be the best way to 'purge' the ink from the head? I do not have a purge kit. What if I load a roll of cheap paper I have...and just have it print a 'red' swatch? Is there a way I can allocate that it only prints from the MK-R head?

[Kyle Jackson]

LPS Computers sells printhead purge / priming kits and has a video. Others sell them too, and they are common for the printheads in many HP DesignJets, not just HP 70/73. See other threads on here with more details, it comes up often.

The printer isn't really set up with a way to just clear the ink from a single head because a) the heads are replaceable, and b) HP expects us to use their heads (or did until they stopped making them).

There is the built-in Purge Ink plot but it does all colours, and I don't know if it does enough of each colour to clear a colour completely. It burns like 6 ft of paper.

You can try printing a ton of red (or orangey red) and hope it clears out eventually. It will probably use more than just the red ink tho since all colours are a mix. Rough guide it's 1 ml ink per sqft, about 8 ml of a colour in a head, so you'd need to burn at least 8 sqft of just that colour..., but probably a lot more since it's a mix.

Maybe keep repeating red prints over and over again until it looks like a stable orangey red with no difference between prints. Then recal and reprofile (and be prepared to recal and reprofile a few times until you're confident it's stable). I honestly don't know how long it takes to clear it out.

[mrleonard66]

LPS Computers sells printhead purge / priming kits and has a video. Others sell them too, and they are common for the printheads in many HP DesignJets, not just HP 70/73. See other threads on here with more details, it comes up often.

The printer isn't really set up with a way to just clear the ink from a single head because a) the heads are replaceable, and b) HP expects us to use their heads (or did until they stopped making them).

There is the built-in Purge Ink plot but it does all colours, and I don't know if it does enough of each colour to clear a colour completely. It burns like 6 ft of paper.

You can try printing a ton of red (or orangey red) and hope it clears out eventually. It will probably use more than just the red ink tho since all colours are a mix. Rough guide it's 1 ml ink per sqft, about 8 ml of a colour in a head, so you'd need to burn at least 8 sqft of just that colour..., but probably a lot more since it's a mix.

Maybe keep repeating red prints over and over again until it looks like a stable orangey red with no difference between prints. Then recal and reprofile (and be prepared to recal and reprofile a few times until you're confident it's stable). I honestly don't know how long it takes to clear it out.

Ths for youer help/ What I am wondering is if you have any idea what hex code the red swatch would be best? Ill try running off a bunch

[Kyle Jackson]

Not sure to be honest, because a colour on screen and an ink colour are not linked in a simple way (and thus the need for colour management). And it's especially complicated if you did a calibration and/or profile after installing that non-hp head.

I think simplest would be if you have an earlier diag plot with the proper red on it, use that to eyeball the colour on screen, I think that will be efficient enough. If you don't have one there are photos ppl posted in recent threads showing some diag plots. It's an orangey red. Even better if it's a Z3100 diag plot not Z3200, since the Z3200 uses a different red ink.

If you did a profile after putting that new head in, I suggest using a previous profile instead. That way when the driver tries sending "orangey red" to the printer, it still comes from primarily the MK-R head, instead of M, LM, or whatever.

[Kyle Jackson]

...Here's photo of my Z3100 advanced diag plot I posted recently:
https://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=145004.0
Ofc my phone probably messed with the colours, but it's better than nothing. Easy to see it's got a lot of orange in it.

[mrleonard66]

...Here's photo of my Z3100 advanced diag plot I posted recently:
https://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=145004.0
Ofc my phone probably messed with the colours, but it's better than nothing. Easy to see it's got a lot of orange in it.

You are invaluable!
Now to my new problem...lol. In post.

[NAwlins_Contrarian]

HP Z3100 color problems ....

ALways something new...and one day Im throwing this printer into the lake...lol.

A Z3100 is between seventeen and nineteen years old, and AFAIK HP discontinued the inks some years ago. IMO, generally, a complex precision electromechanical device of that age can sensibly be used two ways: (1) keep using it as is, until it becomes more trouble than it's worth, at which time replace it; or (2) accept that it's something of a project, and keep using it in part because you enjoy the tinkering and trouble-shooting etc.

[Kyle Jackson]

accept that it's something of a project, and keep using it in part because you enjoy the tinkering and trouble-shooting etc.

I think I've been in that state since 2009 lol