Canon IP3000 wont print

[Lilla]

Where would I buy windex, what is in it? Can I use something similar?
I did check the pads and they do appear to be inky.

You can make a Windex substitute. At post #20 this link...

I use 1 part nonsudsing clear household ammonia, 4 parts clear isopropyl alcohol, 5 parts distilled water. You can skip the isopropyl if you wish and use 1 part ammonia to 9 parts water.

Read the entire post for more details.

The head parking pad should wet with ink, but not overly saturated. The print head sits over this wet pad and the moisture from the pad keeps the print head from drying out. In time, the pad can become overly saturated just to do normal usage. In this case you can remove the excess ink by repeatly blotting the pad with a lint free cloth like a piece of old cotton T-Shirt. I avoid paper products as they leave lint that could get into the print head, or clog the pad. I have an i960, the park pad on it is a hard porous material; it can be removed and washed with water. I did it the other day.

Sorry, I don't know how to dismantle the IP3000 so you get at the purging-priming tubes to clean them.

Lilla

 

[ghwellsjr]

Lilla,

The concern with doing excessive cleanings or deep cleanings assumes that the tubing is actually clear and that it is sucking a lot of ink from the cartridges through the nozzles and down to the waste tank. If it is working correctly but doesn't clear up a clogged head after several tries, then something else must be wrong. However, what I am advising is a method first to see if the tubes are clogged and if so, a method to unclog them without dismantling the printer.

If you put water or Windex on the pads so that it forms a pool and then you cycle power and look at the pads again and see that they are still black with liquid, then it hasn't been sucked down the tubes. When the tubes get cleared, not only will the pads appear relatively dry, when you put new water or Windex on them, it will remain clear.

If you see that one of the pads shows that its tubing is clear but the other one is still clogged, you can perform a cleaning from the maintenance tab on the print preferences where it will give you the option of cleaning just one of the pads. This will save you from wasting a lot of ink.

I'm also suggesting that this procedure be done every few months as preventative maintenance to clear the tubes and to clean the pads.

 

[tomthered]

sorry guys I did realise youmeant the water and ammonia solution, slip of the tongue!! When I figure out how to remove the top cover I will give it a go. First thing I need to get me some ammonia. I had considered importing it from the USA, but if water and ammonia will do the job I will use that. Does any one have any ideas on removing the main cover to get at the pads etc?

 

[ghwellsjr]

My experience with removing covers from other Canon printers is that after you remove all the screws there are tabs holding the remainder of the pieces together. If you force them, they will break, so be very careful and gentle.

However, I'm suggesting that you do my experiment without removing the cover. And don't wait for ammonia, just do it with distilled water.

 

[tomthered]

well put water on a few times and it went down the tubes!. Funny thing is when you remove the cartridges the ink is sat there but nothin on the underneath of the printhead! As its brand new out of the packet it should be OK should it not? The sponges were full of ink but did go nearly white again after purging the water through.

I do know that I used to leave it switched on without turning off, never realised about this purging thing, Canon don't say anything do they?! Any ideas on what to do next? The old printhead wont work as it switches off, could it be some sort of electrical fault? Getting fed up now.

something else I forgot. When I have put the new printhead in and done an alignment, on the two occasions I tried it came up with " there has been an error while completing the printhead head alignment, please press the resume key on the printer to cancel this instruction and start again". I am unsure if this is relevant but why would it do that on a new printhead? It spews paper out with no ink hwatsoever on it. Despite a deep clean

cheers Tom

 

[Lilla]

When I have put the new printhead in and done an alignment, on the two occasions I tried it came up with " there has been an error while completing the printhead head alignment, please press the resume key on the printer to cancel this instruction and start again". I am unsure if this is relevant but why would it do that on a new printhead? It spews paper out with no ink hwatsoever on it. Despite a deep clean

You might find something useful in Canon 3000 FAQ

Canon Downloads
Enter your product model name, type: IP3000
Click Software/product manuals
Click Frequently Asked Questions
Click Search by Category

Under "No ink is ejected, ink is faint, or streaks (or lines) are printed", these articles
* How to perform Print Head Alignment (Windows).
Note. it shows that should happen step by step, so you can compare....
* How to check that the print head is performing normally (Windows)

Under The power lamp blinks (or lights), thee articles
* How to re-set the print head
* How to perform Manual Print Head Alignment (Windows)
* How to perform Automatic Print Head Alignment

Hope this helps,
Lilla

P.S. I added a link to an interesting thread on "deep cleaning cycles" in my post #10 earlier in this thread.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I do know that I used to leave it switched on without turning off, never realised about this purging thing, Canon don't say anything do they?!

