Canon i960 not printing Cyan

[rbuzby1956]

Just replaced my i960 head due to not printing Cyan. I used all the great information here to clean the old head and when that failed, I felt I needed a new head.

New head is in and I have the same problem. What else can be done now that I'm almost $100 into repairs on this one?

Thanks for any help.

Rich

 

[mikling]

BE CAREFUL. I ran into a 950 that did the same thing. I surmised that there was a faulty logic board that was burning out the chip in each printhead that was inserted into it. So each printhead that was placed into the faulty printer was being immediately killed by the faulty mainboard.

One test was to take the printhead out of the printer that is faulty and place it into ANOTHER printer. If it shows defective printhead, then your 960 is a printhead Destroyer. Don't put another head in there until this is tested.

 

[Defcon2k]

One test was to take the printhead out of the printer that is faulty and place it into ANOTHER printer. If it shows defective printhead, then your 960 is a printhead Destroyer.

Perhaps this could also happen the other way round (a faulty head destroys every printer)?

 

[Lilla]

Just replaced my i960 head due to not printing Cyan. I used all the great information here to clean the old head and when that failed, I felt I needed a new head.

New head is in and I have the same problem. What else can be done now that I'm almost $100 into repairs on this one?

Rich, here's a couple of ideas to consider...

Grandad35 in Post #10 this link wrote...

This sounds like an electrical problem, not a clog.

Pull the print head. There are a number of spring loaded pins that push into contact with the gold contacts on the back of the print head. GENTLY, push on each pin - does each pin spring back out to the same position as the other pins? If one or more pins stick in, this is probably your problem.

If the pins all operate properly, gently clean the gold contacts on the back of the print head with a soft pencil eraser and reinstall the print head. If the problem still persists, the problem could be in the print head, the flexible cable that carries the signals to the print head or the printer's mother board.

ghwellsjr in Post #2 this link writes...

One thing you could do is remove the print head and then power down the printer and see if it asks you for the print head when you turn it on and see if it's happy when you put it back in. If so, it is probably safe to swap your print head into another printer or put another print head in yours.

Lilla

 

[rbuzby1956]

Thanks all for the ideas. I will give them a try.

Is there any chance this is a priming issue from clogged ink sponge or priming mechanism?

I am really beginning to regret buying the print head now.....

Thanks again and keep the ideas coming if you have any more!

 

[jackson]

If you used different cyan carts then it wouldn't be the sponge.
You can interchange two carts and see if the problem stayed with the cyan slot.
You can also pull the carts and see the colours on each screen.
The head cleaning sucks ink from the entire head at the same time.
Removing the head and pressing it against a tissue should show evidence of cyan, so that would mean the ink is getting to the head.

If the cyan cart works in a different slot and there is evidence of ink on a tissue, then it looks like an electrical problem.
Unlikely to be the same problem in two heads so that puts it into the printer logic or the ribbon cables or the circuit board behind the head.

 

[Lilla]

Is there any chance this is a priming issue from clogged ink sponge or priming mechanism?

Yes, I think both possibilities are worth considering...

On testing cartridges, Grandad35 in Post #16 this link writes...

It sounds like you have a problem extracting ink from your carts. Before you install each refilled cart, gently blow into the vent port to get ink to drip from the exit port (while holding the cart over a paper towel, of course). After a while, you will develop a sense of how much pressure is "normal" - excessive pressure indicates that the filter/sponge is becomming clogged.

This is exactly why a technique was developed to clean these carts (http://www.nifty-stuff.com/docs/canon-BCI-6-cartridges.php). Before starting to purge my carts, I often encountered the problem that you describe. I now clean my carts after 6-7 refills, and haven't had this problem in well over a year.

About removing cartridges. When you remove a cartridge it is best to replace it with another cartridge, preferably of the same color so as not to contaminate the colors. This is because when the ink inlet port is bare for more than a few minutes, air can enter the print head and cause a problem. This is written about here.

And in Post #36 this link Grandad35 gives us another check point...

I have seen cases where a cart that is almost full acts like it is empty. There is a small cylinder of filter material in the exit hole that must float up and down as it mates against the ink pickup in the print head. The filter in turn must press firmly against the sponge to pick up ink from the sponge. Every time that you pull a cart, even if it is only to check the ink level, you run the risk that this filter/sponge combination will not drop back down into firm contact with each other or with the print head pickup the next time that the cart is re-installed. A few light taps of the cart on any surface just before installing it is usually sufficient to drop things back into place and to give good contact between both interfaces.

 

[ghwellsjr]

There is another mechanism that can cause a cartridge that has plenty of ink in it to act like it is empty and that is if there is an air path from the outlet port up through the sponge(s) to the air vent. No amount of priming will correct this problem but cleaning the cartridge will. Or simply refilling the cartridge, even though it is not empty, may fix the problem because the fresh ink will probably flood the sponge(s). The best thing to do when you have a cartridge that seems not to feed is to put in a different cartridge, either a brand new one or one that you have recently filled.

 

[rbuzby1956]

Hello all,

I have tried the suggestions sent to me short of trying the heads in another printer(no access to one) and nothing has worked for me. I bought a "service manual" from 2manuals.com but this hasn't helped either. It isn't much of a service manual really, doesn't even cover dis-assembly or other basic items.

Cables and contacts to print head look ok. Reseated all cables with no luck. Swapped Cyan and PC carts and problem stays with the Cyan channel.

It may be the logic board but I can't find one on the 'net anywhere. Any more ideas?

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

Rich

 

[Lilla]

Is it possible that you got a bad new print head that just happens to have a problem with the cyan channel? While it seems unlikely, it does not seem impossible, right? So if you call them to say you got a head that does not print cyan, they would give you an RMA and then test it, if it is bad, they would send you a new one. If it is good, you would be out the shipping costs both ways (anything else?) but at least you would now know that your printer did not damage the new print head, and that the problem is most likely in your printer. At this point, you would have at least one (and possibly two) good print heads and one bad printer. Then you could buy a used or refurbished (if you can find one) i960 printer to go with your good one/two print heads. If you could find a used one locally, you could try it out before buying it. Plenty of people would gladly give you their shelved i950/i960/i965 (they use same print head) printer just to keep it out of the land fill. I've read several posts in this forum where people got used printers given to them or bought them for a few dollars at the Goodwill or where ever, and were able to get them working or use them for parts. Just a thought.

Did you see read this thread New i960 printhead: no output at all!?

If not, then consider...

If the Park Pad is clogged then it will not be able to prime the cartridge.
ghwellsjr, in post #2 tells how to flush the priming-purging tubes; there's a nice picture in Post #3.

Lilla, in post #5 lists some maintenance tasks you can do inside your printer, you can check this list to see if there's anything there you want to try but haven't yet.

Your problem is reminding me of my i950 problems, posted in this thread i950 wont print cyan; yet it works using purging syringe. What to do?.

I wrote my conclusion at the end of that thread. This printer is still in use as a "Take what you get" printer using the bad head w/o cyan, I show a picture of what I get in my last post. In short, I concluded that cyan wouldn't print because the heater for cyan was burnt out. It happened after sitting unused for 2-3 weeks while my sister was on vacation. She tried to clean it herself, by the time it got to me I think it was too late. Still I tried everything I could. It was then that I found this forum and started learning.