Sponge Cleaning - the borderless overprint / ink absorption sponge?

[ivanalbright]

I've been using a canon 9000 pro mkII for a long time and I print out a ton of 4x6 borderless prints (500+ a week). A long time ago, I noticed that enough ink had built up in the spots where the printhead "overprints" for borderless, that it was bleeding back onto the backs of pages that passed through. So, I took out the sponge that is under there and rinsed it out with water.

However over even more time, I've realized that I have to rinse out the sponge more and more often (every week now, where I used to only do it every few months). The sponge seems to be losing its ability to absorb as much ink.

I was wondering if anyone can recommend some mixture besides pure water to do a "deep clean" of the sponge and hopefully allow it to absorb more ink in between cleanings. My first thought is just soap and water, but I am slightly worried that a soap may leave residue that actually causes it to be slightly more resistant to ink.

Also I was wondering if anyone knows where I can buy extras of this part (the thin/13" long sponge that runs under the printhead), or maybe even if someone happened to have one they'd sell me if they have a broken canon pro 9000 mkII perhaps? Unfortunately mine also has a couple small rips in it.

 

[ghwellsjr]

That sponge is just the top layer of the ink absorber pad system and the sponge itself is not supposed to absorb ink--it's supposed to allow the ink to soak through it and to pass down to the pad below it.

I'm wondering if maybe the sponge comes with some kind of coating that permits the ink to pass through it easily but got washed off with the soap and water. Or maybe the sponge is not in good contact with the pad below it. But the other question is what is happening in the next layer down? Unfortunately, you won't be able to examine the layers of pads below without taking apart the whole printer.

It's amazing to me that with some of the old printers that I have purchased used and taken apart, those pads show that the overprint ink has easily flowed all the way to the left hand side of the printer where there are several more smaller pads down lower. It makes me wonder if Canon OEM ink, in addition to all the other obvious attributes, is designed to flow easily through those absorber pads, whereas third party manufacturers of ink never think to be concerned about that issue. I'm sure that was the case with Inktek's original pigment black ink for the BCI-3eBk cartridges.

Do you use Canon OEM ink or do you refill your cartridges?

Next time you have the sponge out of your printer, look down through the holes in the plastic that the sponge rests on and see if you can determine if the ink is being absorbed. Maybe you could deposit some ink on the absorber pads and see if it quickly gets absorbed.

Another thing you should do is find out how full your pads are. This is sometimes called the waste ink tank but it's not a tank, it's a series of absorber pads that go all across the inside of the printer from one side to the other. You need to find the scheme to get the service printout to reveal that information. It's usually a series of button pushes.

 

[ivanalbright]

That is some good information. I use "compatible" off brand/cheap cartridges. I also do print a TON of borderless, as mentioned its about 500+ 4x6" pages a week. Over time I can certainly see why that might just be too much ink to absorb although the printer has never given me any errors about that.

When I remove the accessible sponge in order to rinse it out, I do see some liquid ink in the plastic groove lines under the sponge. I've tried cleaning that with qtips and paper towels, but it doesnt seem to help much (even though I soak up a decent amount of ink when doing this).

There are a few holes to look down into what I've now learned from you are the true absorber pads, but the holes are so small that I can't see anything down there.

I've searched and found what I think is the method to get a printout on the waste ink level (and also to reset the counter if ever needed), I will try that in the near future to see what it says. Unfortunately I don't think I'll want to disassemble the entire printer unless I can find a good step by step guide with photos or videos.

 

[fotofreek]

Something to consider - I don't know where you are located, but in the SF Bay Area there are several 9000MkII printers, new in their sealed boxes, listed on Craigs list every day. They range in asking price from $350 down to $100. I bought one for $100 and am inclined to buy another one at the same price for the spare printhead and ink carts, plus the possibility that the printer, itself, will need replacment in the near future. A new printhead will cost at least that much!