Problems with Magenta... and Yellow... (and a little with Cyan) and now Black

[Lestrad]

Problems with Magenta... and Yellow...

Hello to all. I have an ip4950 and have been refilling using the durchstich method (I _don't_ plug the hole after filling) with 521 (windowed) cartridges for some time with good success. However lately I've had problems with Magenta and yellow refusing to print.

I've switched the cartridges for newly-filled ones twice and at first they seem to print fine, but after a certain time, sometimes only about three hours in the case of Magenta, they stop working. I did it again yesterday, refilling two "new" empty 521 cartridges acquired from a reputable source that I had purged and dried following the instructions I found here (in passing, thanks to all for the great info; this forum is a real treasure), switching the chips over, and resetting them. As of about four hours later the Magenta had stopped working altogether, though the Yellow was still working. I should mention that I print somewhat infrequently, but I've never had any problems with the black cartridges. I should also mention that I've also had problems with Cyan, but it's currently working fine.

To try to get to the bottom of this, I've done something I swore I'd never do - buy a Canon OEM cartridge (Magenta). I want to see once and for all if the problem is with the printer itself. I'll report back after I get a chance to try it.

But in the meantime, a couple of questions:
- Could the Magenta ink be causing a blockage? Yesterday's refill was done with a bottle of Octojet ink I bought a couple of years ago but which was still sealed. Before that I was using ink I got from that German fellow whose name I can't recall...
- Or is there something wrong with the way I'm refilling? But in that case, wouldn't I have problems with black too?

Any and all suggestions/question are welcome. And again, thanks to all of you for this great forum.

Les

 

[The Hat]

Hi Les, my sympathy’s go out to you when you have a problem that doesn’t make any sense at all.

What it sounds like to me is ink starvation but as to how you can you get that while using several different cartridges is a real conundrum.

But refilling the 520/521 small cartridges using the German method can be a bit problematic, most times it works perfect and then sometimes it doesn’t.

You can get what’s called sponge separation, i.e. when the inner sponge is pushed upwards by the needle and then does not make proper contact with the little outlet sponge, or you can also get air bubbles trapped between the reservoir wall and sponge compartment.

So try tapping the effected cartridges on a hard wooden surface several times when you have put back on the orange clip on the outlet to prevent damaging it when it makes contact with the table/desk. (Use a rubber band)

Another thing you could try is to empty some ink from the reservoir in the cartridge by reinserting the needle and sucking out some ink and then refilling it but this time as you withdraw the needle keep injecting ink slow till you have the needle almost out.

You will get some ink coming out of the outlet, that’s to be expected and you can catch this ink in a small container if you wish to save any of it.

When you have tried one or both of these methods insert the cartridges again and run a normal head clean then a nozzle check, if your nozzle check looks good then try printing this test sheet once to see if your ink flow problem is cured.

If it has then run two more test sheets and monitor the sheets as they come out of the printer, this is a good test for checking the cartridge ink flow rate..

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

So try tapping the effected cartridges on a hard wooden surface several times when you have put back on the orange clip on the outlet to prevent damaging it when it makes contact with the table/desk. (Use a rubber band)

That's to move the sponge back into position.

Another thing you could try is to empty some ink from the reservoir in the cartridge by reinserting the needle and sucking out some ink and then refilling it but this time as you withdraw the needle keep injecting ink slow till you have the needle almost out.

Or you can just tap it on a table with the ink chamber up, to dislodge air bubbles between the chambers.

 

[Lestrad]

Thanks for your reply. For some reason I don't get notifications of responses to my posts, so I just discovered it. I tried your tapping method and it seems to have worked! I'll report back after I let some time go by and run a few more nozzle checks.

 

[websnail]

- Could the Magenta ink be causing a blockage? Yesterday's refill was done with a bottle of Octojet ink I bought a couple of years ago but which was still sealed. Before that I was using ink I got from that German fellow whose name I can't recall...

Yes it could be... Magenta is often the first to go and even though you haven't unsealed your bottle there's still air in the bottles and a couple of years is leaning towards the end of life for a dye ink.

Or is there something wrong with the way I'm refilling? But in that case, wouldn't I have problems with black too?

It could be but to be honest.

One thing you haven't touched on is whether you've flushed out the printhead at all? That and I'm unsure if you flushed between using the "German" (unknown source) ink you mentioned or topped up.

If you have then given that you've already done the flushing approach and managed to get the cartridge feeding successfully for a couple of hours I'd say it's early onset of algae growth hitting the sponge and reducing flow. My guess is that if you flushed the cartridges again and replaced the ink with a fresher batch you'll get it up and running.

