i9950 / i9900 ink/purge problem:

[lewisham_phil]

Hope someone can help with a problem on my i9950, which is driving me to distraction!
I started getting slightly wayward printing with a few stripes on photo magenta, and intermittent problems on other colours. Normal cleaning didn't seem to help, neither did cleaning the head, so I surmised that a purge pipe had come adrift, as I had suffered a similar problem a while back.
Sure enough, one purge pipe had come adrift, on the left hand bank; this time I used small cable ties to help keep the pipes in place (not very easy, unless maybe you're a micro-surgeon)
I thought that would be it; but oh no.

Cyan, Magenta and yellow are all fine; they are 'group 2' colours, on the right of the head, and pumped by the right hand pad by the purge pump.
The troublesome inks are all in the 'group 1' colours:
Red and PC are fine; PM is OK, but with a few stripes, however black and green have disappeared completely.

I double checked the purging: Both pads hold water fine, so no leaks or pipes off, and both pads suck voraciously; you can see the liquid disappear and the pads clear; you can also see ink coming out of both outlets below. (the printer is stripped down, and the chassis raised)

The carts are a mix of mainly refilled from Hobbicolors, with two original canon carts (not yet refilled); the green and the black.

In desperation, and possibly not advisable, I tried swapping both the green and the black over to 'group 2' in place of yellow and cyan. After one cleaning cycle, perfect black and green (where cyan and yellow should be)! Also, the yellow was fine where green should be, but no cyan where black should be.

It would appear that the left hand purge pad, although functioning, isn't pulling through as well as maybe it should. But then, the yellow worked straightaway on the left pad, which also I surmise makes a logic/electrical fault unlikely. The black had not been troublesome before I took the head out to clean it (I shall, as suggested by ghwellsjr, try and avoid this in the future, and make up some cleaning carts instead), but now not a single segment!

Any ideas or advice are welcome..I think my next move might be to swap the purge pipes over between the pads.

Thanks in advance....

 

[fortisi876]

Im relatively new and learning here so bare with me and my question, where are the purge pipes?

I had some issues that sound different than yours but cleaning the contacts on the backside of the print head along with the needle like contacts that touch them with a lint free cloth and it seems to be working as it should.

 

[embguy]

...
Sure enough, one purge pipe had come adrift, on the left hand bank; this time I used small cable ties to help keep the pipes in place ...

The left purge pad controls the black cartridge. This explains why your black nozzles are clogged.

It would appear that the left hand purge pad, although functioning, isn't pulling through as well as maybe it should. But then, the yellow worked straightaway on the left pad, which also I surmise makes a logic/electrical fault unlikely.

Flood the left purge pad with Windex to clear the partial clog.

The black had not been troublesome before I took the head out to clean it (I shall, as suggested by ghwellsjr, try and avoid this in the future, and make up some cleaning carts instead), but now not a single segment!

Please describe what you did after you took out the PH to clean. The black nozzles may be clogged totally. Please upload the nozzle check so that we can determine the problem.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I don't think you should "swap the purge pipes over between the pads". As long as you see the liquid disappearing from the purge pads when you "close the cover", then we know they are working as they should.

You didn't indicate if your photo black started working in the same position it was working with the yellow cartridge but I'm going to guess that it did not.

Since you have determined that both purge units are working (after reattaching the tubing to the left one) you need to determine if you have an air leak in the rubber seals surrounding the inlet ports on the print head (I doubt it) or if you have an internal clog inside the print head for your photo black and your green.

To rule out the rubber seals, swap the two suspicious ones for black and green with two from the other bank and see if the problem changes. Clean them with hot water while you have them out of the print head.

Assuming that it doesn't, you need to try to unclog those two colors. There is no point in making cleaning cartridges unless you are getting some nozzles to work because there needs to be some flow so that the cleaning solution can do its job.

I would advise that you take your print head out of the printer and force cleaning solution into and out of the inlet ports for black and green, but you should follow a certain procedure.

First, you want to get as much ink out of your print head as possible. Start by removing all your cartridges. It would be good to tape the orange clips back on the outlet ports or just cover them with tape to prevent drying out. Then do several cleaning cycles followed by nozzle checks until there is very little printout. You can also put a drop of Windex on each of the inlet ports before each cleaning.

Second, you want to put a piece of tubing on the inlet port and attach a syringe to it. Put Windex or other window cleaner or water in the syringe and force the liquid in and out until it comes out of the nozzles. You will probably find that at first it is difficult to do the pumping action.

See this very long thread (and the links in it) for a lot more information, including the correct size tubing to use:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=27783#p27783

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[lewisham_phil]

Thanks for the prompt replies:

Fortisi876, the purge pipes as I described them, are the small black tubes which connect the purge pads to the pump. You have to remove the covers and unscrew and lift the chassis to gain access.

Embguy: After reconnecting the purge pipe, I have flushed the purge pads through, and the purge unit is certainly working. When I removed the head, It was primarily to syringe through the Photo magenta, which was still stripey after numerous cleans. The black had been OK before this. I can scan the nozzle check when I get access to a scanner!

ghwellsjr: When I put the Black cart where the Cyan cart should be, it worked fine, without a single missing jet. Also, when I exchanged the positions of the yellow and green carts, they both worked fine! ie, the previously non-working green cart worked fine on the right hand 'group 2' side, and the yellow cart, now in the previously completely blank 'green' station on the 'group 1' left side also worked fine, without one missing jet! It is only the black port which has been resolutely blank, with both black and cyan carts.

I would imagine that the green print port can't go from absolutely no ink, to a perfect result (albeit yellow!) if clogging is the issue.
So, like you suggest, first of all I am going to investigate the integrity of the seals, and swap them around, and I like the idea of the 'purge test' using short lengths of tube on the ink ports.

I shall investigate further tomorrow night, and I'll let you know how it goes...
Thanks again

 

[lewisham_phil]

Finally got some time to have another look at this; I managed to get a full and complete nozzle check on the black station, but using the magenta cart; however at the same time the red check pattern was contaminated with the magenta! I then did a purge check, using water filled lengths of tube attached to the inlet ports on the head. This was rather inconclusive; black, red, and green ports pulled water through briskly, PC and PM much slower.
However, I now have a much more terminal problem; It was while I was re-filling the tubes with a syringe that I managed to squirt a few drops of water through one of the tiny slots in the back of the print head housing which engage the cartridges; of course the array of electrical contacts to the head are directly behind and below. The printer promptly died: I mean no LED, no error flashing message or anything. I've dried it out, mains power is getting through, but It just won't switch on; holding down the switches and plugging back in doesn't work either.
So this changes things! Does anyone have any ideas where to go from here? Is there an internal fuse elsewhere? I see plenty of posts for error messages and flashing green and orange LEDs, but none for completely dead!
Oh well, I was near the end of my tether with this one anyway, so maybe I've saved myself a lot of grief by administering the coup de grace before more ink and money goes down the drain..

 

[ghwellsjr]

Sometimes removing the print head while the power is off will allow the printer to come on but that doesn't me it is without problems. Liquid inside the print head while power is on can damage both the print head and the printer. Furthermore, if you put a working print head in your printer, if the printer is also damaged, it can burn out the new print head AND if you put your "bad" print head in another good printer, it can damage that printer. You never know until you try but it can be a very expensive experiment, especially if you do it with a friend's equipment. If you wanted to pursue this printer further, your best bet would be to take it to an authorized repair center and tell them if they can't fix it at a reasonable price, then you don't want the printer back and you don't want to pay anything. Chances are they'll just tell you that it's bad and they get a printer to play with.