Initial Fill -- 7880

1

How does the initial fill on a 7880 work? Is it a combination of the air pressure pump pushing ink through the system and the cleaning assembly pump (the one attached to the capping station) pulling ink through? I assume that with one initial fill ink should flow from the cart through the head and out the capping station into the waste tank.

After replacing the dampers, flushing box, and cleaning assembly (complete) and doing an initial fill the first thing I observe is no ink exiting the two tubes on the cleaning assembly pump.

I should also say that the printer has flush carts installed on every position. And I am able to see flush in 6 or the 8 carts. Thinking that the two carts without flush were installed too tightly, I backed off the nut until I was getting a drip at the seal and then retightened it just enough to stop the drip. Did a regular power clean from the printer control panel (not any of the power cleans from maintenance mode). I will also add that prior to installing the new dampers I was successfully able to pull flush through the ink lines (I inserted the tip of a very small pipette attached to a syringe and inserted it into the end of the L-tube that attaches to the top of the dampers).

I have also swapped 4 carts to see if I could diagnose a cart or pressure system issues. Specifically 3-6 and 4-7.

In doing a nozzle check I am getting some horizontal lines (less than 25%) on cart slots 1 - 4 (the left ink bay) and nothing on slots 5 - 8 (the right ink bay).

In a separate post Walker suggested there might be an obstruction between the capping station and the print head preventing a seal. I have looked for obstructions, and changed out the capping station, and am still getting the same results. I checked the replaced, new, capping station to see if it was working (a little distilled water placed on the pad and viewed the water coming down the two exit tubes).

Is there any way to test if a cart is functioning correctly? The carts I am using are the older chambered type. I did notice on one of the carts ink around the air inlet port. I have also observed dried ink in the air pressure tubing (on the right side ink bay). I have not examined the left ink bay tubing.

Is there a way to test the air pressure system? When I ran the initial fill cycle the printer seemed to behave normally (from listening to the sounds – including the air pressure pump turning on – to the sequence of the initial fill – raising and lowering levers etc.; and the initial fill cycle completing; and lastly even the waste tank display and % remaining when doing a nozzle check went down.)

I appreciate how difficult these types of problems are to troubleshoot remotely via email. My primary questions are understanding how the initial fill cycle works and what could be preventing the init fill cycle from completing corrrectly.

thank you.