NormsForum.com

[Harpmaker]

Hi smitharbie,

Thank you for the kind words, and you are most welcome! I'm glad you found my attempt at a bit of humor enjoyable. To live is to laugh. My father always used to tell me "Laugh and the world will laugh with you, cry and you cry alone".

I think cheap ink may start causing clogs earlier than premium ink, but I truly do believe they will all clog eventually, it's just the nature of the beast.

I don't know how this cleaning technique would work with the ip4300. That printer uses the newer CLI-8 ink cartridges which have chips in them to prevent refilling. There is a way around that, but I've never tried it. The newer ip printers also have more "brains" in them to prevent "user maintenance", but if the print-head clogged on a ip4300 of mine I would give this cleaning technique a shot anyway as a last-ditch attempt before tossing the printer on the scrap heap.

While the photographs I print with my cheap Samsung CLP-300 color laser printer aren't as high a quality as the ones from my ip4000 and ip5000 Canons, they will do for most purposes that don't REQUIRE the absolute best image quality. I have found that most of the time, good is good enough.

Oh yeah... welcome to the forum!!!

[TheChief886]

I could not get my iP3000 to print black, I know the printhead was cloged, and I cleaned it several times with no luck. .

[michelm]

Hi guys, I just been through the motion of cleaning my ip4000 with your help and the fantastic shot of this printer printhead.
I guess when you read instructions like this most of us are like toddler learning to walk! We rely on as many information as we can get, for every turn is an unknown or uncharted water. Just the same I got the printer back together and the big 3eBK that would not work at all and was not even showing in the nozzle check is back on business So I'm quite impressed with me and with you guys to get me to do it. The other colours aren't so cooperative but I hope I'll get there.
So how it went? I was glad someone asked again how to remove the print head from the carrier, the answer is simple but not obvious. Yes just lift the lever with colour order on it and there it is loose and ready to take out.
No one I could see mentioned how to stop the carrier for service, and often I got caught with it going back in before i had time to refill (that when I learned not to keep the lever up!) But today I could not afford this to happen so got my better thinking cap on and ... Brought carrier in the middle and unplugged the printer!.
I had quite a bit of trouble with one of those two screws. My set of "electronic" screw drivers did not really had the correct size, and I was lucky I had one of those cheap set (4 philips in a blue and transparent box) called precision screwdrivers! The number 1, the second largest was the one. Still I had to put it in a locking adjusting spanner (if you know what I mean) as I needed a fair amount of force to unscrew it.
Next I looked at the electronic green board wondering what to do next although the guide says remove the print head from the holder. Hmm.
So I pried it out but this did snap the plastic guide heads and I was not to happy about this, but it was ok.
Lastly I went through the cleaning, blowing etc. And I must say that I could see through all the holes in the ceramic and had no problem with the holder either, so have no idea why my big black B... would not work.
Now the print test seem almost ok the small black is still shaky but the rest is good. So I don't understand why I can't print all the colours properly. I have had this problem for a long time and solved it with lot of cleaning, printing etc. but if I don't print for couple of weeks it's on again. My main use is for cd label - Ok thanks again all those who share their knowledge. and it's bed time for me!

[Harpmaker]

Thanks for the input michelm!

I never had a problem with my printer not keeping the print-head in position for servicing; although I may have turned the printer off after the print-head was moved to the center position by the printer - it's been too long since I did it and I forget.

The screws holding the ceramic head to the cartridge holder can be tight, as you found out, and a screwdriver that FITS the screw-head it a must or the screw-head could be damaged. I'm sure Canon never envisioned anyone removing these either.

The green circuit board did not need to be removed and the instructions don't call for it's removal. I'm glad your circuit board survived being removed, but I don't recommend it's removal.

I am convinced that most ink clogs in these printers are not in the heads themselves, but in the cartridge holder.

This is just a general comment to all users of these great Canon printers - if you REALLY love your printer and want to use if for years to come, I would highly suggest purchasing another print-head or two while they are available.

