Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

2 month-old PRO-1000 printer that I've ran unclog every other day for since I first installed it. I almost never print glossy, but when I tried today my PBK nozzle was clogged pretty badly. After several cleaning cycles I got it working, but it got me wondering: if I use plain paper for my unclog prints, is it using the PBK ink at all? That's about the only thing I can think of that might make this one ink clog even using such a rigorous schedule.

The paper doesn't determing the ink used: the media setting in the driver does.  So if you select a glossy paper in the driver for your unclog job, it'll use photo black ink.  If you select a matte paper, it'll use matte black ink.  The printer won't care what kind of paper is actually loaded so you can just load cheap copy paper for the unclog pattern.  The driver will print as if the media type selected in the driver was in the printer and the cheap copy paper is just there to absorb the ink.

Regards,
Mike

So how do I set it up so it will keep both my black inks unclogged?

Create two unclog jobs: one with a glossy paper chosen in the driver settings and the other with a matte paper chosen.  Then run both jobs in the scheduler.

Regards,
Mike

Very cool, thank you. I did not know that was an option.

When I do this, will it exercise CO?

Yes.  Keep it set on "auto".  You want it to spray CO as it would while printing with ink and not just try to cover the whole page.

Mike