manually cleaning a printhead

  • Thread starter Thread starter snydley
  • Start date Start date
snydley said:
Thanks Tony,
I thought with your expertise at this you might have access to different
parts suppliers. I'll try Google. Iemailed Canon and they gave me a phone
number for parts, I'll try that too.
Thanks for all of your help
Snyde

I probably could get the part for you but the shipping from where I live would
make your eyes water :-)
Tony
 
Tony said:
I probably could get the part for you but the shipping from where I live
would
make your eyes water :-)
Tony

Yeah, I don't need that.. :-) I have the MP730 completely apart now. It was
rather easy actually. I guess it was all the years at Xerox building,
repairing and testing copiers.
I got all of the part numbers and their prices I need from the website you
gave me in the U.K. I'm gonna call Canon Monday and compare prices and order
from the cheapest place. I need 4 ink absorbers and a purge unit and I think
I'll be ok. At this point, because of all of the ink in the bottom of the
printer I'm thinking the purge unit and all of the ink buildup in the bottom
of the unit, and in the ink absorbers was the problem with the copy quality
being so bad. If that doesn't work then I'll order a printhead and go from
there.

Thanks again,
Snyde
 
snydley said:
Yeah, I don't need that.. :-) I have the MP730 completely apart now. It was
rather easy actually. I guess it was all the years at Xerox building,
repairing and testing copiers.
I got all of the part numbers and their prices I need from the website you
gave me in the U.K. I'm gonna call Canon Monday and compare prices and order
from the cheapest place. I need 4 ink absorbers and a purge unit and I think
I'll be ok. At this point, because of all of the ink in the bottom of the
printer I'm thinking the purge unit and all of the ink buildup in the bottom
of the unit, and in the ink absorbers was the problem with the copy quality
being so bad. If that doesn't work then I'll order a printhead and go from
there.

Thanks again,
Snyde

I am pleased it was not hard, I tend to assume that many people who post here
do not have your experience and am careful not to encourage them to get in
beyond their depth.
We have received several printers in dozens of bits with a plea to "please put
it back together", often with broken latches and missing bits.
I expect you have done this but it is worthwhile keeping the printhead moist
while you await the parts, a sealed plastic bag with a damp paper towel in the
bottom can work quite well.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Tony
 
Tony said:
I am pleased it was not hard, I tend to assume that many people who post
here
do not have your experience and am careful not to encourage them to get in
beyond their depth.
We have received several printers in dozens of bits with a plea to "please
put
it back together", often with broken latches and missing bits.
I expect you have done this but it is worthwhile keeping the printhead
moist
while you await the parts, a sealed plastic bag with a damp paper towel in
the
bottom can work quite well.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Tony
Hi Tony,
I've decided now that I have it all disassembled and cleaned, and the ink
absorbers on the clothesline drying, that once dry I'll put it all together
again, (I have WAY too much time on my hands), and see if it'll print
properly. The pads on top of the vacuum tubes on the purge unit were so
badly clogged that I'm thinking that was the main problem. If that doesn't
fix it I'll go ahead and order the parts I need. I've also thought about
attaching longer tubes to the discharge side of the purge unit, drilling a
hole in the side of the printer "case" and extending the tubes into a small
plastic bottle of some sort, catching the waste ink, and keeping it on the
outside of the printer, hopefully preventing this from happening again.

Thanks again,
Snyde.
 
snydley said:
Hi Tony,
I've decided now that I have it all disassembled and cleaned, and the ink
absorbers on the clothesline drying, that once dry I'll put it all
together again, (I have WAY too much time on my hands), and see if it'll
print properly. The pads on top of the vacuum tubes on the purge unit were
so badly clogged that I'm thinking that was the main problem. If that
doesn't fix it I'll go ahead and order the parts I need. I've also thought
about attaching longer tubes to the discharge side of the purge unit,
drilling a hole in the side of the printer "case" and extending the tubes
into a small plastic bottle of some sort, catching the waste ink, and
keeping it on the outside of the printer, hopefully preventing this from
happening again.

Thanks again,
Snyde.
Snyde - the modification you suggest is one that Epson owners have been
doing for some time. The printer memory will still do a countdown on when
it thinks the waste ink tank is full and give you a warning message. If you
have done the modification you will only need to do a memory reset which
will start the counter going again. The key presses to do the reset are
available in several places on the internet.
 
