How did I brake my Pixma TS8350 by lubricating it?

[x64]

I've never seen grease on plastic gears. If they were greased, they would be a mess of grease and dirt, but I've never seen one that isn't clean, even on an old machine. I sure wouldn't grease them.

That's a odd conclusion, and inherently false. Although grease is almost never a requirement for any mechanical system to operate, it is applied to prolong the lifespan of the parts against wear and erosion during use.

When applying a excessive amount or the wrong type of grease, it can become a mess.

With the amount of plastic toys I took apart as a kid, I can assure you that whenever there's gears involved there will be lubrication.

 

[The Hat]

With the amount of plastic toys I took apart as a kid, I can assure you that whenever there's gears involved there will be lubrication.

Thar wasn’t grease, that was saliva..

I too would never grease plastic gears..

 

[PeterBJ]

Notice that in the service manuals I linked to that sliding surfaces and maybe bearings are lubricated, but no gears.

Here is a shot of the gears at the left hand side in a TS8250 that I think is similar to OP's TS8350. Notice the gears are not lubricated. The gear marked 1 is not lubricated but stained by ink or ink dust. A coupling slides at the side of this gear at position 2 this side is lubricated with a yellowish grease. The shaft appears to be lubricated at pos. 3. It might be a bearing surface. Maybe this can cause squeaking if dry? The printhead carriage slides along the rail at pos. 4. The rail is clearly greased.

I cannot test this printer as I have got no photo blue cartridge for it, but it doesn't squeak at start up. I'm looking for a cheap compatible one or just a CLI-580 PB chip, OEM or aftermarket. I bought this printer at a thrift store at DKK 62.50 which is less than 10 $ or €. I didn't notice that the cartridges in it were the 570 generation instead of the required 580 generation . But at least the wrong cartridges protected the printhead against drying out.

 

[Pixman]

For Canon printers for home use the service tool is the adjustment program. You only find old versions of the service tools for free download.

For newer printers a newer version of the service tool is needed. The use of a too old (too low version number) will block access to service mode or even worse lock the printer so it cannot turn on. Newer service tools can be bought from Ebay, here is one that is suitable for your printer.

Thanks for the link. But how new is newer? And how old is old? The link is for a v6220. Will 6210 work with a TS8350? Apart from resetting waste ink counter, when is this software needed? If I took apart the whole printer and put it back together, would I need this kind of software to do some kind of resets? Maybe even before that, to put into some kind of service mode before I start stripping it down?

For Epson printers there is the WIC Reset tool. It can reset the XP-750 and many other models. It is free to download and use to get some info, but for doing a reset you need to buy a key at 10$. For old Epson printers a free DOS program the ssc.exe could do the reset.

I think WIC Reset is the tool I used. But I didn't pay anything for it. I cracked a cracker to crack this software. I remember well that it was a cascade of events like that. I can't find it now, but it's somewhere in my files. It's not that I'm a cheapskate, but it did save me $10 or whatever the price was, and I didn't need to register.

 

[PeterBJ]

If you scroll down on the linked Ebay page you find a list of supported printers. The TS8350 is one of the supported printers. If you search Ebay you might find an older and probably less expensive version that also supports your printer.

 

[Pixman]

If you scroll down on the linked Ebay page you find a list of supported printers. The TS8350 is one of the supported printers. If you search Ebay you might find an older and probably less expensive version that also supports your printer.

Looks like v6000 also supports it, but it's more expensive from this seller. It's $9 for an older version, instead of $8.25 for a newer version. It's a small price to pay anyway if you need this software. But besides resetting waste ink counter, when do we need this? Can this software clear certain error codes such as 6A80? I mean obviously after you have fixed the underlying mechanical issue, and if the error remains and needs to be cleared, like in a modern car.

By the way, I have ordered the EM-50L lubricant and will try to add some to the right spots, and hopefully the squeaking will go away. Compared to your TS8250, my TS8350 looks almost identical on that side. Mine does not have that much ink stain, if any at all. It also has a yellow grease in all the places where it has visible grease, including on the left hand side in your picture, where that paper clip like thing is seen.

 

[PeterBJ]

AFAIK the only error message you need the service tool to clear is the "Ink Absorbers Full" or 5B00. When you have repaired the 6A80 error the error message is no longer shown and the printer is functional again, if there are no other errors.

However many Canon printers keep a log of the 10 or maybe other number of most recent error codes and other usage data in the EEPROM. You cannot delete this list, so the print EEPROM function in the service tool is useful if you want to know a printers usage history. You can also make a test print from service mode that gives more info than than the nozzle check from user mode. I think to be able to reset the ink absorber counter "D-Value" is a "need to have" function, getting usage and other info is a "nice to have" function.

If you were able to buy a small amount of the EM-50L grease at a fair price, please post a link to the seller. I would also like to buy it then.