220/221 cartridge clearance

[joseph1949]

To: mrelmo

Sorry about the leakage.

If there is one commandment on this forum it should be the following:

Thou shalt not place tape inside the printerperiod.

I see a thousand hands saying I use tape with no problems. Hmmmmm
I say that you must be changing your tape every day and removing the tape residue around the opening at the same time. You have to do this if ink will come in contact with the tape. If ink does not come in contact with the tape you can keep eye on the tape. If you see that the tape is coming loose clean the residue and place new tape over the opening.

No matter what the tape will eventually come loose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mrelmo, here is one way to fix your bad nozzle check. If this works there is no need to flush your carts.

Here is the method:

Note: this has worked for me. No guarantees.

1. Remove carts from print head. Remove all visible ink on the carts.

2. Seal carts. This method may take a while. Your call.

3. Remove print head from printer.

4. Remove rubber gaskets around the nozzles. My print head has them and I am assuming that your print head does to.

Note: Please pay attention on the orientation of the gaskets before you remove them. You will need to replace the gaskets in the correct orientation.

5. In a safe place (i.e. you do not want to lose the gaskets) wash each gasket by hand. You can use distilled water, alcohol, maybe tap water and soap, Windex, etc. Be sure to wash ALL the surfaces of each gasket.

6. After removing all signs of ink place the gaskets on a paper towel to dry. Now you can clean the print head.

7. Be careful not to touch the contacts and ink slots when you start to clean the print head. Using a cotton swab clean around each of the nozzles. I would use plenty of light for this. You need to find and clean ALL of the ink. After you have removed the ink around the nozzles you can clean in and around all of the nooks and crannies of the print head. If you have a wet/dry vacuum cleaner you can use it to clean the ink in the nooks and crannies. Just be very careful. What ink is left you can use a cotton swab to clean-up the ink. You may want to use distilled water or alcohol on the swabyour call. But no tap water!!!!!!!!!! You can turn the print head so the ink in the nooks will run out. Actually the ink will not run out, but it will help to remove the ink. I love gravity. Let gravity be your friend.

8. What you are trying to do here is to remove all visible signs of ink. If you see ink, remove it. If you see ink on the contacts or around the ink slots use a clean, dry tissue to remove the ink. And be gentle. DO NOT USE A CLEANING FLUID ON THE CONTACTS OR ON THE INK SLOTS. The right type of cleaning fluid may be O.K., but it is better to be safe than sorry.

9. After you have removed ALL of the visible ink you can place the gaskets over the nozzles. Be sure the gaskets are free of all ink and cleaning fluid before placing the gaskets over the nozzles.

10. Place the print head into printer.

11. Place the carts in the print head.

12. Do a clean and then a nozzle check. If you see a bad nozzle check do another check and run a nozzle check.

13. If the last nozzle check is bad, do a deep clean and run a nozzle check.

14. If the nozzle check after the deep clean is bad you should step away and wait. I would wait overnight. Time is your friend here, just like gravity!!!!!!!

15. The next morning run a nozzle check. If you have a bad nozzle check repeat steps 12 and 13. If you still have a bad nozzle check, you may have a bad cart(s) and thus you will need to change the cart(s) or flush out the bad cart(s). If this does not work you may need to soak and dry the print head!!!!!! Or you may need a new print headbad!!!!!

16. NO MORE TAPE IN THE PRINTER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you.

 

[lowepg]

A more likely issue (for me) is me cutting/nicking the head of the plug trying to pry it out with my fat fingers.

Removing the plug with bare fingers?
For this I am using a woodscrew tool (woodscrew + handle) I got from a refill kit. It is really handy, also for removing the ball from original hole.
The plug I am using is not damaged by this as it already has a small hole on topside.

Sounds like the perfect tool.

Any chance you could share a photo?

 

[gigigogu]

Any chance you could share a photo?

Here you are.

 

[inkadinkado]

gigigogu

For some reason the photo on the woodscrew tool for prying out plugs didn't come through. Could you please repost. Thanks.

