Pull the switch

[jackson]

Because I don't want to hijack someones post:
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1297
I want to start a thread on a subject that has been touched on before in this forum.

Assume that it is a Canon with non-chipped tanks.
If a particular colour is giving problems and substituting an OEM for the problem cart does not solve it, we assume that the problem is in the head?
To verify this suspicion and eliminate the possibility that we have two bad carts of the same colour, is it permissable to switch a "good" colour into the slot occupied by the "bad" colour?

Example;cyan is suspected, switch it with the yellow.If the symptom moves with the cyan to the new slot, then the cart is bad.
If the symptom now shows up in the yellow slot, the print head is bad,clogged,plugged.

Now the real question would be, does switching colours around cause any other problem that might aggravate the symtoms further and is it a valid troubleshooting technique?

 

[Tin Ho]

This troubleshooting method will not work. When ink cartridges are providing healthy ink flow to the print head clogging never occurs regardless if the ink is high or poor quality ink. Print head clogging will occur whenever an ink cartridge is not delivering ink at a proper rate. When ink flow is reduced the print head nozzles receive less ink. The heater in trhe print head nozzle instead of ejecting ink bubble to print on the paper it evaporizes the water content of the ink in the nozzle leaving the ink dyes to dry up and clog the nozzle. If you keep printing after such clogging occurs the heaters in the nozzles may eventaully be burnt out because there isn't any more ink to cool them. The print head is not too easily killed by this but if you keep doing it it will die.

By switching a problematic cartridge to another slot of a different color, or even to a same clot of a healthy printer you may only bring the clogging to another color or another printer.

If you only do a nozzle check after such swapping clogging may not occur immediately. But if you print a full size photo it will clog very quickly and the clog will be very difficult to clear.

 

[jackson]

There are suggestions that black dye ink be substituted for black pigmented ink in the Canon IP printers.
The inference is that pigmented ink contributes to head clogging and replacing it with dye will ease the problem.
But since the dye merely replaces the pigment in the same tank, how can the flow rate change?
What intrinsic feature of pigment ink restricts ink-flow through a sponge to the print nozzle?

When ink cartridges are providing healthy ink flow to the print head clogging never occurs regardless if the ink is high or poor quality ink.

 

[Tin Ho]

Color dyes are far smaller than pigments. It is something like 5 microns vs. 200 microns. If your text printing head is clogged by dried pigments in the nozzles you can plug in a cartridge filled with dye ink of the same color (black in this case) then print a block of black such as a few inches square. This could allow the dye ink to flush the nozzles and clear out the pigments in there. This is only possible because dyes being much samller and the nozzles of the text print head is much bigger. There is plenty of room for dye ink to get in while pigments are not able to.

This won't work for the print heads for color dyes. The nozzles are small to begin with. Once clogged it simply blocks any further flow of dye ink. In your methodology the Cyan cartridge has a blockage that reduces Cyan ink flow and it has caused your Cyan print head clogged. If you move the Cyan cartridge to another slot for verifying if the Cyan cartridge is indeed bad you will cause another clog in the slot from which you plugged the Cyan cartridge in. You will prove that the Cyan cartridge is bad but at the cost of another clogged channel.

Pigment is so much bigger when it dries. It is more likely to cause the sponge in the cartridge to be choked by the dried pigments. Once dried adding ink (pigment ink) will not dissolve it effectively. When dyes dry in the sponge it will choke the sponge too but when you add ink the dyes may be dissolved by the fresh ink so it is less likely be really choked in reality.

 

[jackson]

This is the reason that I am weaning my Canon 3eBK tanks from pigment to dye.
Hobbicolors will (if asked) substitute dye for pigment in the ip3000,4000,5000 etc, refill kit.

Pigment is so much bigger when it dries. It is more likely to cause the sponge in the cartridge to be choked by the dried pigments. Once dried adding ink (pigment ink) will not dissolve it effectively. When dyes dry in the sponge it will choke the sponge too but when you add ink the dyes may be dissolved by the fresh ink so it is less likely be really choked in reality.