Did Alcohol damage my printhead?

[karyins]

Printer masters help me please!

The black on my canon i470D stopped working completely after a few weeks of idle. I found some cleaning methods online and happened to have a bottle of 91% isopropyl alcohol at hand. So I put some toilet paper on a disc and soaked them with alcohol, then I took the printhead out and put the nozzle face on the paper, also poured some alcohol inside the black cartridge holder but not the color side of it. Then I moved it to different spots on the paper every half hour or so, both black and color ink did bleed out. After several hours I put the printhead on dry toilet paper and let it sit overnight. Next morning I found some more stain on the paper but I went ahead and installed the printhead.

The black still didn't work, and worse, the color (which was 100% good before this) stoped working too. I did a few clean cycles but still no black at all, and only a few lines of red or blue here and there.

I thought maybe some ink dried and clogged again durying the overnight air dry. so I put some more alcohol on paper in the disc and quickly soak/rinsed the bottom of the printhead on it for a few minutes, some ink came out again. I wiped the printhead dry without touching the nozzles and installed it. Again, nothing printed even after a few clean cycles.

I thought the black ink might just ran out (no way to tell, last cartridge at hand, but it was low), and I probably should not have left the color side of the cartridge holder sitting dry during the first try. So I put the printhead on dry toilet paper this time, poured alcohol inside the printhead on both the color and black sides. The alcohol "sipped" into the paper with the black side almost clean, and some blue/red coming out from the color side. I let it sit for about 2 hours, changing spots now and then, and finally the alcohol floating out seemed kinda clear. So I shaked and wiped the printhead dry, with cotton swab gently wiping out some more ink coming out from the nozzles. Installed and did a clean cycle, then print.

Total blank paper came out.

Hell I thought the color cartridge might ran out too, so I installed a new color cartrige and printed.

Total blank paper came out again.

Any idea what happened to the cursed printhead? Could the alcohol damage it somehow? I have always used the genuine canon cartridges (BCI-24 black or color), maybe I can get some cheaper OEM cartridges just to try to fix the printhead, any good ones out there?

Thanks!

 

[Smile]

Printer masters help me please!

The black on my canon i470D stopped working completely after a few weeks of idle. I found some cleaning methods online and happened to have a bottle of 91% isopropyl alcohol at hand. So I put some toilet paper on a disc and soaked them with alcohol, then I took the printhead out and put the nozzle face on the paper, also poured some alcohol inside the black cartridge holder but not the color side of it. Then I moved it to different spots on the paper every half hour or so, both black and color ink did bleed out. After several hours I put the printhead on dry toilet paper and let it sit overnight. Next morning I found some more stain on the paper but I went ahead and installed the printhead.

The black still didn't work, and worse, the color (which was 100% good before this) stoped working too. I did a few clean cycles but still no black at all, and only a few lines of red or blue here and there.

I thought maybe some ink dried and clogged again durying the overnight air dry. so I put some more alcohol on paper in the disc and quickly soak/rinsed the bottom of the printhead on it for a few minutes, some ink came out again. I wiped the printhead dry without touching the nozzles and installed it. Again, nothing printed even after a few clean cycles.

I thought the black ink might just ran out (no way to tell, last cartridge at hand, but it was low), and I probably should not have left the color side of the cartridge holder sitting dry during the first try. So I put the printhead on dry toilet paper this time, poured alcohol inside the printhead on both the color and black sides. The alcohol "sipped" into the paper with the black side almost clean, and some blue/red coming out from the color side. I let it sit for about 2 hours, changing spots now and then, and finally the alcohol floating out seemed kinda clear. So I shaked and wiped the printhead dry, with cotton swab gently wiping out some more ink coming out from the nozzles. Installed and did a clean cycle, then print.

Total blank paper came out.

Hell I thought the color cartridge might ran out too, so I installed a new color cartrige and printed.

Total blank paper came out again.

Any idea what happened to the cursed printhead? Could the alcohol damage it somehow? I have always used the genuine canon cartridges (BCI-24 black or color), maybe I can get some cheaper OEM cartridges just to try to fix the printhead, any good ones out there?

Thanks!

91% isopropyl alcohol could be too strong and damage some plastic parts. Alcohol makes ink dry and some pigment ink can turn into jell and clog the head so it is not recommended to clean print heads.

You can use ammonia + distilled water solution, put only a few drops of ammonia into water solution. The cotton swabs and paper towels are also not recommended also because micro fibers can clog or scrape the print head nozzles.

You should always use coffee filters they are safe to use, no rubbing the nozzles should be always avoided if possible.

