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| HP F4210 Inkjet printer doesn't print |
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| ThunderZed:
I've found an old HP F4210 Inkjet printer in a garage and I'd like to understand if it can still work or not. Consider that printing heads are integrated in the cartridges in this model and consider that I'd like to print in b/w only though it carries the color cartridge on too. I've bought a brand new black cartridge and put in. The printer drags the sheets normally and its carriage goes right and left normally too as the printer worked properly but sheets are completely blank! Printer's own sw is too old to work on Windows 10 so I can only use the W10 system sw. I tried to clean printing heads both by W10 system sw and by its self-test (by pressing a certain button combination) but sheets are still blank. What's its problem in you opinion and how to fix it (if possible)? |
| themadhippy:
there's not a bit of tape or plastic tab you need to remove from the cartridge before use by any chance? |
| ThunderZed:
yes, there was a plastic tape on the new cartridge to protect its printing head. as i pulled it off i could see a bit of ink and i cleaned it, now and after many attempts to clean its printing head there're no ink traces. i attach some pics of the new cartridge and the printer's carriage, please let me know if you can see something to point my attention to. do you think it's a cartridge or printer matter? do you think it could be a mechanical trouble? eg. carriage can't go down enough to be in contact with paper. do you think it could be a good idea to sink the cartridge's printing head in few millimeters of ammonia bath for 24h? |
| tooki:
--- Quote from: ThunderZed on April 29, 2023, 11:52:19 am ---1. do you think it's a cartridge or printer matter? 2. do you think it could be a mechanical trouble? eg. carriage can't go down enough to be in contact with paper. 3. do you think it could be a good idea to sink the cartridge's printing head in few millimeters of ammonia bath for 24h? --- End quote --- 1. Could be either. Note that that printer model uses different cartridges depending on what country it's from -- 300 series in Europe, 60 series in most of the rest of the world. 2. It's an inkjet printer, the carriage isn't supposed to be in contact with the paper!! 3. Absolutely not! If you're not getting anything at all (as opposed to streaky output), then it's likely not a problem with clogging. And even if it were, ammonia is not the right thing to clean it. Honestly, that printer was cheap even when it was new, and it's anything but new. I wouldn't invest one cent in it. Take it apart and salvage the fun parts (motors, optical encoders, power supply, etc) and buy a new printer for your printing needs. |
| Psi:
Did you prime the head. From my memory of inkjets there is a head priming task you do from the menu or with some button presses. Takes 30 sec or so and sits there pumping ink through the head and out into the waste pad inside the machine. Basically need to clear out all the air in the lines. Normally you can get away without doing it when changing ink tanks because there is ink in the lines already but if its sat for ages they may be all empty. If it doesn't have a prime mode or you cant figure out how to do it. Print a full page photo with it set to glossy photo paper so it has to pump a lot of ink. |
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