Tony said:
I am pleased it was not hard, I tend to assume that many people who post
here
do not have your experience and am careful not to encourage them to get in
beyond their depth.
We have received several printers in dozens of bits with a plea to "please
put
it back together", often with broken latches and missing bits.
I expect you have done this but it is worthwhile keeping the printhead
moist
while you await the parts, a sealed plastic bag with a damp paper towel in
the
bottom can work quite well.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Tony

Well, I've got it all back together now, did 2 deep cleanings, a nozzle
check and a printhead alignment, and the Canon Nozzle check page and head
alignment page look exactly like they did before. Rows B,D,G,I, and J are
blank. From this I guess I can assume,(yeah I know), that it's probably a
bad print head. Do you think that's how I should proceed? I don't know what
else to do to it. The print quality has been getting worse over the last
month or so, I figure it must have been a printhead all along. Disassembling
it was all for not though, it had SO much ink on the absorber pads that the
purge unit couldn't have been functioning properly.
I got it all back together and wound up with just 2 extra screws, and no
broken tabs. Not too bad for not having a manual if I do say myself. I just
hope they weren't in critical locations. :-)

Snyde
 
snydley said:
Well, I've got it all back together now, did 2 deep cleanings, a nozzle
check and a printhead alignment, and the Canon Nozzle check page and head
alignment page look exactly like they did before. Rows B,D,G,I, and J are
blank. From this I guess I can assume,(yeah I know), that it's probably a
bad print head. Do you think that's how I should proceed? I don't know what
else to do to it. The print quality has been getting worse over the last
month or so, I figure it must have been a printhead all along. Disassembling
it was all for not though, it had SO much ink on the absorber pads that the
purge unit couldn't have been functioning properly.
I got it all back together and wound up with just 2 extra screws, and no
broken tabs. Not too bad for not having a manual if I do say myself. I just
hope they weren't in critical locations. :-)

Snyde

Well
So far you have spent some money and quite a bit of time on a printer that is
not cheap to replace.
I would buy a printhead and cross my fingers.
There are really only 3 possibilities.
1. Purge unit - already done
2. Printhead - to be done
3. An electronic failure - very unlikely particularly because the problem
became worse over time
My guess is that the purge unit failed and because it was not working the
printhead followed because it was not being primed.
I have seen exactly this sequence on a cheaper Canon multifunction.
Good luck
Tony
 
(snip)
Well, I've got it all back together now, did 2 deep cleanings, a nozzle
check and a printhead alignment, and the Canon Nozzle check page and head
alignment page look exactly like they did before. Rows B,D,G,I, and J are
blank. From this I guess I can assume,(yeah I know), that it's probably a
bad print head. Do you think that's how I should proceed? I don't know
what else to do to it. The print quality has been getting worse over the
last month or so, I figure it must have been a printhead all along.
Disassembling it was all for not though, it had SO much ink on the
absorber pads that the purge unit couldn't have been functioning
properly.
I got it all back together and wound up with just 2 extra screws, and no
broken tabs. Not too bad for not having a manual if I do say myself. I
just hope they weren't in critical locations. :-)

Snyde
Snyde - since you are ready to consign the printhead to the scrap heap, and
you are obviously very capable with mechanical things, I would suggest that
you go onto the Nifty-Stuff Forum site and look for the posts from Grandad35
about disassembling and cleaning the printhead. Just be sure to first grind
off the plastic nibs that hold the contact assembly to the plastic body of
the printhead. You will otherwise stress the ribbon connector and damage
it. I took apart one printhead and found that the clogs were actually in
the channels in the printhead body and not the nozzles. Unfortunately I had
not heeded the advice to first remove the contact plate. Didn't matter as I
had purchased a new printhead before disassembling the old one.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/
 
(snip)
Snyde - since you are ready to consign the printhead to the scrap heap, and
you are obviously very capable with mechanical things, I would suggest that
you go onto the Nifty-Stuff Forum site and look for the posts from Grandad35
about disassembling and cleaning the printhead. Just be sure to first grind
off the plastic nibs that hold the contact assembly to the plastic body of
the printhead. You will otherwise stress the ribbon connector and damage
it. I took apart one printhead and found that the clogs were actually in
the channels in the printhead body and not the nozzles. Unfortunately I had
not heeded the advice to first remove the contact plate. Didn't matter as I
had purchased a new printhead before disassembling the old one.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/
I've followed this thread with some interest, since several months ago
I went through a similar experience with my 3 year old Canon i950
printer. (However I did not get too involved with a "purge unit", not
even sure that model had such. I did check the sponge and it was not
excessively loaded, though.)

