Canon Pro-100 User. Some new findings about cleaning cycles.

[stratman]

a. It is also reported that removing or replacing a cartridge initiates a purge. That may be true for the Pro9500 but not totally true for the Pro9000 or Pro100. You have 60 seconds before the purge is initiated for these Dye printers.

Is this confirmed by Canon literature or those who can measure waste ink output such as by an external waste ink tank?

This seems counterintuitive since replacing a cartridge, no matter how quickly, has, per Canon literature, been registered as a "new" cartridge and thus triggers a purge of some ink in order to prime and ensure flow of ink from the "new" cartridge.

 

[PeterBJ]

Is this confirmed by Canon literature or those who can measure waste ink output such as by an external waste ink tank?

It is confirmed in the service manual for Pro9000 mark one. I don't know if it also applies to other models. Here is a clip and paste from the manual page 2-2:

A rar archive with the service manual is found here.

 

[stratman]

@PeterBJ - I just saw @The Hat 's post here with a similar image that he just posted as well! Following his post I asked additional questions on this topic that have been covered on the forum but would be good to review again for completeness.

 

[BruceW77]

Today my Pro-100S Gray cart reported empty.

After replacing the empty cart with a full cart, I sent a Form Feed to the printer. There was no purge, which is interesting, because the Pro-100 User Manual says there will be a purge. However, as already mentioned in this thread, the Pro9000 Service Manual indicates the purge will only happen if a cart is removed for more than 60s. I probably only took 10s to do the changeover.

 

[The Hat]

I sent a Form Feed to the printer.

@BruceW77, where are you going with your “Form Feed”, that was only used for continues paper printers, and white I’m at it, how come your printer reacts different to all other printer, because it must run a purge after a cartridge change before it commits to a print run, otherwise it can damage the print head...

 

[BruceW77]

where are you going with your “Form Feed”

I guess I am showing my age.
What I actually did was send a blank page from a word processor in order to invoke any pending purge.
I discovered some time back that that is all that is required to invoke a purge. This way you do not waste any ink if there is no purge waiting and the purpose of the print is just a test.

how come your printer reacts different to all other printer, because it must run a purge after a cartridge change before it commits to a print run, otherwise it can damage the print head...

I think we are back on that same issue we recently discussed in the other thread, where I suggested there must be 2 implementations or some action causes a change in behaviour. eg. Refilling.
On the issue of causing damage, I suspect the answer to that is that there is more than likely a lot of ink still in the OEM cart, when the printer driver is reporting EMPTY. In fact I measured the so called empty cart and compared the weight to a full cart and it suggested a full cart only held 9.49g. Whereas I got the impression it should be more like 13g. Is it possible there is still 3.5g still in the cart reported as empty?

 

[stratman]

What I actually did was send a blank page from a word processor in order to invoke any pending purge.
I discovered some time back that that is all that is required to invoke a purge.

Interesting.

IMO, Canon's new cartridge ink purge is like the Grim Reaper on his rounds. You cannot escape it.

 

[The Hat]

I think we are back on that same issue we recently discussed in the other thread

If you only send and print blank pages, they are not seen by the printer as actual printed images, but simply as blank pages because the print head never needed to fire, and if you check your page count after several blank pages, you'll find they do register in the page count.

The problem I can see is your reading one thing and interpreting it as something else, when you remove a cartridge you introduce air into the exposed print head and when you re-inset another cartridge you encapsulated that air inside the head (Trapped) until it can be ejected safely... A PURGE...

Air inside a Canon print head can be fatal because the electronics get very hot when under fire, but if no ink is present then these electronic component bits can over heat and burn out, the liquid ink inside prevents this from happening.

So, you see the head must purge to prevent damage, and if you remove a cartridge and put the same cartridge back in again quickly, the printer can pull a vacuum on the head (Wetting the nozzles) rather than run an unnecessary ink purge, and it only takes a couple of seconds. (Chip recognition)

There are three types of purge cycles, a normal short one sometimes carried out before a print run, (Possibly only a vacuum) a larger one when new cartridges are fitted and the biggest one, like unplugging the printer or removing the print head or when the printer has been left idle for the (60-hour thing).

There is no real point weighting your cartridges because they all will read different depending on the last print job, mostly the printer likes to finish out a page before declaring a cartridge empty, and yes, an empty cartridge will always retain ink for safety.

The older Canon printers could be tricked or fooled into doing strange things and not notice till later or never, but not so your Pro 100, because all these bugs have been ironed out, with its new active EPROM, and new cartridge chips...

The Advantage of a printer Potty is you can see clearly every time your printer is purging ink, small, large, or just air, and you can alter your print habits to reduce some of these purges or at least keep them to a minimum (Small), but you must never try to prevent them, but on a Pro 100 you can’t reset your waste counter, but you can on the 9000.

Purge cycles are all measured in millilitres of ink, and not in time, here’s what I mean by small = 1.2 ml, big =2.1ml, and large = 3.2ml, and manual clean = 1.2 ml and Deep clean = 2.1 ml and powering off the printer = 3.2 ml.

 

[BruceW77]

if you remove a cartridge and put the same cartridge back in again quickly, the printer can pull a vacuum on the head (Wetting the nozzles) rather than run an unnecessary ink purge, and it only takes a couple of seconds

So is this couple of seconds the golden 10-20s figure you mention in the 60 hour myth thread?
If so, is it possible that the Pro-100 uses 60s?

There is no real point weighting your cartridges because they all will read different depending on the last print job

I did not send any print jobs as such to my printer between 17th June and 5th July, which is when I sent a nozzle check to ensure no clogs had formed during this period. I was testing the printer during this period by sending "Page Feeds" and measuring the ink usage due to purges and other reasons. The other reasons are probably due to the vacuum you mention, and tended to be very small. I was originally also trying to prove my theory that leaving the printer permanently on was not avoiding a purge as some people seemed to think.
It would be nice to have a Printer Potty, but I think there is useful data to be gained by measuring the carts.

If you want to see the details of all the testing it is in the thread I previously provided a link too in the Qimage forum: http://ddisoftware.com/tech/printers/canon-pixma-pro-100s-cleaning-cycles/
If you only want to see the data for ink consumed (without any prints) check out the spreadsheet. https://www.dropbox.com/s/e8ivkprwgx0rpx2/Pro-100 Printer Ink used for cleaning5.xls?dl=0 . You may have to download it to view it properly.
There is a description of the colour coding used in the spreadsheet columns in the 4th July post on the Qimage thread. In fact I mostly summed up on that post. Since that post I have synchronised the 2 head groups again by waiting until both group purge timers expired before sending the Page Feed. Those results are also in the spreadsheet and the resulting quantity of ink purged was a little less than the single group purges would suggest. More testing needed.

 

[The Hat]

@BruceW77, I am sorry because you have completely lost me at what you hope to achieve or gain with all your testing, calculating and spread sheets.

Print head cleaning and purging are all part of owing and running an inkjet printer and if you can’t except that without seriously looking at every drop of ink that your printer might use, then you’re really missing out.

Just use and enjoy your printer as normal on a daily basis or as near to that as possible and let the printer do its thing, then printing will become far more user friendly to you, because you’ll waste more ink leaving your printer unused and unloved for extend periods.

The only way you can save and climb back some of the ink that might be lost during daily maintenance is to change all the carts when one has become low, other than that there is nothing else you can do, except enjoy producing beautiful prints...