Really in need of suggestions I have run out of ideas.

[pearlhouse]

Just came back from a 3 week extended vacation and found my mx892's printhead was all plugged up. I guess from just sitting in the parked position. The power to the printer was left on. Now the printhead is beyond cleaning so I need a new one. A newer model similar printer mx922 appears to be cheaper ($100) than buying a new printhead for the old printer. Unless somebody can lead me to one for $80 dollars or less. My question here, is there a better way to leave a printer like this when its not going to be used for a couple of weeks. I tried all the various flushing and soaking techniques with no luck. Even put in a brand new set of carts. I even than tried disassembling the head and flushing it, well this even made it worse so I think I messed up the electronics in the head although I was very careful handling the ribbon when it was apart. Im having doubts about Canon printers. Their ease of refilling the carts is what I really like about them but the rest ?????

 

[The Hat]

I am sorry you have lost your print head and it’s a bit of a bitch when that happens and there are no easy ways of getting over the problem except paying out expensive $$ to replace it.

The best way to unclog a print head is to just leave it soaking for a day or two in some water and washing up liquid (Dreft).

Taking apart a print head usually ends in it not working properly ever again because the success rate on this is less than 20% so it should be avoided unless you’re prepared to buy a new one.

Leaving the printer powered on doesn’t work any better than turning it off, so some do some don’t, but putting a cover over it when not in use is a much better idea all together..

 

[pearlhouse]

I am sorry you have lost your print head and it’s a bit of a bitch when that happens and there are no easy ways of getting over the problem except paying out expensive $$ to replace it.

The best way to unclog a print head is to just leave it soaking for a day or two in some water and washing up liquid (Dreft).

Taking apart a print head usually ends in it not working properly ever again because the success rate on this is less than 20% so it should be avoided unless you’re prepared to buy a new one.

Leaving the printer powered on doesn’t work any better than turning it off, so some do some don’t, but putting a cover over it when not in use is a much better idea all together..

Well Ive been home for over 3 weeks now and found it right away. Since then I have had it soaking in windex constantly and in between trying to flush it with special adapters I had made that fit over the bosses that have the screens. They fit on the end of a syringe so I could flush them with water at first and then I even tried windex. They appeared to work very well as the sprays for each color looked just about as perfect as they could get. But when I tried to print with ink each time the test print pattern got worse at first and then just stayed the same. Then after I disassembled the head and flushed just the ceramic plate it still looked very good. But when I put it together and tried it out it still was the same exact pattern as before. So the electronics must have gone bad before I took it apart. Each time I dried the head with a hair dryer at about 120 F. So I thought I was not overheating it so as to not to ruin the electronics. So I do believe they can be taken apart and re-assembled but there is something else going on with the flushing that is messing with the electronics. Maybe drying them out needs to be gentler and longer almost letting them dry on their own. When flushing with any liquid some of it must be getting into the ribbon or the electronic area that cant be detected unless we have some expensive equipment to look for it.
I just feel Canon is messing with us refillers and all the other owners who don't refill and this is their way of sticking it to us. And then they insult us by charging less for a new printer than a new print head. By putting a different printhead in each new round of printers they make the old ones worthless along with changing our refilled carts so they cant be used unless we change the chips. I plan to buy one more printer and when and if this happens again I will be done with Canon products. I wonder if Epson printers have the same printhead and cart problems.???

 

[The Hat]

One of the good things about owing a Canon printer is been able to refill your own OEM cartridges and enjoy the huge savings on the cost of ink and the down side is that sometimes we can inadvertently damage the print head in our printer through carelessness or stupidity, for which I’ve been guilty of both.

The cost of a new print head is far outweighed by the ink savings alone so we shouldn’t complain when we have to fork out for a new head from time to time; it’s just one of the many things that come from owning one of these marvellous little printers.

If we are not to be caught out in the future by the cunning devious ways of Canon/Epson then we need to do something about it right now, don’t wait for printer Armageddon to happen.

Buy two, three or a half dozen of the printers that we know are refillable friendly and store them up and then you’re guaranteed to be safe for the next twenty years, and by then we’ll all be using some sort of holograms, who knows..

 

[fotofreek]

I used to think that being a printer hoarder was a form of mental illness (and perhaps it is!) I finally succumbed to this vice by purchasing a few good solid printers when they went on sale at a ridiculously low price or were slightly used units on Craig's list at a good price. I also purchased spare new print heads when I found a printer to be worth using beyond the life of the original print head that came with the printer. As The Hat stated, refilling our carts is such a great savings that a little more investment in known good printers up front has paid off for me with over 10 years of care-free printing. When a printer or printhead dies I don't panic as I have a few more good printers in reserve. Mercifully, my printers have held up well so I haven't exhausted my reserve supply of printers yet.

 

[stratman]

The print heads I have in reserve for the MP830 are safely tucked away. I intend to continue to live in the 'good old days' for as long as possible.

 

[fotofreek]

The print heads I have in reserve for the MP830 are safely tucked away. I intend to continue to live in the 'good old days' for as long as possible.

Ahhh - the benefit of our being dinasaurs! certainly counters the concept that newer is better.

