No print atall after cleaning print head: Canon i9950

[lewisham_phil]

Trigger, yes I did as you say, ran a few deep clean cycles with everything in situ, with the chassis elevated to observe what was happening.
There is a slight misunderstanding on the matter of blocking holes; there are actually four drain holes; the two at the front lead straight down into the waste sump, while the two towards the back lead to the purge pump. Therefore, any water placed in the purge head for the purposes of cleaning the pump, or determining whether the pump is sucking, will just run straight out the two direct drain holes. So blocking the direct drain holes allows the purge head to be filled with water, which can only be sucked away by the pump through the remaining two drain holes (or not, in my case).
I'm considering dismantling the pump, as you say Mikling, peristaltic pumps are pretty basic, although removing the purge unit assembly in order to gain access looks a little tricky..

 

[lewisham_phil]

A thought just struck me: Trigger, I'm not surprised you were perplexed by my rash assumption that the two forward holes lead straight to the sump; of course it makes no sense to have a direct outlet, as it would be impossible to suck ink through the heads! Silly me. So the fact that water goes straight down and out suggests the tube(s) are split, or have come adrift somewhere in the pump.
And now the slightly scary bit; do you have any advice on removing the purge unit? I think there is just one screw holding it, and I think I need to remove the platen unit aswell...

 

[Trigger 37]

Phil,...you finally got it right. The two black tube are supposed to be connected to the bottom of each of the pads. The two black tubes come from the purge pump. The output of the purge pump is 2 CLEAR tubes that dump the ink into the waste pads.

When you pulled the caps off you broke the connection between the black suction tubes and the pads. I don't know why you felt you had to pull the pads off. Now you really need to take the purge unit out and reconnect the black tubes.

I just looked at the manual for the i9000 and there is only one screw that holds the purge unit to the base. On the i960 it is much more difficult because there is a HIDDEN screw that requires other parts to be taken off, like the entire rear paper feed asm. Go ahead and take off the purge unit and get the tubes reconneted. The re-run the tests I outlined and see if you get ink down to the paper towel. To get the purge unit out there are two cables that must be disconnected from the main logic board and routed through the chassis. The unit will come out from the front.

 

[lewisham_phil]

Trigger, It's sorted! By the way, I didn't remove the 'caps' (white plastic purge receptacles), only the removeable hard pads and the rubber pad housing (half the problem is what to call these bits!).
The problem became obvious on tipping the whole chassis up to look directly under the purge unit; both the feed pipes from the purge head had come off their connectors at the pump housing end, thereby dumping all my test water straight into the sump. It was a simple matter to reconnect these without removing the purge unit. A couple of deep cleans and it's running perfectly. The tubes don't seem a very tight fit, though they are normally under suction; I imagine they detached in transit, as it was quite a drive away, and tested out fine at the sellers.
I am very glad I don't have to remove the purge unit completely, as it looks like quite a job, and just for reference there are two screws holding it on, one of which requires removing the paper feed assembly; (why do they do that?!) and then the platen etc. I think I would be investing in your manual if I wanted to go that far; have you done the US variant, the i9900?
Thanks for your help; the only cost was black hands for the next three weeks! (vinyl gloves are rubbish)

 

[Trigger 37]

Phil,... Glad to hear your printer is back to working. I only have the manual for the S9000 and it only shows one screw. Everyother printer from the i550 all the way up to the iP5000 has two screws, and the 2nd screw is in a very "NASTY" place. Most people would never find it. I have not done the manual for the iP9900 as I don't have one to repair. I have to have one first.

As far as the Vinyl gloves,... to each his own. I don't like rubber gloves because they are so hard to get on and off, plus the ink will not stain Vinyl gloves,... it just washes off.

Anyway, I'm very glad to hear your printer is fixed. I would watch it close as the pressure can build up in those tubes, especially when the printhead or a tube gets clogged with dried up ink. If you keep using your printer and print something at least 2 times a week, it should not clog on you.

Good Luck.

 

[emerald]

Recently a neighbor gave me his Canon model i960 color printer. He had satisfactory results printing photos and text for four years but a year ago it began streaking and losing the proper shading of colors. He did the simple maintenance routines (cleaning and deep cleaning) with no improvement. The ink levels in the cartridges were adequate. There were no warning lights or messages indicating trouble. It simply did not print satisfactorily. Having a spare printer and fearing a major dollar outlay for a print head, he stored the i960 in the garage and forgot about it. A year later, during a recent house cleaning, he offered it to me. Included in the offer was twenty empty BCI-6 type cartridges. Thirteen cartridges were Canon OEM , the rest were after-market cartridges purchased on the internet from LD Products.

I took it home, installed the software, made the connections and fired it up. The maintenance icon indicated two cartridges (photo magenta and photo cyan) were nearly empty and a visual inspection confirmed it. I launched the nozzle test and alignment routines. The alignment result was a few magenta colored patterns and then nothing. Several attempts using the cleaning and deep cleaning routines changed nothing.