[michelm]

Thanx for the acknowledgement. I still can't print some colours but have done little about it yet. I mentioned my problem to a friend who use HP and he's telling me that he does not have problem with only occasional printing. His printer always prints okay! I did mention to him I thought this was my problem I use the printer not often enough. I wonder if this is the general consensus about printer cartridges blocking or drying out?
I read some posts on other forum (Fora?) where people go to extreme length to revive their cartridges, flushing them with garden hose then drying them in oven amongst other things. I don't think I'm up to this yet, but I wish I'd get a better deal with this printer regarding reliability, that is having it printing most of the time instead of some of the time. I'm almost tempted to get a whole set of genuine cartridges, again, as I did it once but spent most of it cleaning till I got a decent result and by then there was little ink left!
Yet like many here I do like this printer, when it works well it's a joy!

[michelm]

Hi again. So here we are. I have done a lot of cleaning, and if I don't print for a day I almost have to start again the cleaning. First the yellow that will print ok after one cleaning, then The blue that starts printing red! and eventually prints blue (eventually = cleaning more and more) I have a whole pages of "H" from mswords and choose BLUE (arial black 22) So when everything is almost at its best at the end of some lines of H s there is some red purplish showing?
I did a Print Alignment but don't know where to compare it with what I should get, (unlike you get with the nozzle print). However the little rectangles and little lines above but part of those rectangles seem neat and ok.
I just bought a set of generic cartridges thinking my own cartridges may be at fault as I have had them for sometimes through a few refilling. (Scary since I read someone doing the same thing and getting print head faults warnings!) So I'm still playing with the old one whilst they have ink in.
Just another think, I was told that I did not need to remove the green circuit board of the print head holder. That would make it very difficult to wash the ceramic, wouldn't it?

[Harpmaker]

Hi michelm,

I believe that using generic ink is the cause of many problems with printers, that is one of the reasons companies have taken steps to ensure users only use official name-brand ink cartridges (the other reason is to make more profit). The problem is that name-brand cartridges are so much more expensive than generic ones that most people that do much printing simply have to use generics of one kind or another.

Your blue H's show that cyan isn't printing as it should. The blue color is made by mixing cyan and magenta inks.

I had no problems in cleaning the ceramic head while it was attached to the cartridge holder. I really doubt that many clogs are in the ceramic head itself, but are rather in the ink pathways of the cartridge holder.

[michelm]

Thank you for this quick reply, yes these cartridges are pretty expensive, here in Sydney they're selling for AU$22 for the 4000 and 24 for the newer ones. I bought a set of generic (minus the large black) for $7 each! 1/3 of the price! Now I'm tempted to go and swap them back for the genuine ones! I seem to remember that my original set of cartridges appeared to print so much more than the generic replacements or my re-fillings although I'm always told that the generics are exactly the same size as the genuine Canon cartridges - go and figure!
Yes the H rows should be of a much darker blue and why that red on the last?
Did the alignment looked right, I'm just wondering if detaching the circuit board could have made things worse.
Anyway thank you all for giving us extra step to save our printer.
MM

[Harpmaker]

I don't think I would recommend going back to using Canon ink cartridges with your current print-head since it isn't working as it should. After giving more thought to the photo of the blue H's, I don't think having the "red" (it's actually magenta) showing up at the end of the line is being caused by an ink clog - something else is wrong. The blue color being printed is made by the printer mixing the cyan and magenta inks in the correct proportion, and at the end of the line the cyan isn't coming out like it should, but since it is happening at the same place on most of the lines I doubt it is an ink clog.

As long as the green circuit board didn't break a trace (the little lines on the board) you are probably good there, but if one is cracked that would almost certainly cause problems; later if not sooner. The same goes for the wires in the ribbon cable connecting the board to the ceramic head.

I'm no expert, but from your photo I would think the printer alignment is alright.

[michelm]

Thank you for that Harpmaker, I nearly went to change those cartridge but had second thoughts about it and almost the same conclusion you had. Racking about $100 of our dollars with some dodgy thing in my printhead is not all that wise. And for what I print, one cd every blue moon else mainly black which give me no trouble. Thanks again and I hope your wrong with the prognostic on the green ribbon:) !
MM

[rehardwick]

We all share the same pain when using our trusty Canon printers and struggle with blocked orifices. Although these printers are out of production, they are some of the best printers out there and keeping them running is money in the bank for all of us.
I would like to point out a few things I have learned through others.

