Cleaning Canon i350 printhead

[greymouse]

Read all the posts re Windex. Tried it and and it does indeed seem to work. Now my question. Does any one have any experience using an ultrasonic jewelry or drafting pen cleaner with the Windex solution. :/ I would think it work very well as long as you suspended the print head in the solution and not let it touch the metal container .(less drastic vibration)
I have used these to clean other delicate items and jewelry and the dirt literally oozes out.
Thanks in advance.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Read this article:

http://users.adelphia.net/~inkprocessusa/inkprocess/cleaning.html

This author is primarily talking about cartridges with the print head built in but I think some of his comments also apply to a separate print head.

This link seems to be the only one where someone has tried a sonic cleaning machine to no avail:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=174

However, if you are otherwise giving up on the print head, you could try it and let us know what happens.

 

[Defcon2k]

An interesting article with pictures how nozzles look which were destroyed by ultrasonic cleaning:
A scientific approach to remanufacturing ink jet cartridges: the HP629A

But maybe Canon printheads as edgeshooters are not so easily destroyed by the microscopic bubbles as roofshooters like HP are...

 

[mikling]

Excellent article! A must read

 

[ghwellsjr]

Like I said, don't try it until you have already given up on the print head.

What does edgeshooter versus roofshooter mean?

 

[on30trainman]

I had an ip4000 printhead that was giving me problems. Tried soaking in various solutions - plain water, denatured alcohol and Windex - with mixed results, but never completely fixed. Decided to put the printhead in my ultrasonic cleaner with Windex. I floated the printhead in a plastic container of Windex in a partially water filled (plus a drop of dish soap) cleaner. Results - worse than before. Initially it was the CYAN and MAGENTA that had problems. Now it was the BLACKS - both pigmented and dye based. Cleaned it again - worse yet. But the printhead hadn't responded to the less severe methods, so I figured it couldn't hurt too much more trying the ultrasonic cleaner. Bottom line - bought a new printhead and the printer is back to perfect printing. The printhead did have over two years of fairly heavy use before it gave up. Glad the new printhead saved the ip4000 because I like the easily refillable cartridges it uses. From my results I would only use the ultrasonic cleaner as a last resort and not for very long. I probably ran the cleaner much too long.

Steve W.

 

[Defcon2k]

What does edgeshooter versus roofshooter mean?

The edgeshooter (Canon) ejects ink to the side of the heating element. The roofshooter a.k.a. sideshooter (HP, Lexmark) ejects ink directly forward.
The roofshooter design is said to be used mainly in carts with a throwaway printhead, because of the following problem: after a drop of ink is fired, the collapsing bubble forces the remaining ink back in. There it crashes on the heating element which will show damage caused by cavitation sooner or later.
In an edgeshooter printhead, the heater is more out of the way of the retreating ink.
This is also why I speculated that an edgeshooter like canon may not be as easily destroyed by ultrasonic cleaning.

Article:
Getting to the Heart of Ink Jet: Printheads

German article with some nice pictures

roofshooter

edgeshooter

 

[ghwellsjr]

That is a great article (the English one). Kind of makes you afraid to try any third-party ink. I sure hope they know what they are doing.

The animation is great, too. I like the way it shows the ejected ink breaking up into several different size drops. That is what I saw when I looked at a nozzle check under a microscope:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1504

What are the words in the cartoon at the end of the German article?

 

[Defcon2k]

This microscope stuff is very interesting!

The cartoon is not that funny... it says: "Are you happy with your new inkjet printer, colleague?"

 

[ghwellsjr]

I think it would be more funny if it said: "Are you happy refilling your new inkjet printer, colleague?"...at least the way I refill.