Printing Problems After Refill

[ehuesman]

I will test the purge system with the Windex after I get back from work today. Would a faulty purge system prevent ANY ink at all from printing during the nozzle check?

 

[ehuesman]

I have two pads, a roughly 3/4" square one and a rectangular one that is a little over 1" by about 1/4". The square one is on the left as you look down at them (which is reverse of other photos of purge pads I have seen on this forum). I could tell by sight that the square one was pretty damp, which I confirmed by touching - got lots of ink on the finger tip. The rectangular looked drier and when I touched it I only got a smudge of ink on the finger.

I sprayed both pads with Windex and it pooled on both. I waited a little over a minute and there was no visible change. I then did a print head cleaning and reinspected the pads afterwards. The square pad actually looked a little drier than it did before I sprayed the Windex. I still got a lot of ink on the finger when I touched it. The rectangular pad still had Windex pooled on it. FWIW, the area around the pads looks pretty messy, meaning it looks like black ink has splashed around the area.

Awaiting diagnosis...

 

[ghwellsjr]

That means your pigment black purge system is not working which explains why you cannot get any of that ink through the print head. Once it stops, it won't start again unless the purge (also called prime) system is working. This is a tube that connects to a hole in the bottom of the rubber tray that the purge pad sits in and it goes through a peristaltic pump to suck on the bottom of the print head to get the ink primed or started through the nozzles in the print head.

Sometimes the problem is in the porous purge pad material itself and can be easily fixed by removing the purge pad, soaking it in Windex, and running warm water through it until you can easily suck air through it when you put it to your lips. While the pad is out of its rubber tray, use cotton swabs to clean as much residual ink out of the tray and then use Windex-soaked swabs to get it as clean as possible. Don't leave it in this condition too long because the nozzles on the bottom of the print head can dry out causing further clogging.

NOTE: when you take the purge pad out of the rubber tray, see if one corner is notched so that you can get it back in the right orientation.

Before you put the purge pad back, put Windex in the rubber tray and see if it will get sucked away when you do a print head cleaning. If it doesn't, then you will have a bigger task on hand cleaning out the tubing. Let us know what you find.

But if you're lucky, it will work after you clean the purge pad and you can put it back in the tray and you'll be in business.

One last question: what pigment black ink have you been using to refill your wide cartridges?

 

[ehuesman]

Thanks, I'll try doing that tomorrow evening after work again. BTW, I'm using Hobbicolors ink. I know he labels it something but I'm not at home right now. All I know offhand is that I buy the five color refill kit from him which has the C, Y, M, photo black and two bottles of pigment black. Let me know if curious as to what the Hobbicolors label says. Thanks again.

 

[ehuesman]

Alright, I was finally able to try this this evening. I took the purge pads out, which to my surprise are hard "pumice stone" like pads, not spongy ones. While they soaked in Windex, I cleaned the trays out, filled them with Windex and ran a cleaning cycle. The Windex was not sucked away at all from the rectangular tray, it was kind of hard to say for sure on the square tray because it was wet, but it looked like it had been sucked away.

After cleaning the pads, I reinstalled them and went ahead and ran a nozzle check - no change. So I'm guessing this means one of the tubes is clogged? I'm not even sure I want to tackle that, from a cursory look of the printer it looks like that will entail quite a bit of dismantling.

Also, Hobbi Colors PMT-BK is what I have been refilling with, but remember that I bought a new Canon cartridge when this problem started and that is what is still installed.

Thanks again...

 

[ghwellsjr]

I have been testing the clogging characteristics of various pigment black inks and unfortunately, the Hobbicolors ink is just as bad as the Inktec ink that started me going on all this. I have no experience with taking apart your printer but it is a fair amount of work, especially if you don't have a manual or other instructions. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

 

[ehuesman]

At this point it's probably best to cash in my extended warranty and get a replacement printer. The warranty servicer said there was a chance they would want me to send the old one back, but I thought if it was going to be a fairly easy fix then I was going to keep it as a backup. I think the fact that it is an all-in-one would make the dismantling task more trouble than it is worth. I do appreciate all of your assistance through this, I've learned a few things for the future.

I was getting ready to ask what ink you recommended but I'm sure the answer is on your other thread, if I have any further questions on that topic I'll ask them over there.

Thanks.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I'll be recommending the best pigment black ink soon (preliminary).

 

[ehuesman]

It looks like Staples is sending me a gift card to buy a replacement. I'm looking for any suggestions here . Thanks!