HP 4000ps

[Big Al]

One came in today and the Black printhead #5 looked bad on the printout: Printer icon/Internal prints/Image diagnostic prints/Optim. for drawings & text. We have been kicking around how to clean these heads and get them working a little better. I want to try the Rubber & Roller cleaner fluid but have not found any yet. Tried boiling water with 1/3rd strong water based cleaner (like 409 on steriods) and that seemed to work. Dipped the brass in the hot water/detergent for a few seconds and tapped it gently on a tissue, repeated this about twenty times. Put it back in and the tests look much better! The Current Conditions report showed this head health to be #10 but the test printout showed a lot of dropouts.

Al

[MichaelTech]

Al. Martin Yale Rubber Roller cleaner
251 Wedcor, Wabash, Ind.46992
Ph:219-563-0641
I'll try to get our jobber from purchasing, and post it.

[redcow]

For roller cleaner I've been using MG Chemicals "Rubber Renue"(mgchemicals.com) $5.99. I get mine locally at Frys, I don't think that they expanded to the right coast just yet.

[Big Al]

Thanks for the feedback. I realize that we park these printers for long periods which is kind of unusual. We are trying to get the word out to leave these plugged in and turned on when they are deployed to disasters. We are keeping the ones in the warehouse powered up when in storage. Thanks for the sources for the chemicals.

Al

[redcow]

Hey Al,

Got two days left in my 4500 class. We have been told to tell users not to power the Design Jets off, and to print to them at least once a day. They are not designed to be put into storage only to be used for printing once a week or even worse, once a month. The ink will tend to clot in the heads. Set them in a tray of warm water. And let them soak for an hour. Use a clean coffee filter to gently blot the heads, don't rub. That may clear the dried ink.

Don't clean the rollers on the platen with anything other than a lightly dampened(with water) coffee filter. Those rollers will swell if you put any chemicals on them. Once they swell - it's time to change the platen.
We've been instructed to use only water on the rollers.

Oh, the coffee filters....they are lint free.

[Big Al]

Sounds like good information. We are leaving our 4000's plugged in and turned on during storage. Too soon to tell if that is sufficient. These sit in the warehouse until we send them out to a disaster. We have tried to label each printer with a notice to leave them turned on but no way to tell if that is happening when they are out there. At school they said if you had to store a machine for a long time to remove the heads and store them in a good plastic bag with a clean rag that is soaking wet.

Right now I have a 4000ps that came back DOA. It throws a 10.1:10 code right after POST. Book says to change the GAMUT and/or the PRINTMECH pc boards. I am waiting for the prices on the boards so the people that own it can get the money together to buy the boards. Reseated all the connectors but that did not help.

I think the heads will be clogged up by the time this all happens but I cannot get them out without pulling the end cover off. Guess I will have to bite the bullet and do that.

Had to change the blue lever that loads the paper. That was very easy.

Al

[redcow]

try to print something to the printers every couple of days.

[Big Al]

We have been storing eight of these HP4000ps printers, some for six months. They have been plugged in and left powered on so they will clean the heads every eight hours, spray some ink, clean the heads and put them back in stow. This week I pulled each one out and ran the head health tests and all the printouts look good.

Al