Unused Canon ip5200 will not work - 12 alternating flashes

[on30trainman]

Awhile ago I had a problem with one of my ip4500s. I got the flashing Orange light, but don't remember how many flashes. The problem was that one of the purge unit holders was not returning to it's proper down position, hanging up the printhead. The purge units are those two little sponge like items in holders on the right side of the printer - where the printhead rests. I believe the printhead would move to the center position with the cover open. I would gently push on the sponge until the holder snapped back down. The problem would occasionally return. Out of ideas I did spray a little air can lubricant in that area. The problem went away. Due to another problem I exchanged that printer with my other ip4500 so I don't know if the problem was gone for good.
I have a few times forcefully removed wrongly fed paper from various printers and haven't had any failure due to it. But I am gently forceful .

Steve W.

 

[Mediokrates]

Thanks Steve,

Something new here. I noticed the gear which is accessible has a stop tab. I have to crank it forward to move the purge unit? into a raised position, with the doohickey with wipers pulled back behind it. Typically, I have to crank forward all the way, rewind it, crank forward, rewind it a few times to get the full range of motion. Then, with the gear rewound, so that it has full range of forward motion available, I powered on the printer.

The paper feed gears up front do not start rolling in any of these scenarios, as they were doing previously.

This time, the purge unit tray (I say graphite like, Steve says sponge like) moved down. At the same time a small lever to the right of the doohickey with the wipers moved with the tray (up or down). (Other attempts have shown that this lever can lift into position and actually stop the carriage from making full motion to the right). Then the print-head carriage gave me right-left-right-left motion (start point in the middle). At this point the gear seemed to stick again but I could clearly hear a motor whirling somewhere near the logic assembly

I've tried this a number of times. Sometimes the gears stick right away and the carriage does not move, sometimes it sticks after the carriage has moved. But it always sticks.
Sometimes I can hear a motor whirling, sometimes it sounds as if the motor is stuck.

Instead of 12 flashing alternate lights, I am mostly getting 4 (5C00) and occasionally 11 (5110).

I'm thinking its the purge unit then. I tried checking all the visible gears, and I can't see anything out of the normal. No broken teeth, no foreign objects.

I tried taking off the bottom outer case to gain better access but was stumped by how to disconnect the circuit board attached to the control console in the front of the printer and reattached the bottom case.

Any ideas?

 

[Mediokrates]

OK,

I've removed the ip5200 from the lower casing, looked around and found nothing that looks out of the ordinary.

I mentioned in the previous post that the gear which moves the purge unit assembly (graphite tabs up & down, wipers forwards & backwards) was in contact with a gear that has a stop tab. That particular gear with the stop tab is housed in a cylindrical casing just behind the control circuit board, and has 2 yellow wires running to the logic assembly board.

Previously, to move the purge unit assembly I would have to roll the gears forward until they hit the stop tab, roll it back and then forward. I would have to do this a couple of times to get 1 full cycle of motion in the purge unit. Today, I realized that the gear with the stop tab is probably meant to move. With my fingers and a small screw-driver, I rolled the gears and gently but forcefully kept rolling after the stop tab was contacted. This released that gear (housed in the cylindrical housing), and it now moves 3 or 4 full rotations.

When starting the printer now, I can more often than not get the print carriage to move, but the gears controlling the purge unit eventually stick.
Rather than 12 flashing lights (6A00), I am now getting 4 (5c00).

Can anyone tell me what kind of behaviour I should be getting from these mechanisms?

Thanks,

 

[Mediokrates]

OK, I think I've found the problem...

I've tipped the printer on its front.
There are 2 tubes that run from the purge unit into the cylindrical casing I mentioned that has the stop tab for the purge unit gears.

As I turn the gears, I can see that a mechanism is spinning within the cylindrical housing. As I do this, I can see a white piece which seems loose. It appears to get stuck on one of the purge unit tubes. When this occurs, the gear sticks. If pushed back in with a small screwdriver, the gears run free.

I also noticed that when I removed the printer from the bottom casing and shook out the casing, that there was a small dark grey open washer that had come loose.

Any ideas if the washer is related to this mechanism and/or how to get into the purge unit to fix it?

This may be related or another problem altogether.

Directly behind the purge unit, just infront of the logic assembly there is a set of 2 gears on the same axel at either end. When I manually roll the gears controlling the purge unit, this axel spins both gears. However, I noticed on start up, that only the inner gear is spinning on the axel, while the outer gear does not move. However, if the lose piece is freed within the cylindrical housing mentioned above, both gears spin.

Still flashing 5c00, sometimes 5110 when the carriage sticks on part of the purge unit.

Thanks,

 

[Mediokrates]

Ok,

Update here people...

I've managed to remove the purge unit assemby. Yeah!
Disassembled the unit, and found that the loose piece was just that, not broken. Double Yeah!!

Anyone know what the purge unit should like inside the cylinder? Which way the drainage tubes run, clockwise or counter?

Thanks,

 

[Mediokrates]

Hi All,

This post is for all of you following along, as I've posted my results so far in another topic. Anyway, I managed to get the purge unit out, and take it apart. Only one screw really holds it together, and it is at the top of the cylinder unit. Easing the casing apart, the cylinder comes free, but you have to first detach the tubes from their white holders.

Once done, the insides of the cylinder slide out, but its easiest if you pull the tubes out first. Anyway... inside the cylinder, there are what I can only describe as 2 carousels, 1 for each tube. These carousels are separate pieces. Each carousel, has a small cylinder which pops into place and rolls around a third of the carousel, back and forth. It was the cylinder inside one of the carousels which had come loose and was either jamming against the tube or the opening for the tube.

