Printheads not responding

[easytimes]

I now have two printers on "injured reserve" status. Both apparently have clogged printheads. After about six Deep Cleanings on my MG 6220, I can no longer print anything that has any yellow content, without it being overly blue or red. My IP 4700 has been out of commission for similar reasons, ever since I was able to buy the MG 6220 brand new for sixty bucks US. Now the MG is clogging. Both were doing the same jobs... in other words, they were my main workhorse printers, just not at the same time. I hate to waste two fairly new printers if I can salvage them.

I have done some reading about various ways to unclog the printheads, and if I try this, I would most likely want to do both printers, so as to have a backup printer WHEN the next clog happens. My first question is which is the BEST unclogging method/kit or whatever, as far as least likely to destroy the printhead, and most likely to work. The second question is... if all unclogging attempts fail, is there a good reliable source for printheads, that allows me to just get one and not pay enough to buy a whole new printer.

I have noticed that the latest Canon replacements for my two main printers (MG 6220 and IP 4920) use different ink tanks, which would force me to buy a bunch of different tanks to do my refilling. I have been pretty happy about using two printers with the same 225-226 tanks. I wasn't planning to write this much, but here I am. So to simplify... first, what is the best unclogging method known to date, and second, where is a good source for the replacement printheads, when all else fails. Good links are very acceptable answers.
Thanks

 

[turbguy]

Your best source for printheads is the Canon USA parts department (google them for the 1-800 number). They typically have the lowest price.

Original Windex (with ammonia D) is the typical ink solvent of choice. A soak of the nozzle plate in a shallow pool of windex on folded paper towels for several hours with some windex sprayed into the ink inlets, and some sort of gentile agitation is typically used, followed by allowing the printhead to dry before re-installation. The nozzle plate is fragile. DO NOT USE AN ULTRASONIC CLEANER!!!

Wayne

 

[easytimes]

Thanks turbguy,
I guess old school is still in play. I was just hoping there were other more advanced options available, in these more modern times.

 

[The Hat]

easytimes

Sorry to of about your 2 recent print injuries, it can be a right pain when that happens and your left with nothing to play with.

First things first dont print anything other than nozzle checks till you can resolve this problem, the second thing is NOT to be doing so many deep head cleans either they can kill your purge unit quick time, one or two maybe but no more than that normal head cleans are preferable ok.

You may have already done damage to your print head we dont know yet,
but we will try to ascertain that for you also, so can you post a nozzle check from both of your printers so we can examine the problem in more detail.

It seems a bit strange to have the same problem on your two printers at the same time,
the only thing the two printers have in common is you and the cartridges, and I think I can rule you out of that equation.

Have you tested the cartridges (Yellow) to see if that could be the problem and not your print heads at all, can you use a known good cartridge to test in your printer first or completely purge the cartridge and fill it up again fresh ?

The most lightly cause of poor output in any of your colours would be the cartridges themselves and not the print head,
they can become bunged up after refilling so many times and may start to give you poor ink flow (Starvation).

Never leave your printers idle for any length of time without printing something on them,
a nozzle check once or twice a forth-night would keep them in good printing condition and always ready for use.
Nice to hear youre still hard at it Charles..

 

[easytimes]

Thanks Mr. Hat
I suppose I could post a nozzle check, but I think I can describe it pretty well, and save the forum bandwidth. It looks perfect, except for the total lack of yellow ink. I did my own yellow-only check, and got a clean sheet of paper. I have changed the yellow tank for another refill, with absolutely no change in the nozzle check. In the event I have two bad tanks, I suppose that's not totally indicative of anything. Just seems a little unlikely that two tanks would do exactly the same thing. I know that one is much newer than the other... I just don't know which is which.

I do follow the forum advice of changing the maximum number of tanks as possible each time I make a change. In addition, I ALWAYS run a full nozzle check after every tank change, even if I only change one. I avoid fouling a print job many times, that way. Over the past two weeks, the wife has been printing a ton of pictures on the ailing machine, which should have kept things running more smoothly... or so I thought. Maybe it just builds up more junk than less printing does. I don't pretend to know that one.

I can NOT say the problem was the same on the ailing IP 4700, but it did have a clog of some type... but about that same time, the MG 6220 went on that $60 sale, so I jumped on it. Wish I bought two, now. For that price, it makes more sense not to fool with so much troubleshooting.

