Cleaning formulas?

[Ron350]

Cleaning formulas?


I am looking for safe home brew cleaning formulas for clogged print heads.

I was given an i560 that sat for a year with no ink carts and the head is slightly clogged.

So far I have tried Windex and distilled water in vinyl tubes stuck over each inlet port. Let that sit over night and it produced a little Black and Cyan on the paper towel but no Magenta or Yellow.
I tried the running hot tap water in the ports in the sink and got a little more Cyan color. The sink flushing really cleaned off the bottom of the print head.

I have read through the 17 page thread on cleaning started by Grandad35.

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=241

This is the first Canon print head I have looked at closely and can see that the glue used on the circuit board looks quite delicate.

 

[Trigger 37]

Ron350,,,, It sat for a year and you say it is slighty clogged,.....LOL.....I think it is about as clogged as they get. You haven't said what happens when you try to print a test page. I'm not suggesting you try and print a lot, just the nozzle check pattern.

The absolute best cleaning agent is very warm, not hot, distilled water, or at least charcol filtered water. The problem with soaking the printhead in hot water is that if you use a shallow pan, such that the water is only about 1/4" deep, it will cool very fast. The hottest water I would suggest is about the hottest tap water temperature. The goal is to get a lot of hot water to flow through the printhead and this will gradually dissolve the dried up ink. If you have a hand sprayer in you sink, spray the bottom of the head with the hottest tap water, then let some soak through the filters. Keep this up until you see the ink finally begin to dissolve. Let it soak in a dish of "Warm-to-Hot" water and repeat the spraying. Use an air compressor to blow out the excess water from the nozzle side. Repeat if you have to. Print nozzle checks to see if you are making any progress. If you are not getting any results,...Call Canon and order a new printhead.

 

[Ron350]

Hello Trigger37

Just slightly clogged. LOL

I was looking for a clogged Canon head to try all the unclogging techniques on and found one.
The first thing I did was blott the inlet ports with q-tips damp with Edit:Windex Original. When I blotted the Magenta and Yellow the q-tips turned dark so I did not attempt a test print.

Found some clear vinyl tubing that fits tight over each inlet port.
5/16 ID and 3/16 ID.
Cut the tubing 4 inches long and stuck them over each port.

I wanted to start off slow and safe so I mixed Windex with distilled water and filed each tube half way. Placed the print head with the 4 smokestacks on a paper towel moistened with the same juice in a shallow plastic container to sit over night.
The next day all fluid levels in the vinyl tubing had not dropped any. I sucked and blew on each tube and nothing changed. Let it sit the second night with straight Windex in the tubes and the black and the Cyan level dropped just a little. Sucked on each tube and got color in the Black and Cyan tube but only bubbles in the Magenta and Yellow.
Then I removed the tubing and put it in the sink and ran hot water all over it. My hot water is around 110* F so I dont think it is not enough to damage the glue in the print head.
At this point I could very slowly suck warm water through each tube but water or Windex will not drain through.

My big question is shouldnt Windex or distilled water drain out of the tubes through the print heads and on to a paper towel if the heads are unclogged?

 

[fotofreek]

About the windex - if Windex-D is the "no drip" formula, don't use it. Get the original formula. The no-drip formula probably has something in it to increase viscosity - a quality you don't want for cleaning a printhead.

 

[Ron350]

Thanks Fotofreek that should say Windex Original Streak Free Shine Glass Cleaner With Ammonia-D.

http://www.windex.com/windex/

MSDS link
http://www.scjohnson.com/msds_us_ca..._Original_Streak_Free_Shine_Glass_Cleaner.PDF

Edit:
I installed the print head and have the 5 orange flashes of doom.
Because I did not test the head before starting I will never know if I killed the head during cleaning or if it was already dead.