Canon i960 Magenta problem?

[panos]

ejaf -- I believe your problem lies within the contacts of the printhead carriage. Since you have already cleaned up the printhead and its contacts, soak a q-tip in some alcohol and carefully clean the contacts of the printhead carriage (inside the printer).

mmconhea, could you post a clear scanning of a nozzle check?

 

[ejaf]

panos...did that at the same time...thanks for the suggestion though.

Eric

 

[mmconhea]

Actually, my printouts look lile ejaf's scans posted on the previous page, only my cyan (G) looks like his Magenta (C)
I tied all the suggested fixes I found on the site... also my wife has a ultrsonic jewlery cleaner... which I will also try... but regarless, I just picked up a ip6000D for cheap, and because I love the i960, I ordered a new printhead for $80 in case the jewlery cleaner doesn't work... if it does, I guess I found a new way to clean them. I'm hoping that for $80 a new print head is a quick and painless fix... it has to be the print head right?

 

[panos]

ejaf, well what can I say. After finishing Grandad's tips (which are probably the ultimate solution in printhead cleaning) you will be able to conclude on the nature of this problem... either there is a clog (which you will have fixed by then) or it is something different that still eludes us.

Please keep us posted.

 

[ejaf]

Welll...

Just finished the surgery, to no avail

Pulled the entire printhead off, forced hot water through each of the print pickups, soaked both the print head and the pickups in iso alcohol, reinstalled (said a prayer that I didn't get overzealous with the Dremel), and bang, same exact thing on my alignment check.

I also recleaned both sets of contacts with contact cleaner.

I am now at a loss...I am hoping it's the print head electronics, but now it could be anything. I'm actually going to open it up later, just to see that everything is still in one piece.

I could pick up a new print head, since I love this printer so much, but if that's not the problem, I'm stuck (unless I pick up the same model, and then have two print heads ).

Will keep everyone posted, and Grandad, I had read that you were looking for a sacrificial print head. If it turns out to be the head, I will gladly mail it to you, for an indepth autopsy.

E

 

[Grandad35]

Eric,

It was worth a try, and at least it appears that you did the print head no harm.

This is a very long shot, but do you know of anyone with the same printer and where you could try your print head and carts to verify that it is a print head problem? Since the problem appears to be electrical in nature, it could be in the print head, the flexible wiring to the carriage, or in the motherboard. I would be hard pressed to recommend buying a new print head, since there is a good chance that the problem might be elsewhere and you would have wasted your money. This could be a classic case of "good money after bad", and the lowest cost solution might be to buy a new printer (or a working used printer).

If you decide to throw the print head out, let me know - it would be interesting to see if I can get it apart without completely destroying it.

 

[Nifty]

Eric,

If you (and anyone else attempting this type of adventure) could take lots of pictures and post them on the site we'd all REALLY appreciate it. I firmly believe a picture is worth 1000 words and I really hate typing!

 

[ejaf]

Whoops...

Should have done that, but I didn't...apologies, and will remember next time.

Anyway...pulled the cover off, took one look, and said "no way". Sprayed contact cleaner on the board, fiddled with the three ribbon cables going into it, and while it was open, did a little cleaning. Still no luck.

Quite a dilemma I am now in...buy a printhead, if it works, great, if it doesn't, pick up another i960, and have an extra printhead, OR check out the ip6220D or ip6600D, since they are the ones that come close to # of nozzles, but not a big fan of the new chip on the cartrdges (until, of course, somebody comes out with a chip resetter).

Thanks to all for you help and advice.

Eric

 

[mmconhea]

I tried using the ultrasonic cleaner with no luck. It did make an improvement, but the cyan is not fixed. So when the new printhead comes I'll send this one to whomever wants to dissect it.

When I add the new printhead I want to also clean out the ink collection pad and head wipers. Anyone know how I can get better access to these parts?

 

[hpnetserver]

Mmconhea, my suggestion is to leave the pad alone. Do not even disturb it. The pad serves a very important function which is to cover the nozzles when the printer is powered off so that ink in them will not expose to air and dry out. If you take the pad out to clean and does not put it back the way it is supposed to be you may actually cause a problem. If you really want to clean it you may want to just pour some water over it and run a cleaning cycle to suck the water out. The pad won't wear out. There is really no need to replace it. Just a though. Others may have different experiences.