Selective purging programs

[chris_f]

Hi,

After having stupidly filled a cart with vm instead of vlm and using it before correcting my mistake, I've been getting a residual cast over my photos. I suspect this is because there's still vm in the vlm line. I've done a few cleaning routines and A3 prints, but the warm cast remains. Skin tones are too red and b&w have warm non neutral look

Can it take a lot of printing and cleaning cycles to flush out a single line of unwanted color? And is QTR the only program to use? Visiting their website makes no mention of selective flushing, though it might be a function embedded in their $50 package. I notice Marrut also do one but don't want to proceed before I've had some advice.

Thanks,

Chris

[walkerblackwell]

QTR is free to use just to flush a printer line.

You can download flush images (and instructions) here: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?166-Flush-individual-channel-using-QTR-Calibration-Mode

It wastes less ink than the Marrut method (which uses some VM and gray ink because it's not selecting a single channel).

best,
Walker

[chris_f]

Hi Walker,

I've seen that page on your link (above) before. It says:

...you can use the QuadTone RIP’s Calibration Mode. The QuadTone RIP is a $50 shareware program, which can be downloaded from www.quadtonerip.com

I don't see a specific stand-alone download there for selective flushing. The instructions on the link you gave say to open RIP, which is the $50 package, isn't it? Am I missing something?

Thanks,

Chris

[walkerblackwell]

¥ou can download QTR and use it free without paying and without registering. Roy asks you to pay for it when you can of your own good will.

best,
Walker

[chris_f]

Okay, I'm fine with paying for a useful service that someone has taken the time and trouble to develop. I just needed confirmation that QTR is where the selective purge function hides!

Once downloaded, is it plain sailing to purge individual channels or are there common traps and pitfalls to avoid along the way?

Thanks for your help.

Chris

[walkerblackwell]

Yes. QTR is where the selective purge function is.

best,
Walker

[chris_f]

What a can of worms! To rectify the above mistake, I got a spare vlm cart and filled it with the right ink and did some clean cycles. There was some improvement up to a point, so I deduced that there was probably still residual vm ink in the vlm line that was going to take an age to completely remove.

So I started selective purging of the vlm, and what happened? Well, just before that line stopped working completely the color suddenly went a much deeper tone after I'd printed off 6 or 7 A4 pages of what looked like the correct ink color! Very strange. I can only think that some hidden trapped reservoir of vm ink from my mistake suddenly made it through to the paper.

Anyway, now that line prints nothing, despite many cleaning cycles. Nozzle checks give only a couple of millimeters of print at most. I've tried cleaning the print head as per the Inkjetmall maintenance videos but with no difference. I'm thinking two things: either I have a faulty cart, (which seems unlikely and which would be very unlucky), or vm ink particles have created a really stubborn blockage, in which case perhaps I need to selectively purge that line with Piezo flush in a fresh cart, possibly using the printhead unblocking facility from 2manuals.com

Before someone asks, yes, the carts are more than half full. None have been allowed to run empty, and the air holes are open. I've had this printer maybe 3 years now with no previous issues and the printer has never been professionally overhauled. All issues stem from that one wrong color refill mistake, and boy how I'm paying for it now!

Any suggestions, anyone?

Many thanks,

Chris

[walkerblackwell]

It takes much more than 6 or 7 pages fyi.

To completely remove the ink, it will take something like 20 pages of letter paper. But you never want to print anything if a nozzle is out.

Regardless, it seems to me that you have an air lock in there. Possibly from a cartridge that was not primed properly or vacuum filled properly (There are two ways to fill the R3000 carts but each way involved taking air out of the very end of the cartridge where it goes over the inlet spike in the printer).

You will most likely need to run a maintenance cleaning with a utility at this point to remove the air block and re-prime whatever 0-ring gaskets are in the line that have air blocking them.

Sorry for your trouble. I understand how frustrating these things can be.

warmly,
-Walker

[chris_f]

Okay...that's a possibility.

When you refer to maintenance cleaning with a utility, I assume you're talking about something a bit more powerful than the head cleaning function on the R3000. If so, which utility would you recommend? The easier to use the better!

And should it be run for just the blocked color?

Thanks,

Chris