Canon ip6600d printhead evaluation please.

[mikem65d]

Please take a look at this nozzle check, although it's obvious what's going on, i am not sure if it is permanent damage or not.
Started going bad last weekend. Did a nozzle check and only one stripe. Took the PM cartridge out and dribbled Windex on the inlet of the PM port...........let sit for a day, checked Nozzle print again, no change.
Then filled a cartridge with Piezoflush, did a few head cleanings and then let sit for 48 hours. Did another Nozzle print and looks like this now. Repeated another 48 hour soaking, then today see the same result.
Have taken the head out and started soaking in Windex............injecting some pharmacists liquid thru the ports flows nicely thru other 5 channels, but PM is flowing in an odd manner like this way and that way directions.

Upon deciding to put this printer away (started using before i had planned cuz son wanted to try fire it up and promised to print regularly but didn't) i started flushing all the cartridges to put away. When i go about this i pull the clip off, then pull the fill plug to watch the ink flow. The PM was of course the only one that refused to give it up unless i applied pressure to the cartridge. This tells me i probably killed this head by not checking this before i installed it a couple weeks back ( i normally do check my carts but forgot to this time), but i would appreciate your input as to whether you think i should continue to try with this head, or just chalk it up to experience and toss it in the scrap pile.

 

[mikem65d]

After draining and flushing the 2 sets of carts i started with for this printer i have concluded to my own mistake. Not checking ink flow was the stupid act of the month to which just adds to the learning curve.
The PM cart that was in use had no flow whatsover, even flushed it showed no signs of wanting to play nice.
One of the great things i've learned when flushing and checking empties for their performance is how well they will let water drain. It doesn't even need to be timed once you've memorized the movement where water level drops from very top of ink chamber to halfway............pretty much every cartridge i have purged and refilled with PC inks performs the same. This cart was from the set that came with my ip6600d from a craigslist seller (used for document printing now) that had stored the printer for 3 years in a storage facility that sees weather temp changes from 35-110 degrees outside..............metal storage facilities can add much more to the high.
When i flushed that set it never dawned on me to look at the flow with just water. They did show ink flow when i first used them and all of them with exception to the PM still flow like they should.

So i am soaking the head in Windex round 2. It showed signs of life (nice even fan) last nite when pushing a few cc's of pharmacists solution so i have fingers crossed.
I am putting this printer back in it's box for now (was saving it for retirement to begin with) and am thinking maybe i should clean out the waste pads or just leave it alone???

 

[The Hat]

@mikem65d, your chances of saving your print head are very slim, but God loves a trier, it keeps him amused, so keep cleaning because you got nothing to lose.

When you get horizontal lines in your nozzle print, that usually spells curtains for the head and that’s the price we all have to pay for refilling the cartridges, question: is the PM cart OEM or aftermarket ?

When printing with such an old beauty as the iP6600p its imperative to watch it like a hawk, because there’s no coming back from a head failure, I run an old i865 (May-04) and cringe at the taught that one day it’s going to fail on me too...

 

[mikem65d]

Hat,
I wish i had read this thread that i now have bookmarked,
http://www.printerknowledge.com/thr...thods-for-canon-print-heads.10169/#post-84679
your post was like a good sock in the eyecuz it says it all.
Yes the carts are OEM.............one thing i have learned being here is "compatibles" have no place in my fun room.
Lucky for me i still have one 6600 new in the box stuffed away.
As for now i have succumbed to buying heads from a well known Chinese ebay seller that has a good rep, and the head i bought and installed in the used 6600 works flawlessly.
Having no choice, i have bought a 1/2 dozen more from this seller and he's offered to replace them even after the warranty should they not work when i finally need them.
I've checked flow on all of them and i see the same smooth even fan like flow on all the channels, so i'm somewhat confident that he has done a good job on them.

I figure that what you say is the truth as that starvation on the PM channel did a number.......I was thinking to take the good working refurb head out of the craigslist 6600 and use this compromised head in there since i only use it for printing my daily forms and coupons...............or is that a bad idea?

 

[The Hat]

I was thinking to take the good working refurb head out of the craigslist 6600 and use this compromised head in there since i only use it for printing my daily forms and coupons...............or is that a bad idea?

@mikem65d, Nope that head is still good to use, so long as you keep a full PM cart in place, it’s just no good for photos any more, I use a duff head in one of my 9500’s for printing Gloss optimiser all of the time...

 

[mikem65d]

@Hat,

well an even bigger thank you to you for mentioning Alibaba in a thread.
I was able to score a New original head for this printer............my son ain't gettin his grubby hands on it either