Canon MG5350 - big problems with vertical lines

[The Hat]

Your nozzle check looks good to me except for some dried ink on the underside of the print head near the pigment nozzles, give the print head a bit of a clean and pop it back in and run a manual head alignment then another nozzle check..

 

[PeterBJ]

I don't know the cartridges and inks used, but I if they work well in another printer using the same print head, they might be OK to use.

To make refill easier you can use the Canon OEM windowed cartridges of the PGI-520/CLI-521 generation, with the chips from the PGI-525/CLI-526 cartridges transferred. You will of course still need the PGI-525/CLI-526 resetter for the chips.

I guess your refillable cartridges have a plug you remove to refill them. This is top filling. Note the difference in methods in posts #1 and #4. The method in post #4 is the one I use. You can use a wooden cocktail stick as a dipstick to gauge ink level if you refill the opaque cartridges, or you could use the windowed cartridges instead.

To turn the Canon OEM cartridges into refillable cartridges, you will have to remove the plastic sealing ball over the ink chamber and replace it with a low profile plug and seal it in place using a piece of aluminium tape. For those buying their supplies from Precisioncolors, the same plugs are named zero clearance plugs by Precisioncolors.

Here is a post showing the difference between the windowed and the opaque cartridges.

Your nozzle check has improved much by the print head cleaning, but there is still a problem with the lower half of the PGBK. You could try to repeat the print head cleaning to see if there is a further improvement. Make sure the print head is dry before putting it back into the printer. The tiniest amount of water trapped behind the ribbon cable or the circuit board on the back side of the print head can create a short circuit that not only ruins the print head, but also the logic board, making the printer a total loss.

Here is a crop from your latest nozzle check, showing that there is still a problem with PGBK:

If the timing strip is clean, then the the printing problems are likely caused by the PGBK nozzles producing a "fuzzy" print, see the lower half of the vertical rectangles and lower half of the grid. So more print head cleaning is needed.

To keep the print head in good working order, a proper function of the purge unit is vital. As the cartridges and ink seem to work well in another printer using the same type of print head, I suspect there is a problem with the purge unit. Here is a test of the purge unit.

Here is a thread about a problem similar to yours. The thread is lengthy, but I recommend reading all of it.

To test a refilled cartridge for leaking, place it on a shallow dish in normal upright position and observe if ink leaks from the outlet. If no ink leaks for 10 to 15 minuter, the cartridge is OK. One or two drops leaked at the start of the test is OK, but the cartridge must not continue to leak. In case of a leaked drop or two, clean the cartridge with a piece of kitchen paper/paper towel.

 

[domina]

I just put the printing head from my ip4950 in the printer and saw some beautiful text (Sadly the bk nozzle was blocked, as usual after dvd printing, but i opened an other thread about it).

After putting the old head back in i noticed that the nozzle check gets a little better. I will try the cleaning solution PeterBJ proposed and check the purge pads.

 

[PeterBJ]

It is a risky procedure to swap print heads between printers for troubleshooting. A print head that is damaged electronically can damage the logic board in the printer. The now damaged logic board can damage a new print head. In a worst case you could have two dead printers.

 

[Grandad35]

I have never encountered this many nozzles having this problem at the same time, but I always assumed that the nozzles were firing properly (as they appear to be in this case) but that the ink droplets were being misdirected as they left the nozzles and started their flight from the print head to the paper 1 or 2 mm away. Careful mechanical cleaning of the bottom of the nozzle plate using alcohol and light fingernail scraping usually cured this type of problem for me. Is there a safer way to clean crud buildup from the bottom of the nozzle plate at the nozzle exits?

 

[PeterBJ]

Is there a safer way to clean crud buildup from the bottom of the nozzle plate at the nozzle exits?

I think gently blotting, not wiping the print head underside on a piece of soft paper like a paper handkerchief moistened or wetted with a window cleaner with ammonia is the best way. Repeat as often as needed until the print head underside is clean.

 

[domina]

I think gently blotting, not wiping the print head underside on a piece of soft paper like a paper handkerchief moistened or wetted with a window cleaner with ammonia is the best way. Repeat as often as needed until the print head underside is clean.

Ive just done that, but the nozzle check is getting worse

The purge pads are working.