Printer acts like it is running out of ink

[pearlhouse]

mx 860 Printer was printing spread sheets which were in black and white quite good. Then I noticed I was low on both black inks. So I replaced the whole set of carts with refilled ones. Now I have replaced carts several times and I keep getting the same streaky printing. I ve cleaned the nozzles both reg and deep cleaning . The resulting print out shows the PGBK line pattern has some missing lines. But they are never in the same place. The other lines including the color and black all seem to look perfect. Ive tried changing the printer driver to print in grayscale only and also changed back to color and I get the same results. Today I put in a newly refilled set of carts but before I put them in I forced some air into the vents to get a couple of drops of ink out of the exit on the bottom of the carts. I tried to print a multiple sheet spreadsheet. The first page came out AOK and then it starting missing and streaking Ive been refilling using the german method for a couple of years now and have never had any kind of a problem. Im using ink that I bought last year and have been refilling with it without any problems til now.

Is there supposed to be a vacuum that draws the ink from the cart where I could possibly have a bad fit between the cart and the print head. Maybe the seals on the printhead need to be replaced or just cleaned and re installed??
Looking for ideas!!! to solve this problem. ( And I don't want to hear "buy a new printer") I really like this one.
Thanx!!!!:/

 

[fotofreek]

Have you ever purged the carts in question? You've been refilling for two years. Depending on the number of refills you've done you may not have adequate flow due to some dried ink in the sponge area or outlet. Change the paper choice to matte and reprint a spreadsheet to see if the lines are complete. If they are OK you've isolated the problem to the pigment-based black cart. You can either purchase a new OEM black cart and go back to "plain paper" choice to see if the cart was the problem, or you can purge the large black cart, dry and refill it, and see how it prints the speradsheets on plain paper setting.

I've read posts claiming that no purging is necessary with the German refill method, but this sounds like ink flow isn't adequate in that cart. If it were my printer I would periodically purge all the carts afte several refills. Purging is easier and faster with top filled carts, but there are techniques on the forum for purgins with carts refilled with the German method.

 

[barfl2]

Like fotofreek says looks like inkflow problem with the PGBK cart. I have 4 PGBK carts in rotation some German some topfill. Certainly I and others started having inkflow problems with carts which have been filled via the German method. One theory is that the needle displaces the foam and can lead to feeding problems another is that the ink bridge between the reservoir and the sponges is lost and can be re-established by dribbling ink whilst slowly withdrawing the needle.

I agree it well worth purging the pigment black cart and using a spare one if available. I bought a couple of compatibles just to prove printhead was OK. I switched to topfill for a while but still also use the German method but take a bit more care. Tappping the cart firmly against the table when finished, blowing gently through the vent to prove that only gentle pressure is needed to get the ink to flow, if not discard that cart and try another one.

So recently my Canon Pixma MP620 has been fine with a regular weekly nozzle check. I have a small calendar taped on the lid and tick off each week.Any missed then show up. I claim no credit for any of these suggestions merely passing some hopefully useful ideas posted by our resident experts which have helped me.

 

[PeterBJ]

I have had similar problems with the PGI-x20/CLI-x21 cartridges that were refilled using the German method: see this post: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=59280#p59280 and this: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=59835#p59835 . Maybe top filling is better for these cartridges. For top filling it is important to use plugs that have no clearance problems in Canon MP, MG, and MX models. The recommended plugs are called low profile plugs if you buy them from Octoink UK, but are called zero clearance plugs if you buy them from Precision Colors. These plugs should be secured with a piece of aluminium tape. See this: http://www.precisioncolors.com/Using the Zero Clearance Plugs.pdf

 

[pearlhouse]

I am really mystified here. Seems most everybody says I need to purge a PGBK cart so that it can feed ink to the outlet sponge. I tried 5 more refilled carts tonite all with the same result. I tapped each cart on my bench with the orange cover in place. Then I also tapped several times on the front of the cart where the german refill hole is located. All these carts worked the last time they were used. I find it hard to believe they all developed the same problem at the same time. So tomorrow if I can get the purged cart dry I will refill it and give it a try, but I don't have much confidence in this.
I did print once using matte paper choice which then puts the printer into high quality and slow printing mode. I did print ok in this mode but is way to slow and I assume Im using a lot of ink.

So I ask again is there a vacuum that draws the ink from the cart through the printhead seal???????????????
Can I just remove the print head and pop out the seals and then back flush them. I looks like this is a filter as well as a seal for the exit of the cart. I assume these seals are held in by a ring on the seal which pops into a groove on the print head.

I tried printing a test print that I have which has the three color bars about 1 inch wide and then a black bar on the top and the bottom each about 1 inch wide.
I printed this in grayscale and color at normal quality.
In color the three colors were OK but the black bars were very streaky
In the grayscale mode all the bars were streaky.
this indicates to me that both carts are not sending enough black ink to the print head.
Am I on the right track here.????

