Unclogging Canon Printheads

[Trigger 37]

inkoholic,.... I don't know that your problem is in uploading the Service test print. It is just an image like the nozzle test prints you've loaded. In looking at the pictures you did post,... the black matrix showed several flaws,...but we know from earlier scans that there was no problem. This tells me you are not getting sufficient ink into the head. Once you clean the head and install the head with GOOD ink you also do a cleaning cycle,..right. This is the action that primes the head and FILLS it with ink. If the head is full of ink and you print a nozzle test print,...the back matrix should come out perfect. If it does not, then you didn't get the head primed. Priming the head depends on all things working correctly. The ink carts must be good. The head must be clean and free of clogs, the ink pads must be clean and not filled with old dried up ink, the purge values must be clear of all old ink,..the purge tubes must be connected to the purge vacuum pump and the tubes must not be clogged up with old dried ink (just as the printhead could be), the vacuum motor inside tubes must be clean and create the correct amount of vacuum to pull ink all the way down from the ink cart, through the head, out of the nozzles, through the ink pads, through the control valve, throught the tubes, throught the vacuum pump,...and finally the ink output tubes to the bottom of the printer CAN NOT BE CLOGGED OR THE VACUUM MOTOR CAN NOT CREATE THE VACUUM.

If you continue to have problem I would get rid of the Windex for cleaning and use HOT water. If you are tired of this approach, then buy a new head and pray that this fixes your problems. If you still want to try and clean everything I mentioned above, then make a black cleaning ink cart filled with hot water and run nothing but "Black" cleaning cycles. This will not only attemp to clean the head, it will clean the ink pads, the valve, the tubes, the vacuum pump, and the exit port to the waste ink pads. Don't worry how much water you are putting in the waste pads,...It is water and will evaporate.

 

[inkoholic]

Great I've got the service test print online now: http://i43.tinypic.com/9hnsr5.jpg

Edit: not so great, it has been resized by the site. I can't get it to show in Imgur, so I hope this suffices.

 

[turbguy]

Looks like a worn printhead to me.

Wayne

 

[inkoholic]

inkoholic,.... I don't know that your problem is in uploading the Service test print. It is just an image like the nozzle test prints you've loaded. In looking at the pictures you did post,... the black matrix showed several flaws,...but we know from earlier scans that there was no problem. This tells me you are not getting sufficient ink into the head. Once you clean the head and install the head with GOOD ink you also do a cleaning cycle,..right. This is the action that primes the head and FILLS it with ink. If the head is full of ink and you print a nozzle test print,...the back matrix should come out perfect. If it does not, then you didn't get the head primed. Priming the head depends on all things working correctly. The ink carts must be good. The head must be clean and free of clogs, the ink pads must be clean and not filled with old dried up ink, the purge values must be clear of all old ink,..the purge tubes must be connected to the purge vacuum pump and the tubes must not be clogged up with old dried ink (just as the printhead could be), the vacuum motor inside tubes must be clean and create the correct amount of vacuum to pull ink all the way down from the ink cart, through the head, out of the nozzles, through the ink pads, through the control valve, throught the tubes, throught the vacuum pump,...and finally the ink output tubes to the bottom of the printer CAN NOT BE CLOGGED OR THE VACUUM MOTOR CAN NOT CREATE THE VACUUM.

If you continue to have problem I would get rid of the Windex for cleaning and use HOT water. If you are tired of this approach, then buy a new head and pray that this fixes your problems. If you still want to try and clean everything I mentioned above, then make a black cleaning ink cart filled with hot water and run nothing but "Black" cleaning cycles. This will not only attemp to clean the head, it will clean the ink pads, the valve, the tubes, the vacuum pump, and the exit port to the waste ink pads. Don't worry how much water you are putting in the waste pads,...It is water and will evaporate.

