Just bought a new printer

[rounakr94]

I'm a kind of irritated that the black ink tube ran empty with no apparent reason; keep an eye on it to monitor if that happens again.

Thanks.
Will keep an eye on that. Also checked if the printer is on a level ground and its dead center on every surface with my water level checker.

 

[rounakr94]

I'm a kind of irritated that the black ink tube ran empty with no apparent reason; keep an eye on it to monitor if that happens again.

My brother has a G3010 (the wireless version of mine). He also had this issue without any reason after few months. For him it was much drastic, the ink tubes (C,M and BK) were nearly empty with small specks of ink in the tube (meaning it was empty from the cartridge end to the tank end). He had to do an Ink Rush.

Looks like its common with newer Canon Ink Tank printers.

For now I have printed atleast 10 text pages and 4-5 mixed pages with one nozzle check and the ink is still there in the tube like normal.

Btw how do the cartridges pull the ink? By capillary action or there is some sort of pump?

Edit: I think I know what may have cause the ink to retract back. I once opened the rubber stopper on the black ink reservoir tank. Could that have disturbed the pressure inside the tank to cause it?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Looks like its common with newer Canon Ink Tank printers.

I haven't heard about that effect before but o.k. - I'm not a Canon user at this time, I just had a G1500 for a short while t the time it was first sold.

Btw how do the cartridges pull the ink? By capillary action or there is some sort of pump?

That's a pretty complex hydrodynamic process actually, there is the generation of bubbles - by heat - with a small electrical pulse across a resistor which is in contact with the ink, a minute amount of ink gets heated up to the boiling point and generates a small vapor bubble - and this bubble has to go somewhere - the geometry of the ink channel is such that this bubble propels a small amount of ink just in one direction - and not backwards - the ink drop is leaving the nozzle, the volume drops in the ink channel and creates a small amount of underpressure which pulls the same amount of ink into the printhead, this all happens at pretty high frequencies like 20 kHz, so it's a matter of a critical balance that all these effects work together.

I once opened the rubber stopper on the black ink reservoir tank. Could that have disturbed the pressure inside the tank to cause it?

That could be the cause, you most likely didn't look to the tubes if the black tube was pulling air at that time.

 

[rounakr94]

That could be the cause, you most likely didn't look to the tubes if the black tube was pulling air at that time.

So its not an error on Canon's part lol. Used the printer for quite sometime with around 10-15 prints and the ink tube is still solid black.

Opening the stopper for sure caused a pressure/vacuum drop which caused air to enter from the cartridge end as the seal on that part is weaker and just a press spring fit.

Also on some reviews I saw that there is some sort of Ink Lock mechanism and opening the stopper cap disturbs it. Its kind of like a white plastic lever near the inktank blue cover.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Just keep an eye on it , there shouldn't be air bubbles in the ink tubes during normal operation.

 

[rounakr94]

Just keep an eye on it , there shouldn't be air bubbles in the ink tubes during normal operation.

Yep. For now it looks okay. Checking everyday to see if ink level has gone back. Btw here is a test print. Does it look okay?

 

[rounakr94]

Just keep an eye on it , there shouldn't be air bubbles in the ink tubes during normal operation.

Hi, @Ink stained Fingers . The Cyan tube has a very small bubble in it. Not an ink gap in the tube but a very small bubble.
Looks like the small bubbles in Inktank had found their way into the tubes

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

- the nozzle check looks o.k., you have 2 nozzle rows each for the CMY colors, that's for two different droplet sizes.

- Bubbles - just check if they are getting more.

 

[rounakr94]

- the nozzle check looks o.k., you have 2 nozzle rows each for the CMY colors, that's for two different droplet sizes.

- Bubbles - just check if they are getting more.

So far the bubble stays there only and doesn't move even after pressing the tube on that part a bit with my finger nail so that won't bother me that much. The ink still flows and it might just be a bubble from the tank.

 

[SkedAddled]

Just make sure the printhead cartridge doesn't dry out.
That's the biggest problem with Canon inkjet printers.

I keep my PRO-100 and MG5320 PIXMA printers going
with a basic nozzle check every week or two.

The MG5320 has gone to my mother, while the PRO-100
stays with me, and both are good after a few years.