Keeping Your Ink Cartridges Safe

Primera Ink Cartridge, rimage Ink cartidge, Microboards printer Ink Cartridge

Not too many people realise it but the ink cartridges of your printer require as much care as the printer itself. In some variety of color printers, the cost of cartridges is very high while the printer itself is quite affordable. Hence, keeping ink cartridges safe becomes imperative.

 

Types of Problems with Cartridges

 

There are a variety of issues that people face with cartridges. These range from leaking to dryness. Let’s look at a brief list of them before exploring the solutions for keeping ink cartridges safe.

 

• Problems with printhead could be the cause if the print quality continues to be bad even after cleaning the cartridge
• Cartridges can get expired or become dry. This could also lead to a loss of quality in the printed pages
• Leakage of the cartridge may take place resulting in the appearance of streaks of color on pages
• Clogging is another major problem which occurs with ink cartridges and affects the quality of printouts
• One of the most common problems that arises in keeping ink cartridges safe is damage caused to them while installation. Lot of people find it difficult to install the cartridges cleanly without damaging it

 

Ways of Dealing with Cartridge-Related Problems

 

Problems with the Printhead

The sign of something being wrong with your printhead is a decline in the quality of the print. Another sign could be your computer informing you that there is something wrong with the printhead with messages appearing on your screen. The obvious solution for keeping ink cartridges safe is to run a cleaning cycle which would clear the clogging if that is causing the problem. However, if the situation doesn’t improve, then your printhead has been damaged and needs to be replaced.

 

Dryness of Cartridges

Inkjet cartridges don’t come cheap. Hence, you should be diligent in keeping ink cartridges safe. If they get dried out, you may be forced to buy a new one. In order to prevent your cartridges from drying out, keep it in use. If you leave your printer unused for a long time, it would get dried up quickly.

Also, you must not run the cleaning mode too often. Cleaning requires a lot of ink and so, using it when not necessary is a wastage of ink. Lastly, keep your cartridges loaded as that would prevent air from entering the printheads and causing the cartridges to become dry. Another important tip for keeping ink cartridges safe.

 

Do you have a Primera system? Here are some helpful tips:

Bravo 4100 series and LX900:

Here's a PDF on how to clean the copper contacts on the printhead  

Bravo 4100 series:

Take a look at THIS LINK for some suggestions

LX900:

Please take a look at http://kb.primera.com/article/21426/44703 for some suggestions.

Bravo SE3 and Bravo 4200 series:

Manually clean the cartridge using the following steps in the video:

 

Ensure you get even amounts of cyan, magenta and yellow.

Then run a Clean Cartridges through PTPublisher under Tools – Printer Properties – Clean Cartridges (PC) –OR- PTPublisher menu – Clean Cartridges (Mac).

LX910:

Manually clean the cartridge using the following steps in this video:

 

Ensure you get even amounts of cyan, magenta and yellow.

Then run a Clean Printhead through Primera’s PrintHub software.

 

If you have a Rimage Printer, here’s a link with some very helpful tools!

 

Installation Issues

Installing a cartridge can be much messier and more difficult than you can imagine. So, do read the instruction manual carefully and duly follow what it says. If you don’t have the manual, then use the internet to find one. A lot of people are unable in keeping ink cartridges safe and end up damaging both the cartridge and the printer while installing the former.

Keeping ink cartridges safe is as essential as maintenance of printers. Ink cartridges are often very expensive and if you damage them, it would pinch your pocket badly. So, be careful and smart while dealing with them.