I removed the ink cartridges and print head from the printer. Suspecting a clogged print head I put the print head under a moderate stream of hot water from a sink faucet and forced water through the print head in a forward direction, then changed direction by directing the stream of water to the output surface of the print head. The result was ink residue of all ink colors streaming from each of the six print head openings and cartridge openings for a short time. After a few minutes the stream of water in both directions was clear. I patted it dry with a paper towel and let it dry overnight.

Convinced that all six print head openings were passing fluid, I assembled the print head and ink cartridges in the printer and tried again the same test routines - several times - cleaning and deep cleaning, nozzle check and alignment. Same results; nothing.

At this juncture, I suspected a bad print head but the replacement cost of nearly $90.00 from Amazon.com deterred me from that idea. I pondered the facts: The printer prints nothing, the print head passes fluid, the ink tanks are full and drip ink from the outlets when the fill hole is opened. The ink cartridges show nearly full after many deep cleaning attempts. There are no other trouble conditions... no warning lights, strange noises, maintenance icons, etc. There must be something else wrong. I researched the symptoms on the InkJet Printer Forum and found a string titled, " No print atall after cleaning print head: Canon i9950" by lewisham_phil. Expert guidance from InkJet Masters Trigger 37, Tin Ho and Mikling led me to the same problem thatLewisham_phil discovered. The problem was a loose hose from the waste sump to the purge pump.

I have the repair manuals that lists parts and simple test procedures but I find the manuals lack any real "meat" on how to disassemble a printer and what likely trouble to look for. My repair procedure started by removing the top cover from the Canon i960 printer. This is done by removing the small panel that holds the power and resume buttons - 2 screws. Unplug the cable from the PC board/buttons by gently prying apart the connection. At the rear of the printer, grip the latch and remove the inspection plate. There are 5 slots midway around the perimeter of the case. I used an old automotive point file to depress the internal plastic release tabs. While pushing on the tabs, gentle shaking and upward pressure lifts the case from the main body of the printer. There's a loose cover over the USB connectors that simply lifts out after removing the top cover. A small switch at the top of the machine senses the top cover to be open or closed. It's normal (closed cover) condition is NOT depressed. After removal of the top cover, reconnect the PC board/buttons connection and temporarily install the button panel by using the bottom screw. Now one can do maintenance routines as though the cover was in place. With the cover removed paper is not supported so if paper is needed, use only 4 or 5 sheets and hold them in place by hand.

At the right side of the printer is the purge pump assembly. With the power off you can see the action of the purge/wiper mechanism by rotating a plastic gear near the purge motor. A plastic sponge about one inch square sets inside a shallow rubber basin/sump. This is what mates with the print head while the purge pump is sucking ink from the print head. Remove the plastic sponge and rubber sump. They lift up and are held in place by the rubber tabs of the rubber sump. There are two holes in the white plastic basin/sump holder - one leads to the drainage sponges and the other one (towards the back of the printer) is connected to the purge pump via a hose. Rotate the plastic gear to position the sump holder so you can see the hose from the purge pump.

I could not see what the other end of the hose connects to but after some probing I discovered the other end of the hose had come loose from the elbow at the base of the sump holder. Working blind, I used a hemostat type of "pliers" to put the hose back onto the elbow of the sump holder. It stands to reason that this hose connection is vulnerable to becoming unattached because there's a lot of up and down motion of the purge assembly.

I launched cleaning and deep cleaning and then asked for a printout. Ah yes, we're back in business. I did a nozzle check and alignment. I notice after fixing the purge hose problem that the deep cleaning action is now accompanied by a distinct sound...lop..lop..lop that was not heard before. This sound might be a help to someone who suspects similar problems. I did the "service test print" via the power and resume buttons and discovered some missing lines in the grid patterns. I printed some 6-color patterns using the normal setting and notice some banding through each color bar which I attribute to clogged passages as noted in the grid patterns. I'll try soaking the print head overnight in a Windex bath.

A tip of the hat to Trigger 37 and lewisham_phil.

 

[Trigger 37]

Emerald,... Since you have so many older Canon ink carts, I would suggest that you make yourself a set of cleaning ink carts and fill them with a little ink and hot water. Then run Deep cleaning cycles followed by nozzle check until you get rid of all of the banding. If you are successful in getting the head back to 100%, then you should be able to keep it that way. Refill you own ink carts and use only Canon OEM carts because of their design and quality of mfg. Buy only good ink. Print something everyday,.. and keep an eye on your nozzle check,... don't ever let an ink cart run dry.

I suggest the same thing for your MP530. By the way, if you are really looking for a Repair Manual, send me an email.

