Clogged Canon print head

[hpnetserver]

You know your yellow channel has several hundreds of nozzles. If all of them stops printing, suddenly in particular, it is probably related to electronics. the washing you did may not the the cure. It's likely the contacts on the PCB of the printhead lost connection. Once you massaged it by an extensive water bath the contact just reconnected itself. It's probably the most horrible experience for a owner of a printer.

 

[Metallo]

The printhead of my i865 was clogged, therefore I have used syrings, boiled distilled water and a bit of ammonia.

It looks perfectly clean, lots of water went through the holes, but my black 3eBK doesn't want to print.
When I take out the printhead, I find the black ink all over around the hole, which has never happend before with any ink, in this case it's only the 3eBk giving the problem.

I used colorbats ink cartridges.

I have cleaned with the same process twice, checked if the rubber was OK and it looks perfectly fitting.

What to do now??

Thanks
Alex

 

[Metallo]

Hi again,

I am wondering what the reason of the problem is, tried several other times, the 3eBK got empty in the meantime but only because the ink is spilled out, it is like it doesn't go through the hole.

I've got a spare printhead, I'm not sure if try the new printhead or refill a new black cartridge, simply because I have only one spare set of cartridges and I wanted to use them with a different ink.

Before all of this happened, I made a nozzle test and the black part printed but not well, also I tried the mis autoprint test page, I used standard settings, plain paper:

Black was almost not printing, only some lines here and there, cyan, magenda and yellow with horizontal stripes (5 mm between each of them).

Then I printed the same test changing to photo paper pro glossy and I got all the colors OK.

All of ths before I tried to unclog with distilled water and ammonia...

I'm waiting for your suggestions...

Thank you
Alex

 

[digitalartist71]

ok, when I get time to take pix and upload them..i will do that for some new finds about my Canon IP3000.

i decided to try to take off the screen portion of the inlet hole (where cartridge meets to print head plastic housing (PIGMENT BLACK one)). from looking at it, seemed i could try to take needle nose pliers and twist and pull it up and out of the inlet port. nope. not the case... the screen is monted to the port in a more permanant non-replaceable way. so as I was doing this, pliers slipped and pull screen right off.... head no good now...no big deal since i wanted to see what was under the screen with intentions of buying a new head anyways.

from what i have read, somebody meantioned there was a sponge inside this port..NOT THE CASE at all... i was thinking if so...the nail polish remover i used may have melted the spnge solid... NO SPONGE guys! just a solid port that seems dished out a bit to form a 'sump' where the ink flows into a tiny hole. i took my syringe with slighty hot water and pushed through port out other side (after removing circuit board/nozzle assembly mind you), and EXCELLENT FLOW compared to before with screen ON.

this leads to tell me that the screen MAY BE at fault here (welll..the generic pigment black). the screen appeared to be coated with black on the underside...preventing ink from getting in...hold to light...opaque. cleaned off with hot water...still opaque..maybe because a fine screen..or screen totally plugged? need to test that later.

before removing screen and nozzle assembly ...tried hot water syringe method.... noticed water as usual leaking out of sides where ceramic nozzle assembly/gasket meet with plastic housing...this also seems to be the culprit...not sure if the screen happened first of gasket leak????? small amount of water was able to get to the nozzles and spray out...but most of it leaking out side of head housing (ceramic/gasket and hosuign meeting point).

but both of these items seem to be faulty....so i will just buy another head..since they are so cheap anyways ($60).... espeacilly compared to buying new ink(with combined head) for a HP printer of something! and also considering the printer was free with purchase of canon digital cam.

ok...finally done with this...just going to buy another printhead. or may get a 6000D that doesn't use PIGMENT BLACK which seems to be a problem if u get bad black carts.

as far as the gasket... the tiny screw just doesn't allow me to tighten enough to seal....so i am thinking the seal shrunk overtime or just is no good...because it is definatly leaking....black ink is NOT getting to the nozzles at all due to this. the screen may actually be fine since I could get water through it...but maybe not at the optimum rate it is supposed too due to too much clogging in the screen? maybe a more permanant solution could be to use a small amount silicone sealant to make a better seal? careful not overdo and gets into holes!

 

[Metallo]

Hi,

No suggestions from anybody?

