Printing Woes HP 6510

[DanB7290]

I am struggling to get my printer to print black ink. It's been out of action for a while, but the other day I tried printing with what I thought was a pretty full black cartridge and it was coming out all faded, as if it was running out. So I've ordered a whole set of new cartridges and put them in and I still have the same problem. It knows the cartridges are all full, and prints the colours perfectly. I've tried the 'clean printhead' option which does something them prints out a test page with the same problem.

Any ideas?

[mmm-five]

Have you set the printer default to 'economy', 'fast' or 'draft' for B&W images?

[DanB7290]

mmm-five said:

Have you set the printer default to 'economy', 'fast' or 'draft' for B&W images?

Not that I know of, it's a wireless printer and the settings I can access from my Mac are very basic I cannot even see that option. I'll take a look on the printer itself
Edit; no option to be found for that on the printer. Have managed to find it on the Mac when I select print, doesn't matter what I choose it still comes out faded.

Edited by DanB7290 on Tuesday 5th May 14:01

[mmm-five]

Sounds more like the black head is clogged, and I don't believe these are user replaceable on this machine.

A few more, ink-wasting, cleaning cycles may clear it up, but there's no guarantees.

Out of interest, how old is it, and when was the last time it was used?

[sgrimshaw]

Failure to print black was an often reported problem with the 6510 apparantly.

How old is your's, seems like it's been around since 2012 at least.

AIUI, unlike a lot of HP printers the cartridge doesn't include the print head, hence they are cheap for this printer ... if that's the case, then best guess is the black head is blocked up.

You could try some cleaning fluid, but might just be best to retire it and get a new printer.

[DanB7290]

It is quite old, 2012 seems about right, I had it at University!

It used to get used daily but these days I think today was the first time in about 5 months that it's been used. I think it may be time to get a new one, Dad is raving about laser jet printers but I've not got the budget. Only real requirements are it can take photo paper like my current one, and can be used wirelessly (but I'm guessing that's a standard thing now unlike 2012 when it was super futuristic and amazing!)