Purge pads on iP3500

[dougsewell]

Keeping my print heads and purge unit clear is a priority for me and the advice available here is absolutely essential for anyone wanting to keep their printer in tip top condition.
However after looking at the various pics of purge pads in different Canon printers I looked closely at mine and found that the square right hand pad is a foam affair whereas the oblong right pad seems to be an empty cavity with 2 drain? holes in its base. It certainly is not of the same appearance as the right side pad and I am left wondering if indeed the left pad foam is missing from its holder if indeed it needs any. Other than that the printer works fine.
Can anyone enlighten me on these pads on the ip3500
Thanks
Doug

 

[ghwellsjr]

Yes, the pad is missing. Without that pad, your printer will not be able to get the pigment black ink started. If you get a grid pattern at the top of the page when you do a nozzle check, then the head has already been primed and will probably continue to work as long as you never remove the existing pigment black cartridge.

My guess is that the pad is somewhere inside your printer. Maybe it got gobbled up by the gears and all the mechanisms inside your printer. Let's hope not.

Whatever you do, don't remove the pigment black cartridge until it is empty because it probably won't work after that until you find the pad or get a new one.

 

[dougsewell]

Thanks for the prompt reply. No sign of pad inside case. Have taken up the matter with Canon but they are asking me to send my printer to an authorised repairer for the pad to be fitted. Estimated cost 80. Given a pad and tweezers I could fit this in 10 seconds. What rip off - A ploy methinks to scrap my reliable and refillable ip3500 and buy a new printer that simply can't be refilled and costs a fortune for ink.
Thanks again. Now to hunt for or make a purge pad.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Some repair shops will order parts for you at a reasonable price. Ask around. Maybe you'll get lucky and find one that has a pad laying around that they will just give you.

You might also get lucky looking for a defective printer that you can get for next to nothing and remove the pad from. I think they are almost all the same for printers that have the same number of nozzles.

Good luck.

 

[jackson]

What material is the pad made from?
Would a piece of felt not fill the need.
As an aside;what does the pad fill up with?Is not ink mostly water?Shouldn't it just evaporate?

 

[dougsewell]

Thanks for your help. Have tried Electroversal and CRC as recomended by Canon with no luck. Told printer no longer made and no spare parts - "Buy a new printer" all for a tuppeny piece of fibre. Will do as you say and look out for a duff printer somewhere unless I can make one out of some firm thin sponge material. Thin felt may do the trick but I do not want to risk blocking the tubes to the purge unit. The pad is only about 1mm thick and made of a material that looks like polystyrene although it has to be porous. It also looks as though it can snap easilly. I found this out by examining the pad on my second iP3500. Ink is sucked through this by the purge unit and when the print head is in the park position the pad holder rises up and presses against the actual print heads so that purging can take place. Hope I have explained well enough.

Oh well so much for Canon
Doug

 

[Ron350]

Whats the real name for those porous plastic pads?

Park pad screen spacer thing-a-majig. LOL

Yep those plastic pads are made out of some kind of white porous hard plastic .074 (1.88mm) thick.

I do not have an iP3500 to measure but the black side plastic pad on the iP3000, iP4000 and iP4200 are all the same size.

.074 (1.88mm) thick

.273 (6.9mm) wide

.940 (23.87mm) long

Doug hopefully some member will have a spare plastic pad they can sell you.

 

[dougsewell]

Thanks for the interest in this to all replies.
Have sent another e-mail to Canon giving them a broadside for their apparent lack of customer care. I stated that these pads are in common use in all 4 colour Canon printers and the fact that repairers cannot supply is beyond comprehension.
Lets hope I get a better response this time and not the fob-off from my first enquiry. I am on a crusade here because Canon have really got my dander up..
Doug

 

[iP4XXX]

What about possibly creating a purge pad from the sponge inside an empty ink cartridge? Might be worth a shot.

 

[websnail]

Hey Doug,

I'm a bit loath to yank apart one of my spare iP4200's as they are still useable but if I find one that's DOA I'll grab the parts out of it for you.

Won't be for a few weeks though.