GT541 Help

[sqslabs]

I ran into an issue with my GT541 today that I have never seen before, and hope someone can help me with.  I've attached a photo of the test print, which shows the issue with the black.  When I ran an initial test print on it this morning, it looked a bit blurry on the left line of the test print, and has been getting worse the more I try to fix it.  At first I thought it was some sort of alignment issue, but now I have no idea what might be going on.  I did a complete cap/wiper/head cleaning, as well as normal and powerful cleanings and it hasn't helped.

I was in the process of trying to squeeze out a few extra shirts out of a black cartridge when it happened, and was using the toothpaste roll up trick inside the cartridge to get the job done as I don't have a backup cart on hand.  I've done this with just about every cart I've ever used and never run into any issues but wanted to mention that in case it could be a factor.

Any help would be appreciated... Thank youuuu.

[mk162]

you might have a problem with the pump or something in the pump line.  I had the same problem with my yellow a while back and it was a lint booger in the line.

pm me your email...i've got something that might help

[CSPGarrett]

Since you are using ink bags it is usually not air in the lines but potentially could be "reverse suction" from the pressure.

[sqslabs]

Since you are using ink bags it is usually not air in the lines but potentially could be "reverse suction" from the pressure.

Any way to remedy reverse suction if it is the issue?  From my conversations and experiments with Brother, they're now convinced its a bad print head.  And if that's the case, this machine is about to get relegated to a corner for dust gathering.  So if there's anything that I can try before going that route, I'm all ears. 

Thanks..

[CSPGarrett]

I only mentioned "reverse suction" because I have heard of it on Anajet machines that also run bags.  The simple idea is that the pressure is similar to a vacuum so as the head tried to print it couldn't power the ink through the lines, thus leaving air in the lines. 

I am not a brother user but I would suggest 1 or 2 things to try.  First, if they sell cleaning cartridges I would grab one of those, throw it in, and purge the line to make sure you have cleaning solution through it.  I would also do a nozzle clean (on modified epson you can let your heads soak in cleaning solution to bring it back to life).  In regards to Brother I am not 100% sure you can do that, but what your nozzle check looks like would be the beginning/middle of a head going bad and not firing.