Pro9000mkII Nozzle check - Is this terminal?

[mikling]

Here is some correspondence from a Pro-100 user.
"
I sent you a text that day too but here’s how it played out. DPOF prints were not conclusive as it was one of the colors that didn’t show up very well and I had already converted the original NEF to DNG so I could not move that back to the camera to compare apples to apples..


Replaced cartridges in new printhead. Same story. Banded print.


Replaced body…..perfect print.


It was definitely the body."

Read the first three posts by Pearlhouse and then see if there is something to this.
http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/really-in-need-of-suggestions-i-have-run-out-of-ideas.9075/

No printing... bad clogs.
Replaced printhead OEM ink clogs start reappearing after time.

Canon advises to turn printers off when not in use.

We seldom look at the logic board but from history we do know logic boards can kill printheads but that aspect is often overlooked on newer printers.

 

[jtoolman]

Mike I am glad you jumped in here.
My Quote:

"
Why are CANON print heads suffering from Magenta or Light Magenta Clogs? Or are they clogs?"

Before I even suggested that it could be the printer body I want to make sure I wasn't misquoting what you had shared with me earlier in private.
There must be some strange correlation with the fact that it appears for the moment to manifest itself as a Magenta or L Magenta clog that does not react to any unclogging methods.

Joe

 

[mikling]

They do not react to unclogging because it is my suspicion that it is baked glycol that has turned solid. Any sort of agent that tries to dissolve that will make the solid baked component expand and further cork up the nozzle . This is theory only but it makes sense to me. Maybe pharmacist can tell us more of what glycol does when it is baked at high temps.

If ink dries as in a normal clog, it will redissolve with new ink or another agent like Windex or Alcohol. If it bakes, rehydration will make it clog tighter when it expands. Even the cheapest pure aqueous dye ink will redissolve.

The question as in the thread by Pearlhouse is how did it clog solid by itself with no printing. ...continuous heat. He left the printer on but it normally the printer should not do that.

I myself have lost a Pro9000 printhead twice in the same printer body and the second one hardly did any printing and was refilled with different batches. If the ink was bad, it would not print properly. I used different batches over months and all was new. Same pattern of faulty PM channel..over two printheads.

The common thing is that the printer was left on. So it is not that leaving a printer on is bad. No, I left my MP500 on for over 5 years and it did not kill the printhead. However, if the logic board becomes faulty or even if the printhead is faulty, leaving the printer on for extended periods can cause this this severe clog to occur. So to minimize this risk, turning the printer off might be a wise thing to do.

Now the normal thing to say is that after cleaning the printhead, if the heating is caught early, it works again....but what caused it in the first place.....that is the unknown. We know that normal clogs will unclear easily with a soaking...when it does not and we replace the printhead, we must ackknowledge the risk that it might return. The only way to minimize that risk is to turn the printer off subsequently.

Over the last few months I started to piece together the variables involved and most times, if clogging occurs for no reasonable reason like never flushed carts, or improper refills, then I start seeing a pattern of possibly faulty logic boards. The diagnosis for faulty boards is not quick nor easy. Only obersvation of repeat trials will show it.

 

[paulcroft]

For what it's worth, when the previous print head failed back in March I set the printer to turn off automatically when I was not using it so in my case the failure of this latest print head is not due to the printer having being left turned on. Also, fwiw, my cartridges are all Canon OEM and my inks are Image Specialist from Octoinkjet and all less than about a year old.

 

[The Hat]

You guys can talk till your both blue in the face but my way of thinking is the logic board could not be responsible, a clog is a clog and if seen early enough then it can be cleared and you can print as normal.

If the logic bard was in any way faulty as you both clearly suspect then how can you expect to run a printer after clearing a non- existing clog and it then perform 100% normal again, that isn’t logical.

It’s either faulty or it’s not, circuitry can’t fix itself and if it were to develop a faulty circuit then the EPROM chip with detect this and declare that fault on the printers front panel (Flashing LEDS).

If it looks like a duck and it walks and quacks like duck, there can be only one explanation for that, sorry guys but I’m on the side of the duck here.
Either that or were dealing here with a known unknown ! ! !

 

[jtoolman]

The Hat. In both of my PRO-9000mkii head failures in which I was using PC inks and printing Profile Charts for Mike, the print head went from printing perfectly to missing wide parts of the nozzle check ALWAYS on either one of the magentas. NOTHING could be done to unclog it or revive it
So how soon does it take to go from having it being happily printing to total failure?

Overnight!

So after having this occur the second time, I took the printer out of service and it will be put out with the trash. I still have another new one but without a print head in the original box. So if I really feel like I need it back in the lineup I will get a new head and set it up. But for now I have plenty of PRO-100s so I doubt it.

