Spaceagent-9 2017 build pic threads

THE DC

Highly Esteemed Member
Great work!

Love the Scout/Destroyer. The Excelsior looks good too.

I though your first were going to be the old Interplanetary UFO at first! I never noted the similarity before.

Great work!
 

spaceagent-9

Right Hand Man and Confidant
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Matt Jefferies did design that one. the Orion trade ship in STC is modelled after that so someday you might see me do one. To be honest with you, a lot of the pieces on this are coming out in weird distortions. I am thinking I have to clean and grease my rollers on my printer. either that or just re-draw the entire model dupe each piece and print and see and correct, redraw, I have noticed this on other prints too, so it's probably my printer. I got all these things up in the air right now, hoping they all fall into place. I reduced a Babylon 5 shadow vessel which was a mistake. build it big folks. luckily I want to build it on some kind of black sparkly paper. I hesitate to start anything new, as I might be called on to move. The holidays. long dental work. just that kind of stuff. very disappointed in my first rewatch of dino's king kong in 40? years. A guy in a gorilla suit basically. Jessica Lang is pretty but she comes across as a dummy that's huffed too much acetone. Jeff bridges plays a one paragraph character. The exploiter fred should be selling used cars in Burbank. I was hoping it would be better than I remembered but it wasn't. The giant robot should have just been left out of the movie. I guess there was 2 other sequels from this????? Well enough about that. I will try to finish up the Klingon today and post some pics.
 

zathros

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It could be that the sponge which wipes off the extra ink off of the printer head is overflowing. Use warm water, and if you have a big fat syringe, with a rubber hose, suck out the diluted ink out, if not, a lot of paper towels will work.. The rest of it just drips into the bottom of the machine. None of the manufacturers want their printers to last too long. What happens is that the print head drags wet ink and it drips on the rollers, make sure you clean the rubber scraper that actually scrapes the ink nozzles. :)
 

zathros

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Avoid!! Use only warm to almost hot water. Unplugged, after you get the ink head into position to change the cartridges, this will allow you to move the assembly, but do not let it lock or you will have to re-position it by plugging it back in. Alcohol which remove any lubricant and will cause premature wearing. :)
 

spaceagent-9

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yeah, they did make it impossible to get at that area with the rubber blade. I can see its filthy. I need to get those long swabs and have a glass of hot water right here with it to clean that sucker. I did clean the cartridge heads, for all the good that will do. apparently I have to remove several parts to get at that long thin sponge. my past experience doing stuff like this is that I wont be able to get at all the screws.
 

zathros

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You clean the cartridge heads by removing the cartridges and flushing them with a Hobby syringe with a rubber hose hooked up to the end, pushed over the pin assembly that pierces the ink plastic cover. Very almost Hot water, flush thoroughly from the top, the same direction the ink flows, each nozzle. This will really flush them, NEVER clean them from the bottom!!!! This will contaminate the spray head.

You don't need to take the cartridge assembly out, I would advise against that, you usually have to split the cases and those ribbon connectors get very brittle. :)
 

spaceagent-9

Right Hand Man and Confidant
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mostly where the cartridge carriage comes to a rest on the right side of the track, that is where it is filthy. I cant seem to get at it without taking the entire printer apart. the rollers have too much paper dust built up on them too. and the sponge strip is goey with ink, cant seem to see how to free that either. like its built to use for a year or so and then throw away.
 

zathros

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This is why you have to move the printer head in position to change the ink cartridges. At this point, you now unplug the power, and you can move the cartridge assembly (usually to the left) but in any case, away from it's "Home" position, to expose the wiper, and the sponge. In the refill position, the cartridge head cab be moved.