Not sure who you are in terms of real name so I can't look up your order on our system but drop me a line via an email to me at OctoInkjet and I'll do what I can to get you sorted.

Cheers,

Martin

 

[Lestrad]

I'm sad to report that both Magenta cartridges have now stopped working again - even after a couple of whacks/taps on the edge of a marble mantle with the cartridge in one of Octojet's neat little holders. I plugged in the brand-new OEM Magenta cartridge I bought and got the same results with the same test image - no Magenta seems to be flowing.

That would seem to point to the print head needing flushing. But would that be necessary on this printer that is actually quite recent and hasn't been used all that much? And why would certain cartridges work fine for an hour or two or a day or two and then stop if it's the head?

If someone could point me to a thread on this forum about how to clean the print head safely and simply, that would be great. I'm now in the process of reading a couple of threads, but I have no idea whether I'm reading the right ones. A quick report on the state of the art would be most helpful.

Also, if anyone knows what I need to do to get notified of responses to this thread, other than checking the "Receive email when a new conversation message is received" box, please let me know. I'm not getting any notifications.

---___---___--- (Later)

Being impatient, I went ahead and filled an empty Magenta cartridge with some cleaning solution and printed an all-Magenta page, but the Magenta looked greenish-yellow. So I went down cellar into my Time Capsule and cracked open the box with my brand-new spare ip4950 in it (I wish I'd bought a dozen at the time instead of just two) and stole the print head and stuck it in, and as you're all guessing she printed the Nozzle Check pattern perfectly. I tried with another Magenta cartridge that had stopped working, and the results were also good.

So clearly my problem is with the print head. I now have it soaking in some demineralized water, but any and all advice as to how to clean this head (unless it involves removing tiny screws that may or may not be left-handed) - which, I repeat, is really not very old and hasn't been used much - would be appreciated.

And please, also, if there's a magic incantation for getting the forum to send me reply notifications, please point me to that too ;-)

And finally, thanks again to all of you for your help and serenely good vibes.

 

[websnail]

That would seem to point to the print head needing flushing.

I would tend to agree although IMHO you will want to flush and/or refresh the cartridges as well.

If the inks(s) are getting towards end of life I'd think seriously about replacing that so you limit the variables and don't stress the printhead further if one or more is the actual vector.

But would that be necessary on this printer that is actually quite recent and hasn't been used all that much? And why would certain cartridges work fine for an hour or two or a day or two and then stop if it's the head?

Ok, as noted in previous post, it could be that the cartridge needs flushing or refreshing to re-establish the ink flow within the cartridge or simply to replace the ink due to issues with early onset algae.


If the cartridge/ink-flow are the cause then the printhead may come back on its own but if it's algae/ink itself that's been causing the clogs then it's already established in the printhead and will need to be flushed out. Simply running the printhead under a tap (upside down)..
EDIT: and then flushing out further with distilled waster or a cleaning solution (to avoid leaving mineral deposits in the nozzles)
...will usually help with that.

If someone could point me to a thread on this forum about how to do clean the print head safely and simply, that would be great.

This one in particular is particularly good.

Also, if anyone knows what I need to do to get notified of responses to this thread, other than checking the "Receive email when a new conversation message is received" box, please let me know. I'm not getting any notifications.

Set your alert preferences here:
http://www.printerknowledge.com/account/alert-preferences
You'll want the top section but hopefully it's self explanatory...

 

[Lestrad]

I just found this after re-posting my amended post. I checked again and I did NOT receive a notification of your answer...

Thanks! for your reply. I'll leave the head in the demineralized water for a while and then flush it under the tap. I'm assuming I don't really need head cleaner if that works?

 

[websnail]

I just found this after re-posting my amended post. I checked again and I did NOT receive a notification of your answer...

For existing topics, you may want to switch to "More Options..." (button at bottom of quick reply box) and tick the "Watch this thread..." + "and receive email notifications" options.

Thanks! for your reply. I'll leave the head in the demineralized water for a while and then flush it under the tap. I'm assuming I don't really need head cleaner if that works?

Cleaning solution is last resort stuff really so don't assume you'll need it at this point... That said if you're getting replacement ink, let me know and I'll put some in for you so you have it to hand if needed. No sense in running up extra postage costs with multiple orders..

 

[turbguy]

DO NOT finish wet-cleaning a print head with tap water! Either use distilled water, or distilled water!

There is too much risk of clogging due to mineral deposition from evaporated tap water in the tiny nozzles.