Refillable Cart's - 1 colour missing

[Justin]

I have recently installed new refillable cart's into my Epson 1400.

The black seems to be blocking between uses. Occasionally it blocks half way through a print. I can clear it by print a couple of inches of solid black but seem to have to do this every day. if I leave the printer for just an hour or two the same thing happens.

I'm wondering if it could be a problem with the cartridge or is it possibly the print head?

Tried leaver printer on all the while and also shutting down overnight, problem occurs either way.

Anyone any ideas?

[bms]

Sounds to me as though their is an air leak problem with the cartridge. If the cart is full of ink, it fully sealed (apart from the small air inlet hole as the printer sucks ink out) then it should work fine. If you're getting problems of ink flow through the cartridge then it sounds like there is a problem with the cartridge. Have you tried an ordinary black cartridge to see if that works fine?

[Justin]

Just trying an original black cart alongside the others, see what happens over next couple of days

[Justin]

So annoyed with this now. Bought some new refil. carts just to prove to myself that existing black cart is faulty. Filled the new one with ink and made sure nozzle check perfect. Come back to it 2 hours later and black stopped printing! I printed a black block as I've been doing recently and exactly the same thing has happened. Starts to print after about 25mm of the block is printed.

I can only think there's a problem with the printer, nothing else left to try now

[bms]

What happened when you put in an ordinary cartridge? Did it print okay then and is the problem only with the refillable cart?

[Justin]

Just having a go with that now, will test tonight and then leave overnight, see what happens.

[Justin]

Original Epson cart seems to have stayed perfect overnight, perfect nozzle check after 24 hours. Replaced again with the new refil. subli cart, got a good nozzle check.....waited a couple of hours and same problem, blocked pattern.

I guess this proves it's not the printer which is a relief. Only other thing it could be is a problem with the ink, unless I've been really unlucky and got 2 duff cart's from different suppliers.

[bms]

Problem is it could be either and working out which is not easy. What ink are you using - sublimation or dye based (normal ink?). Do you create a vacuum when you fill these carts for the first time and let the ink fill the vacuum? If so did the cart hold the vacuum before filling? If not then the cart won't print properly regardless of ink.

[Justin]

It's subli-ink Martin. Following the suppliers instructions for the refil. carts and just filling in the top, replacing the bung (these are single chamber cart's) I have tried to pull the ink through with a syringe and ink does flow.

How would you create a vacuum in a refil cart?