I think i need to pull my printheads and try to clean them with a coffee filter. Cleaning printheads is not helping my MK or LM. I've found some instructions on the site but I just want to make sure I understand the process. I can pull out the ink cartridges to access the print heads, and then reinstall the cartridges once the cleaning is done with no problems; is that correct? Once the cartridges are out, I can simply remove the printheads and gently blot the heads with a damp coffee filter.... right?

Thanks alot guys.

TJ

What printer are you using?

Oh, geeze, I completely forgot about that.

Its a 24" z3100PS. I've had it about 3/4 of a year, but I think I got a head strike when trying to print on film.

TJ

You don't have to remove the ink cartridges. The ink cartridges are nowhere near the printheads.

That is correct

do not rub or the nozzles get blocked. and clean the surroundings.

It is a very simple system. ( and works good)

I do not know the reason for cleaning it- -but i once had a internal leaking head that mixed the two inks and was leaking on the paper as well. check if all colors are clean(calibration target)
in this case a replacement was the solution

Since you aren't aware that in a large format printer like this the ink cartridges are not near the head, you probably shouldn't be messing around trying to clean this printer yourself. Whatever you read was most likely for a low end inkjet printer, where the nozzles themselves are part of the ink cartridge.

The z3100 employs a system that records bad nozzles when it is unable to clean them, and remaps those nozzle to "spare" nozzles. Once all of the spares are used up, the printer can no longer fix the problem by cleaning, and the head should be replaced.

It sounds very much like your problem. There are actually 6 "heads" in the printer, each one providing 2 of the colors. The two colors you mentioned do not share a printhead, so it sounds like you may need to replace 2 of them. I believe they cost around $70 each.

Here are the color combos and HP part numbers for the various replacement heads.

HP 70 Light Magenta & Light Cyan Printhead C9405A
HP 70 Magenta & Yellow Printhead C9406A
HP 70 Photo Black & Light Gray Printhead C9407A
HP 70 Blue & Green Printhead C9408A
HP 70 Matte Black & Red Printhead C9409A
HP 70 Gloss Enhancer & Gray Printhead C9410A

Oh, of course. There is no doubt that i'm inexperienced in this, but i need to learn someday I suppose. Thanks for your help guys.

TJ

On the Z3100 you need to clean the printhead carriage assembly (and this basically requires pulling the printheads to do it) if you're getting black streaks deposited near the edge of the page. This happens because you're getting build-up of matte black ink underneath the carriage assembly.

If on the other hand you're getting headstrikes ("zebra stripes"), this is a different problem. Either you're using a paper preset that commands a low head height on a thicker paper, or the paper is cockling (buckling) under the inkload and the printhead assembly is scraping the tops of the ripples on the way across. The solution is to pick a better paper preset for sufficient head clearance, or pick a different paper that won't buckle under inkloads.