Roberto Smith
Getting Fingers Dirty
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2017
- Messages
- 71
- Reaction score
- 18
- Points
- 41
- Printer Model
- Canon
I've recently flushed a full set of CLI-42 carts using luke warm tap water to clean them. This was after 100's of refills on the same carts and I noticed that the flow was getting less and less with a lot of them so time for a flush. They are all working fine except for the yellow one which has being refilled a few times since been flushed but is now banding when printing, so looks like ink starvation. I've run several cleaning cycles with the print head (inc. one deep one) and it doesn't solve the problem. When initially printing it's okay but about 1/3 down the page the yellow starts to band / fade, so I'm thinking problem with the ink cart rather than the head.
I've been told elsewhere that flushing with tap water is okay, but this morning was advised by the person I get my replacement inks from to NEVER flush a cart with tap water, as even when the cart is fully dry it will still contain dissolved minerals in the sponge and this can cause the cart not to work.
I asked him if it would be okay to do the initial flush with tap water but then rinse it through several times with distilled / de-ionised water to flush out any dissolved minerals. He said he wasn't actually sure if this would work or not. I think he uses some sort of cleaning fluid for the whole process so doesn't use distilled water either.
Does anyone on here have an opinion? How do you flush your carts and should I be avoiding tap water altogether, or can I do the initial flush with it as long as I flush again a few times with distilled / deionised water?
*edit* I've attached a photo. This is after I refilled it 100% (was at about 60% full previously I'd say) and let it sit for about 20mins. There appears to be quite a few patchy areas and one of these is near the outlet and a small band running along the bottom. I'm guessing this might be the problem.
I've been told elsewhere that flushing with tap water is okay, but this morning was advised by the person I get my replacement inks from to NEVER flush a cart with tap water, as even when the cart is fully dry it will still contain dissolved minerals in the sponge and this can cause the cart not to work.
I asked him if it would be okay to do the initial flush with tap water but then rinse it through several times with distilled / de-ionised water to flush out any dissolved minerals. He said he wasn't actually sure if this would work or not. I think he uses some sort of cleaning fluid for the whole process so doesn't use distilled water either.
Does anyone on here have an opinion? How do you flush your carts and should I be avoiding tap water altogether, or can I do the initial flush with it as long as I flush again a few times with distilled / deionised water?
*edit* I've attached a photo. This is after I refilled it 100% (was at about 60% full previously I'd say) and let it sit for about 20mins. There appears to be quite a few patchy areas and one of these is near the outlet and a small band running along the bottom. I'm guessing this might be the problem.
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