I leave my printers on all the time and I recommend everyone else do the same--just so that you don't waste ink from the cartridges every time you turn on power--but also because you don't want to fill up your waste ink tank.

I recommend doing a nozzle check as often as once a day and at least once a week. You should do this even if you are using the printer, especially if you mostly print black on plain paper, because you want to also test the colors. Another reason to do it is that even if there are some nozzles not printing, you probably won't notice it on a printout and you want to be able to correct problems as soon as they occur.

If you do see some nozzles failing the nozzle check, just cycle the power and see if that clears it up. If not, do a regular head cleaning. If that still doesn't help, just wait until the next day. Most of the time small problems just go away.

If a problem persists to the next day, you should try more elaborate means to fix it.

 

[Trigger 37]

ghwellsjr,

I have an i560 and I leave the power on all the time but I have it in auto power down mode. Even if my system is on, the printer sleeps until I give it a command to print. I've had this unit for about 3 years, refilling the orginal Canon carts for most all of that time. I had one Cyan cart go bad and the print head could not pull sufficient ink out of it so it was replaced.

I don't do cleanings anymore as I do a nozzle check to make sure the heads are ok before I print a picture. What your saying is that each time it wakes up it does a cleaning or a purge cycle. In all this time I've not had a problem with purging or the waste ink tank, but your saying it is going to happen someday. If I leave it on, and I can, will it really park the printhead over the cleaning station so the printhead will not dry out. I thought it only did that when it was off.

Also, I would love to do the Windex on the cleaning pads but all that fluid has to run right to the waste ink tank,... and when that get's full, there is all kinds of blinking lights and the covers have to come off. It would be great if someone could point us to "ONE" site where there is "ONE" canon printer service manual so we could all learn how to do it. I have seen other sites that offer replacement or subtitute tanks for sale. I have too many printers to mess with this and I just bought a new ip6600 so I think I'd better just go buy a service manual for one of them. If anyone already has one that would like to share,... now is the time. I'm sure that most of them are different, but if you know Canon, just about every printer they make has 5-8 models that are just the same guts but only a few key parts changed,... as well as all the covers. Like I said, I have an i560 and a MP730 all in one printer. They don't even look close,..but they use the same printhead, carriage, inks, and just about everything else that is related to printing. On top of this they added a sheet feeder for the copy function and a flat bed glass scanner, and a FAX moden and telephone connection. It all works great together.

 

[Xalky]

It would be great if someone could point us to "ONE" site where there is "ONE" canon printer service manual so we could all learn how to do it. I have seen other sites that offer replacement or subtitute tanks for sale. I have too many printers to mess with this and I just bought a new ip6600 so I think I'd better just go buy a service manual for one of them. If anyone already has one that would like to share,... now is the time. I'm sure that most of them are different, but if you know Canon, just about every printer they make has 5-8 models that are just the same guts but only a few key parts changed,... as well as all the covers. Like I said, I have an i560 and a MP730 all in one printer. They don't even look close,..but they use the same printhead, carriage, inks, and just about everything else that is related to printing. On top of this they added a sheet feeder for the copy function and a flat bed glass scanner, and a FAX moden and telephone connection. It all works great together.

I agree: A service manual procedure for the waste tank would be great. I suspect that this is what happened to my ip5000. I might pull it out and try to fiddle with it some more. It's either the waste tank or the seal on the magenta. I have several sources online for service manuals. Most of them are scans, but hey, if they're legible, who cares. I found these sites when I had to change the blue tube on my big screen tv.

 

[Xalky]

All my free links came up empty, but heres a vendor on e-bay that has printer service manuals on CD pretty cheap. http://stores.ebay.com/PCTECHINFO He had manuals for all the most popular canons discussed here, plus just about any printer you can think of for about $4 plus $3 shipping.