Strange clogging case

[et91fr]

Hello dear inkjet community.

I am experiencing a strange print head clogging issue.
The context : I have a 2 months old Pixma MG8250. I started refilling as soon as the OEM cartridges that came with the printer emptied. This printer does produce excellent photos, so my objective was to be able to print a large number of photos without bearing ink costs as high as 1.500 EURs per litre !
My previous printer was an IP5000, with significantly less expensive ink.

So I purchased a refill kit (Octoink), including empty cartridges PGI 520 and CLI 521 to replace the opaque original cartridges.
It went all nearly well (except slightly shifted colours, but that's another point) until one week ago. I think I had at this point made 3 partial refills (german method).
I started to have severe banding issue with the cyan colour, and quickly after no more cyan at all.

The built-in cleaning routines did not solve the problem, and I checked that the cartridge was not creating the problem : I got the same results with a new OEM cartridge purchased for the purpose of this verification.
Although the printer being still under warranty, I decided to give a try to the different cleaning techniques found on this very informative forum :

1) - flush the print head until warm tap water, until the water is not coloured anymore.
2) - soak the print head overnight in window cleaning product (Windex make is not available in France, so I used another make), then rinse under tap water.
3) - adapt a pipe between a syringe and the print head inlet for cyan, then push/pull with a mixture of warm water and alcohol, then rinse under tap water.

I let the print head dry a couple of hours after each step before replacing it in the printer.

Here are the results I got :

- After 1) : I left the print head dry upside down, (inlets down and nozzles outputs up) and I noticed after the drying that the grid at the entrance of the cyan channel inlet of the print head was coloured blue, probably meaning that there was some dried ink trapped inside the channel (do you agree ?). After this step I got some cyan back, but was not able to get a perfect nozzle check.

- After 1)+2) : when rinsing the print head, I got some cyan coming out of the inlet, probably meaning that the window cleaning product had some effect.
But the problem was not solved. I still had a lot of banding. The "normal" built-in cleaning procedure did not help, but made the problem worse : no more cyan at all after it. On the contrary, I could get a perfect nozzle check after a "deep" cleaning procedure, but got the banding coming again quickly after.
- After 1)+3) : some (but very little) cyan could be observed coming out of the cyan inlet when doing the push-pull thing. The final results are the same as above with 1)+2).

So here are my questions :

- I find strange to have such a problem after only 3 refills. I did not flush the cartridges I received, so maybe this is the origin of the problem ? What are your opinions ?
- I do not understand the difference in the results I get with the "normal" and "deep" cleaning procedures. Does somebody know the exact difference between those two ?
- Do you think that the print head can be flushed on a routine way, let's say once per month,in order to avoid the formation of clogs ?
- What should I do next to solve my problem ?

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[et91fr]

Some update : I could put the hand on a replacement printhead, and it works perfectly.
Now I have a lot of time to try to put the original one back in condition.

However I will follow The Hat's advice in post http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=59304#p59304

...
A bit of advice

Dont do any more soaking or anything else to your print head or print anything other than a nozzle check
till you get some help as you may damage your print head even further.

Can anybody help ?

Thank you in advance

 

[Grandad35]

Did you get the print head replaced under warranty? If you paid for it, could you get an extra head from Canon under warranty, or would you have to buy new OEM cartridges to do so and would the cost be greater than the cost of a new print head?

 

[The Hat]

Some update : I could put the hand on a replacement printhead, and it works perfectly.
Now I have a lot of time to try to put the original one back in condition.

However I will follow The Hat's advice in post http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=59304#p59304

...
A bit of advice

Dont do any more soaking or anything else to your print head or print anything other than a nozzle check
till you get some help as you may damage your print head even further.

Can anybody help ?

Thank you in advance

That was a very good and detailed report you gave on your efforts to clear the clog from your print head.

As you now have time to leave the print head to soak, just place it in about 2cm of water 80% and alcohol 20% mix
plus add a couple of drops of standard washing up liquid and leave it stand for a couple of days.

