Color shift on 3800 S2?

InkjetMall Customer Support Piezography Inks & Printing
1

I am printing K7 on 9880 and 3800. There is a nozzle clog on magenta of 3850 so I print GO ink on magenta. Before installing K7 ink sets on 3800, I have install 9 piezoflush and make sure I got the same piezoflush red color without color staining on every channel. Then I install the K7 ink sets and power clean for several times.

Both printers share the same bottle of S1, S2, S3 inks. But I got a green color shift on S2 only on 3850. At fist, I thought I might have mixed up the S2 ink so I installed a new refill cartridge with the same bottle of S2 ink but the S2 is still green after several power cleaning. I also tried to switch the cartridge position between S2© and S7(Y). The new S2 on Y is still green and the S7 on C is fine. I have already cleaned the capping station/wiper blade/print head according to the instruction. I have seen slightly banding on C(S2) but all nozzle check are fine (I could not see GO on magenta however). Is it means that I would need to replace the damper? Thanks~

Image : http://imgur.com/2hmogBM

2

Thanks for the detailed information and print example, this is all very helpful. Based on the output from your two printers using the same inks, it is obvious that your 3850 is printing too light and a strong cyan cast to the cyan/shade 2 channel. Since you have already ruled out the ink, and cart, manually cleaned the internal parts of the printer, and done several power clean cycles, but get the same results- I would agree with your diagnosis that your dampers need to be replaced. The 3800/3850/3880 printers use a damper assembly that contains all the dampers in one unit, and although I found a way to replace an individual damper, there are no instructions for doing this (the repair manual says to replace the whole ink unit, including the dampers, tubes and cartridge bays- which is sold as one unit, for about $180 from CompassMicro.com), and I haven’t had a chance to write them (though do plan to, it may be a week or so before I have a chance).

I hope this helps.
All the best~ Dana :slight_smile:

3

Thanks for the instant reply in several minutes!

I have replaced the dampers of 3800 according to the service manual. After doing 3 power cleaning I print the same image and S2 was still to light and had a obvious color shift. Finally I found that the color shift is mainly because my warn neutral S2 ink almost separated into two layers in the bottle! I always got the ink from the upper light and green layer by syringe. All the black inks are in the bottom of the bottle. After I refill the cartridge with “fully mixed” S2 ink I have good results now. Thanks!

I have another question for my 3800 printer. Before I disassemble my 3800 I have already noticed that the edge printed by 3800 is a little not so sharp as 9880. After replacing the dampers, the edges seems to be more vague. When I print 256 ramp on Canson BFK Rives using the profile you provide, there are some not so uniform patches at the mid gray. There seems to be some salt noise on the patches but after hours or days, the salts noise are gone. I have also found that the 10% patch of S1 is even more grainy than before. I always print on 2800 bidirectional and do a nozzle check before printing. I have also tried head alignment but with no luck. Would I need to calibrate my 3800 by the adjustment program? Thanks again.

4

Thanks for the update. I’m glad to hear your output issue is resolved, but please be aware we always instruct for ink bottles to be shaken before filling or refilling carts, and regularly agitating ink cartridges to maintain in-suspension pigment. Please refer to your cartridge instructions for this and other important information.

I looked up your order history and see you purchased Piezography Carbon inks and 3800 refill carts. I see you received the inks on 12/9, so after being agitated during shipping, wouldn’t have had time to settle in just two weeks- especially not to the severity you report. If you are using Warm-Neutral inks, did you order from us under a different name/account, or did you get the WN inks somewhere other than us? What are the lot#s’ and expiration dates on the ink bottles you’re using?

If you filled your carts without shaking the ink bottles, and drew ink from the top of a very settled bottle, did an initial fill cycle and few prints to discover very light and colored output, I don’t believe you will get accurate results with this ink because the pigment/liquid ratio is changed, even after pouring cartridge contents back into their original bottles, agitating, and refilling carts.

Please clarify what you are using.
Best regards~ Dana