Another Canon Printhead Bites The Dust?

[Emulator]

Thanks Rod for not mentioning the cricket!

Yes, it's mysterious behaviour and the strange thing is, the ink usage during cleaning is quite high.

 

[The Hat]

I had something similar in my pro9000 m2 PC channel although after cleaning the missing ink patterns would change giving me hope I was making progress but I didn't seem to get anywhere. I installed a new printhead & it has been fine since.
Hope you can get it sorted Ian.

Sorry but I have to agree with rod despite all of your hard work you’ll still have to get a new print head eventfully, it’s not nice but it happens.
I’m just about to get a third print head in twelve months so I know the feeling.

 

[Emulator]

I carried on with the gentle cleaning process and this is an A4 print, on plain paper, of all 8 colours in two levels of brightness.

 

[The Hat]

Well congratulations are definitely in order Ian, your patience certainly has paid off for you but be aware, if your problem was just a stubborn clog then it’s happy printing all the way but if it wasn’t then the same thing will happen again and can be heart breaking.

It’s nice dough when you can get a good outcome.
+ 100

 

[PeterBJ]

I'm really impressed! Congratulations on a job well done!

In my opinion there are two important ingredients in print head cleaning: A small amount of ammonia and a large amount of patience

 

[Emulator]

I have edited post 23, with a revised image, showing two levels of brightness. I agree with you Peter!

The process got me thinking, is there an additive that could be used with the ink, to discourage clog formation?

 

[PeterBJ]

I don't know. Ammonia is corrosive and should only be used sparingly and only when unclogging a print head. Ammonia becomes very aggressive in higher concentrations especially if heated. Don't exceed pharmacist's recommended amount.

I think the ink manufacturers have already optimized their products. Adding something will then only degrade the inks.

I think regular printing or at least a weekly nozzle check is the best print head maintenance.

I once salvaged a Canon BJC 440 or similar. This printer used a separate print head and a sponged pgbk cartridge and a sponged tricolour cartridge, type BCI-21 or 24. The print head was very badly clogged, and gentle methods didn't work to unclog it, so I almost boiled the print head in a solution that contained as much ammonia as I could stand. This worked, and the print head was cleared and produced a perfect nozzle check. But next morning the printer would only print in pink (magenta). An epoxy bond inside the print head had been broken down by the hot and strong ammonia.

 

[The Hat]

How do you know you’ve gotten all the colours to print, can you do another nozzle print please, I am very curious about this.

The red and green inks are usually only used on Photos when printed on glossy Pro paper and no other time, they don’t print out on individual test colours.

 

[stratman]

Congratulations on resolving your printer issues!

Could you please post a summary of your technique(s) for saving your print head? Your experience would be a great reference for others!

 

[Emulator]

Congratulations on resolving your printer issues!

Could you please post a summary of your technique(s) for saving your print head? Your experience would be a great reference for others!

There is really nothing more than those described in this thread. The same techniques used by many others and as PeterBJ says "A small amount of ammonia and a large amount of patience". There are many important points made in PeterBJ's posts in this thread, well worth reading through.