Canon ip8500 Seriously plugged??

[DexterBob]

My 8500 seems to have a serious malfunction of the #1 bank of carts. I have rinsed the print head in warm water, blown with air, deep cleaned twice, nothing. Then I did Neal's denatured alcohol soak with syringe massage, blown with air, nothing. I know the ink is going somewhere since the carts are going down. The carts are from Printer Ink Warehouse. Ideas PLEASE!

Bob

 

[AlienSteve]

Denatured? Ouch. That will attack some plastics, it isn't obvious because it does so slowly.

How does a nozzle check look? When did this happen? IE, have you been using this and it was fine until lately, or has it been this way since you got it?

The ink is probably going down from print head cleanings.

 

[DexterBob]

The pattern test shows no color at all in the #1 bank of colors. The problem has been getting worse over time as I don't print color all that much. I have a 50/50 mix of carts with OEM and aftermarket. Should I try the dilute ammonia soak next??

 

[Tin Ho]

You can make a cleaning cartridge by filling an empty cartridge with diluted Windex. Plug it into the slot of the clogged print head. Do a cleaning cycle so that the cleaning fluid gets into the print head. Let the printer sit over night. Before removing it do another cleaning cycle to flush the print head with the cleaning fluid coming out of the cleaning cartridge.

This cleaning method is safe but has a disadvantage that the cleaning cycle may not be able to suck any cleaning fluid into the clogged nozzles. It sucks out and wastes ink from the nozzles that are not clogged instead. So if the clogged channel is completely blocked this method may not work. The key to a successful clearing of the clog is in if you are able to get the cleaning fluid into the blocked channel. This method is much safer than soaking the print head. It will be very effective for a partially blocked print head.

Using this method I have unclogged twice of a print head with one or two nozzles clogged. The clog can be seen from a nozzle check that showed a very find line (banding). Some not very obvious banding can be detected in photos printed. I have no idea how it occurred. Tried soaking the print head over night a few times but the tiny clog persisted. Using the home made cleaning cartridge the clog simply disappeared after one to two hours with the cartridge plugged in. The two cloggings were on two different printers. I believe the causes of the clogging were due to ink drying from the nozzles. The simple home made cleaning cartridge can be very effective when the clogging is in the early stage before developing into a serious one. So early detection of clogging can be critical for preventing serious clogging.

Your clogging is in a very serious state. You may need to soak the print head with the diluted Windex before using the home made cleaning cartridge. Good luck. Don't ruin the print head by doing anything risky.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I am not familiar with this printer or what you mean by the #1 bank of carts. If it is the case that you can clean these carts separately from the others, my guess is that the head is not clogged at all but that you have a problem with the purge unit. If you can see the pads that the head goes against during cleaning, try dropping some Windex on them (or it). You may be able to do this with a syringe or a straw. If that doesn't clear up the problem, you may have to take apart the printer.

I learned from digitalartist71 that clogged purge lines can cause the same problem as a clogged print head in the following post:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1239

I was able to "unclog" an Epson CX4600 which has four pigment inks in it by cleaning out the tubing used for purging. Fortunately, in this printer, you can get a hold of the tube without taking the printer apart but I suspect that isn't the case for Canon printers.

 

[DexterBob]

I appears that the solution to the problem was a 24hr soak in a 50/50 water, clear ammonia bath. Everything is now unplugged.

thanks for all the help!!

Bob