What I did has been posted on here in some detail earlier, so will not
repeat it all, but the bottom line is I bought a new printhead for
about half the price Canon was asking for it. (A friend found several
of the exact model available on eBay.) Upon installing it, my printer
has resumed printing exclusively color photographs, mostly 8x10's.
And the whole thing is working as well as when the printer was new.
Since I'm happy with this printer, I recently bought yet another
sealed new printhead for use when this one fails. Frankly, with the
terrible proliferation of new printer models and all the limitations
the makers are incorporating in them, I really don't want any of them.
My old one works great, I can refill to my heart's content, no chips,
etc. to contend with.

Olin McDaniel
 
Olin K. McDaniel said:
I've followed this thread with some interest, since several months ago
I went through a similar experience with my 3 year old Canon i950
printer. (However I did not get too involved with a "purge unit", not
even sure that model had such. I did check the sponge and it was not
excessively loaded, though.)

What I did has been posted on here in some detail earlier, so will not
repeat it all, but the bottom line is I bought a new printhead for
about half the price Canon was asking for it. (A friend found several
of the exact model available on eBay.) Upon installing it, my printer
has resumed printing exclusively color photographs, mostly 8x10's.
And the whole thing is working as well as when the printer was new.
Since I'm happy with this printer, I recently bought yet another
sealed new printhead for use when this one fails. Frankly, with the
terrible proliferation of new printer models and all the limitations
the makers are incorporating in them, I really don't want any of them.
My old one works great, I can refill to my heart's content, no chips,
etc. to contend with.

Olin McDaniel

Olin,
You say that you refill "to yout heart's content". This is one area I'm not
too sure of. Right from the beginning with this printer I never bought Canon
ink. I first started refilling the cartridges with refill kits for Walmart,
then I found it was as cheap to buy cartridges on eBay and not have to mess
with the refilling. I think that could be what caused the problems with this
printer in the first place. I read on here about someone buying
"HobbyColors" ink refill kits. What do you use? I don't know WHAT kind of
refills or cartridges to use, but I don't want to make the mistake I did
last time.

Thanks,
Snyde
 
Tony said:
Well
So far you have spent some money and quite a bit of time on a printer that
is
not cheap to replace.
I would buy a printhead and cross my fingers.
There are really only 3 possibilities.
1. Purge unit - already done
2. Printhead - to be done
3. An electronic failure - very unlikely particularly because the problem
became worse over time
My guess is that the purge unit failed and because it was not working the
printhead followed because it was not being primed.
I have seen exactly this sequence on a cheaper Canon multifunction.
Good luck
Tony

Hi Tony,
Not much time really, a few hours here and there after work for a few days,
expense, so far a new printhead, that's all. Anyway, now that I'm up and
running again, how should I maintain this thing. Should I run a head
cleaning routine after I print every time or anything else special? Is that
a good thing? And what about ink? I don't want to buy Canon ink, I'd like a
cheaper good alternative. Can you recommend anything?

Thanks again for all of your help!
Snyde
 
snydley said:
Olin,
You say that you refill "to yout heart's content". This is one area I'm not
too sure of. Right from the beginning with this printer I never bought Canon
ink. I first started refilling the cartridges with refill kits for Walmart,
then I found it was as cheap to buy cartridges on eBay and not have to mess
with the refilling. I think that could be what caused the problems with this
printer in the first place. I read on here about someone buying
"HobbyColors" ink refill kits. What do you use? I don't know WHAT kind of
refills or cartridges to use, but I don't want to make the mistake I did
last time.

Thanks,
Snyde

The thing to do is call up Hobbycolors and ask them who the
mfg/formulator of the ink they sell is so you know what you are
getting. Let us all know what they tell you.
 
measekite said:
The thing to do is call up Hobbycolors and ask them who the
mfg/formulator of the ink they sell is so you know what you are
getting. Let us all know what they tell you.

Well, I did call Canon to ask them who made their brand inks and
they said they couldn't disclose that information. Must be something
call "trade secrets".

-Taliesyn
 
Taliesyn said:
Well, I did call Canon to ask them who made their brand inks and
they said they couldn't disclose that information. Must be something
call "trade secrets".

-Taliesyn

Yeah and while you're at it call up HP & Epson and ask them who
manufacturers their inks and be sure and ask them what the formula is
for each color.
Let us know, ok?
Thanks.
frank
 
Taliesyn said:
Well, I did call Canon to ask them who made their brand inks and
they said they couldn't disclose that information. Must be something
call "trade secrets".


