i865 clogged - Help please

[Metallo]

Hi,

As expected, my fears before I moved came true.
My printer was out of activity for 1 week, before then, printing was perfect, also because I had a three months old printing head.

When I printed the nozzle check, it seemed that the 6BK was in trouble, so I took the printhead out, a syringe and distilled water, unscrewed the white ceramic nozzle assembly and pushed the water through nozzles, then I cleaned the rubber gasket and also pushed some water in the inlet holes.
I reassembled the whole thing, did three cleaning cycles but 3eBK seems now to have problems.
I did another 3 deep cleaning cycles and here is what I get:

http://img145.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nozzlecheckhn8.jpg

What else can I do? I don't want to buy a new printhead again

Thank you for your help
Alex

 

[Metallo]

Hi,

I gave a second try, same result.

Anybody can help?

Alex

 

[digitalartist71]

dude...at least the all colors are firing! could be worse! that isn't that bad. You may actually make things worse by taking the ceramic portion apart and cleaning that way...seems the gasket gets messed...and also excessive syringe pressure may create gasket leakage etc. i would stop there where u are since it isn't that bad. Maybe a good soaking overnite woild free up those few nozzles.

inkcessories.com has the cheapest price yet i have found for genuine canon printheads. just got one...and fixed my purge unit tubes in my ip3000...and all is good again..after putting back on the shelf for a couple monthes after giving up!!! but happy now : ) black wasn't printing at all before!

 

[Metallo]

Hi Digitalartist,

What do you mean by a good soaking overnite?
If you tell me how to do it and which liquid to use, then I will try.
Also important is to know until which level shall I soak the printhead, I mean, is it only the ceramic part?? Otherwise I wouldn't see a great benefit in soaking the circuit.
Perhaps, you mean soaking by getting the liquid on a paper towel and push the printhead on it ?
Please, tell me which technique to use.


Inkcessories is also the shop where my printhead comes from

I've seen that on Ebay they sell a "Magic Unclog Fluid", do you know if any member of this forum had got any experience on it?

Thanks

Alex

 

[fotofreek]

Original windex (with ammonia). You can also add a bit of isopropyl alcohol. In a container you only want the fluid as deep as the ceramic as capillary action can draw the fluid up into the jets. You may have been too aggressive with you previous cleaning. I was with an i960 printhead and purchased a new one to solve my problem. You might also read Grandad35's posts on disassembling the printhead to clear out a clog in the plastic body and/or the filter inlets. Just be sure to grind down the nubs that hold the electronics to the plastic body before taking the ceramic head off. I didn't and I think I damaged the ribbon connector by overstressing it when just removing the ceramic portion.

 

[Metallo]

Original windex (with ammonia). You can also add a bit of isopropyl alcohol. In a container you only want the fluid as deep as the ceramic as capillary action can draw the fluid up into the jets. You may have been too aggressive with you previous cleaning. I was with an i960 printhead and purchased a new one to solve my problem. You might also read Grandad35's posts on disassembling the printhead to clear out a clog in the plastic body and/or the filter inlets. Just be sure to grind down the nubs that hold the electronics to the plastic body before taking the ceramic head off. I didn't and I think I damaged the ribbon connector by overstressing it when just removing the ceramic portion.

Hi,

Done according to your suggestion, one night in windex European equivalent (with ammonia), washed the whole thing, including the inlet jets with hot distilled water, nozzle check is exactly the same as before
If I leave it as it is, do I have any chance that the clog disappears in the time???

Thank you
Alex

 

[fotofreek]

I would guess not. You might want to try filling some carts with windex and "printing" some purge pages to try to run the cleaner through like ink. If you have a spare sete of old carts you can purge them (see grandad35's posts on cleaning carts) before making cleaning carts from them. Many places sell cleaning carts, but you can make your own easily. Purge pages can be downloaded from the MIS web site and are specific for the number of ink carts your printer uses. You would have a better chance of success this way than with ink and it is a lot cheaper!

The next step, if you are adventurous and want to try to clear it would be to look up grandad35's post on disassembly of the printhead and more forceful cleaning of the plastic body and screens in the intake nozzles. The link I gave you is probably the least expensive printhead available other than taking a chance on ebay, but I don't know what shipping would cost to Europe.

 

[Tin Ho]

3ebk is pigmented ink which is by nature like to colog nozzles. Your nozzle check indicates it is still very minor. There is a trick for you to try. Take your 3ebk cartridge out and refill it with some black dye ink into it. Then try to print some texts with super sized characters. This forces ink to flow at a higer volume. Because the ink is dye now it may actually flushes the clogged nozzles after some printing. The nozzles for the 3ebk ink is of 5 pico liter size. Being larger it has a good chance to be flushed clean by using dye ink.

 

[jackson]

I am waiting until my current supply of pigment black is used up before switching to photo black in my Ip5000.
In the interim, would it be ok to go 50/50 in the 3ebk tank to help alleviate some minor problems?
Should I wait until it is used up and flush the tank before switching over?

3ebk is pigmented ink which is by nature like to colog nozzles. Your nozzle check indicates it is still very minor. There is a trick for you to try. Take your 3ebk cartridge out and refill it with some black dye ink into it. Then try to print some texts with super sized characters. This forces ink to flow at a higer volume. Because the ink is dye now it may actually flushes the clogged nozzles after some printing. The nozzles for the 3ebk ink is of 5 pico liter size. Being larger it has a good chance to be flushed clean by using dye ink.

 

[Tin Ho]

You can use a separate bci-3ebk tank, fill it with 50/50 pigment and dye ink and use it any time you want. You don't need to wait untill all your pigmented ink runs out. Having one that is 100% pigmented and the other 50/50 you can use them alternately any way you want. Having one with mixed pigment and dye black ink in the printer keeps the print head from clogging. If a printer is not used for a few days the nozzles for the pigmented ink (3ebk) tends to dry out. It would need a cleaning cycle to clear and prime the nozzles. But having a 3ebk tank filled with some dye black ink in the printer solves this problem. I now have this tank in my printer all the time. Print all my soon to be in waste basket text with this ink tank. Swithch to a high quality pigmented ink tank only when I need to print something high quality. My print head is always free from clogging as a result. If your 3ebk channel is having some minor clogs using this mixed pigment and dye ink for a few days may actually clears it up for you.