Canon iP3000 Black "dries up"

[Monkey Shoulder]

Hello this is my first post, and of course, it is a problem...
My printer, a Canon iP3000, will not print in Black until it has been through a few cleaning cycles and possibly a couple of "deep cleaning" procedures as well. The machine then works fine for a few hours, but the next day, it will have "dried up" again and need to go through cleaning and a few practice prints until the black comes good. The colours ( C/M/Y ) are fine, and print straight away.
It first started happening a couple of months ago, around Xmas 2016.
I don't use the printer regularly, but in the past I have always been able to fire it up and it print straight away even if it had not been used for a week.
I have been refilling with "Jet-Tec" ink since I purchased the printer about five years ago.

I discovered your forum when I was searching for a solution on-line and have already tried some of the techniques that your contributors recommend. I have tried soaking my print head in water overnight as described by Mike Boesen on his site.
http://mboesen.net/hardware/print_heads/print_heads.html
and after being led to the excellent druckerchannel site by your PeterBJ http://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=1831&seite=5&t=how_to_exchange_sponges
I have disassembled the machine and have cleaned the pads that sit under the heads with the acetone based cleaning fluid that comes with the ink refill kits.

My printer still has this problem. Is there anything more I can try?

Monk

 

[mikling]

Try flushing the cartridge, this should have been done before all the other procedures.

 

[Monkey Shoulder]

Try flushing the cartridge, this should have been done before all the other procedures.

Thank you for your reply, but I have considered that, and I am presently using a genuine Canon 3e-BK ink cartridge.
I was concerned that the cartridge that I was using, which is quite old, was in need of replacing anyway, and I wondered if the latest batch of Jet-Tec pigment ink may have been at fault. So I stuck a fresh cartridge in there. (If and) when I drain that one and the printer is fixed, I shall drill it for refill.
Can you point me to an explanation of how the print head stays ready to print, (as it used to), do the "purge pads" seal the head nozzles or something? As you can tell, I still have a lot to learn.

 

[mikling]

OK, if the current cart is a new OEM and you still have the problem then the next step at this point is to attempt to clear the inlet filter to the pigment black nozzles. It is an old printer and I therefore will suspect pigment buildup leading to clogged inlet filters.
To obtain a darker black on plain paper some ink mfrs might end up using larger sized particles so that the pigment particles remain on the surface of the paper. The larger size particles if slightly too large or if it was not uniformly sized could end up clogging the inlet filter over time and repeated use.
You will need to back flush the inlet filter. One simple way to do this is to reverse rinse it with water..but that is not very effective. That is , direct water to hit the nozzle plate ( large single black row) so that water is forced out the inlet of the printhead.
The better way to is get some tubing and that goes around the inlet of the printhead and then pull back on it, so that liquid will flow in the reverse direction of how the ink normally flows. Do this gently and be careful. Using something like windex or something with some low level of detergent will assist in faster removal of the pigment particles. Be careful here as the printhead is old and is possible more fragile as a result.

 

[Monkey Shoulder]

Hello again, I have tried to clean the print head once again. This time using suction to get the warm water to flow back through the head, as you suggested. Sadly this made things worse, and I could not get it to print in black at all. Even after repeated "deep cleaning". So I took it out again, and soaked it again and flushed it with cleaning fluid and so on.
This time the printer would not print in colour either, so I took the ink cartridges out and pressed the head against folded kitchen paper to see if ink was feeding through, and got a good black line and three coloured lines, so it seemed ok. I reinstalled the head and cartridges but never got any further. Now all I get is the power-on LED blinking green once, yellow five times which I believe indicates that the head is either "incorrectly installed" or faulty. I've had it in and out a few times now and made sure the contacts are dry etc. But no change.
Looks like I've completely scrapped it.
Any recommendations for a new printer? One that I can continue to refill?

 

[The Hat]

@Monkey Shoulder, Your head cleaning lead to the total loss of the print head, somewhere or somehow moisture got into the back of the electrics on the print head that you weren’t aware of and when power was applied it shorted out both the logic board and head at the same time.

These heads are fairly robust, but they don’t like high pressure been applied to the inlets or been rinsed in very hot water, and of course been still wet when re-installed back into the printer.

It’s very hard to get a very good Canon printer now that is easy to refill anymore, especially one in the same league as your old iP3000. (Irreplaceable)

If you want an easy A4 printer to fulfil this requirement then there are several models of the Maxify to choose from, (Price wise), and if you can pay a little more there is the Pro 10 and Pro 100 models, yes there more expensive but you would be very satisfying with your purchase, because both are easy refillable, as is the Maxify...

 

[Monkey Shoulder]

Thanks for the help, It was probably time to get a replacement, I've had two iP3000s and been refilling for years. It has become a habit. I have probably saved enough money on ink to afford a new one!
I have been looking at the Canon ip7250, which is only £50, and for which you can buy refillable cartridges.

 

[martin0reg]

A picture says more than thousand words - please print a nozzle check and post it!
If the print head is really dead, which you also can say by looking at a nozzle check, you may consider a new print head. I wouldn't recommend any chinese refurbished ones, but I think the IP3000 is one of the rare models from the best years of canon a4 printers, for which new OEM heads are still available! I got a used "like new" ip3000 just for that reason: canon QY6-0064 available for around 70€

 

[PeterBJ]

Here is a German supplier who claims to have 100 still in stock, And here is a British supplier who also have some in stock. The original print head for iP3000 was QY6-0042. QY6-0064 is a newer replacement type.

But when a Canon print head fails there is a risk that it can damage the logic board. A logic board that has been damaged by a defective print head can damage a new print head. I cannot tell your odds for success.

Water left where it does not belong, behind the circuit board and the ribbon cable, might cause the destruction of not only the print head but also the logic board. When cleaning a print head water can easily enter wrong places, it is very important no water is left where it does not belong. The print head must be thoroughly dry before reinstalling in the printer.:

 

[Ron350]

Are you guys across the pond really using acetone based cleaning fluid?