Designjet 1050c plotter

[Tim C]

I have a customer with a Designjet 1050c plotter, when you plug it in and turn on the main power switch the red power light comes on.

when you press the front power button the BEST, NORMAL, DRAFT, COLOR, and GRAY SCALE lights come on and that's it. No sounds or motors
running. No display .

Any Ideas ?

Thanks
Tim

[Tim C]

Re: Designjet 1050c plotter

I narrowed it down to a missing firmware rom. i have a 1055cm that i was able to pull the rom from, it made no difference.

So I removed the entire controller from the 1055cm and installed it into the 1050c and it came up to ready very briefly, then

said to instal setup print heads. Question ? are there set up print heads for this machine ? can i bypass this operation. also

how do I get into service mode ?

[KJEpps]

Re: Designjet 1050c plotter

Yes there are setup printheads. I've had pretty good luck with this place: HP Designjet 1050C 1055CM Setup Printheads C6071-60167 (NEW)

I'm not sure you can bypass this.

There is a Service Test Menu:

1. Make sure printer is switched OFF from power switch on the front of printer and NOT from the power switch on the back of the printer.
2. Hold the COLOR key down and switch the printer ON using the front power switch. Wait until the message "Initializing" is displayed on the front-panel before releasing the COLOR key.
3. Once inside the Service Tests Menu use the Arrow keys to scroll through the "Service Test" selections.

And a Service Tools Menu:

1. Once the message "Ready" is displayed on the front-panel, scroll to the "Printer Setup Options" icon and press the Enter key.
2. Once inside the "Printer Setup Options" menu, use the Arrow keys to scroll to the "Utilities" menu display and press the Enter key.
3. Once inside the "Utilities" menu, press the Up and Enter keys together. You are now in the Service Tools menu.

Good luck.

[Tim C]

Re: Designjet 1050c plotter Main board Firmware Rom

I will try the set up printheads. Do you know if the HP 1055cm main board will work in the HP 1050c machine ?

I put it in and it seemed operational up to the point where it asked for setup printheads.

Thanks

[KJEpps]

Re: Designjet 1050c plotter

The Electronics Module is the same. The Firmware DIMMs are different. From the manual, C6074-60009 is for the 1050C and C6075-60009 is for the 1055CM. Don't know if these are current p/n's though. If you swapped the FW as well, it might explain why it's acting odd.

[Kiran Otter]

Re: Designjet 1050c plotter

The difference between the 1050C and the 1055CM is that the 1055CM has Postscript (and a hard drive, but that can be added to the 1050C as well). Otherwise it's all the exact same hardware.

If it's prompting for setup printheads, this is the process for priming the ink tube assembly. I think you can simply cancel it, but I've never tried. The part number is C6071-60167 and they're $22 from HP. Since there's now a mismatch between the main PCA and the tube assembly (where the calibrations are backed up,) this has likely triggered it into thinking it's a fresh startup.

Depending on how old the unit is and what your plan for it is, I would suggest replacing the ink tube assembly because the seals dry out and air gets in the tubes, and this fries printheads; a costly adventure. If you see air in the tubes where they're exposed (behind the ink cartridges) it's already time to replace the tubes. Priming them does not fix the leaky seals. The company KJEpps mentioned has refurbished tube assemblies and they're MUCH better than stock. They rebuild the ends with better seals. I've used many of them without a problem.

One thing you should do when replacing either the main PCA or the tube assembly, is go into the service menu and perform the calibrations backup, telling it which item you replaced. Be sure to reboot the printer after.

[Tim C]

Re: Designjet 1050c plotter

I replaced the print heads with the setup print heads and everything seemed to be going good.
it went thru all the set up screens asked for the new print heads to be installed..did that and as it
was checking the print heads all were good until the black one showed " BLACK FAILED 16" code.
So I when ahead and put another Black print head in , same message came up. Any suggestions ?
Thanks

[Kiran Otter]

Re: Designjet 1050c plotter

Make sure the drop detect sensor isn't fouled with ink or debris. Take a damp paper towel, twist it up some, and shove it into the detector slot and work it around.

You may also need to run the service station calibration; remember it's likely using the calibrations from the other machine (carried over with the main PCA,) unless you restore them using the calibration backup I mentioned. Even still, it doesn't hurt to do the calibration again.

dropdetect.jpg

[Tim C]

Re: Designjet 1050c plotter

Ok I ended replacing all the print heads with brand new ones
and it started working fine
thanks for the help