Mike actually purchased the second head for me and that failed within a few days of use.

My PRO 9000 MKII was left on 24/7 since I first got it about 3 years ago.

Joe

 

[andy_48]

To fill in the gaps (I'm the OP):

• My Pro9000 MkII is 15 months old and has had relatively light use (I'm very much an amateur photographer).
• Since using the original Canon carts, all inks have been IS from Octoinkjet in OEM carts. I have 2 sets on the go which would be rotated on average every 1 to 2 months.
• The printer has been pretty much left on 24/7.
• The magenta banding error occurred suddenly (at least, it was quite obvious in a print when I'd had no issues previously, if that makes sense!).
• Until this apparent "clog" showed itself, I had never applied any cleaning chemicals to the head (only ink).

Just to add another dimension. My existing head is designated QY6-0055 but this has now been superseded by QY6-0076. I have ordered the latter and just wonder if both models have resulted in the magenta clogs being discussed (i.e. is the later model more stable?). I'd be amazed, though, if anyone knows!!

Andy

 

[paulcroft]

Andy
My last two heads were both QY6-0076. The first head - which came with the printer in 2010 - was presumably the 0055 version and lasted 2½ years.

 

[The Hat]

My original question was:- what inks and cartridges were being used when all of these print head clearly failed prematurely.

The reason I asked that was could there be a common connection between all of these failures, I reckoned that would have been the best place to start.

The elephant in the room was clearly the ink if all of the respondents had been using this same ink from the one manufacturer. (Still unknown)

Moving on from that without knowing if the inks were the most probable cause was to immediately blame the logic board which again I reckoned was a bit of a red herring, because logic boards don’t magically fix themselves, after installing a new print head.

So I’ll start the ball rolling by saying that when my magenta head failed, I was not using OEM ink or ink manufactured by I.S. or Sudhaus and if all the rest of the respondents could do the same then a pattern would soon emerge. (It wouldn’t be the ink)

Back to the elephant again and this is my angle on it without having any axe to grind, and leaving your printer on 24/7 may not have had anything to do with the premature magenta failures either, (Another unknown).

The failure of all of these print heads in my mind is one of two things (Poor design) most lightly and or terrible quality control in the manufacturing, (Un-lightly).

They have never got it right in any of their larger print heads. (Yet), I reckon there is an ongoing problem with overheating in the design of these Pro printers and only time will tell if they have managed to fix this huge goof.

The heads inside these printer should last for a predetermine amount of firings and not the age of the printer itself as used to be the case in much of the older 4/5 colour heads.

So let’s all watch for any early signs of head failure and report it back if they are unfortunate enough to be the next victim, and back to the elephant again please try not to kick the 3rd party ink suppliers in the crouch every time you happen to get a clog..

 

[jtoolman]

My original question was:- what inks and cartridges were being used when all of these print head clearly failed prematurely.

I was using Inkjetcarts inks and all was fine.
I switch to PC inks to run color charts from profiling for milking and after I finished the printer sat for a couple of days and BINGO Both magentas has ireversable clogs.
Replaced head for one that I still had from a spare new prp9000 mkii printer and switched back to the IJC ink filled carts and printed for a few days.
Had to print more charts for PC so switched back to the PC ink filled carts and within a few days the problem was back. This head was also clocked on the magentas.
Mike purchased me another head and that one also failed within a few weeks.
Inks? Logic board? Regardless, I put the now headless printer body on the "DEAD" shelf.

The reason I asked that was could there be a common connection between all of these failures, I reckoned that would have been the best place to start.

Well I did switch to the PC inks in every case before the failures BUT would the failures have occurred even on the IJC inks? I really did not let them stay in the printer for long before switching to PC to print those charts. So I can't 100% say the fault was with the inks of with the printer body causing the clog because it was left on 24/7.

The elephant in the room was clearly the ink if all of the respondents had been using this same ink from the one manufacturer. (Still unknown)

So for me it was will PC inks in every case. Still think that those inks were not the cause.

Moving on from that without knowing if the inks were the most probable cause was to immediately blame the logic board which again I reckoned was a bit of a red herring, because logic boards don’t magically fix themselves, after installing a new print head.

I agree. A bad board would ultimately ruing a good head correct?

So I’ll start the ball rolling by saying that when my magenta head failed, I was not using OEM ink or ink manufactured by I.S. or Sudhaus and if all the rest of the respondents could do the same then a pattern would soon emerge. (It wouldn’t be the ink)

PC inks

Back to the elephant again and this is my angle on it without having any axe to grind, and leaving your printer on 24/7 may not have had anything to do with the premature magenta failures either, (Another unknown).

Can't comment! I really don't know enough about printer logic boards.