HP 1055cm Cyan Printhead Replace 21 & itop?

Do we have a tool expert for the HP 1055cm plus? It appears to want a new cyan printhead and the bad palette printout taped to it seems to suggest the same to me (cyan no workie).

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPwHhpKb4Kc3kcq7vVpptgZ7qegYFfpTjk16EKQ

P.S. I’m not seeing a “Creative Arts” section in iTop and wondered if that’s being used? There is a “Printers” category but I’m thinking that is for the basic network printers only.

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I haven’t set up the printers on iTop yet, but will be doing so soon.

I’m the current “tool expert” for both the EPSON 7880 and the HP 1055cm.
The later I’m only so-so on in terms of expertise. I’ve been working on the
HP and haven’t had a lot of luck. The cyan printhead is brand new despite
the error message. I’m trying to track down wether the problem is a faulty
new print head or something else that’s causing the print head to read as
bad. The current status is that cyan doesn’t print. The print heads are
over $100 so I’m hesitant to just throw another one at it to see what
happens.

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Back in the day when I regularly used those ‘plotters’, we would use 99% isopropyl alcohol and cotton swaps to clean all of the contacts on the print head and the connectors for it. Most of the time this would clear up the problem, but when it didn’t we always ended up calling HP service. On those occasions it always required them replacing some part…

Thanks for the tip on cleaning the contacts. That was going to be my next
step but wasn’t sure what to use. I’ll try and get up there in the next day
or so to try it out.

Thanks Steve. I didn’t want to start emailing you as I recall you saying you were just getting familiar with it and yet I suspected you’d be aware of it already and probably working on it. New print head, old error, check.

I downloaded the service manual last night while up there doing some printing on the wide format printer and started reading but wanted to start with the obvious first, possible bad print head :smile: I’m willing to help but don’t want to get in the way or make things worse.

A clean pencil eraser works well, too.

I was in tonight testing out on the Multicam and had some time so I removed the cyan printhead and used an eraser to gently clean both the print head contacts and the printer cartridge contacts. I then replaced the print head and the printer ran it’s tests which passed! ! I started a palette demo and let it run until it reached green and was working, then I cancelled as it was printing on the 36" roll :innocent:

Printhead now reports “OK 0” (see photo). I changed the tool status back to operational in the system and left it on. Are there any further tests or work that should be done?

Google Photos

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There is a “print quality” test print that’s a little better to prove that
its operating correctly but it sounds like that was the problem. Thanks for
jumping in there!

Darn, we’re not quite there yet it seems. I tried a 36"w x 20"l print today and the first few inches looked OK and then it was back to no cyan.

I tried printing another palette demo using 8.5 x 11 and noticed the printer said “Recovering Cyan” for a bit, then ran test printheads, then printed the demo. It mostly worked, I’m seeing all the colors but some streaking.

I tried the print quality test on 8.5 x 11 and it failed badly with no cyan and the status is back to “Replace 21” on cyan.

I’ve updated the tool status page, turned it off and put another note on it.

I’ll be in and out over the next week and I’m happy to try working on this however I thought I’d check in here before trying anything. Perhaps another cleaning attempt with a bit of alcohol this time?

Sounds like we’re on the right track. Either the head is still dirty OR
there’s something going south after a small amount of usage… Feel free to
try cleaning again.

I tried an eraser again tonight, same result. Reports OK and prints for a bit, then goes south.

Google Photos

Hmm. Are you noticing anything coming off onto the eraser?

Nothing really, no. I’m unsure what to make of this, definitely a learning experience for me!

Well, I came up here and tried using alcohol and got more or less the same
results you got. It appears that the print head starts out ok (once
cleaned) but then degrades after a few minutes. I did try resetting the
print head without cleaning to see if the results would be different. I was
trying to determine if maybe the head was shifting out of place. Resetting
didn’t improve the situation like cleaning seems to do. So, next we can
either try another print head or possibly call a tech.

I’ve downloaded and run through the service manual a bit. They recommend a new printhead but if the one we have is indeed brand new then I’m thinking a tech is next. I doubt a “Carriage Interconnect Wiper” would make or break us here.

This message generally indicates that the printhead must be
replaced. This situation must be corrected before the printer will
operate. However, this problem may be corrected as follows:
1 Reseat the printhead.
2 Clean the Carriage and Printhead flex circuits using the Carriage
Interconnect Wiper ⇒ Page 3-18.
3 If after reseating and cleaning the printhead, the failed message
disappears but then reappears later, replace the printhead.

Esp after trying alcohol and Q-tip. I’ll seek out a service tech and at
least get their advice.

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In my experience, nothing is deposited on the eraser.

The eraser works best against dry deposits like light corrosion / oxidization / dirt. The metal (typically copper or gold alloy) should be noticeably shinier.

Alcohol works best against wet deposits like oil / grease.

Often, rubbing alcohol is adulterated. Adulterated rubbing alcohol should never be used to clean electronics. Things like lotion, which will leave deposits, are often added.

Anything over 90% alcohol (the only other component will be water) works very well.

I suspect a melamine sponge would work a bit better than an eraser.

Hopefully Steve will be able to obtain more information from a service tech. I’d lean toward a bad printhead/cleaner but if it works someone for a short time after a reset and I’m not sure how to interpret that.

I placed the service manual I downloaded in the creative arts committee file share root N:\creativearts

Software bug? Loose connection triggered by heat / expansion?

Mostly likely culprit in my opinion. Certainly a reasonable place to start.

The downside is it’s a costly item (approx $200 I believe for the real article) and I think Steve indicated the one we have is fairly new. I did look at the printhead info display but can’t recall the details and neglected to take a picture :frowning: I want to say it was reporting < 100ml of usage?

Steve, would we be covered under warranty by chance? The cyan printhead is definitely reporting < 1000ml of usage.