My way to clean a blocked PGI-9 print head !

[The Hat]

I was testing out some new inks a while ago and I may well have damaged the Magenta nozzles in the head, I don’t know yet !


It could be a case of Yellow Jello syndrome but it’s really hard to tell at this stage, so I made up a gadget out of a very old cart that I had lying around.

I cut the cart down with a junior hacksaw and then trimmed the ink outlets inside it with a knife then blocked off two of the holes and enlarged the other one to fit a needle in it.

It’s not pretty to look at but it works and it now allows me to inject W5 window cleaner mixed with a bit of Ammonia directly into each inlet which was very difficult if not impossible to do before.

Now it’s a matter of wait and see because this print head had been soaking in a disk for the past 4 days and that didn’t cure the problem, and I know it won’t if the nozzles are damaged.

I intend injecting my cleaning solution into the outlet until I get no more magenta ink appearing on the paper towel underneath it, fingers crossed !

 

[stratman]

Best of luck, buddy.

 

[PeterBJ]

Hopefully the contraption works. I wish you good luck with the process.

 

[turbguy]

Gimme a printhead with circular ink inlets any day...

 

[palombian]

Gimme a printhead with circular ink inlets any day...

I still have an Epson 2100 in the basement where you can connect a silicon flexible directly.
Not that it helped to unclog, I prefer the replaceable Canon printheads.

 

[The Hat]

Any ideas guy ?

I have tried for days to get my magenta nozzles to function properly but they are unfortunately fried, and not blocked by Yello Jello as I’d hoped, but what I wanted was the answer to my next problem ?

I went from this nozzle print to this after cleaning and soaking, the head had sat in @pharmacist solution for days and this was the end result.
click to enlarge.

So without further ado I did what you’re not supposed to do and pulled the useless head apart to unblock the cyan nozzles, here are some photos of my dastardly act; some may find then interesting and want to see them !

When I was finished squirting water through all of the holes and I was sure that all of passageways were clear, I reassembled the head again.

A quick normal head clean and the nozzle print was missing the cyan completely as above, then a deep clean and the cyan was back again 100%.

I then proceeded to do 25 test prints of this
It printed perfectly except for the magenta but on the 24th sheet the cyan started to fade and by the 25th sheet the cyan was completely gone.

Now it’s not the cartridge that's at fault here because when I lifted out the cyan cart the inlet was flooded (More ink that was needed) with ink as if the print head had suddenly developed an air lock which prevented the expelled ink from the cart from entering the ink inlet !

Leave the printer stand and the cyan returns without any purging or head cleaning.

That’s my $60 million problem, I sure as hell can’t figure it out, can anybody else, O’ a new print head is in the pipeline (3rd in 15 months)

 

[stratman]

Have you tried a new OEM or known working Cyan and Magenta cartridge?

Now it’s not the cartridge that's at fault here because when I lifted out the cyan cart the inlet was flooded (More ink that was needed) with ink as if the print head had suddenly developed an air lock which prevented the expelled ink from the cart from entering the ink inlet !

Does this prove properly working cartridges? I still recommend trying a different cartridge as per above. Why? To 100% rule out the cartridges are not a contributory factor.

However, now that you have dissembled the print head, and thank you for the wonderful images!, all bets are off on whether the print head hasn't had another issue introduced. That you were able to print a perfect test print decreases that risk but it still remains as possible.

Also, printing these 25 test prints, doesn't that increase your risk for nozzle burnout due to the lack of Magenta?

A number of introduced variables may be complicating the diagnosis/repair. Maybe when you get your new print head you might more fully take apart the print head and examine what is happening at the nozzle/ink channel level.

 

[The Hat]

As I said I have ruled out the cartridge, I have four other carts and they all work fine, there never has been a problem with the cartridges, there're not what your use too, they don’t have sponges inside them like the other OEM carts do.

I have two printer that use these same carts, that’s how I know the cart are fine, I can swap them between machines to test their ink flow rate while printing the same image.

I had no cyan output before I took the print head apart so I did actually fixed the cyan but only temporarily, that’s what I was trying to do when I dissembled the heads in the first place.

The magenta heads were damaged beyond repair long before I attempted the autopsy, and running test prints didn’t do any more damage to those nozzles, the magenta has been like that for more than a week.

I still can’t explain how or why the cyan just cuts out and later restarts again, it would suggest an overheating problem but that’s usually terminal..

 

[palombian]

The first time in history this type of head has been disassembled, congrats and good luck.

As I am in the same boat, I try to imagine also what the reason could be.

Since there can't be any remnants of the "new inks" in the head anymore, they must be in the cartridge.
One way or another the old and new inks and/or the cleaning products must combine to form a kind of clog, particularly after longer print jobs.

The jury is still out on the "new inks", I had the same observations but until now I could unclog the heads (four times now politily said).
I continue to use (cautiously, and in parallel with known good inks/cartridges) 4 of the 5 colors in the 3 printers ever built for PGI-9 cartridges.

I want to know what's going on.

 

[stratman]

As I said I have ruled out the cartridge, I have four other carts and they all work fine, there never has been a problem with the cartridges, there're not what your use too, they don’t have sponges inside them like the other OEM carts do.

Wait a moment, uncle. There looks to be sponges in the print head in one of your images above. Also, don't you refill by dripping ink onto a sponge at the ink ejection port on the that cartridge? Or am I thinking of a different cartridge?"

I have two printer that use these same carts, that’s how I know the cart are fine, I can swap them between machines to test their ink flow rate while printing the same image.

That's the data I was looking for. OK. Carry on.

The magenta heads were damaged beyond repair long before I attempted the autopsy, and running test prints didn’t do any more damage to those nozzles, the magenta has been like that for more than a week.

So we still don't know what the missing ink is caused by other than it is not from the cartridge.

I still can’t explain how or why the cyan just cuts out and later restarts again, it would suggest an overheating problem but that’s usually terminal..