SOLVED: Canon MP830, new PGI-5BK and new (reman) print head - no black

[mikeasmel]

Ok, so I got the purge pads off, cleaned the pads to get them to be white, and put some water onto the purge trays....but the water just sits in them.

What should I do now? Shall I try to get a flexible syringe to suck out any clog in the tubes as ghwellsjr recommends and/or should I consider using Windex to clear any block?

If none of these work to allow the drainage, do I definitely need a new purge unit or should I try to reload the ink cartridges and print head and see if it all works?

If I do need a new purge unit, is it worth trying to do myself and buying Trigger 37's repair manual and cd and also buying a new purge unit? Where would I buy a new purge unit for my Canon MP830?

 

[mikeasmel]

I have been trying to get my purge unit to drain on my Canon MP830 and I am having trouble even figuring out if I actually have a problem or not...

I have cleaned the print head and cartridges, removed the purge pads, and cleaned the purge tray. When I pour water and Windex into the purge tray, they don't drain. Are they supposed to just drain or must I reinstall the ink cartridges and run some tests first to see if they are draining? What exact steps did you do after you removed the purge pads? Were your ink cartridges and print head installed at some point in these instructions (in step #19 for example) in order that you were able to get all colors to print in your nozzle test? Thanks!

 

[ghwellsjr]

You don't need to remove the cartridges or print head while you remove the pads, but if you did, just put them back in.

The trays that held the pads should not drain when you put Windex/water in them until after you do a cleaning cycle or until you close the cover (or hold down the cover switch) and wait until the print head parks over the trays and then open the cover (or release the cover switch). If closing the cover and reopening it doesn't drain the trays after a few times, just do a regular cleaning cycle. Don't worry about the pads not being there, it won't really be able to clean the nozzles, we're just trying to see if the pump can suck the liquid down. If it does, you can replace the pads, do another cleaning cycle and see if the nozzle check prints the correct pattern. It might take a few extra cleaning/nozzle check cycles to get all the nozzles working.

If the liquid doesn't go down after two or three cleaning cycles, then try sucking on the outlet ports on the bottoms of the trays with a syringe. You might be able to get things going that way. I don't recommend squirting a liquid down those ports because that's what I did on one of my printers and the purge unit is still not working. (I gave up for the time being.)

If the liquid still doesn't go down, I would recommend putting the pads back in, leaving some Windex/water on them, turn off the printer and repeat each day for a while. If it still remains clogged, I would purchase a printer manual from Trigger 37 to find out how to replace the purge unit.

 

[mikeasmel]

This is super helpful. I'll try and report back. Thanks.

One more question....where are the outlet ports on the bottoms of the trays?

 

[mikeasmel]

By the way, what purpose does the purge unit serve and can the printer work without it? If so, for how long?

 

[mikeasmel]

Bad news...

Here are the scans of the print nozzle after thoroughly cleaning the print head, nozzles and purge pads and unit and installing new Canon print cartridges and running 5 or 6 cleanings and 3 or so deep cleanings. I am disappointed and frustrated. Many of the colors are not printing...

Any thoughts? Or do I need a new printer?

 

[embguy]

Bad news...

Here are the scans of the print nozzle after thoroughly cleaning the print head, nozzles and purge pads and unit and installing new Canon print cartridges and running 5 or 6 cleanings and 3 or so deep cleanings. I am disappointed and frustrated. Many of the colors are not printing...

Any thoughts? Or do I need a new printer?

Don't give up. I know your feeling. I have been there before.

Are you able to fix the purge unit? Is the water/Windex stay on the purge pads?

By the way, what purpose does the purge unit serve and can the printer work without it? If so, for how long?

The purge unit is used to suck ink out of the ink cartridge through the nozzles. It is the most important item second to the printhead. Without it, the printhead will not function properly.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I sure hope you didn't try to clean the print head by taking it out of the printer and washing it or otherwise applying any kind of solvent to it. I learned the hard way that this can permanently damage a print head if you don't thoroughly dry the electronics which is very difficult to do because it is embedded in the print head. There is no point in trying to clean the print head until you get the purge unit going. Even if you install a brand new print head in a printer with a clogged purge unit, it will not function.

