Seeking info to remove the Purge Unit from a Canon iP4000

[Romulus]

Greetings all,
I presently have an iP4000 which has been using a Rihac CISS for 12 months.
I have now partially disassembled the printer with a view to drilling a few holes in the outer casing so that some plastic tubing may be connected to the Purge unit, in order to 'Run to waste' the purged ink into an external bottle, and bypass the pads in the bottom of the printer.
I wish to remove the Purge unit briefly, in order to clean it properly, and examine it.
Does anyone know the correct procedure, for removing this unit - e.g, how much of the printer has to be stripped down to remove it, and the number & location of the screws holding it onto the chassis?
Any info would be appreciated.
Regards,
Romulus

 

[PeterBJ]

A service manual for the Pixma 4000 is can be found here: http://www.timtaylor.net/tech/iP4000 Service Manual.pdf and instructions for disassembling the printer can be found in this thread: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2419

I don't know how to remove the purge unit.

But don't make the modification to use an external waste ink container. It has been tried by ghwellsjr and this thread has a warning against doing it: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4882

Peter.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I previously tried this with an MP780 which uses the same print engine as the iP4000. I would not recommend putting in an external waste ink tank because the purge pump is very weak and cannot force ink for any significant distance. If you just let the ink drop into a container directly under your printer, the ink will dry up inside the tubing and create a clog within a couple weeks. I did succeed by extending the tubing to a bowl of water but this requires continual attention.

Also, it is no fun to remove a purge pump from a printer. My above links provide some pictures of a removed purge pump but I made no attempt to reinstall it.

You don't need to remove the purge pump from the rest of the engine to clean it out. Once you gain access to the tubing underneath, you can clean them out without removing the purge pump from the print engine.

Also, once you learn how to remove your old pads, it's not that hard to repeat the process in several years when you need to do it again.

 

[Darth]

I previously tried this with an MP780 which uses the same print engine as the iP4000. I would not recommend putting in an external waste ink tank because the purge pump is very weak and cannot force ink for any significant distance. If you just let the ink drop into a container directly under your printer, the ink will dry up inside the tubing and create a clog within a couple weeks. I did succeed by extending the tubing to a bowl of water but this requires continual attention.

Aren't the normal purge tubes exposed to ambient air inside the printer?

 

[turbguy]

Yes, they are. And guess where you typically find them plugged (if not kept free by periodic "use")? Also, airflow near the "blotters" is very low.

Wayne