Image Specialists Ink, CLI-221 Yellow ink is coagulating!

[WhoDunIt]

I didn't flush anything and all has worked well for a cartridge or two, but I'm seeing the yellow ink is translucent in the refill bottle but coagulated (there's a precipitate visible) in the cartridge after filling!

What to do?

Can I flush the cartridge with an alcohol/water solvent mixture? Sounds very messy... Or buy a clean totally empty cardridge? I'm hoping several deep cleanings will unclog the yellow (which is pretty completely plugged now). Oddly, the other colors are ok.

Allan

Canon MX870

 

[mikling]

There was an errant batch of yellow where one of the additives was not compatible with a specific chemical that is only within the OEM 221 Yellow. No other color is affected and is a particularly strange occurrence since this chemical only appears in the yellow and not in the other colors. No issues existed with prior Canon ink like the CLi-8. It looks like Canon added something new to their Chromalife in the 221 yellow. What was previously Canon compatible turned out not to be so and only with the newer yellow.

I have an exchange program where I will send you a replacement printhead and new ink that totally resolves this issue. If the ink is used where another ink was used before, the reaction does not occur.

If you wish to do it yourself. Here is how.

To break up this reaction, a strong solution of automatic dishwasher detergent dissolved in warm water will do the trick very effectively ( Cascade works well). Mix up a strong solution in warm water and place on the inlet screen and let it soak there for 5 minutes. Then use the tip of the syringe to vacuum it out. Repeat a few times. Following that, rinse/flush the printhead.

For the cartridge remove the remaining ink and then fill the cartridge with the same solution and let it soak in. Carefully flush the cartridge with the same solution that will reverse the reaction. Finally flush out the solution with water.

Needless to say once the issue was found, the problem has been resolved.

If anyone has Yellow ink for the 221 please contact me to prior to using it and we can determine if the ink is affected or not. The affected yellow will have CL-221YD on the ink label. Labels with CL221yD are not affected.

This is one of those freak issues that I wish never came about but I am doing my best to resolve it when it pops up. Thus far the exchange program is the best I can do to fix the problem, though it is inconvenient to the user.

 

[WhoDunIt]

That reply was quick... and I'm back up running after about an hour and a half of rinsing.

It took me a bit of permission to take a piece of high technology (printhead) and wash it in the sink like a coffee cup, lol...

I have a vacuum pump I sucked the water out of the rinsed cartridge before refilling.

I'll PM my info if you could see fit to send me some ink--that'd be great. A printhead exchange would undoubtably cost you $50. No need I think.

Thanks!

 

[inkoholic]

I have a clogged printhead and tried a lot of popular methods to no avail. What I've already tried is flushing with windex, alcohol, warm (distilled) water or any combination. But dishwasher detergent is completely new to me!

I'm not sure if I understand you correctly:
-mix dishwasher detergent with warm water (distilled)
-let the printhead sit in the dishwasher solution for 5 minutes (in a bowl or something)
-suck the dishwasher solution through the printhead nozzles with a syringe
-repeat and rinse

Is there anything special about the Cascade detergent? Dreft is the most popular in Holland, I guess that's about the same.

There was an errant batch of yellow where one of the additives was not compatible with a specific chemical that is only within the OEM 221 Yellow. No other color is affected and is a particularly strange occurrence since this chemical only appears in the yellow and not in the other colors. No issues existed with prior Canon ink like the CLi-8. It looks like Canon added something new to their Chromalife in the 221 yellow. What was previously Canon compatible turned out not to be so and only with the newer yellow.

I have an exchange program where I will send you a replacement printhead and new ink that totally resolves this issue. If the ink is used where another ink was used before, the reaction does not occur.

If you wish to do it yourself. Here is how.

To break up this reaction, a strong solution of automatic dishwasher detergent dissolved in warm water will do the trick very effectively ( Cascade works well). Mix up a strong solution in warm water and place on the inlet screen and let it soak there for 5 minutes. Then use the tip of the syringe to vacuum it out. Repeat a few times. Following that, rinse/flush the printhead.

For the cartridge remove the remaining ink and then fill the cartridge with the same solution and let it soak in. Carefully flush the cartridge with the same solution that will reverse the reaction. Finally flush out the solution with water.

Needless to say once the issue was found, the problem has been resolved.

If anyone has Yellow ink for the 221 please contact me to prior to using it and we can determine if the ink is affected or not. The affected yellow will have CL-221YD on the ink label. Labels with CL221yD are not affected.

This is one of those freak issues that I wish never came about but I am doing my best to resolve it when it pops up. Thus far the exchange program is the best I can do to fix the problem, though it is inconvenient to the user.

 

[Mowerman90]

I too, am having problems with my 221 yellow cart. Every time I print I find I have to run a deep cleaning cycle for the yellow to flow. I removed the yellow cart and noticed that there are pieces of something floating in the ink chamber. I replaced the bad cart with one that was not translucent (it too has been refilled 6 -7 times) but it seems to be printing fine for now. These are original carts that have been refilled 6 or 7 times with Precision Colors ink and this is the first time I've had any problems. Should I flush both carts?
Since I'm now getting a perfect nozzle check print should I worry about the printhead?

 

[mikling]

If the printhead had seen other ink in between, for example C0797D, there is not likely to be a problem as the OEM ink would have been flushed away. On the cartridge however, even if there had been intermediate ink in between, the likelihood of a good flush is not good so some leftover OEM might still cause issues. In this situation, flushing the cartridges with the recommended solution would be a good thing to do, It is best that the solution be left in the cartridge to soak overnight and this makes things a lot easier as it breaks down anything in there and that takes some time. After the solution soak and a good flush, the sponges are very white. I'll work with you on this.

 

[Tin Ho]

There was an errant batch of yellow where one of the additives was not compatible with a specific chemical that is only within the OEM 221 Yellow. No other color is affected and is a particularly strange occurrence since this chemical only appears in the yellow and not in the other colors. No issues existed with prior Canon ink like the CLi-8. It looks like Canon added something new to their Chromalife in the 221 yellow. What was previously Canon compatible turned out not to be so and only with the newer yellow.

Was this an issue of the ink manufacturer (Canon, Image Specialists), or an issue at Precisioncolors? I have not seen Canon or Image Specialists issuing a press note or anything about this. This sounds very serious because print head damage was involved.

 

[mikling]

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7022&p=2

I had done a lot of work to figure out the puzzle. It looks to be not just me but it looks like even OCP might have bumped into something based on that post.
However, the problem was temporary for me and there are no issues with inks that Precision Colors are shipping currently since June 2011 when it was figured out.

 

[Tin Ho]

If anyone has Yellow ink for the 221 please contact me to prior to using it and we can determine if the ink is affected or not. The affected yellow will have CL-221YD on the ink label. Labels with CL221yD are not affected.

Never heard of CL-221YD nor CL221yD. My cartridge shows CLI-221Y. This is a freaking scary issue. Please explain and be very clear. Thank you.

 

[mikling]

Tin Ho

When was the ink purchased from me? The month will suffice.