An observation on "bad" and "clogged" printheads

[ps.ijpf]

The "waste absorber sponge" that the print head rests on is really a thin, porous ceramic plate(s). . . .
Wayne

Not on my iP4000 printers. They have 2 fiber pads that are easily removable.

 

[Ron350]

Ps.ijpf thanks for letting me know which Totally Awesome product to buy.

 

[kpmartin]

I ran across an Epson printer that was nonoperational, and some web searching, followed by disassembly, revealed that the entire ink purge system was clogged with dried ink. I have it all cleaned out now but have not tested it yet (I am waiting for the dump sponge to dry out).

I would not be surprised to find that Canon printers were prone to the same problem.

A quick way to see if the ink purge is working at all is to do a deep head cleaning and see if the head cleaning station ends up wet with ink.
After a deep cleaning open the cover so the print head moves to the load position.
Unplug the printer, and manually push the head to the left so you can get a good view (and access) to the cleaning station.

At this point, the printer should have drawn off quite a bit of ink through the sponge here (the i960 draws almost 3ml of ink in a deep clean cycle, about 3% of each cartridge's capacity), so the sponge should be wet with ink. Use a swab or rolled-up tissue to see if the sponge is wet or dry. Of course, even if the purge system is not working, the sponge will be full of dried ink, so you have to make a judgement call whether what you pick up on the swab is fresh ink or dried residue.

My i960 is having problems lately, and I suspect the purge system is clogged. The above test show a relatively dry sponge in the cleaning station. So I may remove the case and see how the purge tubing looks.
-Kevin

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

You have to do a Google search for the MSDS for the cleaner. That will list the ingredients. They do have to publish it in order to sell it in the U.S.

 

[turbguy]

I ran across an Epson printer that was nonoperational, and some web searching, followed by disassembly, revealed that the entire ink purge system was clogged with dried ink. I have it all cleaned out now but have not tested it yet (I am waiting for the dump sponge to dry out).

I would not be surprised to find that Canon printers were prone to the same problem.

My i960 is having problems lately, and I suspect the purge system is clogged. The above test show a relatively dry sponge in the cleaning station. So I may remove the case and see how the purge tubing looks.
-Kevin

Oh, Canon's are prone to purge unit issues, trust me! My i960 has not had clogging problems, but instead I have had internal vacuum tubing come loose from the nipples between the parking (purge) pad drain and the peristaltic vacuum pump (several times) and internal to the pump itself. The way Canon designed the i960's purge sytem, if you lose ONE connection, the whole vacuum capability of the i960's purge unit is lost. EVEN THOUGH THERE IS A DOUBLE PERISTALTIC PUMP!

It's kind of a pain to access the tubing, but easy to fix.

You can typically flush out (and operationally test) the purge system by flooding the purge (parking) pads with a pool of windex or clean water with a syringe, close the cover, let the printer do it's resulting cleaning cycle, reopen the cover and examine the ceramic purge station pads. The pooled water should have disappeared.

If you can't maintain a standing pool of water on the pads during flooding, then more than likely a tube in the purge assembly has come loose.

ALSO, the ceramic pad is surrounding with a black rubber gasket. This gasket has to be properly arranged over the ceramic pad. There are four rubber tabs on the gasket that MUST lay atop the ceramic pad, or there will be a degraded contact seal to the bottom of the printhead, and thus a loss of vacuum at the printhead during cleaning.

BTW, a lot of the internal tube is OPAQUE BLACK!

Wayne.

 

[turbguy]

The "waste absorber sponge" that the print head rests on is really a thin, porous ceramic plate(s). . . .
Wayne

Not on my iP4000 printers. They have 2 fiber pads that are easily removable.

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/uploads/9330_img_2430_cropped.jpg

Are your pads solid and inflexible, or flexible?

 

[ghwellsjr]

The pads are an inflexible ceramic or some kind of stiff plastic.

 

[Nifty]

Great thread!

ps.ijpf, thanks for posting that info about the cleaner... I look for any excuse to go to the Dollar Tree!

Do you happen to have any before / after pics of the sponges?

I too have the fiber pads and have considered cleaning them.

 

[Ron350]

Las Totally Awesome is also sold at my local Wal-mart.
I picked up a bottle and the only tests I have run is removing ink from rags and removing ink from plastic purge pads and plastic pinch rollers. This is the only cleaner that I have used that will remove all the black ink from a black pigment purge pad and remove ink stains from plastic pinch rollers.
More testing to follow.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Here's the MSDS. www.midlandtool.com/MSDS/L.A.%20Totally%20Awesome%20Cleaner.pdf . Some organic solvents, plus it's alkaline.