Help with cleaning purge unit of Canon i860

[LGM09]

Hello ...

I was wondering if anyone could give me some information on how to take apart my Canon i860 inkjet printer to get to the purge unit so I can clean it out, as well as some instructions on how to clean it out. Or is there another thread someone can refer me to? I did a search and came up empty.

The problem is that pigment black will not print at all anymore. It's 100% missing. I have spent about the last 2 weeks trying different methods to clean out the printhead, but nothing works. In fact, the problem only got worse. About two weeks ago when I started to try to fix this, I could get a partial pigment black line on a nozzle check as well as a partial page of printed black text. But now I don't even get anything on a nozzle check. I don't think I damaged the nozzles, as the black stopped working all at once and none of the other nozzles are damaged. The photo black, cyan, magenta, and yellow inks are all printing fine.

So I figure it has to be the purge unit underneath the park pad for pigment black? Maybe the black pigment got stuck and dried up there? It's worth a try as I seem to have exhausted all other options.

FYI, here's what I've tried on the printhead so far:

--washing the head with warm water and isopropyl alcohol (2 separate times)
--soaking the head overnight in pure windex
--soaking the head in 100% ammonia for about 6 hours
--soaking the head in 50% bleach and 50% filtered water for about 7 hours
--putting pure windex in an empty pigment black cartridge and then running a deep clean purge and then a nozzle check every night for about a week ... I also put a few drops of windex directly on the park pad before turning off the printer each night
--EEEPROM initiatlization



I guess I should feel lucky that the other colors seem to be OK, and I can use the printer in this limited mode ... but what could cause this stubborn pigment black problem?

Any help would be appreciated. As I said, I don't think it is a printer head problem. I also don't think it is an ink flow problem in the cartridge as I went through a brand new OEM pigment black cartridge doing cleaning cycles and nozzle checks.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ghwellsjr]

If you have a clogged purge unit, no amount of head cleaning will help. What will help is putting Windex on the "park pad" but make sure you are putting it on the correct pad. There is one pad for the dye inks--it's more or less square and probably easier to see (if it's anything like other similar printers). The black pigment pad is rectangular and probably only partially visible and probably to the left of the dye ink pad.

You really should flood the pad with Windex and then do a regular head cleaning for just the pigment black ink. Use your Windex cartridge when you do this. Then do a nozzle check. If you have just a little bit of black ink left in your cartridge you will be able to see if the nozzles are printing. Repeat several times and then leave some Windex on the pad overnight. It make take days of repeats before the clog is cleaned out.

There is a tube attached to the bottom of each of the pads that goes to a peristaltic pump which is nothing more than a roller that pinches the tube and moves down to "suck" on the bottom of pad. It is possible that the tube is disconnected or broken. When you flood the pad with Windex, it should not go away but stay there until you do the head cleaning.

In the mean time, if you want to print in black on plain paper, you can tell your printer that you are using matte paper and it will use your black dye ink cartridge instead of the pigment. Of course the printout will not be water proof and you will use up your black dye ink much more rapidly than normal but at least you will be able to print if this is your only printer.

 

[LGM09]

What will help is putting Windex on the "park pad" but make sure you are putting it on the correct pad. There is one pad for the dye inks--it's more or less square and probably easier to see (if it's anything like other similar printers). The black pigment pad is rectangular and probably only partially visible and probably to the left of the dye ink pad.

You really should flood the pad with Windex and then do a regular head cleaning for just the pigment black ink. Use your Windex cartridge when you do this. Then do a nozzle check. If you have just a little bit of black ink left in your cartridge you will be able to see if the nozzles are printing. Repeat several times and then leave some Windex on the pad overnight. It make take days of repeats before the clog is cleaned out.

ghwells, thanks for your reply. Over the last 5 days or so, I have had a pigment black cartridge with pure windex in it inside the printer head. The cartridge still had some residual pigment black in it when I added the windex so I should be able to see something if a nozzle check is working. Almost every day over the last week, I have been running a "deep" head clean of just the pigment black, followed by a nozzle check, all of which have been unsuccessful so far. Then before I shut the printer off, I have been putting a few drops of windex on the park pad -- the rectangular one.

You seem to think I am on the right path but I need to do this multiple times a day, right? Is that what you are saying? Also, should I be doing a deep or regular clean with the pigment black when I do this? Finally, after I put the windex on the park pad and before I shut the printer down for the night, should I return the printer head to the park position or leave it in the middle?

Even though I suspect a problem with the purge unit, something doesn't seem to make sense. The cartridge with the windex has emptied about 50% over the last week with my multiple deep head cleanings. Where is that windex going if it isn't going into the purge unit????

Similarly, the week before when I was trying all the various soakings of the print head in ammonia and windex baths, I emptied a full new Canon OEM black pigment cartridge with all the deep cleanings. Where did that ink go to? It certainly wasn't showing up in the nozzle checks (except for briefly) or on test prints of documents.

There is a tube attached to the bottom of each of the pads that goes to a peristaltic pump which is nothing more than a roller that pinches the tube and move down to "suck" on the bottom of pad. It is possible that the tube is disconnected or broken. When you flood the pad with Windex, it should not go away but stay there until you do the head cleaning.

