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Solution Page
The remanufactured Lexmark 12A1985 (# 80) cartridge that I Refilled is printing poorly or not at printing at all
On this cartridge, the FILL HOLES should NOT be sealed:
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Make sure the fill holes are open. This cartridge needs the air coming into it in order
for the ink to be released from it.
(B9) |
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Make sure that the cartridge has finished dripping:
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After you fill this cartridge, it is normal for it to drip for up to an hour
while the cartridge is stabilizing itself after receiving the ink you
injected. You can not print if the cartridge is still dripping.
The little drops of ink which are accumulating on the printhead while the
cartridge is dripping will impede the printing process. The prints will
usually have blotches of ink in spots, and very inconsistent printing throughout
the pages you print. The cartridge needs to completely stabilize before
you attempt to use it in your machine. Once the dripping has stopped, the
ink on the printhead needs to be removed from the printhead before placing the
cartridge into your machine. A paper towel, or sponge, is the best way to
remove this ink because they generally will not leave any of their own particles
on the printhead when you are wiping it off.
(B12) |
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Make sure that the ink is flowing through the printhead:
- Try running your printer's printhead cleaning routine to see if that gets
the cartridge printing properly. Refer to your owner's manual if you
need assistance.
- Sometimes the cartridges just need a little help to get going:
- Take a warm/hot, damp paper towel and hold it against the printhead for 5-10
seconds.
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Gently swipe the damp paper towel on the printhead a couple of times.
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Dry the printhead with a dry paper towel by swiping it across the printhead a
couple of times.
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When you swipe the dry paper towel across the printhead you should get the three color lines (yellow, blue, and
red) for a color cartridge, or a black line for a black cartridge, on the paper towel.
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Once you have three color lines, or a black line, showing up on
the paper towel, the cartridge should work fine in your machine.
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If the cartridge is still not working well, repeat these instructions 2-3 times.
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You can also take a dry piece of paper towel and rub it quickly on the printhead to warm the printhead. Often times this will free up the jets in the printhead and allow the ink to
flow through them.
- As a last resort, try our ultimate unclogger technique. You
'force out' the clogged ink by forcing ink through the printhead. You
do this by building up the pressure in the cartridge until the clogged ink
is forced out of the printhead:
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Place
a tapered, clog-busting plastic needle on your syringe (you can purchase
these needles on our Accessory Page)
and insert the needle into the fill hole until it makes a tight seal on
the fill hole. If there are multiple holes for each color you will
need to completely cover these other holes with your fingers. Once
you have a good seal push the plunger slowly in until ink drips out of
the printhead. Be careful when
releasing the pressure -
release it slowly or you could have ink spraying all over the place.
Do this for each clogged color in the cartridge.
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If
the fill holes on your cartridge are required to be sealed (check your
instructions) you generally can squeeze
the sides of the cartridge until ink comes out of the printhead.
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After
you do this you need to let the cartridge sit, drip and stabilize for at
least a couple of hours before you try to print with it.
(B3) |
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If the ink is flowing, the vent holes are open, the cartridge
is no longer dripping, and it still does not print correctly - the cartridge
is damaged and it will need to be REPLACED. The potential areas of the
cartridge that could be damaged:
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The printhead could simply be worn out. This can happen after multiple
refills, or sooner if the cartridge was run completely empty at some
point. Make sure that you protect the printhead at all times while you
have your cartridge out of your machine. We recommend using our cartridge
tape strips for this purpose. They do add prints to your cartridge because
they protect the printhead from physical damage and the silicone block on them
keeps the printhead moist. They can be found on our Accessories Page
You can also find them on your cart page before you click on the "Check
Out" button.
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The resistors in the cartridge that warm the ink as it passes to the jets in the
printhead may no longer be working. These resistors heat the ink to thin
it before the ink is sprayed onto paper. If the resistors are worn out, or
are burned up, the ink can not be distributed to the paper properly and the
output will be very inconsistent. To avoid this from happening sooner
rather than later, do not let your cartridge run completely out of ink.
The resistors will burn out if there is no ink passing by them. Once your
prints start to become "faded", pull your cartridge out of your
machine and refill it.
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The electronics have been damaged in some manner. These electronic strips
are very sensitive and they can get physically damaged by bumping them (dropping
the cartridge is one way this happens), or tearing them by catching them while
pulling them out of your machine, or even with one of your fingers.
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The sponge inside the cartridge has dried up to the point that it is no longer
viable. This generally happens when a cartridge has been sitting for a
while and the sponge has dried up.
(B13) |
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Click Here to buy a remanufactured Lexmark 12A1985 (# 80) Cartridge or Refill Kit
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