 

[inkadinkado]

Bought two MP990's and I think both came with opaque 220 and 221 carts. It is hard to tell with ink in them because the cart is very dark looking, but it really looks opaque.

Is the plug method going to be a real problem with opaque carts?

Octoink has the tipped and flat plugs. Are these good ones?

 

[stratman]

Bought two MP990's and I think both came with opaque 220 and 221 carts. It is hard to tell with ink in them because the cart is very dark looking, but it really looks opaque.

Is the plug method going to be a real problem with opaque carts?

Octoink has the tipped and flat plugs. Are these good ones?

Time will tell if the cartridges have a transparent/translucent window as you use up the ink. Either you'll see a window or you won't.

Using plugs/screws/hot glue/whatever are all in the same boat with opaque cartridges since you can't readily see the level of ink in the cartridge. If you use the top fill method you could stick a toothpick into the refill hole and check the level, but you will still need to estimate how much more to fill. One way of gauging the fill of a cartridge is to weigh it. If you know the weight of a filled cartridge and you know the weight of a dry empty cartridge, then you can calculate how many ml's of ink to add. You will need a scale, of course. Using the weight method you could use the top hole or the Durchstich method for refilling.

Octoink is reputable. Those plugs are the "good ones" though we don't have much user feedback on the new low-profile plugs yet. I trust websnail, the site owner and poster on this forum, to not purposefully mislead people and would purchase from him if needed.

 

[inkadinkado]

Stratman

Thank you for that great info. I'm really glad you said what you did because I just purchased an entire refill kit from Octoink.

If I stick a toothpick in a full cartridge, which would mark the amount of ink, then couldn't I stick another toothpick into an empty cartridge, refill it a bit at a time using a new toothpick to check the levels as I refill? Eventually the second toothpick would have to match the level marked on the first toothpick would it not? Not sure if I'm making sense in these words or not. Is this what you said to do?

Also, do you have a recommendation on a scale?

Thanks again, Stratman.

 

[mrelmo]

the 990s that i bought have the window on the cartridges, it it easy to see on the yellow magenta and cyan, the black is more difficult, i am not sure but i think the cartridges without the window may have a texture to the outside surface at least that is what it looks like from pictures that i saw. inkadinkado i am interested in how quick you go through ink in your 990 as i have contacted canon about the cartridges using 75% of the ink after only a dozen prints, my printer is in for service while still under warranty. i hope to hear from the tech in the next day or so.

 

[inkadinkado]

mrelmo
I just re-examined my carts and they have the clear ink window. Yeah!!! Actually, I haven't run out of ink yet, nor have I done a refill either. I just ordered a refill kit from Octoink which I will use the SquEasy top fill method. This kit comes with 6 large bottles of ink, ink bottle caps, syringes that fit the bottle caps, silicone plugs, a cart resetter, and an awl for removing the plugs. I ordered extra bottle caps, and both the low profile (flat) and the raised silicone plugs so I would have the choice of using one or the other. If I use the raised plugs I will have to modify my machine a bit to be able to function using these, which I'm good with if they work well. I figure at the low price I paid for this wonderful machine I could barely replace the carts at retail price, much less have this awesome printer.

I will say also that one of my machines was shipped without a power cord. I emailed Canon, gave them my info, and they promptly shipped the cord and it came in 2 days. Their customer service has been awesome. I've heard so many complaints about HP's service that I'm thrilled to get this kind of service even over e-mail. When I call Canon, I get a warm body, one that speaks English, and someone actually in the United States of America. No kidding.

I have heard some complaints from several sources about how much ink this machine uses, but the way I look at it is if I'm refilling cheaply, and without consequences to my machine, so what. I'm REALLY happy with the print quality so, so far, I'm a happy camper with my decision and that's a good thing since I bought 2 of these MP990's.

 

[stratman]

Excellent to hear, inkadinkado.

Happy printing... and refilling!