So I decided to try to replace 2 of the dampers in the P600 upper printhead area to get my 2 white channel back. I thought having a separate thread to discuss this surgery might help others in the future.
I did waterfall the printhead and all 8 channels are beautiful. Not a single issue. 2 white channels are gone. I also replaced both print cartridges in the bay, and gentle testing of the upper printhead dampers led me to believe they're toast.
Here are my questions (for @jgabby and @PirateLife mostly):
1. Removing the ink lines is messy. Very, very messy. What's the best way to NOT make this messy? I snagged a glass cup, removed the ink cartridges from the bay, and pulled the 2 screws off connecting the ink set to the damper assembly. Ink poured into the cup (thankfully) and I didn't make a mess but my hands were covered.
2. I removed the dampers -- @jgabby has photos in another thread but I'll try to take video this week showing the process. Each damper covers 2 channels. I removed the ones that didn't seem to have white ink near the output nozzle -- those were definitely clogged as no pulling or pushing with a syringe showed movement. I put new dampers in (well, refurbished ones from another printer).
3. I reconnected everything. Powered on. Ran a CL1 clean and nozzle check -- no channels are printing (very light nozzles on a few channels). Prior to the surgery I had 6 perfect channels and 2 missing.
4. I powered down, pulled the damper assembly off and did a light priming all the way from the ink cartridges. I hear ink flowing, and my syringe did have ink in it. So ink is flowing.
5. Reassembled, powered up, CL3 clean ($$$) and nozzle check: same issue, 8 missing channels with very very light ink in a few nozzles.
Now I'm uncertain what the next step is. After turning on the machine after priming, the first 10 seconds of a head clean does show all colors in the capping station but after that, the rest of the clean isn't pulling ink through. There's no obvious visible air in any of the tubes or lines. I think I primed enough.
Thoughts?
I did waterfall the printhead and all 8 channels are beautiful. Not a single issue. 2 white channels are gone. I also replaced both print cartridges in the bay, and gentle testing of the upper printhead dampers led me to believe they're toast.
Here are my questions (for @jgabby and @PirateLife mostly):
1. Removing the ink lines is messy. Very, very messy. What's the best way to NOT make this messy? I snagged a glass cup, removed the ink cartridges from the bay, and pulled the 2 screws off connecting the ink set to the damper assembly. Ink poured into the cup (thankfully) and I didn't make a mess but my hands were covered.
2. I removed the dampers -- @jgabby has photos in another thread but I'll try to take video this week showing the process. Each damper covers 2 channels. I removed the ones that didn't seem to have white ink near the output nozzle -- those were definitely clogged as no pulling or pushing with a syringe showed movement. I put new dampers in (well, refurbished ones from another printer).
3. I reconnected everything. Powered on. Ran a CL1 clean and nozzle check -- no channels are printing (very light nozzles on a few channels). Prior to the surgery I had 6 perfect channels and 2 missing.
4. I powered down, pulled the damper assembly off and did a light priming all the way from the ink cartridges. I hear ink flowing, and my syringe did have ink in it. So ink is flowing.
5. Reassembled, powered up, CL3 clean ($$$) and nozzle check: same issue, 8 missing channels with very very light ink in a few nozzles.
Now I'm uncertain what the next step is. After turning on the machine after priming, the first 10 seconds of a head clean does show all colors in the capping station but after that, the rest of the clean isn't pulling ink through. There's no obvious visible air in any of the tubes or lines. I think I primed enough.
Thoughts?