Pixma 3000

[neilslade]

I don't know what Windolene is, but I have used DENATURED ALCOHOL to successfully submerge a stubborn head for 5 minutes, rinsed with hot water under the tap for 2--- voila like new.

It shouldn't take repeated soaking.

This was a head rejected as no good by official Canon techs.

I would not suggest any other solvents. Why? Stonger solvents will harm any plastic part of the head, and most of the head is plastic.

The heads on these printers are rarely at fault-- its almost always a cart problem.

I haven't had any functional problems with my ip3000, its been perfect.

I do have to apply LESS BLACK than I would on the same print on an i960-- this may be a matter of pigment ink working differently on matte paper.

 

[fotofreek]

Original Windex is mostly water with a very small bit of Ammonia and some alcohol. I've used it and it works very well. Isopropyl Alcohol from the pharmacy works well also. Just don't overdo it!

 

[Fano]

Thanks for the advice guys.
I'm trying soaking the printhead in Methylated Spirits and a small drop of hot water.
There is a printer shop in my local town and I'm going to go in there tomorrow.
The guy working there says he has some machine for cleaning Printheads.
Dont know exactly what it is yet but hopefully it may work.
The search for a cure goes on,its like the Holy Grail.

 

[Tin Ho]

A mixture of some ammonia and alcohol will do magic to clean print head. An old bottle of Xerox glass cleaner worked well for me. It's near impossible to find such glass cleaner any more as all Xerox machines are no longer around in today's work places. I once had a nozzle that looked like dead on a HP printer of mine. It always left a tiny white line in areas where it shouldn't be there. After spraying the glass cleaner on the print head and let it rest on a pad of bathroom tissue filled with the same cleaner for an hour the dead nozzle was gone and never show up again. Look for glass cleaners that contain alcohol and ammonia. Alcohol alone does not work.

 

[Fano]

Well I went into the printer Cartridge shop and the guy cleaned the head using a steamer device.
It worked perfectly,the printhead is working fine again.
Time will tell how long it performs correctly.
So after trying a whole list of cleaning methods ,the only successful one was steaming.
I must get a look at the steaming machine next time I'm in the shop .
I will bring in my other faulty Printhead as the steamer may unblock it.

 

[Fano]

Update:
After steaming the printhead it worked perfectly for about 3 weeks of heavy printing then the Cyan nozzles were blocked again.
I decided to order MIS Cyan ink and to use this instead of the compatible ink I had been using.
I had the head resteamed and I used the MIS ink for Cyan and the old compatible ink for the Magenta and Yellow and I used a Black projet cartridge.
Result is that I have been printing perfectly for the last month .
The print quality is excellent and the Cyan nozzles are working well.
I'll need to do a few more months printing before I can be sure but it seems that the MIS Cyan ink has solved my problem.
The cheaper Cyan inks ,and I tried alot must be thicker than the MIS ink and clog alot faster.
I'll see how the printer performs over the next few weeks but so far so good.

 

[Fano]

Time for an update on my Pixma 3000.
Its still going strong over 4 years later on the same printhead .
I eventually think I figured out what the reason for my well documented woes with the Cyan colour was.
I think it was due to low grade ink having some compatibility issues with the printhead.
I resolved this by using a combination of MIS ink for refilling and using Jettec C22 cartridges.
The Jettecs are a great cartridge ,they seem to be a very good match for Canon OEM .
I was lucky I stumbled on them after trial and error with so many other compatible cartridges.
I have used almost 2 pints of MIS ink over the last 4 years .
I usually refill the Jettec cartridges 4-5 times before switching to a new one.

For the Black and Yellow , I use Projet compatible cartridges ,which have never caused any issue.
I refill the Yellow with a cheap ink.
I usually refill these 4-5 times before using a new cartridge.
I do not refill the Black as I dont use much of that colour.

For Magenta ,I use a combination of Jettec and Projet compatibles ,which works well too.
I used to refill the Magenta cartridges until recently but I was suffering some clogging issues so I stopped.
I am going to order some Magenta ink off MIS and try that to see if that remedies the situation.

I clean the printhead under a tap of running warm water every few months,this seems to help it .
I sometimes give the head a soak on top of kitchen towel with some cartridge flush too.
Thats about the sum of the maintenance I've required,I have avoided any air application to the nozzles,it did more harm than good to a previous printhead.

So far so good

 

[The Hat]

Welcome back Fano
Why dont you treat you printer to some good quality Image Specialists inks from Octoink.co.uk
They sell only the best US inks and are very good value with low P&P.
If you need to get some prefilled cartridges then try inkmaestro.ie 4.00 a cartridge they too are good with the P&P, you cant go wrong..

 

[Fano]

Welcome back Fano
Why dont you treat you printer to some good quality Image Specialists inks from Octoink.co.uk
They sell only the best US inks and are very good value with low P&P.
If you need to get some prefilled cartridges then try inkmaestro.ie 4.00 a cartridge they too are good with the P&P, you cant go wrong..

Cheers Hat,
I was actually browsing Octoinks website earlier today ,looking at their bottled ink.
I will buy a few bottles to test out on your recommendation.
I will stick to the Jettec and Projet prefilled cartridges though as they have served me well.