Odd thing is... my older IP 4920 is not working nearly as much as the MG 6220, and it still prints like a brand new one on OEM inks. I made the jump to the MG 6220 for the biggest reason of the same inks on both printers. I do a big refill about every week to week and a half, and I'm set. Hope that doesn't have to change, now.

 

[The Hat]

The description of your output doesnt sound to good at all, but try giving your print head
a douse in some Windex as turbguy suggested earlier it may just save it.

Normally when a colour fails like that it is usually caused by poor ink flow or the cartridge running out of ink during a print run, if that is the case then the nozzles are burned and the head is fried.

Are you using the cartridges from your iP4700 or the opaque ones that came with your new printers and refilling them, how many sets have you got extra.
Before you decide to buy any new printers you could try looking on Craigs List for printers with the same print head as your own..

 

[easytimes]

This is about what happened to my IP 4700, if my memory is working correctly. The MG 6220 had a full tank of yellow, when it started malfunctioning... it didn't show streaky dryness, just went straight to the total absence of yellow. I have very seldom allowed my tanks to go completely dry. It was usually when I didn't print anything for a few hours or so, and forgot that the inks were a bit low. Matter of fact, my IP 4700 did that a number of times before finally completely failing.

I still think that refilling is the way to go, but for me it seems that I do have a lot more problems with loss of ink flow with refill inks. When I used to buy only OEM ink, I never had many problems for about the first four or five years, or more. As much as I print, OEM ink costs over $1500/year. I could buy a lot of print heads for that kind of money. If I do end up purchasing a print head, I may just get two of them at a time. That would at least get me through a year and a half or so. To avoid the hassle of having a printer down, I could buy another pair of heads when I installed the second head.

I'm not so upset about needing a print head... I just hate having a printer that can only effectively print black text. Oh yes, I did use the clear 220-221 tanks in place of the 225-226 tanks, but I have since gone to using the opaque tanks. Since my IP 4700 went down, it wasn't useful to try to maintain a stash of the clear tanks and do the chip swap. It worked okay, but it's nearly as easy to use the actual replacement tanks for the printers, since they both use the 225-226 tanks.
Thanks for the suggestions...

The description of your output doesnt sound to good at all, but try giving your print head
a douse in some Windex as turbguy suggested earlier it may just save it.

Normally when a colour fails like that it is usually caused by poor ink flow or the cartridge running out of ink during a print run,
if that is the case then the nozzles are burned and the head is fried.

Are you using the cartridges from your iP4700 or the opaque ones that came
with your new printers and refilling them, how many sets have you got extra.

Before you decide to buy any new printers you could try looking on Craigs List for printers with the same print head as your own..

 

[The Hat]

A big problem can arise when you are constantly refilling your cartridges;
they can over time fail to deliver enough ink to the print head even when completely full. (Bunged up)

At the first sign of poor output from a cartridge you should replace it immediately and later
when you have the time purge all of the ink out of the cartridge then dry and refill it, (Save the ink) then it will be as good as new again, eventually the same thing may happen again, so repeat the cleaning process if necessary.

The reason I asked about the 220/221 clear carts was because it is not as easy to refill the opaque ones without running into problems, like poor ink flow due to possible over filling and the condition describe above.

There is however a comprehensive refilling guide specially made for the opaque cartridges by Tudor which should help you refine your own methods and steer you clear of most problems in the future.

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=62664#p62664

 

[easytimes]

Hello again,
I can only say one thing.... Holy Cow... whodathawtit? I just removed the decommissioned IP 4700 from the back bedroom, where it's been used as a storage surface. I connected it to my main video editing computer in place of my old almost unused IP 8500 and ran a nozzle check. It looked pretty good, so I proceeded to print a photo of my two lovely pooches. It began a bit on the brown side, but not terrible... but it quickly turned to a fiery red on their posteriors and tail segments. I did another nozzle check and no blue at all would flow. I couldn't remember how badly this one seemed to be clogged, so I proceeded to run some cleaning and more nozzle checks.

One nozzle check had a mostly regular looking cyan bar, but the center of the bar was a bit pale. One more clean and nozzle check and it seemed to rectify itself. I tried the same photo again, and the dogs looked almost as if they were standing right in front of me... and on some Fuji paper that I had never used much before, because it seemed to puddle a little. It's about five years old, and I gave $3 US for it on a big sale.

Guess I have a lot to do on this MG6220... and hopefully, the IP 4700 doesn't take a nosedive on me. Seems like a lot of little secrets to know... and for as long as I've been doing this, I don't know very much. Guess I've just been lucky not to have had more trouble than I have.
Thanks again