Not Understanding How To Clean i960 Printhead

[KCDoug]

It's late, or maybe another senior moment, but I've been searching through posts and don't understand how to clean my i960's printhead. I've not printed with it for a few months. I recalled that when I last used it I got an initial warning that the yellow was low, but it was not out. So before beginning to print tonight, I replaced the yellow cartridge. I then aligned the printhead, all seemed normal. The first print had all the colors, but looked a little washed out. The subsequent print had yellowish skin tones, and colors were more noticeably washed out. I ran a cleaning, then ran a nozzle check. The Photo magenta was absent on the nozzle check pattern and some other colors were a little light, but otherwise okay (no banding or missing parts of color blocks). I attempted to print another pic - more yellow skin tones and washed out colors. Did one more clean and nozzle check, no change in the pattern. Did a deep clean and nozzle check, still no change in the nozzle pattern. Printed two more pictures, skin tones not as yellow, other colors still look washed out, though not as pronounced as couple preceding pics, and the clarity was slightly improved. But the pics still look pretty lame. My guess is that I should probably remove the printhead and try cleaning it.

I'm confused by what I'm reading here, and a search of the forum hasn't yielded the simplified explanation I was hoping to find.

I removed the cartridges and the printhead without a hitch (trial run), but without pictures/diagram, I'm unclear what is what that people reference when talking about soaking and about blowing out. I can see the rubber seals and the semi-hard pad-like material in the center that the cartridges seat on and the ink goes through, but how do I clean that area? Is that the area folks are saying to hold under a facet, or blowing air into? The underside/bottom of the printhead has a metal (copper?) plate, is that what folks are soaking in water or windex, or whatever? Or do you remove that plate and soak whatever is under it? And if you were using compressed air or a syringe to squirt fluid on the inside holes/ports with the rubber seal around them, wouldn't the metallic plate on the underside need to be removed first? Clearly I'm a bit confused or too simple-minded to figure out the obvious tonight. Any clarification/simplication will be much appreciated; I really don't want to spend $75+ for a new printhead. Gosh, I've probably only printed about 200 pics on this one! (I don't use it that heavily.)

Thanks,
-Doug

 

[ghwellsjr]

Try this post:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=9408#p9408

 

[KCDoug]

Thanks ghwells jr., I did see that post, but I am unclear about a few things:

1. "Let the printhead sit on the wet [toilet] tissue." (a) Does this mean to stand the printhead up on this, so that the metallic plate on the underside is resting on the soaked tissue? (b) Doesn't toilet paper start to disintegrate when wet - so how would that work?

2. "Let a few drops of the glass cleaner on the metallic pickup discs." What are pickup discs? Is that the individual rings inside the printhead that have the rubber gasket around them that the ink cartridges seat into?

Sorry for seeming so dense...I'm not usually this mechanically challenged.

Thanks again,
-Doug

 

[Tin Ho]

The metallic plate you are talking about is the print head where the nozzles are sandwiched inside. It is also where the clogs are. Yes you should soak the plate allowing the water or windex to penetrate into the sandwich to dissolve the dried ink in there. I believe the pick up discs are really the ink intake for each color of ink. They are not discs but fine metal mesh. They are for filtering of ink before reaching the nozzles. Using wet toilet paper is in fact more effective than soaking in water or windex. The risk of damaging the print head is also lower. You will need to keep the toilet paper wet by adding water or windex. ANd yes you can feed water or windex from the intake as well to reach the inside of the print head. I have done the same for an i960 print head. It originally printed nothing in Yellow. After the trement the yellow was completely back to normal.

 

[KCDoug]

Thanks Tin Ho. When I got back home and removed the printhead, it all jelled.

Unfortunately, following the steps outlined by panos for using Windex w/amonia and toilet tissue didn't resolve the problem. I was quickly able to get photocyan to flow from the printhead using the windex. I also had a can of compressed air that I gently used to blow through each of the ink intakes which got each respective color to come out of the bottom of the print head. But after assembling (and leaving a drop or windex on the pc ink intake) still no photocyan showing up on the nozzle check. Ran the nozzle check a couple times, and then ran a cleaning cycle. Tried printing a couple of pictures; they are still grainy and washed-out looking, now there's even a hint of banding. Pictures almost look like they are being printed on cheap photo paper (I'm using premium gloss), or like a driver or setting is wrong. But all settings look correct as best I can tell. I also tried a fresh photocyan cartridge, still not showing on nozzle check. I can't believe there is an electrical problem because the printer worked fine the last time I used it a few months ago, and I hadn't changed any ink or settings. Dunno what else to try at this point.

 

[Tin Ho]

I believe the electronics is not causing the problem to your print head. It is still clogged. A clogged print head sometimes will print nothing at all. But don't give up. Just be patient and let the windex to dissolve the dried ink for you. It will clear up eventually. Try hot water or hot windex fluid. If your fingers can withstand the temerature so can the print head.

 

[mikling]

Here's Official Canon instructions for declogging heads:

1) Start by removing the ink cartridges from the printer.
2) Then remove the print head from the printer.
3) Clean the bottom of the print head as well as the inside with alcohol and a cotton swab such as a Q-tip. Ensure to use a separate cotton swab for each colour. Set aside for about 2 minutes and then repeat the cleaning.
4) Wait another 2 minutes and place everything back into the printer.
5) Next, perform 3-4 regular print head cleanings from the maintenance tab of the printer properties.
6) Try a test print.

I also spoke with a rep afterwards and asked whether they thought that q-tips could potentially clog my i9900 heads once. His answer was that if using Qtips and you wreck a head, you shouldn't be on this planet.

I still only use warm water and TIME. Alcohol to me is the last resort .

I also fashion a pump to flush warm water through the head under very low pressure.

 

[panos]

1. "Let the printhead sit on the wet [toilet] tissue." (a) Does this mean to stand the printhead up on this, so that the metallic plate on the underside is resting on the soaked tissue?

Yes, so that the nozzles will get soaked by the ammonia-based glass cleaner.

(b) Doesn't toilet paper start to disintegrate when wet - so how would that work?

Only if you rub on it. Which you wont. So, it will not disintegrate.

2. "Let a few drops of the glass cleaner on the metallic pickup discs." What are pickup discs? Is that the individual rings inside the printhead that have the rubber gasket around them that the ink cartridges seat into?

Yes

I advise against alcohol. Use only ammonia-based glass cleaner.

 

[mikling]

Canon Officially supports alcohol. I only use water but they feel it is fine with their printheads.

 

[KCDoug]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I've not had any improvement doing the following:

1. Using a fine tipped irrigation syringe I squirted heated windex into the pickups w/emphasis on the photocyan pickup - I did this several times.

2. Sat the printhead on windex-saturated toilet paper and dribbled windex into the pickups to set overnight.

3. The following morning I removed the two screws that hold the ceramic portion of the printhead and using the fine tip syringe squirted heated windex into the holes that lead to the pickups, and then reversed direction (squirting down from the pickup), and also into the small holes on the ceramic portion of the printhead.

4. With light to moderate force I blew compressed air into the same holes listed in #3.

5. Reassembled and dried off the plastics.

6. Put a drop or two of windex into each pickup & reinstalled printhead and cartridges.

Ran nozzle check twice - still nothing pringing for photocyan, and still have a faint horizontal white line about 1/3 of the way down on the photo magenta color block. I also changed the photocyan cartridge without improvement.

Doesn't seem like there is much else that would turn this around. I may consider one more try after Christmas - if not successful, guess I'll be stuck having to buy a new printhead.