Printing Problems After Refill

[ghwellsjr]

Yes.

 

[leo8088]

Your PGI-220 print head is probably clogged. If it is clogged purging your cartridge will not clear the clog. If this is the case there are many excellent suggestions made on this forum that you can do, except the one that tells you: don't remove the print head from the printer to soak in cleaning fluid. Of course you don't want to remove the print head for soaking with no reason. If cleaning cycle and deep cleaning cycle can not fix it then removing the print head from the printer to soak in the cleaning fluid may be the next thing top do.

Canon OEM BCI-3ebk cartridges had an old formula of ink. When it dries up the sponge gets clogged. However, I have noticed that this never happened to all PGI-5 I refilled. I may not have seen enough PGI-5s. But I have seen quite a few BCI-3ebk that had the problem. I personally believe PGI-5s do not have the problem. PGI-220 should be similar to PGI-5. I think you may need to focus on how to unclog your print head. That will be the hard part. Without the print head unclogged it will still print like that even you put in a new PGI-220 cart.

 

[ehuesman]

Alright, I've tried everything except the purge and nothing worked. When I tried ghwellsjr's method of clearing the vent, I couldn't get any ink to come out at all. I'm not the burliest guy in the world but I'm pretty sure if I would have squeezed that cartridge any harder it would have bust a seam, and nothing was coming out of the outlet (which I had sealed with tape). On the flipside, when I tried iP4XXX's method, I only had to blow through the vent with very slight pressure before ink came out of the outlet freely. I'm assuming this means its all good with the vent and the sponge, meaning that if I didn't have to blow to hard then it isn't clogged up?

I'm still not sure if that means there is a problem that a purge will fix or not but I am going to do one anyways, just for the experience if nothing else.

Any other ideas? What about leo8088's suggestion that the head is clogged? I did the cleaning and deep cleaning, and besides, it was printing just fine before I did the refill. Could a severe clog happen suddenly?

 

[ghwellsjr]

I'm still not sure if that means there is a problem that a purge will fix or not but I am going to do one anyways, just for the experience if nothing else.

Have you tried purging your cartridge yet? Did it solve your problem?

 

[ehuesman]

I started trying to do the purge, but realized that I was trying a mixture of ideas that didn't necessarily work together. I used a combination of withdrawing the ink with the German method, then blowing through the vent hole to force ink out of the outlet, then ghwellsjr's method of using the folded paper towel to let capillary action draw the rest of the ink out. I then refilled the cartridge with tap water (German method) and repeated the whole process. I did this several times until the water that came out and was absorbed by the paper towel was clear. The problem was, the sponge inside looked like it still had ink in it and the outlet was still black, so I figured it must not be a true purge. I don't have the materials or the time right now (going on vacation in a couple of days) to follow any of the full purge methods listed on the site.

I did go buy a new cartridge (OEM!) and the printer works fine, so at least I've isolated the problem to the cartridge versus the print head.

I saved the old cartridge and may try a purge at a later date. Are there any methods that don't involve making a new hole in the cartridge, other than the one I use for refilling with the German method?

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to post some advice.

 

[pharmacist]

The pigment ink cartridges (PGI-5, PGI-220/520) cannot be completely rinsed until immaculate white. It will remain greyish. This is normal, nothing to be afraid off.

 

[ehuesman]

Is the method I outlined sufficient for a purge, where I am basically just refilling the cartridge with water, draining and repeating?

 

[ghwellsjr]

That is what I do but using Windex or other window cleaner or other soapy solution will help get the sponge cleaner but not pure white like you can do for the dye ink sponges.

 

[ehuesman]

Can I ask how many times you do it (refill, drain, repeat) with the Windex and then how many times do you need to do it with water to rinse it? Also, while I'm thinking about it, do you use straight Windex or diluted?

 

[ghwellsjr]

I haven't kept track but it is lots of times, at least ten, maybe twenty total. So first I will blow out as much ink as I can, then I run tap water through it, blow it out, repeat as many times as it take until no more colored water comes out. Then I dribble Windex (straight) into the outlet port and wait until it completely saturates the sponge. Then I don't remember if I repeat with just water or Windex but eventually, I decide the sponge isn't going to get any whiter and I repeat with water until I'm sure the Windex is completely rinsed out, then I dribble distilled water into the sponge and blow it out and attach the paper towels to dry it.

I should point out that this is the process I use when I am testing a new ink and I want to make sure there is no interaction between the old ink and the new ink. If my purpose were to simply clean up the sponge and filter to get rid of clogs, I just do it far fewer times, just enough so that I can blow the water out easily.

In my experience, the filter can also be clogged which is why many people force water through the outlet port under pressure but these are usually people who refill from the top which provides another escape for the water.