Photosmart 7350 Printer repair - January 20, 2008

Broken Cartridge Holder - Joseph E. Kagerer, Weekend Hardware Hacker, www.jekgraphics.com This repair can be made to any HP Photosmart printer.

For years every time I would print, the system would tell me that there was a problem with my black print cartridge. Finally this week my printer was not recognizing the brand new black cartridge. On closer inspection, I found that the cartridge holder was broken. A small "T" shaped plastic part had snapped off. I suspect that it has been malfunctioning for years. Close-up of printer cartridge holding mechanism. Unfortunately I didn't shoot a picture of it broken and installed. See photos below for installed repair. The "T" portion was broken off. The top of the "T" actually provides pressure for the cartridge holding is in place. You can see the excess glue on the repair. This component is held in place by a conical shaped spring. Compressing the spring allows easy removal of this mechanism.

Opposite side of repair.

Using Magnum brand Plastic Repair putty. I built up the "T" for extra durability at the glued joint.

Reverse side of repair. Extra Care must be taken to allow the "T" portion to move freely in and out. It is connected to the inner mechanism and moves with the spring tension.

I used, Magnum Plastic Repair, Devcon Weldit Glue and an Exacto Blade to clean up the repair. Also shown here are the conical shaped springs that hold these mechanisms in place.

Here they are installed back in the printer carriage. The 56-58 holder has been repaired, the 57 holder is original.

Cartridges correctly installed. The repaired printer works flawlessly. The system no longer gives me a black cartridge error message.