Pro9000II ink clogs: Do they ever really get cleared?

[rodbam]

I think that stray ink around the heads is normal. I had lines on one colour in a nozzle check & no matter what I did I couldn't clear it. Like you I hadn't looked at the print before so after cleaning & further head cleans & nozzle checks I removed the head for a more drastic clean. I then noticed all the stray ink around the print heads which made me think I had blown the seals creating a leak so I ordered a new printhead, after a few uses I removed the new print head to look at it & it had the same stray ink around the screens & on the white ceramic which showed up as a green colour like in your shot. I can only assume this stray ink comes from when the print head is parked on the cleaning sponges. So as far as I know I wouldn't worry about that stray ink.

 

[jjohnl]

Well... Huh!!! ??? I guess I'll do another windex soak then.
Does anybody have another suggestion? That line pattern has been exactly the same for 12 straight nozzle checks, over the course of more than 12 cleaning cycles, plus windex and hot water, both of which I directed (as well as I could) right into the inlet screen. I'm almost out of ink in several colors due to all the cleaning.

 

[pharmacist]

After many cleaning cycles, I was able to print a nozzle check, which was good except for two colors, PC and PM. While the other colors improved and finally lost their white lines over the course of many cleanings, these two haven't changed. So I went back to the windex followed by hot water and the nozzle check is exactly the same. I have at least 12 that look exactly like this:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/uploads/6091_img_3871.jpg

And I would continue cleaning, except that the bottom of the printhead looks like this:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/uploads/6091_img_3873.jpg

I confess I never looked at the bottom of the printhead when it was working right, but I believe the heavy lines and globs of ink aren't supposed to be there. I clean them off and they just keep coming back. So I think I see a new 9500 in my future. (I thought I'd give that a try since they're so cheap right now.)

Hi John,

I see 2x5 rows of nozzles and the Canon Pro 9000 has only 8 cartridges...is this a Pro 9500 printer ?

 

[jjohnl]

No, it's a 9000II. I wondered about the number of rows, but what do I know?

 

[rodbam]

The pro9000 does have 10 rows on the screen but two are blocked off inside the print head. Maybe they use the same screen fabrication for the 9000 & the 9500 with the two heads being a bit different internally.
Here's the inside of the 9000 head showing the two blocked off.

 

[turbguy]

Is it possible to force a service test print instead of a regular nozzle test for your printer? That would be MUCH more revealing.

Does anyone here know the button push sequence??

Wayne

 

[jjohnl]

Is it possible to force a service test print instead of a regular nozzle test for your printer? That would be MUCH more revealing.

Does anyone here know the button push sequence??

Wayne

I found the service manual online with instructions for doing it but right now the printhead is soaking. What exactly will it tell me?

 

[turbguy]

It "should" print a matrix pattern of each ink color, revealing EACH nozzle individually. Repeating patterns of missing nozzles in a matrix typically is evidence of electrical/electronic problems.

Close examination of an even a seemingly perfect matrix can show misdirected ink, evidence of worn/eroded nozzles.

See

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=13835#p13835

Wayne

 

[jjohnl]

It's aliiiiive!!!! Kinda.
After many, many cleanings and soakings with windex & hot water, and many, many, many cleaning cycles in the printer, the white lines are gone! Nozzle checks print normal. But there's a new problem.

Standard test images print too yellow. I've saved every nozzle check I've printed ever since the white lines started showing up, and numbered them. The first one looks just like the current ones as far as color and density. So nozzle checks look perfect. But images are too yellow. I actually first discovered the white line problem when I was printing a test image, so I know the color and density were good at that time.

The test image I use is the famous one with the 4 little kids across the bottom and the gray step wedges up the left side.

I've printed from Elements, DPP, and Irfanview (not color-managed). I've printed letting the app handle color, and I've let the printer manage color. Test images are always too yellow.

While I was doing all those cleaning cycles, I went back to using my OEM ink rather than waste OCP stock. The prints appear to be getting less yellow the more I print. So I wondered if I had OEM ink lingering in the print head so I started printing just yellow rectangles (255,255,0) to try and clear out the print head but I've printed 8 4x6 test images and one other print so I don't think any old ink could still be in the head.

Does anybody have any ideas about this?

Oh, and Merry Christmas!