Maintenance for ip4700

[lffoar]

Hi all,
I read with interest the forum subjects and have learnt heaps about refilling etc and saved money as a consequence. My question now is:
Given that my ip4700 whirrs on continually running its own cleaning cycles whenever it gets the whim.....where does all that "wasted" ink go?? Am I going to find a puddle of ink on the carpet eventually or is there some maintenance that should be carried out, say every six months or annually? If so where can I get schematic diagrams and/or an understandable set of instructions to carry out same?
Thanks,
Harry

 

[tigerwan]

There are absorbent pads on the inside bottom of the printer, there is tubing attached to the cleaning station, which gets pumped through the tubing into the absorbent pads. Eventually these pads will need replacing, and the printer will tell you by exhibiting a service error, either by flashing lights or via LCD on the printer or it could be a message on your computer screen. Then you will have to replace the absorbent pads, and reset the printer so you can print again. You may be able to find the reset code online, or here on the forum, as for the pads, so places on Ebay sell them, some people rinse them out, but they will loose some absorbency. Also you may be able to find the service manual on this forum or online as well.

 

[l_d_allan]

If the iP4700 is similar to the iP4000 and/or iP4500 , here is some info in the forum sub-section about manuals.

Also, I believe that overspray from borderless prints ends up in the wastepad(s) rather than the print mechanism, but I'm not familiar with the internals of how Canon inkjets work. For the two Canon printers I have, the print driver limits the sizes allowed when borderless is selected, which I believe corresponds to where "backing pads" will absorb the overspray.

Is this more or less correct, or do I have a flawed understanding of how borderless overspray works?

 

[ghwellsjr]

You are correct about the overspray. There is a thin piece of sponge rubber running the length of the printer just under the print head and beneath that is a piece of plastic with holes in it corresponding to the specific borderless sizes and under the plastic is some of the absorbent pads.