New i960 printhead: no output at all!

[beschizza]

My old printhead being munged and not wishing to get too involved in trying to fix it (I did try some of the more passive ideas here, to no avail) I ordered a new one from inkcessories.

With the new one, however, there's no ink on any channel. Nothing even seems to be coming through at all. If I put the old printhead in, that one still works (as far as it worked at all -- its black and yellow are completely clogged). The new one just doesn't seem to work at all. I've tried printing a few times, running the cleaning things, nozzle checks, etc.

Might there be something I'm missing? Or should I be talking to inkcessories?

Rob

 

[ghwellsjr]

I believe your problem is clogged purge/prime tubes. Here are a couple success stories that might help:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=9662#p9662

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=9973#p9973

Let us know if they do help.

 

[beschizza]

Thanks. I'll try that and report.

 

[beschizza]

OK. So I figured out what the prime pad was, and followed the instructions from the other posts: lay down some Windex, and turn the machine on and off a few times (and run a clean) to get it to suck the windex through and clear any clogging in it. However, while the pad now looks much cleaner (before, it was soaked with a blackish mix of ink), I'm still not getting anything coming through the print head (at all).

Here's a photo of my i960's (now rather clean-looking) prime pad -- or what I think is the prime pad. Perhaps a visual will help diagnose.

High-res shot at http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=380290124&size=l

 

[Lilla]

beschizza, it sounds like you received a bad print head to me. Since you are able to get some printing with the old head but none with the new, that indicates to me that the problem is not clogged suction/purge tubes.

I recently received a new print head from the same place for for i960 printer. It worked right away without any problems.

I would call them and let them know you got a bad print head.

Nice picture!

Below are some routine maintenance tasks you can do inside your printer if desired...

Tip. To make it easier and safer to clean inside the printer do this: Open the lid; when the Print Head has stopped, pull the power cord out of the back of the printer to unlock the print head. Now the print head can be easily moved from side to side.

o Clean the Park Pad, see ghwellsjr's post above in this thread. Also, there is a small sponge / pad on the left most side of the carriage, you can drop a little Windex (or whatever cleaning solution you are using on the Park Pad) on this sponge too. See Park Pad photo in post #4, directly above this post.

o Clean the clear flexible scrapers (aka blades) behind the Park Pad. You can use a q-tip damp with water or alcohol. These blades, three of them, can be seen in the photo in post #4, directly above this post.

o Clean the mylar "Timing slit strip film" (aka encoder strip) with a soft damp cloth. Be careful not to bend or stretch it.
JeffR in post #6 this link writes...

...snip...my experience with i950 ...snip... Found HP diagnostic for this type of behaviour 'dirty encoder strip - clean encoder strip with damp cloth'. After much effort I found out that the encoder strip is a thin mylar film strip that runs the length of the case and is read by the Print Head as it transverses the Printer. I opened case and when Print Head had stopped pulled power cord out so it was unlocked and could be easily moved from side to side. Then very carefully cleaned the Encoder Strip with a soft wet cloth. The cloth came away stained with cyan so clearly the Encoder Strip had been splattered. Plugged Printer in, turned on - not expecting anything - it worked perfectly. Nozzle printout perfect, Alignment perfect. Miracle Cure. My Printer basically went from edge of Rubbish Bin to new again with a few wipes of a damp cloth.

Jackson in post #7 (same thread as shown above), says...

The 'encoder strip' is mentioned in the Ip4000 service manual, but goes by the name of 'Timing slit strip film'. It is indicated as a possible trouble source for "Carriage error" code 5100 (led alternate blinking orange and green 2 times) and "paper feed error" code 6000 (led alternate blinking orange and green 3 times). In these cases it indicates that the strip needs replaced. It is also mentioned where "Graphic or text is enlarged on printouts". In this case is says that cleaning the strip may be required.

o The carriage bar is lubricated, so do NOT clean it as you will remove the lubricant. You can relubricate if necessary. Canonphreak said "You may also want to re-lubricate the carriage bar (white lithium grease works best for me)." -- see post #3 this link.

o Clean the ribbon cables (at back of print head holder). Be careful not to bend or stretch. I figure if grease on the ribbon cables can cause a problem, then ink splatters might too.
websnail, in post #1 this link, writes...

