HP Designjet Z6100 Printer Series - Quick Reference Guide

Troubleshoot ink system issues

Clean the printheads

Periodic printhead cleaning is performed automatically, as long as the printer is kept

turned on. However, you should clean the printheads if you are experiencing poor

image quality and cannot resolve the issues by other methods. This ensures that there

is fresh ink in the nozzles and helps to prevents nozzle clogs.

If you have printed the Printhead status plot, you know which colors are failing. Clean

the pair of printheads that are not performing adequately. If you are not sure which

printheads to clean, clean all of the printheads.

To clean the printheads, go to the printer's front panel and select the

icon,

select Image quality maintenance > Clean printheads, and then select

which printheads you want to clean. You can clean all of the printheads or only some

of them. Your choices are:

●

Clean all

●

Clean M-Y

●

Clean LM-LC

●

Clean PK-LG

●

Clean MK-C

●

Purge ink

Cleaning all of the printheads takes about 5 minutes. Cleaning any two printheads

takes about 3 minutes. Purging the ink takes about 6 minutes.

NOTE: Cleaning all printheads uses more ink than cleaning a single pair.

NOTE: HP recommends that you purge the ink from the printheads before

printing a job if the printer has been turned off for more than six weeks or if

you are experiencing inconsistent colors from print to print after long storage

periods. Purging the ink from the printheads helps to ensure maximum color

consistency; it is not a remedy for poor printhead health.

Align the printheads

Precise alignment between printheads is essential for color accuracy, smooth color

transitions, and sharp edges in graphical elements. Your printer has an automatic

printhead alignment process which runs whenever a printhead has been accessed

or replaced.

In the case of a paper jam, if you have used a custom paper, or if you are

experiencing problems with color accuracy; you might need to align the printheads.

See

Align the printheads on page 34.

74 Chapter 8 Troubleshoot ink system issues

Troubleshoot ink