I've had a Canon IP3000 for a couple of years now, and I love (loved...) it dearly. The refillable unchipped carts were the main selling point.
For awhile now, I,ve followed the myriad of threads that dealt with members having trouble with cross-cart contamination. This has recently plagued me as well, to the point that I started looking for a new printer (especially now that chip restters are available for CLI-8 and PGBK-5 ...). To my utter delight, upon checking the local classified ads, I found someone selling a mint IP5000 for 40 bucks. I drove 40 miles right after calling him; to pick it up before anyone else grabbed it.
NOW... this provided an opportunity for EXPERIMENTATION...
I took the carts directly out of the IP3000 that were always mixing (well, I took the carts that I use during printing. Whenever I finished my printjobs, I'd put another set of "condemned" carts in; ones that had slight contamination already and that I didn't care if they got more contaminated). So, to paraphrase, I took my "good" printing carts from my IP3000, and put them in the IP5000. I ran a few prints, then turned off the printer, and waited 2 hours. This is the "safe" time I had estimated, where I would see any cross contamination without risking contaminated ink wicking completely from the head to the carts. Well, there was no contamination! I took a chance, and left them there over 24hrs. I retried the printer again after that time, and still PERFECT prints.
The second phase of the EXPERIMENT: I had purchased ORIGINAL Canon carts (C,M, Y) for the IP3000 a while back, thinking the G&G carts I'd been using were the source of the problem. SO, I put the new Canon carts into the IP3000, ran a DEEP cleaning cycle, and ran a few prints. They were very good. Again, as with the IP5000, I left the "good" carts in, and left the printer turned off for about 2 hours. I retried printing the Color Purge page, and was astounded. The cyan was purple as was the magenta, and the yellow was bright orange. So out the window goes the theory of leaking refilled carts causing the cross-contamination problem. The results from the IP5000 and the IP3000 are both conclusive that it's just not the case.
It then dawned on me. A while back, I had found a link with instructions on how to completely clean/rejuvenate an IP3000 printhead (or most IPxxxx printheads, for that matter...).I had CAREFULLY dismantled the printhead, flushed it with mildly hot water, and left it disassembled for 2 days to air dry (sandwiched between paper towels to avoid any problems with dust accumulation). It had worked like new at first, but the cross-contamination problem soon returned. HOWEVER, it came to my attention that maybe the gasket seal (between the cart ink conduits, and the ceramic heads substrate) might be the explanation. Although I had been very careful about this step during the dismantling, and even made a meticulous visual inspection after to ensure that there was no damage or tears, the possiblity MIGHT EXIST that the gasket may not be making a proper seal...
THUS... THE INK IS CROSS-CONTAMINATING within THE HEAD ITSELF.
This theory is consistent with the fact that the problem occurs even with original Canon carts, and that carts that do it in the IP3000 don't do it in the IP5000.
Furthermore, this leads to an interesting idea... That this may be what in fact is happening to other users (even if they have never disassembled their printhead). The gasket is (neoprene?) rubber-like; and it is well known that rubber-like things will toughen/harden.
During the next few days, I will again flush the printhead, disassemble it, and try adding a VERY LIGHT sealant on the gaskets (most likely a *very* light coat of Vaseline). I will update this thread when I get the results.
For awhile now, I,ve followed the myriad of threads that dealt with members having trouble with cross-cart contamination. This has recently plagued me as well, to the point that I started looking for a new printer (especially now that chip restters are available for CLI-8 and PGBK-5 ...). To my utter delight, upon checking the local classified ads, I found someone selling a mint IP5000 for 40 bucks. I drove 40 miles right after calling him; to pick it up before anyone else grabbed it.
NOW... this provided an opportunity for EXPERIMENTATION...I took the carts directly out of the IP3000 that were always mixing (well, I took the carts that I use during printing. Whenever I finished my printjobs, I'd put another set of "condemned" carts in; ones that had slight contamination already and that I didn't care if they got more contaminated). So, to paraphrase, I took my "good" printing carts from my IP3000, and put them in the IP5000. I ran a few prints, then turned off the printer, and waited 2 hours. This is the "safe" time I had estimated, where I would see any cross contamination without risking contaminated ink wicking completely from the head to the carts. Well, there was no contamination! I took a chance, and left them there over 24hrs. I retried the printer again after that time, and still PERFECT prints.
The second phase of the EXPERIMENT: I had purchased ORIGINAL Canon carts (C,M, Y) for the IP3000 a while back, thinking the G&G carts I'd been using were the source of the problem. SO, I put the new Canon carts into the IP3000, ran a DEEP cleaning cycle, and ran a few prints. They were very good. Again, as with the IP5000, I left the "good" carts in, and left the printer turned off for about 2 hours. I retried printing the Color Purge page, and was astounded. The cyan was purple as was the magenta, and the yellow was bright orange. So out the window goes the theory of leaking refilled carts causing the cross-contamination problem. The results from the IP5000 and the IP3000 are both conclusive that it's just not the case.
It then dawned on me. A while back, I had found a link with instructions on how to completely clean/rejuvenate an IP3000 printhead (or most IPxxxx printheads, for that matter...).I had CAREFULLY dismantled the printhead, flushed it with mildly hot water, and left it disassembled for 2 days to air dry (sandwiched between paper towels to avoid any problems with dust accumulation). It had worked like new at first, but the cross-contamination problem soon returned. HOWEVER, it came to my attention that maybe the gasket seal (between the cart ink conduits, and the ceramic heads substrate) might be the explanation. Although I had been very careful about this step during the dismantling, and even made a meticulous visual inspection after to ensure that there was no damage or tears, the possiblity MIGHT EXIST that the gasket may not be making a proper seal...
THUS... THE INK IS CROSS-CONTAMINATING within THE HEAD ITSELF.
This theory is consistent with the fact that the problem occurs even with original Canon carts, and that carts that do it in the IP3000 don't do it in the IP5000.
Furthermore, this leads to an interesting idea... That this may be what in fact is happening to other users (even if they have never disassembled their printhead). The gasket is (neoprene?) rubber-like; and it is well known that rubber-like things will toughen/harden.
During the next few days, I will again flush the printhead, disassemble it, and try adding a VERY LIGHT sealant on the gaskets (most likely a *very* light coat of Vaseline). I will update this thread when I get the results.
