How did I brake my Pixma TS8350 by lubricating it?

[The Hat]

I totally agree that careless spraying and not using the right lubricant can have consequences.

It’s time to get a new printer, and next time don’t use any lubricant on it, inkjet printers don’t need anything, they mostly have all plastic gears, sorry..

 

[x64]

It’s time to get a new printer, and next time don’t use any lubricant on it, inkjet printers don’t need anything, they mostly have all plastic gears, sorry..

I agree with this when regarding a printer that is less than 10 years old, however all mechanical parts get some synthetic grease from the factory. This has an expiration date and while it is definitely not a necessity, it doesn't hurt to apply some of the appropriate grease to protect the plastic gears from wearing out and have a more quiet operation of the printer. Especially when the printer was used a lot or was stored in a questionable atmosphere.

But in most cases, I agree, don't fix it if it ain't broken

 

[Pixman]

Why did it take so long? Because manipulate 70+ kg in a tiny space in the attic on my own. Is a heavy task.
If it was for the faulty parts! Then it was a simple job. Replace the two print heads (in a Canon professional printer) the are end user replaceable. But for printer 10+ years old and out of service live. Paying € 1000,00 for two heads. So I decided to go to something smaller. The Epson P900. And now the printer lives next to me at my desk.

Canon Europe is headquartered in the Netherlands.
Yes I know. My former headquarters and where I worked a long time. Are neighbors. In eye sight.

So if I understood correctly, it needed two head replacements, and this would cost you €1000, and so instead of this you purchased the Epson P900? And it's very difficult to replace the heads on that old Canon? I was thinking bigger parts are easier to grab and manipulate but I forgot they might also be heavier. I think I would have done the same as you. I'm not into photo printing, and I'm not a professional photographer, but I have heard only positive things about Epson's professional photo printers on different web forums where people discuss such things.

Did you work as a service technician there? Can you tell me what kind of lube/grease Canon uses in their printers? On the plastic gears specifically.

 

[Pixman]

I got it. It's out! Look at where they placed that screw. Unbelievable. If it was on the opposite side, I would not need to tear the whole thing apart. I wonder how much Canon would have charged me for this. I have cleaned it up already, it looks brand new. I mean the sensor. I have not gotten to the encoder disc yet. Not sure how to get to it? I could try and clean it in situ, but it's a tiny space and I'm afraid I will only smear the grease around. But it looks like I should be able to pop that gear out with a prying tool. What do you think?

 

[Pixman]

I agree with this when regarding a printer that is less than 10 years old, however all mechanical parts get some synthetic grease from the factory. This has an expiration date and while it is definitely not a necessity, it doesn't hurt to apply some of the appropriate grease to protect the plastic gears from wearing out and have a more quiet operation of the printer. Especially when the printer was used a lot or was stored in a questionable atmosphere.

But in most cases, I agree, don't fix it if it ain't broken

That's what I always say. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. But I allowed this printer to bring out the worst in me. Unfortunately. On the other hand, this is a new learning experience for me. If it wasn't for this I would never have opened any printer.

Hey what synthetic grease do you use for the gears? I need to order some of that stuff ASAP. So I can add some grease in the right spots while I still have the chance now. After doing the cleaning of course. You can see that they have used some yellow gunk from the factory, or maybe it was white and then yellowed over time, I don't know.

 

[PeterBJ]

The proper grease to be used is found in the service manual, which sadly is nowhere to be found. For an old printer like the Pixma iP4000 the recommended lubricants are Floil KG107A and Molykote HP300. Very few service manuals are found for printers newer than the PGI-x25/CLI-x26 cartridge generation, But the manual for the much newer G4000 bottled ink printer is available here. This manual recommends the use of the lubricants Floil KG-51K3 and Molykote G1054. See page 91/123 and 92/123 for drawings of where to apply the lubricants. The manual is not for your printer and the lubricants might or might not be suitable for your printer, but you might get an idea. I have used a the Molykote EM-30L as a substitute for the Floil KG107A on older Canon printers. It is a white Lithium grease that is safe for plastics and contains no silicone. This might also be suitable for your printer. See this thread and this post for more about this lubricant.

