Z3100 refusing to clean!!!

[Rockarchive.com]

I am now on the verge of having 2 sightly smaller Z3100's instead of one big one... Where did I put that axe....

I have had problems cleaning the heads! It was fine for a year, self cleaning performed excellently, then, just after the year was up, the drop detector needed cleaning, I did this and also cleaned the service station, as the cleaning 'fingers' were covered in ink. It looks new in there now. I also changed ALL the print heads.

I spent yesterday performing cleaning runs... A waste of a day. This printer which started off in my life as the next greatest wonder of the world is now becoming more annoying than chewing gum on my shoe. I hope none looking for a new printer asks my opinion in the near future, it might lead to a drop in HP sales.

Our company is small and we have been using the printer everyday for over a year a technical bod even said, 'as these printers are new I have never seen one needing a clean in the service station as bad as this one.'

Does anyone have any advice? I am out of options. Should I spend the £500 for someone to replace the service station? Will this even fix the constant cleaning problem?

Lots of help will be very much appreciated!

Thanking you.  

[rwheat]

I think you may need to give everyone a little more information.

Why are you needing to perform "cleaning runs" - I have never performed a cleaning operation (except in the cleanup after a major fault) on my printer and it is over 18 months old?  Also, if you have replaced all the heads - why does it need cleaning - they are new heads and should perform like new (no clogged nozzles)?

The only thing I can suggest without further information is that you have some sort of malfunction where the printer is telling you to clean heads?  I'm guessing here.  It may be a fault with the drop detector - maybe it can't detect any drops and therefore thinks there is a problem with the heads??

Hope this helps,
Richard.

[Rockarchive.com]

I think you may need to give everyone a little more information.

Why are you needing to perform "cleaning runs" - I have never performed a cleaning operation (except in the cleanup after a major fault) on my printer and it is over 18 months old?  Also, if you have replaced all the heads - why does it need cleaning - they are new heads and should perform like new (no clogged nozzles)?

The only thing I can suggest without further information is that you have some sort of malfunction where the printer is telling you to clean heads?  I'm guessing here.  It may be a fault with the drop detector - maybe it can't detect any drops and therefore thinks there is a problem with the heads??

Hope this helps,
Richard.

I never needed to perform manual cleaning runs. But recently it has had banding, and on performing the print head test pattern it showed blocked nozzles. I did one have the error message saying the drop detector needed cleaning, so I cleaned it and the messages stopped, making me think that it was now clean.

I don't really know what more info I can give. The prints have banding on them, so that suggests dirty blocked nozzles, especially when the pattern test sheet is printed. The drop detector is clean, if it wasn't performing properly surely it would put up the error message?

I could put in a new drop detector, I believe they are only about £20. Then think again if the problem persists.

[dajaka]

Are you getting banding in all colors or just a particular color?

I have had problems in the past with banding in areas of mostly light cyan ink coverage. There is an issue with some batches of this ink crystalizing in the supply tubes. If this is what you are seeing you might need to have the supply tubes replaced.

[Rockarchive.com]

Are you getting banding in all colors or just a particular color?

I have had problems in the past with banding in areas of mostly light cyan ink coverage. There is an issue with some batches of this ink crystalizing in the supply tubes. If this is what you are seeing you might need to have the supply tubes replaced.

It is mainly the blacks and grays that are not cleaning. Those get the most use as we mainly print B/W images. I have decided to replace the drop detector sensor as well as that keeps putting up the error cleaning message. See if that helps.

[A. Andrew Gonzalez]

Just got the "clean the Drop Detector" message today.... now to search how to clean or buy a replacement.
Printing mostly B&W, just noticed some banding as well.
Printing has slowed down to a crawl.... stops on every pass to clean? or detection problem?

Andrew

[Rockarchive.com]

I have solved my problem and the Z3100 is now the second love of my life (again).

It was the drop detector. I bought a new one (£22) from some online shop and replaced it, tricky as the wire needs to be routed behind the service station, which I didn't feel like removing! Still, got it round and plugged in and now the printer is printing like new! So much for the technical that came in and thought that replacing the whole service station would fix the problem! Saved my self £500.

Now that it was working I decided to take the Drop Detector apart to see what it is made of. It was full of ink!!! All over the circuit board, so I guess that must have messed the connections and stopped it working. I suppose it could be cleaned up, but not really worth it for £22. I have photos... (geek) I will post them in later.

I have that good Friday feeling! Now I can get on with all those back orders of prints!

BUY A Z3100! THEY ARE TIP-TOP!