 

[emerald]

Trigger - Thanks so much for your suggestion of using extra old ink cartridges for deep cleaning and the offer of a repair manual. Here's what I did:

I used the old LD Products cartridges. They have a single sponge and are unmodified. I Used a safety pin to extract the silicone filling plugs. I flushed them using a 25 ML syringe and hot tap water. The syringe has a shoulder on the needle which aids in creating a pressure fit. After about 10 or 12 injections through the filler hole, the water flowed clear from the outlet and the sponges appeared to be reasonably clean with a slight stain. I put my mouth over the filler hole and blew to clear the reservoir and sponge of as much water as possible. I left them outside for a day in the sun to dry further.

I fashioned a seal clamp and cartridge holder from an oversized novelty clothespin. It's about 8 inches long and exerts 5-6 lbs. of clamping pressure. I extended the jaws by attaching two 1/8" plywood tabs to the jaws which now open wide enough to accommodate a Canon BCI-6 type cart. I cut the ear off an old Canon outlet seal that comes with a new cart and drilled a hole through its center and fastened it to the bottom jaw with a screw. The clamp is about 1 1/2" wide so it holds the cart upright while filling.

I filled the carts with a mixture of ink and water - 4 ML ink + 5-8 ML water. I resealed them using the old silicone filler plugs. I used hot water but found doing so futile because the dilution of the ink and the time required to fill them. They're tepid by the time you install them. I'm using Hobbicolor UW-8 ink purchased on eBay. Six 4 oz. bottles - $37.90.

Yesterday I ran 15-16 deep cleaning attempts using the offline (No PC) "Service Mode." Tests are made simply by pressing the the POWER and RESUME buttons on the front of the printer as described in the Product Service Details PDF. The degree of print head clogging can be displayed by calling for the "service test print." Among other details are six 16x32 line graphs which represents the nozzle matrix for each of the six ink colors.

In an earlier post (#16 this string) I explained my unsuccessful print head cleaning endeavor. Using your advice I extended that attempt of deep cleaning using the test carts filled with ink and water. After 15 or 16 cleanings interspersed with 8 service test prints, there were no significant improvements. Then a display of a long green and four short orange on the power key warned of a "purge sensor" problem. I feared something awry with the purge pump mechanization but discovered the trouble was merely that most of the ink carts were empty. This time I filled the carts with a mixture of 4 ML ink + 3 ML Windex + 3-5 ML water. I did 4 more deep cleanings and 2 service test prints. No change.

Two days earlier I ordered a new Canon print head. Amazon.com - $88.45. With nothing to lose I decided to try a more aggressive approach on cleaning the old print head. I flushed the print head under a stream of hot water in both directions until no ink was visible. Last night before going to bed I poured a 32 oz. bottle of ammonia type Windex into a sauce pan and warmed it to 160F degrees as measured by a cooking thermometer. Then I poured it into a Proctor Silex coffee maker and submerged the Canon i960 print head in it. I turned on the coffee maker, monitored the temperature for an hour (150-160F) and went to bed. In the middle of the night (3:00AM?) I added about an inch of water.

This morning I cleaned up the coffee pot and flushed the print head under a stream of hot water to remove the Windex. I then wiped it off and blew it with a hair dryer. The 10 hour, 150F degree Windex bath turned the black plastic a battle ship gray. I put it in the printer along with the test cartridges. I ran 2 deep clean cycles and then a printout. The test ink is dim so I did the same thing using a regular set of ink cartridges. I was pleasantly surprised that the print head did not display a warning light. To see the results better, I scanned the printout using a 400 dots per inch scan. I then used a graphic editor (Irfanview) to enhance the colors. The 16x32 matrix graphics now indicate uneven or distorted lines (the prune effect?) as compared to before the Windex bath. There was NO significant change in missing lines in the matrix display - about the same amount and in the same locations. I also printed out a 6 color test bar. There is banding displayed using Plain Paper/Standard preference but pretty solid colors using Photo Paper/High preference. The new Canon i960 print head arrived today. It has one line missing in the Cyan matrix. It works great! I'm keeping the old one - what for? I don't know.

I made three jpg graphics depicting the 6 color matrix before the Windex treatment, after the windex treatment and using the new Canon i960 print head. I have not uploaded a graphic to Inkjet Printer Forum yet other than the emerald avatar. I am confident of the quality of the graphics but uncertain about how to upload them to this string in Inkjet Printer Forum. Any help accepted and appreciated.

 

[Trigger 37]

Emerald,...first I want to congratulate you on all your efforts. So far you have done the best that you can do. With all the cleaning I can't believe you did not have total success. However, I have more than 5 old heads that I was never able to clean. I suspect that the nozzles you are trying to clean are burnt out.

Now for the bad news,... You should never buy a printhead from anywhere other than Canon. They are the lowest price and they will give you a 1 year warranty on the part you buy from them. The most I have paid for any of the iXXX printheads has been $45 plus shipping. Now that you have a new head, do you know what you have to do to keep your printer working in top shape FOREVER?????. Do you understand why the head fail to begin with. Do you know what you are doing wrong on a day to day basis??????

 

[turbguy]

May I suggest:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4132