Dry it off with a bit of heat for a couple of hours and add a few drops of window cleaner into the outlets while drying,
but dont flood it then pop it back into your printer and do one normal head clean.

Try a nozzle check and see if you have any improvement in the cyan, if there is then do a couple more just to get the ink flowing again.

Leave your printer turned off for an hour or so and then try another nozzle check later and view the results,
hopefully there will be much more of an improvement.

Some answers to your questions

Purging the new cartridges can be a big help but not always and the fact that they are now working in the new print head
without any problems is testament to that, still I would recommend it.

The German filling method is extremely easy to use but can cause little niggling problems to occur from time to time so you do need to watch out for them,
it is also advisable to purge your cartridges to prevent any problems occurring after refilling them say more than six times.

A normal head clean is usually enough to clear most print problems but sometimes you do need to use the deep head clean for a stubborn blockage,
one is usually enough but it the problem remains then there may be other issues involved also.

There should be no need to flush the print head at all to keep in good working order,
if your printer is left to stand idle for a week or so then a normal nozzle check is usually sufficient to prevent any trouble occurring,
and deep head cleans are more vigorous then normal ones and waste a lot of ink..

 

[et91fr]

Thank you The Hat for your advices. I will keep you informed of the results.

 

[et91fr]

Did you get the print head replaced under warranty? If you paid for it, could you get an extra head from Canon under warranty, or would you have to buy new OEM cartridges to do so and would the cost be greater than the cost of a new print head?

No I did not try yet to action Canon warranty. Maybe I will try that later if I do not solve the problem. My priority is more understanding what happened.

And I do not know what is the exact procedure. If I have to send back the printer, then I will probably have to equip it with new OEM cartriges (the ones that came with the printer were mutilated to remove their chip) , this would cost nearly the price of a new printhead !

 

[et91fr]

Hi all !

Some news : The Hat's method for cleaning printheads does really work.
I just have some streaking in the cyan color, probably caused by too much pressure when trying to unclog with the syringe.

So now that I have two printheads, Let me formulate the next question : How to store a Canon printhead ?

 

[y3kcjd5]

My thoughts on long term storage (I'm making this up as I go, so take with a grain of salt), I assume this is for the head that won't stay in the printer:
You will need:
-A printer (temporarily)
-A full set (5 thin and 1 fat or however many is appropriate for your printer) of extra empty cartridges (preferrably OEM, they don't have to be the right colors or grade for your printer, they just have to fit)
-Alcohol
-Water
-Printer paper (doesn't have to be blank, recycling advised)
-Print head tape (the aluminum looking stuff)
-Rubber bands and/or scotch tape

1. First purge cartridges and fill them with alcohol/water solution (the 20/80 you used to clean the head should be OK).
2a. Mount print head (the one you want to store) and cartridges you filled in the printer and place printer paper in the printer tray (removal of any clean/blank paper already in the printer is advised). Print (if the cartridges you're using aren't the correct grades and colors for your printer you may need to figure out how to bypass the wrong cartridge warnings) either nozzle checks or completely black images onto the printer paper repeatedly until the printing is either no longer visible or close to it.
2b. As an alternative, you can try rinsing and then filling the hopper of your printer head with alcohol/water solution directly and letting it drip/dribble (I don't know if this will work) onto a piece of printer paper in a sink or tray until the liquid coming out is clear.
3a. Remove cartridges, printer head, and printer paper you used (and replace the head, cartridges, and paper you plan to use for normal printing).
3b. Pour out any solution remaining in printer head. Drops remaining in the printer head hopper are acceptable, but try to avoid getting the metal contacts on the back wet. Do not attempt to dry.
4. Carefully rinse off nozzles of print head and blot dry with printer paper (do NOT use anything that could get lint in the nozzles), then put printer head tape on printer head nozzles and, for safe measure, metal contacts on the back of the print head.
5. Place cartridges (the ones with solution in them) in print head, and secure in place with rubber bands and/or scotch tape.
6. Store in a cool place out of the sun.