Problem with Photo Cyan ink cartridge pulling through - Canon Pixma Pro 10s

[rachelambie]

Hello,

Im hoping someone can help. Ive been having problems with the Photo Cyan ink cartridge stop working midway through printing for several weeks now. I always run a nozzle check before I start printing and it has been hit and miss for a while now. Recently, the nozzle check will come out fine before I start printing but once I have printed around 4-5 prints the Photo Cyan just stops pulling through. I will then run a nozzle check which will show an empty box where the Photo Cyan colour should be.

I usually take the ink cartridge out, pull out the existing ink with a syringe and refill the ink using the dribble method.
I then run a cleaning cycle and redo the nozzle check. This usually improves but still isn't upto standard. Please see images attached*

Once it seems like the Photo Cyan is pulling through better again, I will then be able to print around 4-5 prints which come out perfect and then it will suddenly stop working again and I have to repeat the above. This problem also tends to happen more when the colour I am printing is over a large area.

I have already purchased a new genuine Photo Cyan cartridge as I thought the sponge on my other cartridge may have needed replacing due to being refilled too many times. Again this improved at first but again started having the same issues.

I have also cleaned the printhead using distilled water and also left it standing in the water over night. The next day I left it for around 6-7 hours to dry before inserting it back into the printer. The issue seemed to have gone, until day 4 when the photo cyan stopped pulling through again.

I have also been having 'banding' issues on specifically green and orange/rust coloured prints where the colour is over a large area. See images attached* Would this be related to the Photo Cyan problem also?

The printer that I use is a Canon Pixma Pro 10s which is around 16 months old. I use it everyday as I sell typography and graphic art prints for a living.

I first started using Canon inks but later went on to use Octoinks. I still use Canon inks for Photo Magenta and Magenta as the Octoinks versions didn't work quite as well as 'banding' on specifically pink prints would appear, so I decided to use the original magenta inks and haven't had the banding issue on the pink style prints since. I again use the dribble method to refill the other inks.


Any advice would be great.

Many Thanks,
Rachel

 

[The Hat]

Hi @rachelambie, you certainly know how to baffle us with this one, firstly from what I can see, you’re having ink starvation issues with the photo Cyan and grey, that just don’t make sense.

Replacing a problematic cart with a brand new one should clear up any starvation issues immediately, but in your case it didn’t, and the grey is having similar problems also .

What you need to do for now is Don’t print any further test prints till you can clear up these issues, nozzle prints are the one exception because they are your friend..

Leave everything as is and don’t alter anything, now open the top lid like your changing a cart and when the print head carriage is centred pull the power plug from the wall..

Look in where the cartridges usually sit (Right side) and flood the pads that you can see with Window cleaner (Overflow), now wait to see if all the liquid drains away fairly quickly, whether it does or not fit the power plug back in the socket and flood the pads once more, close the lid and power on..

The printer will do a quick cleaning cycle and then purge of all your carts ready for printing, next print 4 or 5 nozzle checks one after the other and check each of them carefully to see if there are any visable changes, there shouldn’t.

I won’t go into your technique and refilling procedures right now because that’s the least of your problems, try my suggestion out first and report back please..

 

[palombian]

Welcome to the forum !
Your PRO-10S is used frequently, this can't be the reason.

I had comparable issues with the Magenta, and was able to avoid them by intensive cleaning of the cartridge.
I didn't observe it with Photo Cyan or Photo Magenta (only 850 pages).

Although I couldn't prove it, a possible explanation is the refill ink reacts with remaining OEM and obstructs the ink flow in the cart (the 3 small holes, the maze and/or the sponge) and later in the printhead.
Kind of a slow buildup that manifests itself after a number of refills as you experienced too.
And as long as the cause is not removed it will start again.

I rinsed first at least 20 times with warm water and dishwashing soap (Fairy) plus a few drops of ammonia (you could use Windex too), leaving it in the cart overnight or even a few days.
Afterwards rinsing with tap water (again at least 20x) then demineralised water.
At last with "Pharmacist solution" (20% isopropanol + 2% glycerin) to recondition the sponge.

I never experienced the sponges or other parts of the cartridge becoming unusable in 6 years.
You could give your old cart a treatment.

I observed banding in light and medium green from time to time too.
It is more pronunciated with high quality settings and strange enough disappears with OEM grey (while never present with other colours).
Nothing visible in the grey nozzle check.

 

[palombian]

... try my suggestion out first and report back please..

