IP4300 missing PGBK grid from nozzle check

[ghwellsjr]

It's probably not the print head. It's probably a clog in the purge system caused by the Hobbicolors pigment black ink. There are numerous other examples of this problem starting with the one mentioned on post #6 on Progress report on pigment ink clogging test. Here's another thread describing the same issue.

 

[Harvey]

Well I poured some water in the purge pads and it was drained, I also tried with another printer, and the same problem I never had this problem with this ink I will have to dismantle the printer to see what happens.

 

[Harvey]

Now that I remember I had the same situation but after a blast of hot water with a syringe directly to the nozzles and the problem was solved with a MP620. Now with Hobbicolors since a few months it happened to me that this ink is clogging my pigment black nozzles both in a IP4500 and a IP4200.

Not that a total clog but fine lines that wont dissapear even with new carts, but I dont think of them as burnt nozzles.

 

[ghwellsjr]

The problem I'm talking about has nothing to do with the print head. The Inktec ink that I had the problem with never clogged any nozzles, it clogged the purge system which is what sucks on the bottom of the print head to get the ink started. There is one purge system for the pigment black nozzles and and a second one for all the dye (color) nozzles so if only the pigment black one is clogged, all the dye inks will continue to work.

 

[Harvey]

The problem I'm talking about has nothing to do with the print head. The Inktec ink that I had the problem with never clogged any nozzles, it clogged the purge system which is what sucks on the bottom of the print head to get the ink started. There is one purge system for the pigment black nozzles and and a second one for all the dye (color) nozzles so if only the pigment black one is clogged, all the dye inks will continue to work.

I totally understand that there are 2 purge systems. I was narrating the only experience I had with no pigment printing with Hobbicolors, and that time it was the printhead, not it is not. I just finished checking the purge pad, it was well washed no gummy ink on it, I removed it and 12cc of Windex were drained on the pigment purge system.

I checked the purge system and it is sucking every time the Windex, purge unit is very clean also. I just had enough with that I even introduced a small portion of a metal wire to no avail, my diagnostic bad print head, as two printers cant be bad with the very problem.

Now with my insistence the nozzle check is showing very fine random lines in dark cyan stripe when it was perfect, all when trying to save pigment black when it was perfect.

Lesson learned, as this is perfect for pictures forget the pigment black until the head dies.

 

[ghwellsjr]

OK, but I still would recommend that you not use Hobbicolors pigment black ink. It will eventually clog the absorbent pads deep inside your printer. If you are using lots of water and/or Windex, you can probably forestall the clogging but you will also cause premature saturation of the absorbent pads and they will eventually overflow and leak out the bottom of your printer. The liquid in those pads have no way to evaporate so the more liquid you add, the sooner they fill up and the liquid won't get counted in the calculation the printer keeps of when it's time to replace the absorbent pads. You'd be better off using Precision Colors pigment black ink and not using very much Windex or water.

 

[Harvey]

OK, but I still would recommend that you not use Hobbicolors pigment black ink. It will eventually clog the absorbent pads deep inside your printer. If you are using lots of water and/or Windex, you can probably forestall the clogging but you will also cause premature saturation of the absorbent pads and they will eventually overflow and leak out the bottom of your printer. The liquid in those pads have no way to evaporate so the more liquid you add, the sooner they fill up and the liquid won't get counted in the calculation the printer keeps of when it's time to replace the absorbent pads. You'd be better off using Precision Colors pigment black ink and not using very much Windex or water.

Thanks for your advice. Once I reused my pads on an old IP4500 I washed them with a hose with mild water pressure, then I used the clothes washer spin cycle to dry them, and they worked well. At that time, and having only used Hobbicolors ink I could see the pads were not evenly saturated and the ink was solidified and that eventually was going to stop the purge system to work properly.

This ink was kind of waxy, but I succeeded cleaning it, now with this printer I cant print pigment black I am very cautious in order to not saturate the pads, I dont like to do many cleaning cycles on it. I am sure I will be buying some Precision Colors for pigmented black. The only problem is now I have 16 oz of Hobbicolors black I will try to get rid of it asap, and then buying PC ultra black for my Canons.

