*** Mystery Solved: BCI-3 Black not printing in Pixma ip3000

[digitalartist71]

here is a old post you can also read later as part of the mystery why my printer stopped printing black. Seemed not to be the case.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=241

The print head was not the culprit...but probably the third party generic cartridges I had used from www.summitimage.com. ($1 each)....the other colors CMY are fine though...no problems...seems to be ONLY pigment version of Black (BCI-3). So assuming any brand could also do this?

Also seems the heads are actually pretty heavy duty...just for info!

*But the part that was preventing any black ink to print was the PURGE UNIT or at least the tubing for it. Mainly the exiting lines to the waste portion of the printer.

In the beginning I had cleaned and ripped apart many times over, the printhead.... got nowhere.... then ripped the screen off the inlet port to see if any clogging. There COULD have been...but more the purge unit and tubing than the printhead. I probably could have not bought a new head:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=103001382272&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1

but it was a great price..and great to start new again anyways.


So basically took the casing apart,(all snap together). (use flathead screwdriver to release tabs etc) First the sides, then pulled top straight up...then removed the small envolope feeder thing (or cd thing?)...then unscrewed the four screws in bottom from top to remove bottom plastic casing to get to the purge unit/lines. note: removed power supply first to access screw in upper left hand portion. easy... release 2 tabs then slide out from bottom after unplugging power connector.

there are 2 black lines running from each capping unit (one for black (left), one for CMY (right)). clean the hard filters in these (run under hot water)...inject hot water into lines with syringe to clear dried up pigment black. Seems the clear lines exiting the PURGE UNIT was the culprit...inject here immensily...back and forth...i only had to do this for the BLACK side...not CMY. LOTS of thick dried particles came out!!!!!! ****use paper towel to absorb around capping station and exit clear tubes. seems one purge unit is shared between the black and CMY. Seems to use cams that alternate. since the exiting line was PLUGGED...the pump (purge unit) still pumped, but not effective at all until clear lines were cleared.

Printer WORKS perfectly now! NO MORE MYSTERY OR HEADACHE!

Hope this helps!!!! maybe whoever attempts this fix again.. can take photos and make a tutorial.

 

[fotofreek]

Great post - The bci-3eBK carts seem to be the most problematic in the series of printers that use the pigmented black cart. Everyone assumes that the jets or inlet port are at fault, but the vacuum tube in the purge unit as the culprit makes sense.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I've heard about the purge units being basically a vacuum pump that have multiple purposes, but I don't understand why a clogged purge filter would keep a color (or black) from printing, unless the printer measures the pressure drop during the purge and determines that one of the print head colors is clogged and so just turns it off without giving any warning message.

Or maybe the black in your print head was clogged and couldn't get unclogged until you cleared up the clogged filter. Is that what your explanation is?

 

[digitalartist71]

I am assuming the purge unit is definitley needed in order for printing...it seems to PRIME the cartridge/head etc. All i know is that where the black and CMY head returns (capping station), and the black hard filter/sponge thing was dry.... unlike the CMY one. After taking the cover off...u could watch the action....no black ink was being sucked into the hard filter...no bubbles or anything like the CMY one. So that led me to beleive what the problem was. and it was definitly it!

yes...it could have been a combo of the two.....but the purge unit/ubing was more of the prob than anything....there was a IMMENSE amount of dried pigment particles there that were released.

Using geniune CANON PIGMENT BLACK from here on out. As I am guessing the cheap ones caused this. But easily fixed if happens again.

If the CMY colors decide to do this which i doubt (they are dyes, not pigment). I know where to look again. But going to continue to use cheap color inks.



"Or maybe the black in your print head was clogged and couldn't get unclogged until you cleared up the clogged filter. Is that what your explanation is?"

not in my case...since i bought a new head, tried a couple test prints with no results for black..then cleared purge unit lines...voila! New head wasn't clogged at all. just no action from the black due to no suction from the purge unit...clogged tubes.



***********Can this post please be pinned for helping people in the future?

 

[ghwellsjr]

Wow, this definitely needs to be pinned.

I never dreamed that the print head required that suction on the nozzles prior to being able to print and your conclusion about third-party black pigment ink being inferior, not because they print poorly, but because they can clog the purge filter is well-taken.

Thanks for all your work on this.

 

[fotofreek]

When you run a canon cart to the low or empty warning and replace it with a full cart the printer does an automatic cleaning. This is probably to prime the jets and get the cart started in delivering ink. If the purge tube is blocked that cart and its nozzles won't get primed. Canon must have realized that sometimes a new cart won't deliver ink until it is primed with the purge unit and built that function into the cart replacement routine. Because I refill my carts I usually run a cleaning and nozzle check before resuming printing. I also blow lightly into the air vent to get a drop or two of ink to drip out of the ink outlet before installing a refilled cart to be sure it is ready to deliver ink.

 

[anddam]

inject hot water into lines with syringe to clear dried up pigment black.

inject here immensily...back and forth...

Sorry to bump up an old thread,
is it safe to inject water in all 4 lines?

The two bottom lines throw directly to the front tubes and are free.
The upper lines seem to oppose resistence and when I tried to push on the black one I had some leaking from bottom.