 

[barfl2]

My reply to pearlhouse problem and my stupid statement my printer was OK has come and bit me back. After copying 18 sheets in full colour got a green one so did a nozzle check as anticipated no Magenta. So did about 6 nozzle checks like pearlhouse tried 3 different OEM carts filled by different methods result zilch.
.
Later I pulled head applied Panos method on kitchen paper towel sitting on window cleaner, tried feeding cleaner down the pick up with a open ended needle scabbard (gasket removed) went through very slowly also tried syringe with cleaner directly on screen. I cleaned up re-installed head did a nozzle check again nothing except on the back of the page I have a magenta stripe just under 1/8" wide 2.7/8" from the papers edge running from top to bottom. Tried another cart got same result

Whilst discouraging I am hoping the head is OK and that it is a cartridge feeding problem. Its always Magenta.

Any ideas? appreciated. I will leave it alone tonight and have another look tomorrow.

 

[The Hat]

My reply to pearlhouse problem and my stupid statement my printer was OK has come and bit me back. After copying 18 sheets in full colour got a green one so did a nozzle check as anticipated no Magenta. So did about 6 nozzle checks like pearlhouse tried 3 different OEM carts filled by different methods result zilch.
.
Later I pulled head applied Panos method on kitchen paper towel sitting on window cleaner, tried feeding cleaner down the pick up with a open ended needle scabbard (gasket removed) went through very slowly also tried syringe with cleaner directly on screen. I cleaned up re-installed head did a nozzle check again nothing except on the back of the page I have a magenta stripe just under 1/8" wide 2.7/8" from the papers edge running from top to bottom. Tried another cart got same result

Whilst discouraging I am hoping the head is OK and that it is a cartridge feeding problem. Its always Magenta.

Any ideas? appreciated. I will leave it alone tonight and have another look tomorrow.

Can you post your latest nozzle check please..?

 

[barfl2]

Pleased to advise todays assortment of soaking in warm water, water syringed through magenta screen appears to have cleared problem.

The two nozzle checks. One of six that showed little or mostly no Magenta and the latest one which is fine.

I have 3 carts in rotation german/topfill/freedom and I have had little luck wityh the freedom method with magenta all I get is a good vacuum but loads of foam in the syringe and the cart only partially filled. I seem to remember that ThrillaMozilla said you should not allow any bubbles to return to the cart and I am wondering whether this may have happened. However it was a topfilled cart that was in the printer when I lost the magenta

Then I cart refused to reset (no light) chip gone?.

The magenta stripe down the back of the page was a mystery and I looked for surplus ink anywhere, but could,nt see any, although the cradle was a bit messy. At the end of the day I still suspect poor cart feeding and I have ordered a couple of compatible carts as a backup

 

[pearlhouse]

Well I tried the purged cart and got almost the same results. I first printed a half page with it and it looked AOK
So I did a nozzle check and found only 3 lines that were missing on PGBK. so thinking maybe I was going to be ok I decided to try and print several pages of the spread sheet. The first 3 pages printed ok and then slowly each page got streaky by the 5 page there was hardly anything printing.

So last nite I took the print apart. When I first started to flush a little of the ink out of the head The PGBK seal just poped right out into the sink. The rest I had to pry gently out. Don't know why the first one just fell out. Anyhow the filters are still intact and I assume they are not removable. Anybody no how to remove them????? After reading several posts by Granddad He shows how to disassemble a head. So I did it. First remove the screws and then remove the electronics by grinding off the nubs that hole it on. After this I removed the gasket. I am now going to try and flush the head a little more aggressively with water and maybe some windex. Trying to see if I can get a good spray out of each of the nozzles . The electronics did get a little wet when I first started so I set them up overnite under some 95f heat just in case.
I still don't know what causes the ink to transfer from the cart to the head and is it imperative that the cart seal perfectly on the rubber seal in the head.
Im going to re assemble it today and give it a try probably not til tonite. I assume I can just install the carts and do a nozzle clean to get ink into the head and force out any water that may still be in there.

I guess if this doesn't work Im going to start looking for a new printer.

 

[PeterBJ]

pearlhouse wrote:

...I still don't know what causes the ink to transfer from the cart to the head and is it imperative that the cart seal perfectly on the rubber seal in the head...

The printhead creates a slight vacuum in operation, and this pulls ink from the cartridges. Turbguy explained it in this thread: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=8540 . I have one thing to add: The primary purpose of the ink inlet screens is not to filter ink but to counteract the capillary forces that keep the ink in the sponge and prevents dripping from a filled cartridge. These screens are in contact with the ink outlets of the installed cartridges. If they are missing or even punctured, no ink can be transferred to the printhead. So don't try to remove them.