LLK position erratic on 3880

1

My 3880 is set up for matte printing using profiles by Paul Roark. The cart in the LLK position is consistently using ink at about twice the rate of the other carts. Once it ran dry and multiple cleaning cycles and LLK flush cycles were required to get a complete nozzle check pattern again. Everything went normally for a time until I pulled the cart to agitate them and check ink levels–the LLK was again down twice the amount of the others. Nozzle checks showed a bad pattern for the LLK, LK and MK, and ink blotches. 2 cleaning cycles gave a good pattern for everything but the LLK and ink blotches persisted. LK and LLK channel flushes showed consistent tone with no banding but small ink blotches continued, and another nozzle check showed a bad pattern on the LLK and LK positions. The carts are all IJM carts about 3 years old.
Likely causes?

2

The most likely cause here is a pinhole in the LLK damper going to the print-head causing around-the-head drops into the wast ink tank.

If you remove the LLK cart and there is no puddle of ink wastage in the ink bay, the cause is a damper leak.

Regards,
Walker

3

Thanks Walker. No puddle in the ink bay. Can you suggest a source for dampers?

4

The “ink supply unit” is what you need and most likely you can get this from Alibaba supplier

best
Walker

5

The whole unit? I replaced it 3 years ago.

6

That is to say I replaced with OEM unit from Compass Micro. Probably less than 500 8.5x11 or equiv. printed since then.