My recipe for print head cleaning:

1. Soak the print head in distilled water until it is very clear. Use a small plastic container that did not contain any chemicals in it before procedure. Single use containers should be used.
2. Leave the head in distilled water solution for 24hrs. Make sure water level covers ink inlet ports too.
3. Change distilled water in the container and heat it to degrees 40-50C. Too hot can damage the dead so make sure to not overheat the water. When the water is ready submerge the head into the container for 15mins or so. Make at least 4 cleaning cycles this way.
4. Put a coffee filter on the table, underneath the coffee filter put 3 - 4 sheets of paper towel to absorb the cleaning solution.
5. Put the print head on the coffee filter and get some soda straws (they are ideal for ink ports on pixma printers) remove rubber padding around ink ports on the print head by using some instrument as tweezers. Recommended way is to submerge the head into distilled water because rubber padding can be removed easily without friction in water. Now when you are ready connect each soda straw to every ink port.
6. Make a cleaning solution by using few drops of ammonia solution and distilled water. For example 2ml of ammonia and 19ml of water in a 20ml syringe. Mix the solution by shaking the syringe.
7. Fill the soda straws with cleaning solution. If you get air pockets in the straws use another 20ml syringe to connect and force air trough the straws until there are no more air pockets and solution level is decreasing in the straws. Take some patience the method is slow but well worth it. The solution should decrease faster as more nozzles are cleared. Don’t hesitate to use the empty syringe to force some air trough the nozzles if you get air stuck when filling the straws.
8. Finish the cleaning by injecting pure distilled water and by submerging the print head into distilled water for 15mins. Then blow the ports with air using a syringe with a soda straw.
9. Clean the gold contacts on the head with some isopropyl alcohol and then immediately install into printer and perform 2 to 5 cleaning cycles or some deep cleaning to prime the head, and then print some purge pages. Now you can print nozzle check to see how well the cleaning unclogged the nozzles.

 

[karyins]

Smile, thanks for the tips, I should have tried water first. Maybe the problem was minor...But at this point, could the printhead be beyond any hope already after several hours of alcohol in and out? Did anyone tried alcohol this way without destroying the printhead?

 

[pharmacist]

To prevent drying of ink in the nozzles, my recipe for a good printhead cleaner is as follows:

-25 ml isopropyl alcohol
-3 ml glycerin or propylene glycol
-distilled water up to 100 ml
-1 small teaspoon of ammonia.

The addition of glycerin/propylene glycol prevents rapid evaporation of moisture inside the nozzles during cleaning cycles and the ammonia is a very effective detergent that leaves no traces after evaporation. This combination works great in my printers.

I use the method of Neil Slade with a tin of compressed air and my solution (only a few drops).

 

[Smile]

Smile, thanks for the tips, I should have tried water first. Maybe the problem was minor...But at this point, could the printhead be beyond any hope already after several hours of alcohol in and out? Did anyone tried alcohol this way without destroying the printhead?

It is hard to diagnose a printhead without seeing and be able to test it, give my method a try if it is recoverable it will work.
I have rescued printheads that have been sitting without ink for more than a month this way. Remember patience is key here. If you can use as low air pressure as possible, compressed air can be useful but if used improperly can damage print head instantly.

 

[karyins]

To prevent drying of ink in the nozzles, my recipe for a good printhead cleaner is as follows:

-25 ml isopropyl alcohol
-3 ml glycerin or propylene glycol
-distilled water up to 100 ml
-1 small teaspoon of ammonia.

The addition of glycerin/propylene glycol prevents rapid evaporation of moisture inside the nozzles during cleaning cycles and the ammonia is a very effective detergent that leaves no traces after evaporation. This combination works great in my printers.

I use the method of Neil Slade with a tin of compressed air and my solution (only a few drops).

Thanks! Is this http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/inkjetstuff3.html Neil Slade's method?

Smile, I will try water soaking once I got some more cartridges.

 

[fotofreek]

Karins - there is a very long thread on printhead maintenance. Click on the FAQ link at the top of the forum page and go to the first FAQ on what to do if your printer doesn't print properly. My experience is that you should start with the least corrosive or harmful materials and techniques first. Pharmacist's home brew sounds good. I've used a mixture of ORIGINAL windex with ammonia, water, and a bit of alchohol if plain water rinses don't fix the problem. The Windex does have some alcohol in it, and there is just a trace of ammonia. If that doesn't work I use straight Windex. I do understand that Windex or its equivalent is not available in every country. After drying out the printhead with compressed air you need to run enough cleaning cycles to pull ink through the nozzles before printing anything. The ink acts as a coolant and prevents the head from burning out. I usually do a final soak and rinse with plain water, don't bother with the compressed air, and let the cleaning cycles pull the water out as it brings the ink into the printhead. It does put more fluid into the waste ink tank, but the counter for the waste ink tank doesn't actually measure the amount of fluid dumped into the tank, it just counts the number of cleaning cycles and borderless prints. Also, the water will tend to evaporate fairly quickly.