Judder as printhead passes a specific spot.. No obstruction but the printer leaves blank spots in printout in a line down page.. Weirdly it's slightly different position for each ink output. Check the little plastic strip that the head uses as a position measure (it's on springs and runs at the back of the printhead near the top). Mine had some grease on it so a little careful cleaning solved that problem and it started printing perfectly again.

Do you know why your print head went bad? I believe mine went bad because I had been refilling the same cartridges for a long time and they were no longer working well, over time the ink flow problems damaged my print head. Before I found this forum I didn't realize I could clean them. I used Grandad's technique for cleaning BCI-6 cartridges, to clean my cartridges before I used them with my new print head. There's a link on Nifty-Stuff.com front page to this cleaning procedure.

Lilla

 

[beschizza]

That's the weird thing -- while the old print head went bad just from age and gunk, I suppose (having never done any maintenance), the new one is fresh from the shrinkwrap, and completely useless. I've send a message to inkcessories, and will call tomorrow to get an RMA.

Rob

 

[Lilla]

beschizza, my i960's original printhead has a problem with the PC channel, the other colors look perfect on an extended nozzle test. With the PC channel, some (but not all) of the nozzles are clogged or stuff up with baked on gunk, I believe the later.

I tried all the common cleaning methods on it before ordering the new print head, but could never get all of nozzles to clear.

Now that I have a new print head, I decided to do a long term treatment on the old one and just see what happens. I put the old one is in a covered plastic tupperware container, sitting on a piece of folded tissue paper with a little windex on it. Every day I drip a couple of eye droppers full of windex into the intake discs. PC started out being about 1/2 of the nozzles were plugged, now it's about 1/3 that are plugged, so a little progress has been made. Most every day I turn the tissue over or change the tissue. I examine the tissue to see if I can see any evidence of cyan color on the tissue. Who knows, maybe a miracle will occur.

Lilla

 

[beschizza]

Inkcessories has RMAd the new print head and will test it for me. If it's defective, I'll get a replacement: if it's not, I guess the problem is with my i960, somehow.

 

[fotofreek]

Lilla - I had an i960 printhead go bad as well and, as I recall, it was the PC channel. I couldn't get it cleared and finally took it apart. As I mentioned in previous posts, I didn't remove the electric contact plate first and overstressed the ribbon. Consequently, when I got it back together it didn't work. During that frustrating episode I also moved the printhead carriage. Now, even with a good printhead (from my other i960), the printer doesn't function. I suspect that I have to do something to reset the printhead timing or something. Did I see a source in one of your previous posts for the tech manual online for the i960?

 

[Lilla]

Lilla - I had an i960 printhead go bad as well and, as I recall, it was the PC channel. I couldn't get it cleared and finally took it apart. As I mentioned in previous posts, I didn't remove the electric contact plate first and overstressed the ribbon. Consequently, when I got it back together it didn't work. During that frustrating episode I also moved the printhead carriage. Now, even with a good printhead (from my other i960), the printer doesn't function. I suspect that I have to do something to reset the printhead timing or something. Did I see a source in one of your previous posts for the tech manual online for the i960?

Bummer! Does the printhead you took apart and cleaned work in the good printer? Or do you hesitate to try it?

It sounds like moosemaster (this thread) dismantled two print heads (IP4000/IP5000) in same way you did. As I understand it, he soaked the whole dismantled head in windex, whereas you blew compressed air through the body. He tells us that both printheads are now fixed and working good again. Makes me wonder if perhaps it would be good to try first dismantle and soaking, then if that doesn't work, try dismantle and blow with compressed air. Sounds like soaking might be less problematic than blowing with compressed air. What do you think?

I may wind up taking my print head apart, but I'm afraid I'll mess something up, so I postpone it. I appreciate your sharing what went right/wrong so I can (hopefully) learn from your experience.

I posted a link to an IP4000 service manual, but I do not have a link for any others. I don't have any other service manauls. I downloaded that one, just in case some of it might apply. I too would like to have one.

Lilla