Cleaning the purge system after 2500 pages is indeed the first thing to do

 

[stratman]

Nozzle Check #2 GY patch does not make sense to me. Ink, or lack of it, does not normally make for rising slopped lines. Ink starvation may be relatively constant, such as with PC patch, or the loss of ink may appear like a horizontal funnel shape that is characteristic of starvation. But the positive sloping nature of ink/no ink suggests some atypical process, maybe movement of paper or nozzles, that is not found in nozzle checks.

To me, it looks like the paper rotated and caused the GY ink to not only have this atypical appearance but also the ink to rise above the top edge of a nozzle check patch. Yet, all the other patches appear consistent with expected dimensions and ink pattern.

 

[rachelambie]

Hi @rachelambie, you certainly know how to baffle us with this one, firstly from what I can see, you’re having ink starvation issues with the photo Cyan and grey, that just don’t make sense.

Replacing a problematic cart with a brand new one should clear up any starvation issues immediately, but in your case it didn’t, and the grey is having similar problems also .

What you need to do for now is Don’t print any further test prints till you can clear up these issues, nozzle prints are the one exception because they are your friend..

Leave everything as is and don’t alter anything, now open the top lid like your changing a cart and when the print head carriage is centred pull the power plug from the wall..

Look in where the cartridges usually sit (Right side) and flood the pads that you can see with Window cleaner (Overflow), now wait to see if all the liquid drains away fairly quickly, whether it does or not fit the power plug back in the socket and flood the pads once more, close the lid and power on..

The printer will do a quick cleaning cycle and then purge of all your carts ready for printing, next print 4 or 5 nozzle checks one after the other and check each of them carefully to see if there are any visable changes, there shouldn’t.

I won’t go into your technique and refilling procedures right now because that’s the least of your problems, try my suggestion out first and report back please..

Thank you for your reply. I followed your instructions and flooded the pads on the right hand side of the printer. The solution didn't seem to drain quickly at all and seemed to just sit on top of the pads.

I did 4 Nozzle checks as requested. Images attached* There seems to be lines through many of the other colours now also.

 

[The Hat]

GY patch does not make sense to me. Ink, or lack of it, does not normally make for rising slopped lines. Ink starvation may be relatively constant, such as with PC patch,

This is a bit of a strange one, that’s why my only suggestion for now was a purge clean..

 

[The Hat]

Now we’re getting somewhere, you might find that the carts effected with some lines are the ones you have not replaced with OEM carts, try following @palombian cleaning procedure on these carts as described below..
Before you start up again flood the parking station once more..

I had comparable issues with the Magenta, and was able to avoid them by intensive cleaning of the cartridge.
I didn't observe it with Photo Cyan or Photo Magenta (only 850 pages).

Although I couldn't prove it, a possible explanation is the refill ink reacts with remaining OEM and obstructs the ink flow in the cart (the 3 small holes, the maze and/or the sponge) and later in the printhead.
Kind of a slow buildup that manifests itself after a number of refills as you experienced too.
And as long as the cause is not removed it will start again.

I rinsed first at least 20 times with warm water and dishwashing soap (Fairy) plus a few drops of ammonia (you could use Windex too), leaving it in the cart overnight or even a few days.
Afterwards rinsing with tap water (again at least 20x) then demineralised water.
At last with "Pharmacist solution" (20% isopropanol + 2% glycerin) to recondition the sponge.

I never experienced the sponges or other parts of the cartridge becoming unusable in 6 years.
You could give your old cart a treatment.

 

[rachelambie]

Now we’re getting somewhere, you might find that the carts effected with some lines are the ones you have not replaced with OEM carts, try following @palombian cleaning procedure on these carts as described below..
Before you start up again flood the parking station once more..

Thank you. I shall clean the cartridges as above and get back to you over the weekend hopefully.

In regards to the OEM cartridges, I only have Photo Cyan, Photo Magenta and Magenta at the moment. The rest are OEM cartridges that have been filled with Octoink. I moved away from OEM as they wasn't as cost effective. Are you suggesting that I change all the cartridges back to OEM or would you suggest another brand that would work better?

Really appreciate everyones help!

 

[The Hat]

Are you suggesting that I change all the cartridges back to OEM or would you suggest another brand that would work better?

Ah, you got me on that one, because I don’t have a Pro 10 working on PGl-72 carts, but I do use OctoInkjet inks and working in my Pro9500.

Again @palombian would be the man to ask on that one, because he’s running his Pro 10 on a mixture of different inks, but your carts may need to be cleaned to work with another ink anyway..