Printing with distilled water in all cartridges, what about that? Kind of a last resort effort. I hope the water will evaporate because the waste ink pads are already 50% saturated

 

[Trigger 37]

Inkoholic,... The only printing you are doing is the nozzle test and that uses the absolute minimum amount of ink. The water will mix with the left over ink in the main part of the ink cart and it will still come out black. All the water that goes down into the waste ink pads will evaporate within a day or so. Yes the waste ink count will go up but that is not any problem at all because at some point you will reset it to "0".

You need to post the before and after of the Service Test prints. This is the one thing that will tell you if ANY OF THE CLEANING is doing any good. When you look at that test print you can see each and every nozzle,.. if you do several cleanings of "BLACK ONLY" and you still don't see "ONE" nozzle that has come back to print,..then it is time to give up on that head and buy a new one.

 

[inkoholic]

Inkoholic,... The only printing you are doing is the nozzle test and that uses the absolute minimum amount of ink. The water will mix with the left over ink in the main part of the ink cart and it will still come out black. All the water that goes down into the waste ink pads will evaporate within a day or so. Yes the waste ink count will go up but that is not any problem at all because at some point you will reset it to "0".

You need to post the before and after of the Service Test prints. This is the one thing that will tell you if ANY OF THE CLEANING is doing any good. When you look at that test print you can see each and every nozzle,.. if you do several cleanings of "BLACK ONLY" and you still don't see "ONE" nozzle that has come back to print,..then it is time to give up on that head and buy a new one.

So what do I do
-fill the carts with water
-print a series of nozzle checks
-then print the service test print

I think cleaning "black only" is not possible on my Pixma. If I select the cleaning cycle in the printer's display it will clean everything in 1 go.

 

[Trigger 37]

Inkoholic,...I finally got a look at your Service Test print. The truth is it is not that bad. The black section only 2 nozzles missing, and I'm sure those should come clean with normal clean process. The Cyan head shows unbalanced printing in both directions which shows that while ALL nozzles are working, some are weaker than others. It is also a little out of head alignment,..but there are NO burnt out nozzles or totally missing nozzles in the Cyan. There are only 3 nozzles missing in the Magenta. There are 4 missing nozzles in the Photo Cyan and 2 missing in the Photo Magenta. The Photo black is missing 3. None of this is serious if you are printing everyday paper. If you want to print photographs, then use some manual setting and put the quality number to 4 or 5. This will insure your photos come out ok. If you are looking to a TOP QUALITY PHOTO out of this printer, then you need to spend more time getting it clean. The cleaning ink cart won't do you much good unless you install one of each color,..as you are correct and the Pixma series has eliminated the separate cleaning controls for color and black. The only way to use the clean ink carts is if you have one for each color. If you don't want to expend that much time, then your choice is to remove the head and clean it several times in the sink using hot water and focus the stream on the bottom nozzles, especially the colors that you know are missing nozzles. Then "Prime" the head by doing a "Deep Cleaning cycle in the machine with know good ink carts. Print the nozzle test and if that is not perfect then print the Service test print to see if anything improved. If it doesn't improve,..it is time to move on and buy a head. This is my last suggestion and response to your post which has gone on way too long,.. 14+ pages....UGH.

 

[stratman]

If it doesn't improve,..it is time to move on and buy a head. This is my last suggestion and response to your post which has gone on way too long,.. 14+ pages....UGH.

 

[inkoholic]

Inkoholic,...I finally got a look at your Service Test print. The truth is it is not that bad. The black section only 2 nozzles missing, and I'm sure those should come clean with normal clean process. The Cyan head shows unbalanced printing in both directions which shows that while ALL nozzles are working, some are weaker than others. It is also a little out of head alignment,..but there are NO burnt out nozzles or totally missing nozzles in the Cyan.

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/uploads/1854_9hnsr50-enh.jpg

The cyan is unbalanced yes! But how do I rebalance it? I've tried auto head alignment but that never really did anything. I've tried manual alignment but I don't know how that works. Can't make heads or tails of it. But if I align the head, will the cyan then come out OK?

Pretty much all nozzles are working but the unbalanced cyan is making things ugly (I have high standards )

 

[turbguy]

Install a new printhead. The nozzles are worn out.

Wayne