Hi,
PRINTERHEAD:
I just spent quite a few hours trying to unclog my printerhead.
I checked through dozens of forums searching for clues. I exchanged every printer cartridge, took out the printer head and cleaned it with hot water, ethanol, isopropanol and destilled water (well Milli-Q, everyone who works in a lab knows what this is).
I also tried soaking lint-free paper (those that you blow your nose in) with destilled water, heating it up in the microwave oven and then pushing the printer head in different spots. (You should see ink/water buldging up from the metallic screens)
Also tried the "tapping gently" on the screen (the metallic thing that touches the ink cartridge spunge part) to create a hydraulic effect (this actually looks neat if you have clear water and the ink is forced out from the printerhead).
Last thing I tried was soaking for many hours in ethanol based car window cleaner (ethanol+ionized tensides) followed by destilled water.
I also suspected dried cartridges, bad rubber seal around the metal screen, tried to fix it with some vaseline.
Every time I thought my printerhead had cleared. Then I put everything back into the printer, ran a nozzle check and every frigging time there where problems with my printing pattern (pretty much only the big black one).
So after struggling many hours to put things right (and listening to my girlfriend whine about the printer not working
, I finally thought the printer head must be toast. (time to buy a new printer head (50-100 ?) or a new printer (50-150) ?
THE REAL PROBLEM:
Stepping out of the box and realizing its not always the printerhead, or the cartridges. The printer automatically goes into the park position, when it does this, it also cleans the printerhead. I also cleaned the printerhead quite a few times (beginning maybe 5 times and at the end probably closer to a hundred).
This (and all previous cleanings) had resulted in a very dirty cleaning station. So every time I cleaned my printerhead to mint condition (probably almost as good as new), the printer "cleaned" it, causing the whole problem. I really should've paid more attention to this, since doing a deep clean often resulted in a worse pattern instead of a better one. But I thought it was caused by problems with inksupply (so doing a deep clean would've exhausted the ink).
THE SOLUTION:
Cleaning the cleaning station.
The print head parks to the right to what I've named the cleaning station.
Some pictures:
http://www.cig.canon-europe.com/a?i=1LlcYQDpp7
1. So what you need to do is open the cover and the ink cartridge/print head assembly will slide to the middle.
2. Now take out the power cord, otherwise the assembly will slide back to the cleaning station after approximately 1 min.
3. I managed to squeeze my quite big hands in to clean the cleaning station, although it probably would be much easier if you'd first dissassemble the unit (instructions in case you want to do it http://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=1831&seite=1 )
4. I used q-tips and lint free paper + tweezers
5. I used the tweezers to pick up the 2 pads that the ink is absorbed into (one long rectangular for black, and the square one for the colors), I used hot water + ethanol + destilled water to rinse these (probably hot water is quite enough).
6. There are 3 plastic wipers. All of these were covered with black ink. I think this was the reason for black not working. The printhead would go to the cleaning, suck some ink to the pads, and then "clean" the head using these very messy wipers.
7. 2 of the 3 wipers are located right in the view. They are transparent soft plastic wipers, parallel like razorblades. Wipe these
8. The last wiper is a bit more hidden, sort of closer to yourself. There is a white little clip that the printer uses to move this wiper, you can freely prod the wiper back a little to gain some access. Wipe this wiper clean.
9. Reinstall the 2 pads removed and washed at point 5 (I dried them first with some paper). Be very careful not to loose the pads somewhere. I first positioned them close with the tweezers and then used my hand blindly to push them back in position.
10. Plug back in the power cord and power up the printer
11. Do the regular cleaning followed by nozzle check. Repeat once or twice and the pattern should be perfect.
Hope this helps someone else who ran into this problem! I'd hate for someone else to use as much time, effort and ink to correct such a small problem! Hope your ip4000 will keep on going as mine will again...
PRINTERHEAD:
I just spent quite a few hours trying to unclog my printerhead.
I checked through dozens of forums searching for clues. I exchanged every printer cartridge, took out the printer head and cleaned it with hot water, ethanol, isopropanol and destilled water (well Milli-Q, everyone who works in a lab knows what this is).
I also tried soaking lint-free paper (those that you blow your nose in) with destilled water, heating it up in the microwave oven and then pushing the printer head in different spots. (You should see ink/water buldging up from the metallic screens)
Also tried the "tapping gently" on the screen (the metallic thing that touches the ink cartridge spunge part) to create a hydraulic effect (this actually looks neat if you have clear water and the ink is forced out from the printerhead).
Last thing I tried was soaking for many hours in ethanol based car window cleaner (ethanol+ionized tensides) followed by destilled water.
I also suspected dried cartridges, bad rubber seal around the metal screen, tried to fix it with some vaseline.
Every time I thought my printerhead had cleared. Then I put everything back into the printer, ran a nozzle check and every frigging time there where problems with my printing pattern (pretty much only the big black one).
So after struggling many hours to put things right (and listening to my girlfriend whine about the printer not working
, I finally thought the printer head must be toast. (time to buy a new printer head (50-100 ?) or a new printer (50-150) ?THE REAL PROBLEM:
Stepping out of the box and realizing its not always the printerhead, or the cartridges. The printer automatically goes into the park position, when it does this, it also cleans the printerhead. I also cleaned the printerhead quite a few times (beginning maybe 5 times and at the end probably closer to a hundred).
This (and all previous cleanings) had resulted in a very dirty cleaning station. So every time I cleaned my printerhead to mint condition (probably almost as good as new), the printer "cleaned" it, causing the whole problem. I really should've paid more attention to this, since doing a deep clean often resulted in a worse pattern instead of a better one. But I thought it was caused by problems with inksupply (so doing a deep clean would've exhausted the ink).
THE SOLUTION:
Cleaning the cleaning station.
The print head parks to the right to what I've named the cleaning station.
Some pictures:
http://www.cig.canon-europe.com/a?i=1LlcYQDpp7
1. So what you need to do is open the cover and the ink cartridge/print head assembly will slide to the middle.
2. Now take out the power cord, otherwise the assembly will slide back to the cleaning station after approximately 1 min.
3. I managed to squeeze my quite big hands in to clean the cleaning station, although it probably would be much easier if you'd first dissassemble the unit (instructions in case you want to do it http://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=1831&seite=1 )
4. I used q-tips and lint free paper + tweezers
5. I used the tweezers to pick up the 2 pads that the ink is absorbed into (one long rectangular for black, and the square one for the colors), I used hot water + ethanol + destilled water to rinse these (probably hot water is quite enough).
6. There are 3 plastic wipers. All of these were covered with black ink. I think this was the reason for black not working. The printhead would go to the cleaning, suck some ink to the pads, and then "clean" the head using these very messy wipers.
7. 2 of the 3 wipers are located right in the view. They are transparent soft plastic wipers, parallel like razorblades. Wipe these
8. The last wiper is a bit more hidden, sort of closer to yourself. There is a white little clip that the printer uses to move this wiper, you can freely prod the wiper back a little to gain some access. Wipe this wiper clean.
9. Reinstall the 2 pads removed and washed at point 5 (I dried them first with some paper). Be very careful not to loose the pads somewhere. I first positioned them close with the tweezers and then used my hand blindly to push them back in position.
10. Plug back in the power cord and power up the printer
11. Do the regular cleaning followed by nozzle check. Repeat once or twice and the pattern should be perfect.
Hope this helps someone else who ran into this problem! I'd hate for someone else to use as much time, effort and ink to correct such a small problem! Hope your ip4000 will keep on going as mine will again...