The purge unit really has two functions: first it is used to prime the print head and second to clean or purge the print head. They really are the same thing, the difference being when the function is performed. When a new print head is installed, including when you first set up a brand new printer, the purge unit primes the print head by sucking ink from the cartridges down through the print head and out the nozzles. Without this operation, the print head will never see any ink. This same function is performed whenever you install a new cartridge because air will get into the print head whenever you remove a cartridge and that air needs to be sucked out through the print head and nozzles to get the ink to flow again. The second function is performed whenever there appear to be clogged or nonfunctioning nozzles. There are many factors that can cause clogged nozzles, including air in the passageway, dried ink in the passage way, and dried or wet ink on the bottom of the print head. The cleaning cycle attempts to suck ink through the nozzles and wipe the nozzles to clear internal and external ink, air and debris. But if the purge unit is not working, it will appear that you have clogged nozzles but the cleaning cycle won't do anything.

So the bottom line is that before you try to clean the print head, you have to make sure the purge unit is working. As embguy asked, "Are you able to fix the purge unit?".

 

[Fritz]

took me a bit to figure out the MX850 purge pad, but I gently moved the wiper assmbly that's on a spring backwards and all is well.
I cleaned the exposed pad a little with some iso. Dunno why it got stuck, but so far so good.
Thanks.

 

[Trigger 37]

mikeeasmel,... I guess it is time for me to jump into this thread and provide some help. You asked what is the purpose of the purge unit and could the printer operate without it. The answer is "NOOOOOO". the purge unit is absolutely the "First" thing in the printer that must work. Let me explain this in more detail.

The task of the printer is to print pages by ejecting "Bubbles of Ink" out of the nozzles inside the bottom of the printhead. The only way this can be done is if at first the purge unit will "Suck" some ink out of each ink cartridge down into the printhead and FILL every nozzle in each color of the printhead. Without ink in each of these nozzles, the logic card will attempt to "Fire" a high current pulse into each nozzle, which heats the nozzle to a very high temperature for just an instance. This high temperature "Heats" the pico liter of ink contained in the nozzle to a very high temperature. As it does this the bubble expands until the point where the volume can no longer be "Contained" inside the tiny nozzle. As this critiacl point the ink bubble is "Ejected out of the Nozzle" onto the paper. At the instant the bubble is ejected, it creates a tiny "Vacuum" as the volume of liquid leaves the chamber. This tiny vacuum action pull just a little more ink out of the ink cartridge back down into the printhead to repace the exact same amount of volume of ink that was just ejected. This process repeats over and over as each dot is printed. If at any time or place in this chain of liquid, there is an air gap, the vacuum link will be broken and the bubble creation and ejection will no longer work. All that happens is the printer continues to send "Fireing pulses to each nozzle" expecting it to print. Without INK in the nozzle, the pules heats the printhead too hot and can actually "Burn" an individual nozzle and produce a short in the tiny micorinch wiring inside the head. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY TO GET ANY INK INSIDE THE PRINTHEAD WITHOUT THE PURGE UNIT WORKING TO SUCK INK ALL THE WAY DOWN FROM EACH INK CART TO THE VERY BOTTOM OF THE HEAD. Once you understand all of this ink flow you will also understand better how to take care of your printer.

Now when you add water to the purge suction pads and you run several power on off cycles and the water does not move, the problem is that one or more of the tubes from the purge vacuum motor has become disconnected or clogged and can no longer "Suck" anything. It is like filling up a kitchen sink with water and it won't drain,.. or the same with your toilet when it is stopped up. YOU HAVE TO UNPLUG THE STOP TO GET IT TO DRAIN. The problem is that all of these tubes are in the very bottom of the printer inside the bottom of the purge unit. To get at these connections you not only have to totally disassemble the printer, you also have to remove the entire printer chassis from the base,... and once you have that done you still have to remove the purge unit from the main chassis in order to examine it and locate the problem and fix it.

When you have all of this done and you think you have it right, you need to test the entire printer BEFORE you even think about re-assembly of the entire unit with all the covers. The worst thing to do is to put it back together, only to find you did not fix anything.

All of this is possible if you have the proper instruction.