 

[Harvey]

Update: The printer turned off when I wanted to print a 4x6 photo, now it wont accept the head. I unplugg the power supply cable for a while, then the printer turns on half a second, and then it shuts down.

Without the printhead it stays on and no problems I guess. I have a sealed refurb head waiting to be the solution to my problem. I will try with another head to see if it stays on (non working head) if the printer turns off they will have a space in the junkyard.

My advice when you have a defective head just buy a new one before it damages the printer.

 

[Harvey]

Well, it turns out that the printer is guilty for not printing pigment black, and it killed the head. When the printer started to fail to print the pigment black I tested the printhead in another printer same results. I said at that time 2 printers cant have the same problem.

Today I used the spare head and guess what no pigment black only this time the other printer that previously didnt print black did print the black pattern this time. Somehow the defective printer damaged the printhead and it was not able to print black to the point that now the printer turns off inmediately when I use that printhead.

Now as you can imagine I am reluctant to use that printer. It is new and shiny, and it is a crime just to stare at it. It makes all its functions but I am afraid it damages the printhead to the point it fries it or the pigment black is permanently disabled.

 

[Grandexp]

It is quite common for thermo bubblejet print head to clog and fail with pigment black ink. I have had similar fate from old i560, ip4000, mp780 to ip4300, mp830 over the years. I used my printers on a daily basis. I initially suspected the ink I used too. After switching ink through many common sources the problem kept repeating on these printers (multiple units of them). The vendors including MIS (Image Specialists), Alotofthings (Formulabs), Atlantic Inkjet (Chinese?), Weink (Image Specialists but maybe Chinese) and currently Hobbicolors (Sensient). I concluded that it is not an ink brand issue to me as it happened to all the brand of pigment black ink I used.

Take an mp780 as an example. The symptom would start that there would be missing text (partially over two to three rows) several times on a full page of black text. Nozzle check indicated slight issue only. No amount of repeated printing could fix it. No amount of cleaning cycles could fix it either. Each time soaking the print head with Windex was pretty much the only way to fix it provided that it was spotted right after it started and be dealt with immediately. But it would come back in a couple of months sometimes weeks. One of the print head died because it wasn't dealt with soon enough and it was permitted to continue printing for many days.

Believe me I blamed the expensive black pigment ink quickly initially. It was a higher end of black pigment ink MIS sold back then (not any more as of today). I switched ink to different vendors but the issue simply would repeat over time. I almost gave up Canon printers and believed that they did not work when repeatedly refilled. But the text printing speed kept me with Canon.

I eventually started to experiment with the cartridges. I did the experiment on two mp830s. I refilled the PGI-5 as usual for the first mp830. But I gave a PGI-5 an extensive purge before it was refilled for the 2nd mp830. In about 3 months the first mp830 started to have the symptom again. But the 2nd one was free from the symptom for double the time in about 6 months. That was quite a discovery to me. I then started to purge all my PGI cartridges once every 4 to 5 refills (about two months). My printers have been free from the symptom for about 2 years now.

My analysis of the issue is this. After some repeated refillings the sponge in the PGI cartridges will build up some sludge which will make the ink more difficult to flow. The ink flow will probably be reduced which will cause the temperature of the heating elements in the the nozzles to rise. If the temperature gets too high it probably will partially vaporize the ink at the time the nozzles are shooting ink out of the nozzles. This causes the nozzles to clog. With the cartridges purged the ink flow is restored and the clog will be flushed out with printing.

I am convinced that the black pigment inks for the brands I used are all good. Their differences are the boldness, darkness and sharpness only. If you use the printer frequently your purge unit should not clog. I never experience any purge unit problems. I figure it must be because I use the printers a lot. I print a box (20 realms) of paper every 2 -3 months.

Harvey, I had a mp780 that killed a new print head before. That was after its original print head was dead. It was a terrible loss of hard earned money. I would only replace clogged print head. If the print head is dead I throw away the printer.