Stripey Magenta

[marc.knuckle]

hey guys i need a little help.

i have scanned some school photos and now wanted to print them out using my Canon MP610.

i have deep cleaned and done all the other cleans as i haven't done any printing recently. i have also alligned the heads etc.

unfortunately it doesn't matter how many nozzle clean i do the photos are pale and stripey and this holds true when i do the test print. the 3 blues, yellow and black are all solid colour and the grid is straight but the 3 magentas are stripey.

any ideas welcome.

 

[qwertydude]

You may need to manually clean the magenta. I've found that magenta, especially on some refill brands can clog up on you. All I do is take out the cartridges, remove the print head and then carefully drop some windex onto the print head and let it soak for a few minutes then gently blot out the windex from the printhead with a lint free cloth. Reinstall and then run a deep clean cycle or two. That should do the trick.

 

[marc.knuckle]

the print head is the felt type circle? anything other than windex i could use?

cheers
not sure if this is clear

 

[ghwellsjr]

In the UK use Halfords Window Cleaner.

The print head is where the ink cartridges sit. To remove it, first remove all the ink cartridges. Then unplug the printer. You will see a tab next to where the cartridges were that you can pull forward and up. Then the print head will lift out.

If you use any kind of liquid on the print head to clean it outside of the printer, it must be absolutely dry, inside and out, before you put it back in the printer. The best way to insure this is to let it sit in a warm spot for two days.

 

[marc.knuckle]

i had some windolean so i tried the suggestion there but no good.

i have ordered a new magenta anyway as it was half full and see if it remedies it. if not, ??

 

[ghwellsjr]

You could make a cleaning cartridge out of your half full magenta cartridge by turning upside down and dripping window cleaner in the outlet port until the sponge is saturated. But you really need a full set cleaning cartridges if you are going to do a lot of head cleanings because otherwise you will go through a lot of ink.

 

[marc.knuckle]

cheers mate, i got a fair bit of windolene into the cartridge but now there isnt anything coming out on the pattern check. if i print something mainly red, it comes out yellow no matter how many times i print

 

[ghwellsjr]

When all else fails, it is time to remove the cartridges, tape or cap the outlet ports on the cartridges, unplug the printer, remove the print head, wash the print head in flowing warm (not hot) tap water until no ink comes out. This will take some time. When you are satisfied, dry the print head off and set it in a warm spot for two days before putting it back in your printer.

 

[marc.knuckle]

aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

i followed the above cleaning method, admittedly not letting it dry for as long but it felt bone-dry.

the first patterm check showed tiny streaks of magenta coming through so i assumed that it would get better and better but now back to no colour at all on the magenta part. if i print simply a magenta squrae picture it is again yellow.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Now the next thing to try is to again remove the print head following the procedure in post #8 and wash it like you did before. Then remove the rubber washer/seal that goes around the magenta inlet port on the print head. Find a piece of tubing that will fit over the plastic post with the screen on it. Submerge the print head in warm water or window cleaner and suck on the tube gently in an attempt to get ink/water/debris to come up into the tube. At this stage, I wouldn't recommend blowing because that can cause debris to worsen the clog inside the print head. If you apply too much force, you can damage the seals inside the print head so be gentle. Keep doing this as long as you can get any color coming up into the tube. Remove the tube each time you want to eject the liquid from the tube.

If you want, you can do this to all the colors but remember to be gentle, you don't want to damage those inner seals.

Also, you should consider the risk of doing these kinds of cleanings as they may permanently damage your printer. It may take you weeks to get the print head working again and we don't know for sure if there is an electrical problem in the print head that can never be fixed. You can probably buy a new print head for $50 and it will probably fix the printer with little risk. I would recommend that over buying a new printer because the new ones are not as well made and have different chips that are sometimes hard to find a resetter for.