When all other cleaning methods have failed...the last cleaning method to try.

[martin0reg]

@mawyatt: just want to click on "like" for the detailed report, but then I thought my condolence would be more adequate..

...but with Canon their printheads are called 'permanent', so people expect that. ...

100% agreed.

If a canon bubble jet would reach its promised lifetime most users would not complain as they won't see this happen. But many are dying long before, mostly due to overheating I would suppose.

BTW canon heads have much more nozzles in a row than comparable epson models, for example:
- Pro 10/100 10 x 768 nozzles (2400 x 4800 dpi resolution)
- R3000 8 x 180 nozzles (1.440 x 5.760 dpi resolution)
Somewhere I've read that with this surplus canon heads are able to substitute defective nozzles for those which are still working... I don't remember the details, but it sounds plausible to me, as it would explain some characteristics of canon heads ending..

 

[mawyatt]

@mawyatt: just want to click on "like" for the detailed report, but then I thought my condolence would be more adequate..

Thanks martinOreg.

I have been very happy with the Canon Pixma Pro 100, and Canon paper..especially the Pro Platinum paper. But the Canon ink is much too expensive IMO, so I chose the refill route. I did get some decent use out of the retired printer, but probably less than a 1000 prints of various sizes, and I did save more $ by refilling than the printer cost...so regrets.

So for me it's Canon printer, Canon paper, Canon ink...sometimes but not anymore, now Precision Colors, Canon camera/lens.....no Nikon only!

Mike

 

[wilko]

Lots of Canon printheads are not clogged, these printheads have a specified limited lifetime , it is the mechanism of the bubble generation - with an electrical pulse into a metal film resistor, and this resistor sits in the ink flow, and the voltage across the resistor creates electric corrosion across this film wearing it down, and then it is not generating bubbles anymore which appears exactly like a clogged nozzle. The piezo ink bubble ejection mechansim is much more reliable, it dies as well of crystal fatigation , but such printhead lasts much longer - 10-20 times longer to my experience than Canon printheads. So overall I would limit the efforts to revive Canon printheads, they are consumables, get a new one before the old one kills your electronic board.

You make a very valid point and I have no doubt that you are correct in your post. You obviously have a greater understanding, than most of us, on the finer points of print heads. Canon print heads do seem to fail more regularly than other printers but it's all about refilling cartridges and as you say Canon print heads are consumables but we must remember that a typical 5 cartridge refill costs about £2.50 (using OCP ink) as opposed to around £50 for Canon ink. Perhaps we should regard Canon print heads as throwaway items once they fail as we have made £100s savings. However, there is a lot of satisfaction in reviving a print head and it's all part of the fun.
Great post though and explains why print heads are lost through no fault of our own. Makes me feel better, having scrapped several PHs in the past

 

[Roy Sletcher]

You make a very valid point and I have no doubt that you are correct in your post. You obviously have a greater understanding, than most of us, on the finer points of print heads. Canon print heads do seem to fail more regularly than other printers but it's all about refilling cartridges and as you say Canon print heads are consumables but we must remember that a typical 5 cartridge refill costs about £2.50 (using OCP ink) as opposed to around £50 for Canon ink. Perhaps we should regard Canon print heads as throwaway items once they fail as we have made £100s savings. However, there is a lot of satisfaction in reviving a print head and it's all part of the fun.
Great post though and explains why print heads are lost through no fault of our own. Makes me feel better, having scrapped several PHs in the past

Canon print-head costs should be factored in as part of the refilling cost when evaluating the cost savings of refilling.

My calculations indicate that even allowing for the cost of a printhead, refilling is still a very economical procedure.

As an example on my current Pro-100. First print head failed at about 1,800 sheets. hard to convert that to exact number of cartridge refills because I now follow the suggested method of changing all 8 cartridges when the first empty indicates a refill is needed. Suffice to say in my rough calculations I am hundreds of dollars ahead of the OEM ink costs.

Currently approaching 2,700 prints, and have my spare head ready. Pre-purchased for US$73.00 on eBay ready for the next fail.

Detractors have a habit of comparing OEM inks unfairly with the total complement of third party brands. - The good, the bad and the ugly. Somewhat disingenuous as there is a wide range of third party ink qualities and they cannot be lumped into a single homogenous category. The best third party in my opinion test and compare favourbly with OEM inks for colour and gamut. Longevity maybe not so much, as It is harder to evaluate. Like Andrew I have prints on my walls with and without glass for over 5 years without serious degradation. Proves nothing, except it works for me.

Does anybody remember the fading on prints hack in the 60's to 90's before the era of Adobe the Magician? Camera shops and retail photo finishers would display samples. The common denominator usually being how quick the magenta would fade leaving a hideous replica comprising mostly cyan and yellow with little if any magenta. Oh for the good old days!

RS

 

[mikling]

OK, next instalment. Remember this is pretty advanced stuff.

CLEAN the CARTS
First, you need to disinfect and kill of anything inside the cartridges. Easy, remove the ink, use a paper towel and draw the ink out. next refill the cartridge with pure bleach and plug it back up and let it sit. Best to use a proper stopper on the bottom or a storage clip.
Since bleach does not not destroy the sponge or internals. You can let it sit in there as long as you want. The longer the better.