Alex

 

[digitalartist71]

Metallo,

i think when u choose photo glossy mode...the pigment black is not used.... from what i understand, the CMY colors mix to form that black...the pigment black kicks in when printing 100% pigment black text and the such. where if clogged will not show up.

i don't know anything about the i865, but if anything like the head in my ip3000....could be the gasket is leaking before it reaches the nozzles and flows out from that point to the outside of the head unit. Or the screen is plugged up? I am guessing from my new observations...that the rate the ink needs to flow through the plugged screen isn't enough??? not sure here....but even though the screen seems extremely fine and appears opaque when held to light.... liquid still gets through it...but not sure at a high enough rate. i going to blame my situation on the gasket failing...simialr to the photos posted by grandad35. (and also in the post #76 using his photo).

 

[Metallo]

Well, in the meantime, I changed the printhead and now everything works perfectly, so no doubt that the problem was the ph.

In order to prevent the ph to clog, I can print the MIS Autoprint test every two-three days or so (if I do not print something else in the meantime) , but what about if I go on holiday?
Is there anything I can do to prevent clogging if I'm away for 3 weeks?

Thanks guys

Alex

 

[digitalartist71]

Moneject Syringe found in baby dept of Harris Teeter Grocery Store... the white rubber adapter fits perfectly over the pigment black inlet port (better if remove blask seal from port first)... leave other seals on CMY inlets for better seal when using syringe.
can also be used on inside of white ceramic nozzle assembly to push liquid through nozzles.

gasket failure and leakage path...could have also been caused later after excessive syringe work??? but then again, this may have happened prior and failure in the first place? cannot get screws tight enough to make good seal.

gasket removed; screen ripped off permantly showing inlet hole and sump.

screen ripped off permantly showing inlet hole and sump.

dirty screen (underside)....have cleaned most off accidentaly before inspecting....but was 100% black before...but not sure this is the main cause, unless not enough flow rate due to fine clogs?

gasket; underside of plastic head housing

shown with screws out...(not operatated this way)... shows flow of leakage when using syringe...only small amount came out through nozzles....most where arrows flowing. this head is trash...will just get another to be back in business.



Hope any of this helps! not completley sure what has caused the gasket sealing failure (therefore no black ink to nozzles)... or not sure if the screen was also clogged to much???

one thing for certain.... the channel from the inlet hole to the outlet hole (underside of plastic housing joined to gasket)... HAS EXCELLENT FLOW.... was NOT clogged at all which I was ASSUMING PRIOR to this teardown. The channel is definatly not the problem.... I am going to bet the gasket is the failure here....and that would not necissarily mean POOR INK QULAITY is to blame...but gasket sealing. I was wondeing why SOOO much black ink was always saturated on the underside of the head around the nozzle area of all colors...and coming out the sides (where ceramic nozzle assembly and gasket meet).

 

[websnail]

Well for what it's worth I've just taken apart two MP750/ip4000 printheads after both black heads started playing up and I've found out why the black kept clogging..

It was like chalk in the BCI3k channel.. It was only by taking apart the head to reveal the white ceramic/plastic part that I found a solid blockage of black ink..

Needless to say I'm flushing the cartridge completely but I was pleasantly surprised to see that already one of them is now printing perfectly while the other is still disolving ink for a little while...

Thanks for the info Grandad, you've saved me a small fortune there..

 

[websnail]

In a fit of procrastination I decided to read a few a good part of the thread and a few things have occured to me about the printheads and the cleaning routines that people are using.

1. The pigment black ink is definitely a clogger and will clog quite considerably if allowed to sit for a while unused (just seen this in my MP750).

2. A prime area for clogging seems to be the ink port in the ceramic block leading to the circuit board and actual inkjets themselves

3. If the area in 2. clogs up it would seem that any amount of "forced" injection would simply cause the blockage to forum a plug and thus force any water, cleaning solution out of the next weakest joints (eg: the seals from the plastic housing to the ceramic block)


So, on reflection it would actually seem that a far smarter course of action would, in cases where the pigment black port (BCI-3k) is failing to print completely, to try dripping through cleaning fluid to disolve the block and run the standard head cleaning routines for the BCI-3k.

Then, if that fails, to disassemble the head (ie: remove the screws and reveal the ceramic plate before carefully soaking the black slot port in the ceramic to clear out any blockage (being careful not to short out of damage the circuit board).

Ultimately this should allow the blockage a far easier way of being released instead of it forming a plug and forcing ink out between the rubber gasket and the ceramic.


Just a suggestion but I think it's one I'll be sticking to from here on in..