I believe that the tubes run around the inside of the cylinder, in each compartment, and the carousel fits inside that so that the tube runs around the carousel. I believe that the position of the rolling cylinder applies pressure on the tube, squeezing out whatever ink is inside. Anyway that's how I did it, and the parts seem to move properly.

Attach the appropriate end of the tubes back on their white holders, and pull on the other end to snug the holder in its slot. Slide the cylinder back in place, and gently pop the purge unit back together. Put screw back in. Now if you spin the gears you should get full range of motion without any sticking. You may notice the most pressure as the wiper assembly stretches its spring. Don't forget to put the free end of the tubes back in their slots.

Anyway, my problem is compounded. I mentioned earlier that I had noticed 2 gears on either end of an axel. These gears are actually found at the rear of the purge unit assembly. I mentioned that I noticed that the inner gear was spinning on startup, but the outer gear was not. Apparently, as the mechanism inside the cylinder jammed, the motor on the gears applied enough pressure on the inner gear to strip its mount. Normally, the mount for this gear is shaped like a D, now it is shaped more like an O. This means that when this inner gears makes contact with the gears in the printer, it runs freely around the axel, rather than turning the axel and the outer gear, which in turn activates the purge assembly units to move. I'm going to see if I can cement it back into place, or failing that see if I can find a replacement gear at a hobby shop.

I also mentioned that I had found a small black open washer when I shook out the bottom casing. I believe that this fits over the axel end of the inner gear, locking it into place, as there is a small groove just right for it.

Remember to label the screws as you take them out. I wrapped them in masking tape and labelled them; however, I neglected to do this with 2 screws and will just have to figure it out.

Thanks

 

[stratman]

Mediokrates -

People may not be commenting on your posts but we are reading them with great interest. I personally don't know how to help you in this project but will continue to read on. It's like a serial novel with cliffhangers that keep you interested until the end.

Great job so far. If you fix the printer maybe consider an upgrade on your name to "Superiokrates".

 

[Redbrickman]

WHen things get complicated like disassembly of something as intricate as a printer I set up my video camera and film what I'm doing. Maybe I'm getting old but it has saved me a lot of head scratching on re-assembly.

Too late for you this time Medio, but try it next big job you undertake.

Good luck and keep going, we are all intrigued by your engineering blog

 

[Mediokrates]

Hi all,

Just a quick update.

I've tried 2 different plastic cements so far. Both loosened on initial start up, resulting in the gear running freely about the axel. So no change in flashing error 5c00. However, I have gotten farther into the start up with the carriage performing its full range of movements (I think).

I'm now using a third cement, and am letting it dry for 24 hours, maybe longer before I try again. If that doesn't work, I'll see what superglue does.

I've done some quick searching around at the closest electronics & hobby stores, and haven't been able to find any real selection on gears. I'll try the hardware shops later.

Failing all of that, I'm considering having a friend machine a metal gear for me.

I just want to note that I am beginning to believe that canon has designed this purge unit so that it will eventually fail. I've had the same roller come loose within its carousel twice. I've had to lubricate the tube, to allow for an easier spin; but noted that if the tube is not wound around the carousel tight enough, the roller still comes free. Once again I inspected the roller and carousel, and again conclude that neither are damaged in anyway, as the key components are similar on both roller-carousel sets. In fact, the roller and carousel are designed to come apart, when ideally they should not. I can't think of any reason or advantage for designing them this way, other than so canon can sell replacements, because who in their right mind would pull apart their printer, pull out the purge unit and open it up?

I had actually noticed a small tear near the end of the tube in question, and snipped it off, making it about a third of a cm shorter. So far, with the end of the tube pulled tight, the roller has not come free again. If this is the case, I believe that the tube will need to be further trimmed before fitting it onto the nozel mount, as failing to do so may give too much slack and allow the roller to come free again.

Will update you when I have more information.

 

[Mediokrates]

Partial Success!

OK, if you've been following the posts, you know that I identified 2 related problems with the purge unit in my ip5200:

1. the main gear running the purge-unit had been stripped from its mount, due to
2. a "carousel-cylinder" set coming apart within the purge unit housing

Originally, this resulted in 12 alternating flashing lights, error 6A00, with no carriage movement. Some fiddling with the gears, allowed later startup attempts some carriage movement, and an error 5C00 message, 4 alternating flashing lights.

After taking apart the purge unit housing and removing the carousel-cylinder sets, I believed they were undamaged; however, later inspection showed that the carousel in question is slightly warped. It has a spring-loaded component which is supposed to catch on 2 stop tabs. Upon closer inspection, 1 stop tab was not quite catching. I had a hard time believing this is the problem, until I was able to get both tabs to catch. I tested the purge unit motion outside of the printer, and it seemed to work fine for a while.

Reversing the motion (which DOES) occur later in the startup routine, however, led to a failure. The cylinder had come loose again. Inspection showed that the tab in question was no longer catching.
I'm currently trying to fix this by gently warping the tab back into its proper shape.

I've temporarily used plastic wood to fix the gear mount in question. It is capable of withstanding the stress of proper motion, but if the cylinder does come loose, it will quickly fail. I'm currently hunting for an appropriate metal-to-plastic superglue that could withstand the stress of the gears jamming (just in case). Any suggestions?

So without the cylinder in the carousel to come loose and jam the unit, the gears work perfectly, and startup proceeds unhindered. I now have a solid green light!

The question is, if the cylinder coming loose is the cause of the stripped gear mount, and the cylinder came loose because of a warped carousel... what warped the carousel?

If I can fix the carousel, then it appears the problem is solved. If not, then we'll see just how important the carousel-cylinder sets are.

Thanks everyone,

I'll keep you posted.