HP B9180 printer woes.

[Jaysradios]

Hello Forum I'm a New guy here. I have an HP b9180 with the typical ink problem. My question, Is there a way to remove clean and or replace the Spit and Wipe sponge. I can't seem to find how it opens? Looks to hinge from the back but not sure. Any help would be great HP Tech help was useless. regards Jay

[Aahx]

Sadly I too have two B9180 paperwieghts here at the office with about 2k worth of ink on the shelf. Once I finaly burn up that ink I will never buy a "consumer HP" again. Now on the other hand I love the Z3100... but that ink issue with b9180's is a royal pain. I am unsure why they designed it that way.

I tried the cleaning methods that have been mentioned on several forums, but that alas has not come to any satisfactory results. The only solution I found was purchasing another printer (what I will need to do again) and use it till it dies. I have gotten about 1 year, and 1500 8x10's per printer though before there death.

[Phil Grant9]

I too was burning up ink. This is because of the NEDD and the spit and wipe sponges. HP's post about the former didn't make sense to me — why does cleaning the top of it affect the sensors that are down inside. I tried doing what they said but I still got a printout of BAD doing the tap test (hold the on button on, press okay four times, and cancel nine times and see whether the NEDD's condition is good, bad, or fiber). I did the following: I figured the sensors must have ink on them so I cut a small piece of sheet metal (probably plastic from a plastic container might be better) just wide enough to sit down inside and about 4 inches long. I then glued using spray adhesive a piece of old sweatpants that were to be recycled onto that, with the absorbent side out. I left about an inch extra on the bottom past the end of the sheet-metal. I opened the top door so the cartridge assembly would move to the left, and then unplug the printer. I then sprayed distilled water onto my sheet metal/sweatpants tool, blotted off the extra, and very carefully put it down inside, the material facing to the right. Then I very carefully blotted the sensors, pulled out my tool, re-sprayed it etc. and did this about three times. Most of the sensors are to the right but if you look with a penlight you see something to the left so I did that too. Then, although I didn't do it precisely this way, it might be best to take a hair dryer on no heat and spray the sensors to remove any moisture. Don't leave the cartridges away from their sponges for very long or they will dry out. Then, after the printer went through another self-cleaning cycle I did the tap test again. GOOD!

Regarding the spit and wipe sponges, I did the following: because I cleaned them thoroughly once, and then noticed that they immediately got full of gunk again, I realized the inside of the box that they retract into must be full of gunk too. I took the front right panel off the printer which exposes one of two screws that are necessary in order to remove the right side panel, which I then did. I got a piece of automotive vacuum tubing, about 1/8 inch diameter inside, drilled a small hole into the box so it would fit very tightly (you can see the lowest spot when you pull off the panel) and put it in using some flexible adhesive caulk. Then I fed the tube into the top of the milk bottle which I had already drilled a hole into. Then I took a garden sprayer, filled it with distilled water, and sprayed a good half-gallon both onto the spit and wipe sponges, and back up into the box that they retract into, especially trying to get the spray onto the top of the box. Then I raise the left side of the printer about 4 inches so that all the water would drain out tube. Then I drilled a hole into the right side panel so that I could leave the tube in place and replace the panel. I plan to spray the wipe sponges every couple weeks this way (just the sponges themselves; hopefully by doing this there will be no buildup of gunk inside the box).

I think the gunky spit and wipe sponges were a significant part of why the printer cleaned itself for so long using a fortune in ink. This printer makes such stunning prints I am loath to replace it. Although it is discontinued, the larger models using the same ink and print head still seem to be available, so I think HP will keep providing the ink cartridges and the printheads for some time.

Best to everyone, Phil