You can also unplug the machine while it's printing one letter in the middle of a page, then have access to that area. You can either pull out the page from the exist direction, or when you plug it back in, after cleaning that area, the printer sill spit out the paper. These methods work, I do it all the time. I haven't had to purchase a printer in years. I still have my Workforce 1100 which prints beautifully, loves 110 card lb. stock, and can print 13" wide, by however many feet you wish. :)
 

spaceagent-9

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this is my set up, there is no way without a swab to get at that ink soaked wiper blade and the head rest/cleaners. [I guess that is what you call them?] the rollers need to be scrubbed thoroughly, and that's my fault for never cleaning them. that tiny down arrow sponge? that goes all the way to the other side under the carriage track and is soaked with ink.

GEDC2824.JPG
 

THE DC

Highly Esteemed Member
Avoid!! Use only warm to almost hot water. Unplugged, after you get the ink head into position to change the cartridges, this will allow you to move the assembly, but do not let it lock or you will have to re-position it by plugging it back in. Alcohol which remove any lubricant and will cause premature wearing. :)



Great tip about cleaning. I have made that mistake myself.

Appreciated...
 

zathros

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@spageagent8:
Sure there is, you soak that crap out of some strong paper towels, the squeeze the excess hot water out, go in there with your fingers, and start scrubbing, pressing down, turning the tow, over, when see the solid colors, don't use that side again, when the towel has absorbed, all it can, do the same procedure till only trace amounts come up, use a small rod if necessary.

When you have completed this, go in with a rolled p couple of dry ones to soaked up the excess ink sponge, using the rod to stick into them, and eventually that section will be clean enough. Tape some paper on to the end of the rod, and use it as a cleaning implement.. Once that section is clean, do NOT run the ink cartridges through a cleaning cycle, this only wastes ink. The best was is to print something with the Text and Picture" format, this allows the nozzles tow work, and clean themselves out.

The cleaning cycle uses ink to try and clean the nozzles, it wastes a lot of ink and rarely works. You only do this after you have cleaned the rollers, and have flushed the Nozzles as I have instructed above. You will be quite surprised how much you printer will come back. If you have residue on the sides, that will tell you which roller is dirty, either just keep printing the same paper, flipping over and around, to soak up the ink, if it is a massive amount, you missed a roller. That should do it though.

Also, when you put the ink cartridges back ink, shake them, making sure your finger is over the hole(to keep the ink it, use a paper towel to keep it off your fingers), and then try to have the cartridges charged with the computer unplugged. Let the printer operate on it's own software. This way you won't get a "Low Ink" reading on the cartridges, which are not actually measured, but calculated as when they need to be changed, some still half full. This is the "rip of" of inkjet printers. I bypass this as I refill my own cartridges, and charge them with the printer controls, disconnected from the computer. :)
 

spaceagent-9

Right Hand Man and Confidant
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Thank for that procedure. I need to get paper towels, I assume the webbing ones are better than the others? All the rollers are gunked, so I will need to clean all of them. yes! I can just barely get my hand over the rest station.
I have noticed that where ever there is some ink, it is a LOT of ink. soaked in and messy.
I always use my cartridges until they are dry, not that I am in-the-know,... I'm a cheapskate.
 

zathros

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I have always refilled mine. I use the products from www.inkproducts.com I figure a cartridge cost me under $$1.50 per fill, maybe less, the ink seems to last forever. I use archival pigment Ink as most Epson's use Pigment ink, except for some of the newer ones. www.inkproducts.com has recommendations on what printers to buy, and they are always right. I picked up an Epson on sale from Walmart for $38 dollars that was normally $150. They lady in that department didn't even know they were on sale, and I demanded she go in the back and get one. It uses Pigment ink, and came with a Scanner to boot!! :):)
 

spaceagent-9

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Well I got some of the crushed style paper towels today while I was out. I think I will give it a try after coffee in the morning!
that's a great deal you made happen! It really pays to do a little research before shopping.
sometimes you have to make them go look, that's how I got the sale price on my first big flat screen. A lot of clerks are bossed around by nitwit floor managers, slip them 5 bucks and have them talk to the stock clerk before you give up lol.
GEDC2826.jpg
 
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