In fact, in rethinking the process of normal flushing of used carts, I'm now on the side of using some diluted bleach to make sure we get rid of any potential things inside the cart. As long as we properly flush out the bleach afterwards, I cannot see it hurting. Just make sure you do not immerse the chip in bleach. This is a good insurance step to having real clean carts.

BIOCIDES.
Now take a look at this
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/biocide-bacteria-fungi-algae-d_1678.html

It is obvious we cannot use oxidating biocides in normal ink.. it would fade the inks but gasp look at the effectiveness of the other biocides against fungus and algae.... I don't know what the ink makers actually use but there is a trend there.

What I found is that the particular organism that was identified and isolated from some IS ink was then put into two other different manufacturers ink and it continued to grow even in a different ink.

Furthermore, there are all kinds of spores of fungus floating in the air. So always refill in as clean an environment as possible. We don't know what will be floating around and land in the ink. This is something we have overlooked over the years but it is time we recognize luck does not always prevail.

How effective is bleach.
With the growth that I have isolated, I observed that bleach will break it down. It appears to weaken the cell structure. Some agitation helps tremendously. This is the area that has posed the greatest challenge so far. I cannot advocate soaking too long as I don't know what time is safe. I have tried 2 overnights in bleach and the printheads survived. I don't know if luck was involved or what. However, I would recommend that we do it in steps..in as little time as needed.

First step. Flush out the nozzles till water come out clear with water.
Second step. With printhead on a folded kitchen paper towel. Use eye dropper to drip through the bleach till towel is wet with bleach. Make sure that paper towel lies on something plastic or a plate ....not on your hardwood table top or something. If you see colored spots ( not tinted overall) inside the sponge after flushing, then you need to disinfect the printhead channel gently with this method...The carts will need to be disinfected as well with bleach. Those local colored spots are likely some kind of growth.

Third step. Flush out the ink channels with water to chase the bleach out.

Test.

Next, what can go wrong and what not to do or expect.

 

[stratman]

More good reading @mikling

The use of dilute bleach for disinfecting is recommended by the Center for Disease Control in the USA: http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/bleach.asp.

Molds are a tricky bunch in that you need to get to the root of the mold to kill it. People have found that cleaning mold from porous surfaces in their homes will get rid of surface mold but not the roots below, so the mold comes back. There are special chemicals to help with this. How this pertains to molds in ink cartridges remains to be determined as re-growth takes a while to show up leading one to believe they are re-infected when it is the same mold just grown back.

Three more points about bleach. First, bleach may have different % strengths, so if you want to be precise in your dilutions then know what you have. Second, know what type of bleach you are using -- look for sodium hypochlorite on the label and use the "Regular" unscented kind since I do not know if the scented versions will harm cartridge or ink. Third, bleach loses potency over time, having read 20% or more per year, and once mixed in water rapidly breaks down so new solutions should be made each day for safety sake if disinfecting homes or businesses.

Further reading: http://modernsurvivalblog.com/health/disinfectant-bleach-water-ratio/

 

[3dogs]

Great thread! Full with very useful information - thanks

 

[fotofreek]

I'm acquainted with infection control in the dental office, having practiced Orthodontics for almost 40 years. Clorox solution was recommended for disinfecting work surfaces. First, all "substrate" (blood, saliva, or other foreign materials) had to be cleaned off the surface. Second, a 10 to one solution (ten parts water and one part Clorox or comparable sodium hypochlorite brand) would be wiped onto the surface and left to air dry. We were advised to mix a fresh solution each day an fill a spray bottle. After each patient the exposed surfaces would be sprayed liberally with the mixture and wiped clean with paper toweling. A second application of the spray would then be used to wet the surface and air dry. This is a much stronger solution than was recommended on the CDC site. Since the purpose in the dental office is to prevent cross contamination that would transmit any infectious agent from one patient to another it is possible that this was the reason for the stronger solution.

Unrelated to the topic at hand on the forum, in the dental office it was far more practical to cover surfaces such as the handle of the operating light, chair headrest, surface where instruments used in a dental procedure would be placed during care, etc. with disposable plastic materials which would be thrown away after treating each patient. All instruments, of course, would be thoroughly sterilized and the sterilizing equipment would be tested at proscribed intervals by running a bagged sample of microorganisms through the sterilization cycle and submitting them to an independent lab to be tested for any live organisms.

We were cautioned to not try sterilizing or disinfecting metal instruments with a Clorox solution as it is very damaging to metal objects.

 

[The Hat]

@fotofreek, I could feel a bit of a tinge in my jaw by just reading your post.
Now where did I leave me plyers and whiskey..?

 

[pharmacist]

A much safer and effective germ/fungus killer is actually 70-80 % alcohol combined with a quarternary ammonium salt (cetrimide, benzalkoniumchloride) with the synergistic help of sodium edetate to destroy the cellular membrane of germs and fungus cells. This combination does not corrode your print head.