canon ip 4300 problem with ink streak

[keastman]

I've got a Canon ip 4300 that has been streaking the reverse sides of printed pages with a linear black ink streak on the right hand side of the printer. It appears to be from one of the rollers. I though that perhaps the overflow was spilling on to it but when I put a paper towel on the sponge in the overflow well, very little ink come on the paper towel. I refil the original Canon carts for this printer. There is no problem with the printed side of the page, just streak on the opposite side (underside) of the sheet.

Any ideas on what I may do to correct this problem. Thanks, you folks are always very helpful.

 

[qwertydude]

I've found that moistening the rollers with windex and running construction paper through will remove it from the rollers. I run the paper through by simply printing a blank page. It'll take several run throughs and windex applications with fresh sheets each time but it'll get it clean.

 

[The Hat]

keastman

One of the things you could do is to fold half a dozen sheets twice evenly, (like you were going to put them in an envelope) then pour Alcohol or Windex over the middle of them and feed them through your printer one at a time.
Do that till the back of them begins to get clean.
You can just print one single letter on a page to get the paper thought your printer; turn the pages 180 if necessary for extra cleaning. (The crease to the back of the paper)..

 

[keastman]

Thanks folks, I'll give it a try.

 

[keastman]

It tried the above and it helped a bit but returned, perhaps I need to do it more. It is only one roller, about 3" in from the right side of the outfeed. It almost seems to be reloading. Any other suggestions? Do you think there could be a problem with the overflow sponge? thanks

 

[ghwellsjr]

If you are talking about the thin sponge material that runs the width of the printer underneath where the print head carriage goes, you can pull it out and see if the problem goes away. Then you should rinse it off, squeeze it dry and put it back in.

 

[keastman]

OK, I took the sponge off today and think I see the root of the problem but am not quite sure how to approach it. Under that sponge is a white fiber mat that runs the width of the sponge. It is white every where but in the area of the roller that is tracking all the ink onto the bottom of the printed pages. The fiber mat in the area of the roller is saturated with black ink, although I'm assuming it's a mix of all the inks and a result of print head cleaning. Does anyone know of that mat can be removed, cleaned and replaced without trashing the whole rig. Of course my daughter has a science paper due in two days and is demanding action. I couldn't have happened when the printer wasn't in demand. I've got a new IP3500 that I bought on sale to use the ink cartridges only back before I started refilling, so guess, I'll have to unpack it and use it until I figure out how to fix this one. I hope it doesn't give me grief about the refilled inks that I'll be putting in it. I'll probably have to go through that sequence about voiding the warranty and the other prompts.

Kevin

 

[ghwellsjr]

Here and here are a couple of threads that might give you an idea of what you're up against.

Personally, I don't think those white absorber pads should be the source of your ink contamination problem, they are more likely sucking the ink away from a spill or other kind of a leak. So even if you did replace them, unless you can find the source of the ink, you'll still have the same problem, in my opinion.

I think you should just continue with the suggestions already given to you. A little ink can go a long way and it might take you a long time to clean it up.

 

[keastman]

I did take the sponge out and wash all the ink out last night, then replace it, then cleaned the roller well and I was able to get paper to feed with no roller streak on the back, so I thought I had the problem licked. In a short time the sponge seemed to have picked up ink again and the streaks returned. Not sure if it is sucking it out of the fiber mats, or as suggested by shwellsjr, it's coming from another source. That fiber mat though does look visibly wet with ink in that area only though. Guess I'll be trying the other printer while I work on finding a solution.

Thanks for the info so far folks.

 

[ghwellsjr]

One thing you can try is deposit some Windex on the fiber mat to get it to disperse the ink. You probably had a leaky cartridge which you should investigate to make sure you don't still have that problem.

What kind of cartridges do you use? Do you refill your own? If so, what method?