Canon pro-1 MBK problem

[Anton D]

Hi all! Something wgong is going to my pro-1 printer.
After some absence i had to refill 7 carts with precision ink (signature edition)
Evevrything went fine axcept matte black ink. It seems it is not laying down.
I thought there was a problem with matte papers setting and went through all of them. Nothing.
The nozzle check i did after refilling looked ok. Nevertherless i did simple cleaning cycle and MBK disappeared on the nozzle check. Not sure what to think..
Can someone tell what can be the problem and if there is any solution.

 

[The Hat]

@Anton D, The most likely explanation for the missing Matte black would be your refilling, if the procedure is not carried out correctly then air can get into the ink lines, because you just don’t go from a full clear nozzle check to one colour missing in an instant. (patience is essential)

But before you do anything further please check the matte black cartridge for air, because there are so many erroneous ways out there promoting the refilling of these cartridges, it should weigh 84 Grams full or less with no air inside..

A Cleaning cycle can sometimes clear the air bubbles but not always and deep cleaning can give the same results, unfortunately the only way to properly clear the air from your ink lines, (Last resort) is a system clean.

Try this method before you start anything, leave the printer to sit ideal for several hours then print another nozzle check, and look for signs of any black ink, you can then run a normal cleaning cycle on block (1) followed by another nozzle check, and if no change then leave the printer over night and try the same steps again. (Leave the printer powered on)

While your having this issue do not be tempted to do any further test prints until you have a full clear nozzle check on all colours, otherwise you risk burning out the nozzles on any of the offending colours,
(nozzle prints are exceptable)..

A system clean is going to waste an enormous amount of ink from all cartridges, but you may have no alternative at this stage, because it’s the only safe way to return the printer to full operation health again, this is pending on how many test prints were made whilst there was no ink in the black channel.., Sorry...

 

[Anton D]

Thank you for the instructions and for the warning to not to print any further!
It was exactly 84 grams. I followed Jose Rodriguez instructions on youtube. Apparently, i missed something as it was the first cartridge to refill.
I was not that much worried as the printer was supposed to perform a deep cleaning after being off.
I checked the cartridge there was bubbling around the edge as i put the syringe in it. I sucked and pulled back the ink several times to ensure that the ink was moving without the air bubbles. Not sure how to check that there is no air in the cartridge?? The nozzle check still misses the MBK.
I'll wait some hours and try to do a simple cleaning and then deep one as you suggest. System cleaning as i understand would take 3-4ml out of each cartridge, is that correct?
Thanks again for the help, really appreciated!

 

[stratman]

I'll wait some hours and try to do a simple cleaning and then deep one as you suggest.

That's not what @The Hat suggested.

 

[Anton D]

Hm.. You are right. I have not it fully clear)

1 Check the cartridge for air.
2 Leave the printer idle for 3-4 hours than print a nozzle check. Here, do I have to do a normal cleaning right after or only when I see some signs of black ink? (cleaning cycle on block 3, not 1 as block 3 contains MBK)
3 If there is no progress I’ll wait the next morning and repeat step 2
4 If there is still no progress I can perform a deep cleaning instead of normal cleaning
5 If all these steps do not clear the air out of ink line I have to do a system clean, hands down.

I understand that nozzle check will force the ink towards the print head and doing so the air should be forced out. The cleaning involves just a bigger amount of ink to pump through. If the ink is not coming out it means that the air should be just at the end of the line or in the pump.

Actually, after I printed some tests where i could still see some signs of black ink than I performed a normal cleaning, after that the MBK disappeared on the nozzle check page.

 

[The Hat]

Yes, I missed which block the Matte black was in, Ops sorry, a normal head clean is usually sufficient to clear the head of any obstructions, but if you wish to do a deep clean then that’s ok, it’s your ink, and do a cleaning cycle after the nozzle check not before.

To check the cart for air just insert the syringe tip into the ink outlet and pull back on the plunger slowly till you can see some ink in the syringe bottom, then just withdraw your refill tip.

A nozzle check doesn’t force ink into the head, when the head applies power to the nozzle it will emit ink in droplets, a cleaning cycles will suck ink out in conjunction with the head while under power, the system uses a vacuum for all ink movements, no pumps.

Hopefully letting the printer rest will allow some ink back into the matte black position, but if all this fails then you have nothing to lose doing a system clean, and if that’s not successful then you may have damaged the head while doing your test prints, let’s hope not, fingers crossed.

P.S. a system clean will use 35% of the ink in every cartridge and should only be used as a last resort..

 

[Anton D]

The Hat your method has worked! I pulled back all the ink from the cartridge so there was no air inside and refilled it back carefully. 1 normal cleaning cycle was enough to get it back to life. It feels like I just got 35% of the ink in every cartridge extra. Thanks a lot!

 

[The Hat]

That’s great news, and thanks for your feed back...