If your printing output has streaks and the standard head cleaning does not do the job, rather take a chance of damaging the head by taking it apart, try the following:

1 Run hot water though the print head both directions (nothing new here).
2 Take a small glass bowl and partially fill it with Windex and about 20% household ammonia.
3 Heat the solution in a microwave oven until boiling (wear rubber gloves to remove).
4 Place the print head face down in the solution and let it soak overnight.
5 Go back to step 1.
6 Place the print head on a couple of facial tissues and let set overnight.
7 Place the print head back in the printer with cartridges full of ink and do two or three deep cleaning cycles.

At this point, if you cannot get quality printing, consider the following. First, the BCI-3eBk Black ink is a pigment ink and clogs the quickest. Almost all aftermarket inks are not pigment, but do not provide the water resistance the Canon ink provides. Second, Canon does a really neat job of faking the capability of printing Photo Cyan and Photo Magenta by using a second set of orifices that are smaller in diameter than the other colors. During test prints, plugged orifices tend to show themselves as missing bands. These orifices tend to plug easily as well. During these cleaning trials, you go through lots of ink, but you just may get the print heads to clean out and if you do, more power to you.

If you get the print head clean, but after printing say 50 copies, the orifices start plugging up again, chances are the the pump system which primes the print head may be blocked. Try this:

1 open up the printer to move the print head to the service mode and unplug the power cord.
2 If you look where the print head sets when not printing, you will see two rectangular pads and below them are tubes that suck the ink from the print heads to prime them. There is a pump below that moves the ink into felt pads at the bottom of the printer. Sometimes the tubes can get plugged or even disconnected from the pump.
3 Take some of the Windex and and ammonia solution you made previously (clean) and spoon (or whatever mechanism you can use) some of the solution on top of those pads.
4 Put the printer back together, plug in the power cord and run a couple of cleaning cycles and then open up the printer again. Look to see if the solution is still sitting on the pads and if it is, the pump system is at fault.
5 At this point, for the casual user, you are at the end of your rope. Actually a couple of additional additions of cleaning solution may actually flush the clogs from the tubing and maybe not.

For those of you that want to learn more, I suggest the following web sites:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/

A wealth of information that will keep you reading for days.

http://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=1831&seite=5&t=how_to_exchange_sponges

How to take your printer apart-look closely and you will see a link to change it from German to English (unless you like German). There is much clicking to get to the details of the dis-assembly.

I hope the above helps a few of you. In addition, if you see a used Canon ip3000, 4000, 5000 or 8500 on craigslist.org, and it does not print anymore and it is offered for $30 or less, grab it because the owner does not know as much as you do about Canon printers.

[Harpmaker]

Welcome to the forum rehardwick. Thanks for the tips and links!

I personally wouldn't use the Windex (a commercial glass cleaning solution) and ammonia tip, but that is up to the individual to decide for themselves.

[spj2010]

I wanted to say how much I appreciate your clearly-written cleaning guide. I followed all the steps without any trouble, but I'm still having printing issues...I would appreciate some troubleshooting ideas!

My project requires navy/dark blue text (I rarely use color printing). After a few pages, the cyan cartridge appeared to stop working because the text starting coming out pure magenta. I cleaned, cleaned, and deep cleaned the cartridge and it started to work again...but failed after another few pages. I thought my (non-genuine) cartridge might be at fault, so I bought a Canon cartridge. Same problem.

I ran the cartridge holder under water for about 20 minutes. Got most of the ink out but it was still dribbling magenta (which I find strange since I have NO trouble printing with magenta). I took out and cleaned the head assembly as best I could. Reinstalled everything...and I'm back to square one. I'm at a complete loss what to do next. Is it worth it to take it all apart and flush it out again?

[Harpmaker]

Hi spj2010, welcome to the forum!

Sorry for the delay in this reply. My old PC just gave up the ghost and I had to rebuild everything from scratch!

To answer your question, I doubt your problem can be solved by cleaning the print-head again. It looks like the fix is either a new print-head or a new printer. As much as we love our old Canons, they do wear out.