Can I unscrew pro9000 print head?

[rodbam]

I haven't used the printer for about 4 weeks & the Photo Magenta looks clogged. I took the print head out & I could see what looked like black lint pieces of grunge where the cartridge opening sits on the head. I removed these & flushed the head with warm water & then purified cold water. I then soaked the head over night in Windex & also used a clean empty cartridge with the top fill plug removed so I could place it in the print head & suck up, hoping to suck up any muck from the head. None of this has improved the nozzle check. What scares me most is in my search for a new print head they seem as scarce as hens teeth, are they still available & anymore ideas on cleaning?
I saw there were screws one either side if the print head, can these be removed so I can clean off any gunk that may be sitting in the print head?
Here's the nozzle test & the lines created in photos.

 

[Grandad35]

You might first want to make sure that your purge unit is working properly, as a loose hose can prevent the printer from removing air bubbles.

I have had clogs similar to this in my i9900, and have been able to clear even stubborn cases by using a short piece of vinyl tubing to connect a syringe partially filled with isopropyl alcohol to the ink pickup on the print head. This allows you to alternate between pulling a light vacuum and pushing the alcohol. When you are done, use the syringe to flush the channel with distilled water and then to blow out the water before reinstalling the print head.

BTW - it's unusual that a clog like this in the PM would cause such severe banding when printing in high quality mode, since it takes 8 print head passes to lay down a full load of ink.

 

[rodbam]

Thanks Grandad, I've used a syringe to flush through the print head which is now drying so hopefully that will do the trick, thanks for the tip. Viewing the prints close up the banding is only on certain colours which I assume are colours that use the photo magenta. I hope it's not a new head as I couldn't find any on the internet on my first look.

 

[Emulator]

Rod

All the posts I have read about stripping printheads seem to end up in greater trouble. So only a last resort.

For info, not recommended, I came across this http://www.inkntoneruk.co.uk/printe...?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=feedmanager and one other at the same price of 116.

It sounds a similar problem to my Lt Cyan and gunge on the printhead input filter. Have you tried a new OEM cart after cleaning the filter with Windex or equivalent and a cotton bud?

Hope you have success soon, very frustrating.

Regards Ian

 

[Grandad35]

What is the print head part number for your printer? It appears to be a QY6-0076, which this link says is the same as the QY6-0055 (used in the i9900/etc. - but the QY6-055 costs less??).
http://www.printheadxpress.com/catalog/us/canon/qy6-0055-000.htm
http://www.printheadexpress.com/canon/0076.html
Ebay has several for sale by searching for QY6-0076
http://weink.com/catalog/canon/0076.htm
http://www.printware.co.uk/Products...ma-i9950,-iP8500-Pro-9000-Printhead/Item.html

It's hard to imagine that Canon has stopped the sale of print heads for a printer still in production, but some sites say that the part is no longer available. You might want to contact your local canon repair center to get their take on this (and maybe buy a spare while you can still get them).

if nothing prints when you re-install the cleaned print head, the purge unit is the likely problem. If you get exactly the same missing band, there must be an electrical problem.

 

[The Hat]

rodbam
I would go with the same recommendation as Emulator and try a new cartridge first
or flush out the LM one and refill it then try another nozzle check.

More often its an ink flow problem rather than a clogged head and dont bother
with the little screws on the bottom of the print head (nothing to be gained).

If you do a head clean before each nozzle check it will help to get the ink flowing
but only do it on group 1 and not on all of them that will save wasting unnecessary ink.

I wouldnt try to print anything other than a nozzle check till you have fixed the problem colour, as you might do damage to your print head.

Can you please post another nozzle check after flushing your cartridge
so we can see if there is any improvement or difference in your last one?

 

[rodbam]

I have a few PM carts & I have tried them all with no change in the nozzle check. The nozzle check now has 2 lines instead of one so something is changing. I tried squrting water down through the ink inlet & got an irregular spray pattern out of the print head but it wasn't easy to squirt liquid through & sometimes it would squirt through easily. I have now glued together a more water tight arrangement on to a syringe & I'm now waiting for that to set. Should I take out the rubber washers before using the syringe? I saw on an Youtube vid selling a head cleaner & the took out out the rubber plugs before squirting cleaner down through the head.
After cleaning

Before cleaning

Thanks for your links Grandad I found one in your links that has two in stock so I wonder if I should order one as a spare if my head eventually gets clean. If it doesn't then obviously I will have to get one. They are half the price than the ones I found down here & they were all out of stock anyway. I don't know the difference between the two heads as the 55 is for the Pro9000 & the 76 is for the Pro9000 Mk2. They are interchangeable but you would think there's some difference to have a different part number & price.
Yes Ian I've tried the windwx & cotton buds & also using a syringe to pump water through the head, if it's not clean after this second soak & clean I will use the Syringe with the Isopro alcohol to pump through.

 

[rodbam]

I've just installed the print head again & the two lines on the after cleaning shot are still there but very feint, I can only just make them out. So I imagine another soak overnight & a pump through with Iso Alcohol might do the trick. At least with the changes in the nozzle check I suppose I can assume it's a blockage & not a head problem, is that correct?

 

[The Hat]

rodbam
When each nozzle check is different thats a very good sign that youre getting somewhere
and yet the two lines dont look good but if they are not contestant then all is not lost.

I would also clean the electric contacts on the back of your print head with a paper
towel soaked in alcohol before you put it back into your printer.

The part numbers for Canon print heads tend to vary between the US and the EU for the same unit
but when theres more than one number its better just to double check..

 

[Grandad35]

I've just installed the print head again & the two lines on the after cleaning shot are still there but very feint, I can only just make them out. So I imagine another soak overnight & a pump through with Iso Alcohol might do the trick. At least with the changes in the nozzle check I suppose I can assume it's a blockage & not a head problem, is that correct?

When I get a missing band like yours, I assume that it is either an electrical problem or an air bubble in the ink channel just ahead of the nozzles. Since the band moved, that rules out an electrical problem. I have also found that blowing out the head after an alcohol clean usually eliminates problems with air bubbles, since the initial head cleaning cycles after the head is re-installed should remove all of the air.

When you cleaned the head, did you clean all of the channels or just the PM? If you cleaned multiple channels, did it seem more difficult to get flow through the PM than the other channels? It is possible that there is a partial clog in the main ink flow channel like I discussed in this post. I ask this because all of the other channels are good, so your purge unit needs to be working to make this happen. I guess that it is also possible that you had a large goober in the PM channel just ahead of the nozzles, and that the cleaning broke it in two and then reduced the size of the two remaining pieces.

I also note that your PC pattern seems to be as dark as your C pattern - is this what you see? Do you have a C cart in the PC position?

Two theories on why the -0055 and -0076 heads could be interchangeable:
1. Canon may have found a design flaw in the -0055 head and fixed it for the 9000-II printer (requiring a new part #)
2. Canon wanted to stop support for the older (i9900 era) printers, but wanted to use the same head in the 9000-II printer. The answer is to change the part number and obsolete the old number.

BTW - I remove the rubber washers when I do an alcohol clean since it gives a longer cylinder to slide the tubing over.