The windex is staying on top, all pooled up, until the print head parks or I run a head cleaning. Glad to know that part doesn't seem to be broken.

In the mean time, if you want to print in black on plain paper, you can tell your printer that you are using matte paper and it will use your black dye ink cartridge instead of the pigment. Of course the printout will not be water proof ...

The silver lining with my pigment black having disappeared and failing with all the print head soakings, is that I looked into a laser printer out of frustration last week. The first day I looked there was a Brother HL-2140 on sale for $49.99 with free shipping at Newegg. That was the last day of the sale so I jumped on it. Received it the next day and it's been working wonderfully. Laser printers have come a long way in recent years in terms of price and size and are a better alternative than inkjets for black text documents.

But I would really like to get the pigment black working on my i860 again.

 

[ghwellsjr]

The problem is that pigment black will not print at all anymore. It's 100% missing. I have spent about the last 2 weeks trying different methods to clean out the printhead, but nothing works. In fact, the problem only got worse. About two weeks ago when I started to try to fix this, I could get a partial pigment black line on a nozzle check as well as a partial page of printed black text. But now I don't even get anything on a nozzle check. I don't think I damaged the nozzles, as the black stopped working all at once and none of the other nozzles are damaged. The photo black, cyan, magenta, and yellow inks are all printing fine.

You seem to have a good handle on what you are doing. I went back and read your original post. The only thing that confuses me is that you said that the pigment black failed gradually and then you said it stopped all at once. Usually when a set of nozzles for one type of ink quits all at once, that means an electrical problem that usually can't be fixed, but if your problem crept up gradually, then that may not be your case. However, if the ink and Windex are disappearing out of your cartridge, it most likely is going through the nozzles during the cleanings but not being ejected during printing. So I'm concluding that it probably is an electrical problem. It may have been that originally you had a clog, either in the head or in the purge tubing but then washing the printhead cause an electrical damage. I don't recommend trying to clean the head outside the printer for this very reason.

Now you have to decide if you want to spend more time and money on this printer or just use it for photo paper printing and use your laser for black on plain paper printing. Keep in mind if it is electrical, a damaged head can damage the printer and vice versa so there is always risk in swapping heads and printers. If you want to continue to try to work on this printer, let us know and we'll give more advice.

 

[LGM09]

The only thing that confuses me is that you said that the pigment black failed gradually and then you said it stopped all at once. Usually when a set of nozzles for one type of ink quits all at once, that means an electrical problem that usually can't be fixed, but if your problem crept up gradually, then that may not be your case.

Well it's strange. Here's what happened:

Before any attempts to clean the print head out of the printer, the pigment black was totally missing and 1 or 2 of the photo colors was either partially or fully missing. I believe the photo colors were the photo black and photo cyan.

After initial attempts at soaking the print head (the bottom portion only) in various baths of alcohol and windex, I was able to restore almost fully the balky photo dye colors and, only partially and temporarily the pigment black. For pigment black, after each of the first few soakings, the nozzle check would print almost fully and then I would get a page of black text but some portions of the lines were faint or missing. However, upon immediately trying to print another page of black text or make a nozzle check, the pigment black would disappear totally.

So I tried more aggressive soaking techniques (bleach, ammonia) ... and the photo colors cleared up totally and are now perfect, but the pigment black disappeared altogether. Unlike with the early soakings, I couldn't even get a nozzle check for pigment black.

At this point, the pigment black is 100% gone! So short answer: The pigment black got better when I initially tried to fix it but then got worse and is now totally gone.

However, if the ink and Windex are disappearing out of your cartridge, it most likely is going through the nozzles during the cleanings but not being ejected during printing. So I'm concluding that it probably is an electrical problem.

Yes, that's exactly what is happening. Does this mean it's also not the purge unit, a cartridge flow problem, or a blocked nozzle?

It may have been that originally you had a clog, either in the head or in the purge tubing but then washing the printhead cause an electrical daImage. I don't recommend trying to clean the head outside the printer for this very reason.

Yes, this sounds possible. But this doesn't make sense to me. When cleaning, I treated all the inlet ports for all the colors on the print head exactly the same. The nozzle areas on the bottom were treated all the same as well. So how come all the other colors are printing perfectly and the pigment black is totally shot? If I ruined the pigment black through cleaning attempts how come the other colors weren't affected at all?

I think I can live peacefully with this conclusion if it made sense -- ie, if all the colors were giving me problems.

Interestingly, in my web search for a solution, I came across another i860 owner with an almost identical problem. His pigment black is totally missing. (He does have minor problems with the other colors that I don't have, but they are minor.) He even bought another print head and it didn't make a difference. Here is the link to this thread:

http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/inkjet/59376

I have emailed him today to see if he found an answer.

Now you have to decide if you want to spend more time and money on this printer or just use it for photo paper printing and use your laser for black on plain paper printing. Keep in mind if it is electrical, a damaged head can damage the printer and vice versa so there is always risk in swapping heads and printers. If you want to continue to try to work on this printer, let us know and we'll give more advice.

I figure right now I have a great photo inkjet printer (minus the pigment black) and so should quit while I am still ahead! However, if there is anything else I can do that doesn't cost money or doesn't put the printer's remaining functionality at risk, I'd like to try it. As long as it makes sense. So I'm open to additional ideas.