I'd greatly appreciate any responses from owners of the Z3100 so I can determine if my printer is operating correctly, or something is loose.

When the print head hits the far right side (as seen from the front) it is accompanied by a banging and mechanical sound. It is clearly the sound of a piece of metal banging around and hitting each time that the head moves to the right.

An HP tech supervisor tried to tell me that this is normal and that I should hear a wooshing sound each time the head moves to the right and is checked by the printer. This is not a wooshing sound. This is clearly a piece of LOOSE metal banging each time.

It is also quite annoying. The printer makes more noise than the 4000 due to its cavernous large size, and that turns it into a bit of an echo chamber compared to the 4000. (Although the 4000 had a loud vacuum, so maybe it is a wash.)

But the mechanical sound, with each pass of the head, is very audible.

It's hard to tell where in the printer the sound is coming from. At first it appears to be equal on both sides. But upon careful listening, and putting my ear on both sides, I'd say it is loudest on the left.

Is it the paper lever banging each time the print head hits on the right?

Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

There is a small sound of the engage mechanism of the capping station.
If something is out of whack it could be the carriage is not lifting up and over the engagement or this part is not seated correctly. If you stick an eraser or something ( I use the orange head caps) in the holes or slot top right when you lift the hood it will let you watch what is happening as you trick the protection with the hood open . DON'T stick anything in the cavity while the heads are moving though!!!!!
You could make a recording and post it and we can compare the sounds when parking if you like.

Thanks to your excellent suggestion I was able to diagnose the problem. It is the sound of the white ribbon cable slapping down against the metal, roughly in the middle of the printer. I'm surprised that it is so loud, but it is by far the loudest sound of this printer.

Talk about a dumb design. You'd think HP could have designed it so it wouldn't be an issue. A slightly shorter cable. Or even a thin piece of foam where the cable hits the bare metal.

Anyway, now that I have diagnosed it, does everyone else have the same problem and the same sound?

Thanks again to Neil for his excellen suggestion. But if you do open the lid, you'll be surprised by the somewhat disconcerting sight of the small pools of ink where the printer stops or parks its heads. It certainly looks to be losing as much ink as an epson ever could, but what do I know?

I remember the prototype I had of the 130 had this problem of a slapping cable but it was rather the ink tubes. They fixed it in production. On my proto I glued a piece of felt where it hit the chassis and that fixed it.

Now I haven't heard any cable slaps on any of the Z's I have had or worked with, the same as that but there is a faint cable slap sound on 36" roll sometimes. I'll listen for it more intently now, and try to pinpoint when and why it happens. It is not all the time and not very loud so I never really looked into it.
I can see why the white ribbon cable could do this though as it could hang on the metal that it touches.

No slapping sounds here. It does make a sort of "lightsaber" sound when reeling all the way in from the left. I kind of like it.

I don't like the idle fan, though. Too noisy!

It happens every time the printer head moves. It even happens sometimes if the head only moves part of the way.

I can hear it ten feet away -- it is very audible.

IMHO the printer is noisy even without that sound. More so than my old 4000 even with the vacuum. Maybe I was used to noise of the vacuum, and it muffled the sounds of the head moving back and forth. But I don't think so. The Z3100 is like a big plastic echo chamber and the sound of printing is much louder.

But even with that louder sound, the sound of the white cable slapping on metal can be heard with every pass of the head.

When I looked more carefully, I think shortening the cable by only one or two inches would solve it. It is slapping on the LONG run for that cable, so it has extra length. Maybe mine was installed wrong.

I will wait for other user reports, and then we'll see how willing HP is to send out a technician.

Hi marty,

Mine only makes thumping sounds when the carriage strikes the ends of the travel rail during power up and head checks. I t also makes the "lightsaber" sounds mentioned my Sean.

Otherwise, during printing the printer only makes normal sounds of printing, i.e. the head moving back and forth on the rail.

Sounds like yours may have an issue.

Jim

[Marty sent me a private message so am just now responding here; haven't been on forum for a while]

I, too, only hear the "lightsaber"/whoosing sound I would expect. Z3100 24". Nothing abnormal. Also doesn't seem very loud to me, but then I've got lots of machines running in my office/room.

Maybe try taping some foam to the area where the cable is slapping? (or just get HP to send you a replacement printer)

Harald Johnson

The noise was caused by the white cable hitting the metal *above* the cable rather than below. I used double sided tape and put in strips of a cloth from op-tech usa that is normally used to wrap lenses. It solved the problem.

Thanks for the responses!

I have the same problem and figured it was the same thing, either the ink tubes or a cable hitting the metal guide. I'll try some tape as well.
- Doug