ink doesnt flow

[dsixteen]

hi. i had this cis for my pixma 4200 from ebay. but i couldn't get two colors to flow. is there any ideas? air or something else??

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280054509380

 

[canonfodder]

In the beginning, did you follow the start up instructions carefully? There should have been something said about temporarily lifting the external ink bottles and watching for the ink to flow through the tubing toward the cartridges. Consider trying to remove a non-working cartridge from the printer and with its exit port not covered, but held over a towel paper pad, hold the cartridge down lower than the external ink bottles and see if the ink will flow through the tubing and to the cartridge. As soon as some ink is in the cartridge, cover the exit port and immediately re-install the cartridge into the printer.

If you did follow the instructions and, as you indicate, some colors work and some don't, something to check on is the possibility of air leaks.

Your CIS is unlike the original Canon ink cartridge system with its unique cartridges. The Canon cartridges operate at essentially zero pressure at the cartridge exit port. The seal there between the cartridge and the print head input is not required to do hard work. With the type of CIS you have purchased, the ink bottles are lower than the ink cartridge exit ports so the print head ink pump has to suck moderately hard to pull the ink up from its lower level. Since there is a negative air pressure at the location of the exit port of the cartridge, if the seal is not good there an air leak may occur and the negative pressure will not be able to exist and the ink will not come up to the print head.

Some of the importers of the Chinese made CIS units give you replacement seals for that location. Some of those seals are not much better than the original seals supplied in the printer, and so may not do well. Some people have tried using a substance called vacuum wax with success. This vacuum wax is a very thick wax used to seal bell jars when a high vacuum is to be pumped. It is not easily obtained in a small quantity, and therefore may be an unreasonably expensive soulution. I would suggest trying a very thick grade of wheel bearing grease, but you must be very careful and neat about applying it to the seal area as you do not want to get it into the ink path. Perhaps it would be better to apply it to the cartridge bottom all around the exit port. Again, I would caution you to be very neat in the application. A large amount is not required, but a complete circle around the short pipe that is the exit port is needed.

One other thing to try that may be helpful is to operate with the ink bottles a bit higher than sitting on the table level. Use caution, because too high can cause ink to flood out of the print head and really mess up everything. The top of the ink level in the bottles MUST NOT BE HIGHER than 3.3 inches above the printer table surface. Read this caution again. It really is important. The zero pressure elevation, where the ink cartridge bottoms sit, is at 3.62 inches above the printer table for the iP4200 printer. With your CIS, the top level of the ink in the filled external ink bottles must be a bit lower than that, thus the 'rule' of 3.3". This leaves the print head pumps working some to suck the ink up. That is not the best situation, but you cannot operate with the ink at a positive pressure at the cartridge exit ports because the print head pumps cannot stop ink flow if a positive pressure exists there. The ink can just flow on through the print head pumps and keep coming out the print head in an uncontrolled fashion.

If any of this works for you, or if all of it doesn't work for you, you owe the Forum a brief report on your experiences. Everyone deserves to learn from what happens to you.

One last word of caution. Don't try very long at all to print if a color is not yet working. There is the distinct possibility of overheating and burning out an ink pump. The ink needs to be there to cool the pump heater. One of the safer things to print is the provided utility test which checks for clogged print nozzles. It is short and quick.

canonfodder

 

[mikling]

cannonfodder, do you think that wax seals for toilet bowls from plumbing shops might be a good sealing agent?

 

[pharmacist]

The Canon grommet where the inktank is resting on is the same for all the CLI-8 or BCI-6 cartridges right ? Why don't the CISS manufacturers make special grommets with a very wide opening in which the cartridge/ink inlet hole can be completely plugged in, so it's completely airtight sealed. These special grommets should replace the original ones. There are CISS manufacturers who are making silicon replacement grommets, but these are only slightly thicker and can not prevent for 100 % that air is not being sucked underneath the ink inlet hole: the design is actually the same base !!!

The idea is that the grommet is first to be attached tightly on the ink inlet hole of the cartridge and then the whole construction is to be pressed in place into the place where the original grommet has been previously removed from. If this is done well, no air should be able to penetrate through little openings between the ink hole opening and the grommet if the cartridge is not firmly seated on the grommet. This construction also guarantees that even if the cartridge is not seated well, air won't be the problem of ink flow problems as the cartridge is allowed to wobble during intensive printing jobs where the carriage is heavily shaked. This shaking would certainly cause moments where the ink inlet hole is breathing air underneath the grommet......

 

[canonfodder]

Mikling,

I think you are correct. That toilet seal ring might be a very good source of a strong but formable wax. They must not cost a lot either.