Broken cart causing re-pressurizing on P6000?

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
1

Hello

Trying to diagnose a problem with the P6000 I bought new in December of last year.

Naturally I ordered a set of carts and chips from IJM to continue using the supply of inks I had from my old, dead, 9890. (As I recall, I had to buy one or two new inks to make a good match, but that’s not the issue.)

I have a 3880 dedicated to matte-paper printing using Piezography, so the P6000 is always used with RC paper.

Also, it’s just me here and the printer lives in our bedroom. Recently I ran some prints for a friend, who insisted on using matte paper. No problem, and the prints came out fine.

I leave the printer on all the time, but recently it’s started “sounding off” every 4 minutes or so, it makes whirring sound, lasting about 1 - 1.5 seconds, which I’m taking to be the sound of it maintaining pressure.

I noticed it because it’s apparent in our bedroom when I’m trying to sleep.

I was at a loss to explain why it didn’t do that for 9 months, and now seems to do it on that continual schedule.

This morning it occurred to me that it might have started when I switched from PK to MK - the timing seemed about right… and that, in turn, caused me to remember that when I got my carts back in December 2020, the MK cart was damaged on the very bottom front. The plastic for the lowest hole was completely broken off. (See attached image.)

I let it go because I didn’t want to deal with it, given that I use MK inks so rarely.

Today, however, I’m wondering if that lower hole, and the plunger that goes in it, are causing the machine to think the cart is losing pressure all the time (hence the incessant whirr-whirr.)

So…

  1. could that be the problem?
  2. can I test it by replacing the cart temporarily with the Epson cart that came with the printer? If so, will that screw up the counter chip on the broken cart?
  3. if I need to replace the cart, how do I get the ink out of the broken cart? That’s 700 ml of ink I’d rather not have to discard.

I’d appreciate your comments and suggestions on how best to move forward, whether it’s the cart, or some other thing causing what I think is a repressurizing over 300 times a day.

Thank you.
broken cart

2

3 days no reply, so

bump

3

I’ve been out sick with Anaplasmosis from a tick bite. Sorry,

I’m forwarding this to Wells.

Best regards,
Walker

broken cart.jpg

4

Hi Tracy,

I’d turn that printer off and not let it cycle the pump until we get you a replacement cart. I’m sending one ASAP.

Best,
Wells

5

OH MY GOSH, Walker… Take care of yourself, and do everything the doctor says. That’s nasty. My best wishes are with you!