I have two questions regarding QImage Ultimate's Purge Sheet (Unclog Job) feature. I've search the forum for these questions without success.

Question 1:
I have an Epson P7000. It has eleven inks, ten of which are used at any one time. When I bring up QImage Ultimate's "Print/Schedule Unclog Job (Purge Sheets) I find eight colors that can be included in the Purge Sheet. It appears Q-Ult does not adjust colors to print to inks available on the printer. Below is a comparison between Q-Ult's colors and the P7000's inks.

Q-Ult Colors      Epson P7000 Colors
  Red                    N/A
  Orange               Orange
  Yellow                Yellow
  Green                 Green
  Cyan/PC             Cyan
                          Light Cyan
  Blue                   N/A
  Magenta/PM        Magenta
                          Light Magenta
  Black/Gray          Mat-Black or Photo-Black
                          Light Gray
                          Light Light Gray

The P7000 does not have Red or Blue ink so I assume those colors should be unchecked. That means to exercise all inks on the P7000, Q-Ult must map six colors to ten inks on the P7000. Of course that is possible, but is that what really happens? I would like to run the Unclog Job regularly and automatically to help prevent clogs. I'm concerned that printing the Purge Sheet will not exercise all ink channels on this high ink count printer, particularly the Light and Light-Light colors, which are not specifically listed on the Unclog Job window.

Question 2:
If you schedule the automatic printing of a Purge Sheet, does Q-Ult need to be running? Is there a background process that keeps the schedule going without the Q-Ult application running? I'd like to set up a purge sheet printing schedule that will run reliably even in the face of reboots. After a reboot does the Q-Ult app have to be reopened and the purge sheet schedule restarted? Would restarting it through a boot time start work? Can Q-Ult be run through a Command Line command?

Thanks for any help.

Eric

Mike

Thanks for the quick reply.

I was hoping a given color on the Unclog Job page would cover a range tones that would cause different inks to be exercised, but wanted to make sure.

The issue with the matte black vs photo black is a interesting one. I'm under the impression that Matte Black and Photo Black share the same nozzles, so no matter which black is being used, those nozzles are in use.

I never found a definitive statement that said, "the same nozzle are used", but I have seen statements that imply that.  The Epson 7600 definitely used the same nozzles for MK and PK. It actually required you to change the black cartridge and it would flush the ink lines, which used tons of ink.

Switching black on the P7000 takes about three or four minutes depending which way you are going (PK->MK vs MK->PK). I read it is only flushing the head. It still takes some ink, but small amounts, I read about 5ml from MK->PK and 3ml from PK->MK.

Long story short, it really seems MK and PK use the same nozzles, so if clog prevention is the goal, it doesn't matter which black you are using. I'd be interested if that isn't true. I'll have to rethink what I'm doing.

I completely missed the "Start Scheduler on Windows Reboot" check box. That's good news. I have my P7000 network connected and one of my computers runs 24/7 with UPS and automatically restarts if the UPS doesn't doesn't do it. If I'd add a UPS to the P7000, I could be relative assured that the printer would be exercised during extended unattended periods.

Thanks for your help. It's time to buy.

Eric