 

[palombian]

Just came back from a 3 week extended vacation and found my mx892's printhead was all plugged up. I guess from just sitting in the parked position. The power to the printer was left on. Now the printhead is beyond cleaning so I need a new one. A newer model similar printer mx922 appears to be cheaper ($100) than buying a new printhead for the old printer. Unless somebody can lead me to one for $80 dollars or less. My question here, is there a better way to leave a printer like this when its not going to be used for a couple of weeks. I tried all the various flushing and soaking techniques with no luck. Even put in a brand new set of carts. I even than tried disassembling the head and flushing it, well this even made it worse so I think I messed up the electronics in the head although I was very careful handling the ribbon when it was apart. Im having doubts about Canon printers. Their ease of refilling the carts is what I really like about them but the rest ?????

I recently made my own cleaning cartridges by filling them with "pharmacist solution" and was thinking this could also prevent an usused printer from drying out.

 

[pearlhouse]

Ok after finding my print head dried out and plugged up after taking a vacation and not using it for about 3 weeks and trying all the various methods to get it unplugged, I finally decided to buy a new print head instead of buying a new printer. I bought an original OEM Genuine Canon head off of Ebay. Installed it along with the same set of German filled carts I had been using. These were flushed OEM carts that had been refilled twice. I then printed a nozzle check which came out perfect. I was happy thinking my printing problems were over. The printer sat for a couple of weeks without much printing maybe a couple of pages. I think they were black only text pages. Then I tried to print a photo pic and found the cyan was stripping the pic. I immediately did a clean print head and then printed the nozzle check. The Cyan was not good (all Striped). I decided this had to be an ink flow problem. So I removed the Cyan cart and applied air pressure to the top vent with my mouth til I got a couple of large drops out the bottom exit of the cart as well a very small amount out of the German fill hole. Put the cart back in and walla I was printing good photos again. Couple of days later I tried printing a photo again and this time the magenta was stripped. Printed a nozzle check and it too was striped. So I tried the same procedure applying air pressure to the magenta vent and then reinstalling. Printed a nozzle check and all was AOK. Went to print the photo and again it was stripped. I then put in a OEM Canon magenta that has never been refilled. (I now keep a full set of these just for this purpose of checking the print head.) I still got a stripped magenta nozzle check. Did a head clean and still the same magenta stripes. Did a heavy duty cleaning and still no luck. Now my OEM virgin magenta cart is showing some ink usage so I guess this means when I’m cleaning it the purge pump is working. I then took out the print head flushed it with water till the water was clear and then placed it on a paper towel pad soaked with Windex in my soaking tray. Also sprayed some Windex onto the inlet ports where the rubber seals are. By pressing down on the print head I was able to force Windex up through the head and out of the inlet port screens. Just a faint amount of color came up out of these ports. I did this several times over a period of time. I let this soak over night . Next morning I flushed it with water again. Then I removed all of the Windex from the soaking tray and just left the wet Windex paper towel in the tray and set the head on it for several hours so the rest of it could dry out but keeping the print head itself wet so it would not dry up the micro ink exits. Installed it last night and an immediate OK nozzle check print out. Did it a second time and still all was good. I then tried printing out a half inch wide strip of each color. This came out OK. So then I widened the strips to about an inch and place a second magenta strip at the bottom of the page with the first magenta stripe at the top of the page. The first top stripe had horizontal bands and the bottom stripe was almost non-existent.
It almost seems as though letting the printer set for a few days or longer has something to do with it. I did check the rubber seals on the purge pads and wiped them clean. They seem to be OK. I also checked the print head magenta seal and it looks OK.
Im getting ready to take another virgin OEM cart that is empty and flush it dry it and then refilling it as a top fill so I can say the sponge has not been messed with as a German fill could possibly separate the two sponges.

Searching this site I found another topic almost the same that Barfly started but Im not sure he ever solved the problem. So what do I do now?????
http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/canon-pixma-mp620-error-message.7938/

 

[pearlhouse]

Flushed a virgin magenta cart last night and refilled it this morning use top fill method. Still the same story. If I start with a clean nozzle and then print nozzle check it looks perfect. Do another nozzle check printout and it too is AOK. Then I try and print my home made test pattern which is 1/2 tall full paper width strips of each color including black. Starting with Magenta and then I have added a second Magenta strip at the bottom. Ive tried printing this after the nozzle checks print outs and usually the top Magenta will print ok, but the bottom magenta stripe either streaks or prints with bands going through it. If I try and print this test a second time both magenta strips will be blank.
If I go back and print a nozzle check without doing a cleaning Magenta will print real good or maybe just one band going through the middle. So now I got a little bit of magenta ink flow. I tried changing the rubber seal on the inlet port of the print head with one from my old scrap print head and this did nothing. Its like this thing is starving for ink but I cant figure out why????? One other thing I have just noticed is even when I get a good nozzle check print out the Solid color Magenta strip is not as bright as it was comparing to my first nozzle checks when I installed this new print head back in June. The color is solid but just a lighter hue. Is this telling me something I don't understand????

Man I feel like Ive written a book describing this dxx thing.!!!!!