a whole lot of questions about canon i560

sara_can

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hi , reading some of the posts i realized that i know almost nothing about inkjets and their maintanance. my inkjet worked fine till the black ink ran out. i bought a bottle of HP black ink and tried to fill the cartridge myself (question one: is there anything special i should do and where can i find out how to fill cartridges?) . as you know, the cartirdge has two sections . one with sth like cotton in it and the other part , empty. i used a syringe to fill in the cotton part. and i made a whole in the other part (the empty part) to fill some more ink . but i guess that was my first mistake because the ink started running out. so the first few days, i just regularly injected some ink in the cotton part every time i wanted to print sth. after a while, the printer started missing some lines while printing. i tried the head alignment and saw that all of the H column was printed like a "comb" . i drew a black square and printed it, but i got horizontal stripes instead. i even tried deep cleaning but it didnt work.
do you have any suggestions? what should i do?
 

BlasterQ

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well, here's the problem sara, you have a canon i560, and you're refilling it with an HP ink. you should know that the canon printers use different type of inks than HP, and vice versa. you have to buy an ink specifically formulated for your brand of printer, you just can't get the first ink you see on the shelf.
 

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sara_can

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thanks a lot for the link.
ok, so what should i do now? i guess i have spoilt the cartridge and should get a new one. should i also clean the head? if so, how?
have i totally ruined my printer :(
 

BlasterQ

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your printer is still ok. the worse thing you could've done is ruined the printhead, which is highly unlikely. get a new cartridge, clean your printhead (search this forum on how to clean it), and everything will be fine.
 

sara_can

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well i had read that link before, but being a complete newbie i want to see if i've got it right before i do anything (i dont want things to get worse!) :(mine is a canon i560)
the print head is where the ink cartridges sit. if you stand it upright, underneath (the side in contact with the paper) are the nozzles (those very thin stripes where the ink comes out) . behind are the electric contacts and looking from the top are four "circles", one for each color(i dont know the names) where the ink port of the cartridge is in contact with. and what is the "cart"? so the ink comes out of the cartridge through the ink port and then goes from the "circles" to the nozzle and then on the paper. right?
so you mean i should wash the head?! doesnt washing with water or alchohol ruin the electric contacts or shouldnt i let those parts get wet?
should i let the water pass through those circles and out from the nozzle? can i use any other glass cleaner other than windex?
and my last question: if air enters the sponge part of the cartridge will it become useless?
i will be greatful if you answer my "novice" questions :) thank you
 

BlasterQ

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According to neilsade, using a can of compress air would work wonders on clogged printheads. Haven't tried that yet though, but would try it once my printheads get clogged.
Soaking them in 'distilled water' won't damage the printhead, as long as you let it dry first before using it again.
I dunno about glass cleaners, but I would suggest you stay out of it for the time being, until the experts here say otherwise.
The 'carts' are the cartridges. We just call it carts for short. :)
 

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sara_can said:
the print head is where the ink cartridges sit. if you stand it upright, underneath (the side in contact with the paper) are the nozzles (those very thin stripes where the ink comes out) . behind are the electric contacts and looking from the top are four "circles", one for each color(i dont know the names) where the ink port of the cartridge is in contact with. and what is the "cart"? so the ink comes out of the cartridge through the ink port and then goes from the "circles" to the nozzle and then on the paper. right?

All correct!

Buy yourself some new cartridges (many people have a lot of success using Canon OEM cartridges to fix problems). Run a couple cleaning cycles, then deep cleaning cycles and slowly work up toward each subsequently stronger cleaning methods. Make sure you do a nozzle check pattern in between each step to examine if things are getting better, worse, or the same.

Keep us posted on what you try, what works, and what doesn't.
 

sara_can

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i finally managed to refill the cartridge without bleeding. (a great success!!). i inserted the cart and did a head cleaning. but no use. i still got the stripes.then i cleaned the head pouring isopropyl alcohol drop by drop on one side holding a tissue on the nozzle till all the ink drained out. but still no use. the point is, the white stripe is too neat .it seems as if the printer doesnt even try to print that part at all . if the head clogs up , what will the prints look like?
 
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