Canon printhead takes a bath

[PeterBJ]

I have seen posts recommending Halford's glass cleaner, available in the UK, for unclogging printheads: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=27618#p27618

Excuse me for straying a bit off-topic, but a product I have used with success and which is available in Denmark and likely also in Sweden and Finland is Ajax Vinduesvask/Fnsterputs/Ikkunapuhdiste.

 

[coloredfingers]

Using tap water for cleaning/rinsing the head is poor practice.

My S750 had not been used for half a year but was stored in a cool basement. Black disappeared completely. I should have read this before showering it! After a few minutes pressure feeding the black inlet with hot tap water and a small rubber hose, the water flushing down the sink turned black. I repeated the process while some black ink could be seeing pouring out of the head when turning it upside down and rinsing. Clogging should not have been worsened with limestone as there is a softener in the house. After one night soaking in cold water, not even a single droplet of black ink comes out of text test pages. Are the black nozzles just still heavily clogged or something else within the head circuits might be dead?

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

The dead Epson 1400 I bought and couldn't fix turned out to have bad corrosion in the slots for the ribbon cables and on the cables themselves. Depending on the environment where it was stored, that could also be what happened here.

 

[turbguy]

After one night soaking in cold water, not even a single droplet of black ink comes out of text test pages. Are the black nozzles just still heavily clogged or something else within the head circuits might be dead?

Could be a non-functional purge unit??

Wayne

 

[earthworm]

If you are willing to risk all, try cleaning the head in ammonia......which some glass cleaners (some Windexs) still use..
I used a WalMart glass cleaner...evidently this worked..
Hooray, she is printing again, but not perfectly...
I too have a water softener, now I need to learn how to maintain it.
Adrian, with an ip4700....probably the same as a 4500, but a year newer..

 

[The Hat]

Adrian, with an ip4700....probably the same as a 4500, but a year newer..

The iP4700 is nowhere near as good as the iP4500 or as well built
and it also uses the larger CLI-8 cartridges not the smaller 220s.

Did you ever think of refilling your own OEM cartridges when they empty with good quality ink instead of purchasing refilled cartridges,
the ink cost are far lower and you get much more fun out of the experience as well as the great savings?

 

[earthworm]

This is getting good.
About ten years ago, I did this, with an Epson (?) printer...the consumed ink was costing more than the machine ! But, this was a royal PITA...and now my hand shakes with essential tremor, I think.
Still, as I am , or I try to be an economical man.
Waste to me is an anathema.
I can ameliorate the shakes, 90% by moving very slowly, by avoiding "over-concentrating".
So, yes, I may well try again with my own "inking".

 

[coloredfingers]

Could be a non-functional purge unit?

No, some black ink remains around head after cleaning cycle, then nothing came after printing text in several settings (draft/normal/hq). Only the test pattern from control panel produced a fading line of faint black vertical stripes, so the nozzles may not be dead. Hope deeper soaking in water+ammonia instead of water alone will get better results.

 

[turbguy]

I would not trust observation of an accumulation of black-looking ink on the printhead discharge surface as evidence of ink at the nozzles...

Try pressing the printhead against a folded tissue and see if all the color lines transfer strongly to the tissue. If black is weak, then it could be a bad black purge unit. If strong black is there, then it's strong evidence that there is ink at the black nozzles.

Wayne

 

[turbguy]

Using tap water for cleaning/rinsing the head is poor practice.

My S750 had not been used for half a year but was stored in a cool basement. Black disappeared completely. I should have read this before showering it! After a few minutes pressure feeding the black inlet with hot tap water and a small rubber hose, the water flushing down the sink turned black. I repeated the process while some black ink could be seeing pouring out of the head when turning it upside down and rinsing. Clogging should not have been worsened with limestone as there is a softener in the house. After one night soaking in cold water, not even a single droplet of black ink comes out of text test pages. Are the black nozzles just still heavily clogged or something else within the head circuits might be dead?

Softened water still contains minerals, albeit more soluable ones. Typically magnesium and calcium ions are replaced with sodium ions with an ion-exchange resin bed softener (if that's the type you have, they are the most common and effective). Softened water is really no substitute for distilled water.

Wayne