9880 inkflow/damper/etc advice?

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
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HI, just putting this out there in case anyone has advice… I had to replace the damper for my K ink. All seemed to get back together ok, and after several cleanings all the other colors are more or less back. But not the K, nothing there at all. I pulled ink into the link before putting it on the new damper, and also very gently pulled ink into the damper after attachment to the line. The head was working before this damper operation.
The pressure pump comes on then stops as usual, so I don’t think there is a new pressure leak or the pump would keep going, or I’d get an alert. I can see there is ink in the line and in the damper.
Would it be worth syringing some purge and ink into the head itself right at the input nipple? Anything else worth trying?
Thanks, Tyler

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Hi Tyler~

Sorry for not responding sooner, I was on vacation last week, and just returned to the office today.

If the K channel was working before you replaced the damper, you primed the new damper before reconnecting to the print head, and other channels are working, but not the black, then I have some questions and suggestions below to help get it working well again:

  1. I see we recently sent you some fresh WN shade #1 ink and a new damper, after you had some issues with your previous ink in that line. Did you empty your cartridge and refill with the fresh ink we sent, before replacing the damper, or did you replace the damper without replacing the ink?
  2. Have you done any more cleaning cycles (regular or power) after replacing the black damper? If so, is there any change in your nozzle check?
  3. Do you have our print head PiezoFlush cleaning kit for flushing the internal print head channels? If not, I think that would be good to clean inside the black channel of your print head.
  4. Have you cleaned the capping station, wiper blade and/or bottom of the print head?
  5. I see you sent us an email on 6/23 saying you need to replace the dampers in your 9880- were you having a problem with the black channel at the time?
  6. Did you happen to print a nozzle check with the old damper installed, right before replacing the black damper? If not, how long before the damper was changed did you last print a nozzle check, showing black printing?

Please let me know so I can help you past this and back to happily printing~ Dana

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HI Dana, thanks for your in depth reply. I have solved the problem and the printer is working perfectly now, but will address the issues in case it helps anybody else coming here looking for solutions.
I took the damper unit back off, made sure the new k ink was flowing thought the line and damper by drawing more through by syringe via the damper output point. This has to be done very lightly to avoid damaging the damper, I assume. The other point here is ink must be freely available so the lever must be in the locked position, but pressure relieved from the lines by momentarily removing the plugs from the carts on that side. Otherwise, an ink mess will occur from all four at that end, or if levers in the unlocked position to avoid a mess, the ink line is closed and drawing ink through a problem. These are my observations and are open to correction. Also, while the dampers were off, I injected your purge fluid through the K nipple of the head, let it sit, and did that a few times, in the end pushing it through. I had a small plastic garbage bag around and underneath the head, going down through the paper path, to collect the fluid. The I reseated the damper unit, started up, I immediately had good K channel nozzle checks, and the others came along quickly as they were simply without a little ink from the damper removal. Just a few normal cleanings and a little sitting time, turned on with pressure, brought it all back. After rethinking everything and the hours into this, my suspicion is that the problems was lack of a good seal when I seated the dampers from the first repair, but I could be wrong. I had a hard timer with re-assembly and I think it wasn’t sitting just right. Anyway. just for thoroughness here, I’ll answer your questions-
1- before the damper replacement, I began again with a new cartridge entirely, with some purge in it, and drew some through the line to clear it of the old ink. Then filled the new cart with the new ink and began the damper replacement.
2- Yes, before breaking it back down again, I did normal cleanings, deep cleanings, and SS cleanings, over the course of about 24 hours, nothing brought a single nozzle back.
3- I don’t have your kit but it sounds like I accomplished the same thing above.
4- Yup
5- The damper replacement was the result of an ongoing issue and several emails back and forth over a few months. I was having some problems with my K channel, and this did fix it, but that was not what instigated the damper replacement. There was some question about an ink batch, I think you are familiar with it, it’s solved. It wasn’t the ink itself.
6- Yes my nozzle checks before the damper replacement were good, usually perfect, but I had other delivery problems with the channel, which the new damper fixed. Again, I had no fatal problem before the damper replacement, not one that initiated that repair anyway, it all came about as a recommendation from our friend Wells to make sure no problems developed from previous bottles…

and in the end, now that it’s working, and my other problems with K resolved, it was a good call despite the repair problems. Hope this helps-
T

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Hi Tyler~

Thanks for the update, and I’m glad to hear you solved the problem! Thanks also for the detailed report of your experience, as it may help someone else in your situation.

Best regards and happy printing~ Dana :slight_smile: