Canon MX395 - Not Feeding

[blissmissl]

Error lights up, message window appears that there's no paper when there is - the wheels start turning but the part that is supposed to grab the paper doesn't grab. Tried cleaning it but there's not much to clean - basically it's a *new* but second hand unit. I tried every variation of paper to no avail. Any suggestions on how to proceed with this? Thank you!

 

[PeterBJ]

I have experienced something similar with a Canon iP7250. The printer would often give the error message that there was no paper in the cassette even if there was still some paper left. Examining the top sheet of paper in the cassette showed marks left by the pick up rollers. Topping up the cassette would often make the printer feed paper again. The cause of the problem was paper dust on the rollers that caused them to lose grip.

The cure was cleaning the pick up rollers with a rag moistened with a special rubber roller restorer, the AF Platenclene. Don't spray the product into the printer but instead spray onto a rag that is used to clean the rollers. Here is a video showing the use of the product. For pick up roller cleaning HP recommends using a rag moistened with warm, not hot, water. You could give that a try before buying a special cleaner. HP warns against using alcohol or other solvents for the cleaning as they might damage the rollers.

The user manual recommends using a sheet of plain paper or a special cleaning paper for cleaning from the maintenance menu. See this. I guess this is the cleaning process you tried without luck?

Here is a bottom view of a typical Canon printer with the cassette removed so the pick up roller is visible, click to enlarge:



And here is a bottom view of the iP7250. This printer has got two paper cassettes, one for plain paper in Letter and A4 formats and a smaller cassette for photo paper in smaller formats. So this printer has got two sets of pick up rollers. The printer has used much more plain paper than photo paper, so the plain paper roller (2) is covered in paper dust and the photo paper roller (1) is clean and looks like new. Click to enlarge:



It is unlikely that ink will leak from the printer when set on end vertically to get access to the bottom but it might be a good idea to place the printer on a couple of newspapers first. Good luck with the cleaning.