A 5 or 10 ml syringe with a 19 g blunt needle is an excellent miniature grease gun for printers. Good luck with the revival of the printer.

 

[Pixman]

So it's done now. I have fixed it. I have cleaned up my mess.



It's late at night now so I don't have time to write a full report. But the printer is now fully functional, I can print documents, and it doesn't complain about paper jams. It no longer give me error code 6A80 or 1300.

It did give me error code 5012, but that was related to missing scanner unit. I was suspecting something like this would happen! I was counting on it. But I didn't want to reassemble it completely in case I need to open it again. So after reconnecting the scanner unit, that error code went away.

Then it gave me a bunch of prompts, more than what is normal. Like telling me to check my paper size, as it suspected it may have been changed while the printer was offline, and told me to lift the panel and press OK, and to extend the output tray and press OK and so on. These are things that this printer can normally do on its own. I don't know why it was bugging me. It was a like an initiation ritual, getting to know each other for the very first time. Then in Microsoft Word, there was something about printer data not being in bla bla mode, looking scary and serious and whatever. I was trying to print several lines of "HELLO PIXMA TS8350". But it printed fine, and that Windows dialog box never came up again.

So it's all good now.

All except for that squeaky noise I was trying to get rid of in the first place. It's back again.

 

[Pixman]

The proper grease to be used is found in the service manual, which sadly is nowhere to be found. For an old printer like the Pixma iP4000 the recommended lubricants are Floil KG107A and Molykote HP300.

Did you get this info from a service manual? One lubricant for the thing that the head slides on and one for the gears? I actually had a Pixma IP4000 many years ago. That was a very good printer. Until I had to replace the head on it, or something like that, I don't remember now. I recycled it.

Very few service manuals are found for printers newer than the PGI-x25/CLI-x26 cartridge generation, But the manual for the much newer G4000 bottled ink printer is available here. This manual recommends the use of the lubricants Floil KG-51K3 and Molykote G1054. See page 91/123 and 92/123 for drawings of where to apply the lubricants. The manual is not for your printer and the lubricants might or might not be suitable for your printer, but you might get an idea.

Thank you! This will be useful as a guide.

I have used a the Molykote EM-30L as a substitute for the Floil KG107A on older Canon printers. It is a white Lithium grease that is safe for plastics and contains no silicone. This might also be suitable for your printer. See this thread and this post for more about this lubricant.

Yeah, I saw your 10 year old post earlier. I know you ended up buying a small amount of EM-30L from America. I used your eBay link and landed on a search page for Molykote EM-30L. I found one company in Germany selling small tubes of it. But I looked it up and saw that EM-50L is more viscous, which is what I would prefer, because my original complaint was that the printer was noisy, so this would act more as a dampening grease than EM-30L. But I spent a good amount of time looking for that stuff and could not find it anywhere in tube or jar/pot. I even phoned the local distributor for Molykote. They only have 1 kg cans.

Both EM-30L and EM-50L are using Polyalphaolefin (PAO) as base oil, which is a type of synthetic hydrocarbon. This is the main liquid component of the grease. Its thickener is Lithium soap. The thickener is what turns the liquid base oil into a semi-solid grease consistency. It acts like a sponge, holding the oil in place. The viscosity of EM-30L is 90 cSt at 40C, compared to 1050 cSt of EM-50L.

I have been desperately searching for Molykote and Nye products for the last two months (for a different application). These specialty greases are legendary. But they don't exist in my country. We have the FUCHS group represented here that now owns Nye Lubricants, but they never heard of legendary Nyogel. I phoned them, trying to get my hands on some. It's sad how little the sales people at these big companies know about their own products and markets. I have to explain everything to them and still get nowhere. For Nye, it's easiest to order it from America. But it's much more expensive, especially now with the tarifs.

I think the only official Molykote EM-50L in tubes are specially made for Canon. They have the part number HY9-0007-000. (Other big companies may have similar arrangements.)