R3000 - intermittent banding

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
1

I’ve only just recently starting seeing this issue (see photo below). I print about 10-15 8.5"x 11" full color photos per day in my office so I use a fair amount of ink and the printer is never idle for more than a weekend.

If I do a head cleaning cycle and nozzle check, it shows as fine and then the first print right after will (usually, not always) be fine, but then the next photo shows the banding and if I then do a nozzle check it shows some missing lines. So the head cleaning works for a print or two, then it’s back to the banding and showing missing lines with the nozzle check.

Any ideas what I can do to try and fix this?

Thanks,
-D

2

Could it be that your capping station is dirty? It might print fine until it automatically “cleans” the head and gets contaminants on it. Give that a check, and hopefully the IJM staff will have other ideas for you!

3

Hi Montague~

After reviewing your order history, I see you bought a set of R3000 refillable carts and ConeColor inks in 11/2012, and another set of inks and carts last month. Are you using one or two printers? If one, what set of carts are you currently using?

When you experience banding and missing nozzles, are the missing nozzles usually in the same color position(s), or do they move around in different positions? Do you recall about when you first noticed this issue, and what happened around that time that may be a factor?

Have you manually cleaned your printer’s capping station, wiper blade and/or bottom of the print head? What is the humidity level in your printing environment?
If you haven’t already, I recommend you check out our printer maintenance and cleaning article, which includes several helpful cleaning procedures as well as other tips: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?133-Printer-Cleaning-and-Preventative-Maintenance

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have questions, your results, or if there’s anything else I can help you with.
Best regards~ Dana :slight_smile:

4

Hi Dana,
After my post the problem went away for all of this week, only to return again yesterday. One thing I noticed is that when the problem returned one of the printouts had smears of black ink along the long side of the paper.

To answer your questions:

  1. I have two R3000’s and the new carts are for the other printer that isn’t giving me problems.
  2. The missing nozzles are not always in the same color positions.
  3. The issue first occurred several weeks ago and there was nothing that I can identify as a factor. I did see some printouts with that same black smearing along the edge though.
  4. I have not cleaned the printers capping station/wiper blade or print head. I do have an external ink waste disposal attached which has been in use since I first started using the printer over a year ago.
5

Thanks for the additional information.

I certainly recommend cleaning your printer by following the instructions I linked to in my previous post. Regular printer maintenance is important for getting the best quality and longest life from your printer, and I expect cleaning will help both the missing nozzles and ink smears on the paper edge.
What paper(s) are you printing on? Many papers can curl towards the print side, so if you have gunk on the bottom of your head, it will get transferred to the paper as the print head moves over the paper.

Please let me know if you have questions, your results, and/or if there’s anything else I can help you with.
Best regards~ Dana :slight_smile: