Question Inkjet Printer Printhead replacement process ?

[Crag_Hack]

@BFG-9000 @Paperdoc Thx guys a little overwhelmed but I get the big picture... main question still stands, to run the printhead clean procedure or not with the 'new' printhead?

Also I've never seen a printer with a priming function in the settings is this common?

 

[Paperdoc]

Your printer does not have something called a Prime function. But something similar to that is in the head cleaning menu. Basically if your first head clean operation is not sufficient, you can choose to do a second cleaning, and that MAY use MORE ink to flush the head.

I just noticed you post about the BCH cleaning solution kit and watched its YouTube video. That is similar, but maybe a bit better. The fittings to force the solution through the head are better. I do NOTE that the procedure recommended is different. Instead of flushing in on shot, they simply try to fill each colour of the head with a smaller amount and let it soak overnight before proceeding. Then they do NOT force more cleaner through. Instead they re-install the ink cartridges and use a normal Head Clean step from the menu to push ink through. If this is moderately successful they do an extra Head Clean, maybe two. They appear to suggest that the entire process could be redone only if the first time around is NOT completely successful. All of that sound like a good process to me.

So, if you "new" print head still is giving trouble, you could try the BCH product and process on it BEFORE doing many normal Head Cleans, since they use up a lot of ink and may NOT do the job. I believe you already have tried that.

 

[Crag_Hack]

@Paperdoc I did try to remedy the situation with a CQ163-80060 printhead originally but didn't do any printhead cleanings until it started giving me attitude a couple months after original installation or so. The printhead cleanings were fruitless, so that's where I'm at now.

So sounds like I should put the C2P18A in and see what happens without any printhead cleanings correct? Then if things aren't good go the BCH product route. Thanks again.

 

[Paperdoc]

The C2P18A is your NEW (well, reconditioned) print head, right? You say it worked OK, then got troublesome but you have NOT tried the normal simple Head Clean in printer menu. If so, TRY that first - maybe twice. If that does not make a big improvement, then I'd suggest getting one of those BCH head cleaning kits and use that.

 

[Crag_Hack]

The C2P18A is my new one but I haven't installed it yet. I tried with a CQ163 previously which started malfunctioning after a couple months with blank lines in the black printouts. Three printhead cleanings did not help. So I'm going to install the new C2P18A but have not yet. Just wondering whether I install it and see how things go, or install it and immediately do printhead cleanings. Thanks.

 

[Paperdoc]

I would do at least one Head Clean right away. Whether that process automatically prints out a test page at the end, or whether instead YOU have to request that, get the print-out. Then you can judge whether more cleaning is need, or the print is near-perfect.

 

[Crag_Hack]

@Paperdoc Thanks that's the answer I was looking for!

@BFG-9000 @Paperdoc @USAFRet A followup question ... what brand printer do you guys prefer for reparability and reliability? HP deeply offends me using fixed heads that can't be replaced through them for a 3 year old printer. Definitely incorporating your guys preference for laser printers into my modus operandi. I'd like a printer that lasts 10-15 years and can repaired if necessary.

 

[Paperdoc]

History from me. As we created a small retail business in 1993 I got an HP LaserJet monochrome printer. VERY reliable and great quality, not cheap! It lasted a long time. About 7 years later I got our first ink jet, also from HP, particularly for printing high-quality photos from our daughter's wedding. That was a really good printer, too. At that time all HP inkjets used ink cartridges with built-in print heads, so the heads were NOT part of the printer and were replaced with every new cartridge. I even refilled carts with ink so they were re-used several times before printing flaws triggered replacements. It also has a paper feed system that allowed printing long banners on Z-fold paper in colour, VERY handy for our store!

In 2011 I believe the LaserJet had developed continuous problems with paper handling. I expect it was the rubber rollers had aged enough that they just could not grab the paper reliably. I considered having it rebuilt for that, but decided instead to go for a colour laser from Lexmark, their C543dm (now long since discontinued). It was great! Colours were very good, pretty speedy printing on plain paper, high resolution 600dpi. On a few occasions I had performance problems, and some were settled with advice from Tech Support over the phone. A couple times they shipped me replacement parts to fix the issue, no change!I used third-party toner cartridges after the first few years, no problems there.The only real downside is you can NOT print high-gloss photos on such a machine. I tried using common high-gloss photo paper for an inkjet, and the toner never adhered to the paper - it just brushed right off when handled! However, printing the dame photo on its normal paper makes a VERY good print with a matte finish. I often put such into a frame with a front glass, and you get some "glossy" look that way.

After about 10 years that Lexmark developed a major failure. I believe it was that the heating filament in the fuser unit burned out and would need replacement. I considered doing the job ,myself but could not fins clear instructions how, nor easy parts availability. So now I have a Brother HL-L3290CDW colour printer. It is just like a colour laser with the exception that the light source is not a laser bean that scans over the drums. Each of the four printing units has an line of tiny LED's to expose light on its drum, still using the Xerographic printing technology. Native 600 dpi resolution, automatic double-sided printing on regular laser printer paper, single paper input tray plus a manual-feed system, and excellent software tools for customizing many printing profiles for re-use for different jobs. PLUS it has a great 600 dpi Scanner in it (can do copying, of course). Prints are great with good colour rendition and resolution. Connects via WiFi, so it is a general network printer for several computers in our house. I chose this because of very good user reviews, and notes on the internet that it is easy to use third-party toner cartridges with a small adjustment to set its copy count records for each cartridge.

I still have two HP ink jet printers (one from my son), but rarely use either. Both show printing flaws I have not been able to correct despite cleanings etc. Along the way, though, for snapshot PHOTO printing for the last 20+ years I have used two Epson PictureMate printers. These are small units that print only on 4" x 6" photo paper and produce wonderful high-res prints in beautiful colours. That's why I replaced my first (when it failed) with another from them. Prints are completely dry and smudge-free immediately after emerging, and they claim the colours are stable for 100 years. I'll never test that! With those I have experimented with third-party ink cartridges that printed OK, but found they never gave the print yield that the genuine Epson ones do, so the costs made no sense. The Epson print packs I buy now promise 150 prints with the ink cart and 150 glossy sheets in the pack. I keep spare extra Epson paper because I get reliably 155 to 160 prints per pack.

Finally, to your question. I was very happy with HP ink jets and their quality 25 years ago, even when refilling their ink carts with others' ink. But I have no experience with their most recent printers. Personally I resist systems that refuse to allow me to buy and use third-party consumables, and most of my experience with those has been good IF I choose carefully and stick with ones I find to be reliable. As you can see, I now much prefer colour laser type printers. They are expensive up-front, but high-yield toner carts can be had relatively cheaply so per-print costs are better then ink jets. They cannot clog up. The also can NOT print high-gloss photos, though, but matte-finish photos on plain paper are quite good.

 

[Crag_Hack]

@Paperdoc Thanks IC. What your preferred brand though?

 

[Paperdoc]

Preferred brand of what? If you mean inkjet printers, I have not bought any for a LONG time so I don't really know them. As a general rule, though, I do like to use third-party ink or toner cartridges because I have had good experience with some, and they certainly are cheaper. OR carts that can be refilled with third-party ink. The problem for this always is printer makers who design with cartridge monitoring systems that reject "foreign" carts or "empty" ones and refuse to do anything. For SOME this system is merely a way for the printer itself to count the number of prints made for each cart and force you to change when the estimated cart contents are used up. To defeat that system often you can find on the internet a "hack" hint that allows you to reset the print counter in the printer so that it believes you HAVE installed a new cart, and the maker is not important. For other systems each cart has a small printed circuit board and chip on it, and the counting register is on that chip. Further, that same chip has a secret ID on it to identify it as genuine OEM. For that type, sometimes you can buy a "chip re-setter" device that you can use the re-write the info on the chip, whether you are refilling an OEM one or using a third-party cart. OR, some people try to transplant that chip from a genuine OEM cart to a new one and then re-set its counter register. A third option is some inkjet third-party suppliers I used sell carts with such chips already installed AND containing all the info to identify it as genuine so they work. Similarly for toner carts in a laser printer.

NOTE, of course, that doing this DOES risk poor printer performance or even damage if the third-party cart is not up to the quality requirements of an OEM cart. You cannot know that. I simply tried out units from a seller that appears well-established and kept track of appearance of prints, performance and problems. Fortunately my only negative results were low print count yield on some ink carts, and I never experienced bad prints or printer damage I could relate to the third-party inks.

Preferred printer makers? As I said, my experience with HP inkjets is too old to be relevant now. It began 'way back in the 1970's when HP had an excellent reputation in lab instrumentation, and maintained that as they expanded into consumer goods like printers and calculators. Their LaserJet line of monochrome printers in the 1990's were rightly HIGHLY regarded for quality of prints and paper handling and for durability. In 2006 I bought a Canon inkjet printer which I liked a lot until ultimately I could not obtain a replacement print head - old printer with no new replacement parts available. My more recent printers both have been colour laser type. The first, from Lexmark, I liked a lot until it failed as I noted in my first post of Jan. 15 above (starts with "History from me ...") and I was not confident I could repair it myself. The printer, its prints, and support from Lexmark all were great. To replace it I chose one from Brother in part because I knew that I could use third-party toner carts with it because it uses the print count system maintained in the printer and that can be reset from the printer menu if you find the "secret". It's a 3-in-1 unit - print, scan, copy, but no FAX system built in - and does all those very well.

For third-party toner carts I have been buying for years from a Canadian seller, 123ink.ca, becasue I live in Canada. Their current in-house brand is Moustache who make both regular and high-yield carts. They are sold individually or in sets of all colours and are much cheaper than Original Genuine ones but do provide the same print yields and colours as Originals. When last I worked with a Canon inkjet I had a regular seller but that was long ago and irrelevant now. My most recent inkjet carts were genuine HP's, but the probelms I was dealing with were in the old printers and NOT cartridge issues, so that also does not help.

Small general hint. For any colour printer you really should have one with FOUR inks - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black, the common commercial CMYK system. Using those four you can get very good colours and depths of tone. Three-colour systems with no Black do not do black well and use a LOT of the three colour inks to get that. SOME higher-end units have separate Blacks, one dye-based for colours and one pigment-based for solid black text. Some also have added separate lighter-toned versions for Magenta and Cyan carts for better production of less saturated colours. In all cases I find normally that the printer driver and configuration tools have an option to set the print job to do ONLY black and white - NO colours - when you are doing a text-only document. You can even use that for monochrome (grey-scale) prints of a "colour" job. I ALWAYS choose that on any job that does NOT need any colour in a print, and that avoids using up the three coloured inks when they are not needed.

Lastly, there are many inkjet printers now with Ink Tank systems. For each ink there is a tank you can refill from a bottle of ink, and no separate cartridges. The print head is a permanent part of the printer (although replaceable I suppose as a maintenance procedure). Such units are ideal for places with high print counts per month because they save money on expensive ink. That may NOT be any better for ink jet clogging problems in places that print fewer pages per month. But they MIGHT be a little easier to flush if necessary. I really do NOT know about that part.