Why we all know that Canon designs, engineers their entire printing
system including the ink and paper that they put their name on. Well
congrats on scoring 300 on the SAT. Maybe you can get to college when
you graduate high school. I know you do not want to admit in public
that you are a kid in high school.
 
measekite said:
Why we all know that Canon designs, engineers their entire printing
system including the ink and paper that they put their name on.

No we don't, we have no idea because canon won't tell us... .it's
totally undisclosed. They "may" then again they "may not".

Why we all know that Canon designs, engineers their entire printing

But it's like this... back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s before lasers and
inkjets became in vogue you had the wonderful choice on the more spendy
typewriters of a carbon ribbon or a fabric ribbon. Now the carbon
ribbon was for the most part superior in terms of crisp detail,
contrast, and longevity was pretty dang good, but was like 10 times the
cost of the fabric ribbons which could for the most part be recycled
through the machine a few times before replacement/reinking. So you
know what, for resumes you used the carbon ribbon, but for everyday
stuff including automobile titles, birth certificates, just about
everyone used the fabric ribbon. They saved businesses thousands of
dollars, regular joes a few bucks, tens, or hundrads of dollars
depending on their volume.
 
snydley said:
Olin,
You say that you refill "to yout heart's content". This is one area I'm
not too sure of. Right from the beginning with this printer I never bought
Canon ink. I first started refilling the cartridges with refill kits for
Walmart, then I found it was as cheap to buy cartridges on eBay and not
have to mess with the refilling. I think that could be what caused the
problems with this printer in the first place. I read on here about
someone buying "HobbyColors" ink refill kits. What do you use? I don't
know WHAT kind of refills or cartridges to use, but I don't want to make
the mistake I did last time.

Thanks,
Snyde
Snyde - first of all, I'm sure you have come to realize that Measekite has
never used aftermarket products but continues his two year old rant against
them. If you are using a newsgroup reader that has the ability to killfile
him, do yourself the favor. You can bet that he will jump on this part of
your posting thread - like a moth to a flame.

Three bulk refill aftermarket inks seem to be the favorites here. MIS,
Formulabs, and Hobbicolors. I've also used Computer Friends inks. All have
had really good reports and appear to be very kind to the printers as well.
Refilling is really easy, fast after you get the hang of it, and any mess
you might encounter is easily contained. Generally, the ink you would
purchase for refilling from Costco or stores like Walmart fall into the
"generic" classification. Generic inks are sold as suitable for several
different printer mfgrs products. I'd stay with one of the bulk refill inks
that have been formulated specifically for Canon printers. I have
personally used MIS and Computer friends inks (presumeably both made by
Image Specialist) and liked them both. I haven't experienced clogging any
more than with OEM inks. This generally occurs if you leave your printer
idle for a long period of time. Other people have reported good color
response and safety with their printers with Formulabs and Hobbicolors inks.

I had suggested that you go onto the Nifty-Stuff Forum for info on
disassembling and cleaning the printhead. Go there also for a wealth of
information on refilling, sealing the fill hole, potential problems you can
encounter, etc. Also, at the top of the Nifty-Stuff web page is a link to
Neil Slade's info - a must read for a prospective refiller.

Purchasing prefilled aftermarket carts can be a crap-shoot. The quality of
many of the carts and their ink is poor. Although Neil Slade, a fellow who
has lots of experience with aftermarket inks and has written excellent
articles about them, has stopped refilling and now uses G&G carts from
inkgrabber, if you have the time and inclination I would suggest refilling.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/

http://www.neilslade.com/papers/inkjetstuff.html
 
snydley said:
Hi Tony,
Not much time really, a few hours here and there after work for a few days,
expense, so far a new printhead, that's all. Anyway, now that I'm up and
running again, how should I maintain this thing. Should I run a head
cleaning routine after I print every time or anything else special? Is that
a good thing? And what about ink? I don't want to buy Canon ink, I'd like a
cheaper good alternative. Can you recommend anything?

Thanks again for all of your help!
Snyde

I would let the printer look after it's printhead using the built in routines.
I would also ensure that at least one page containing colour is printed each
week.
Other than that I have no recommendation.
Tony
 
measekite said:
Why we all know that Canon designs, engineers their entire printing
system including the ink and paper that they put their name on.

One more time for the pretending-to-be-deaf ... I called Canon to ask
them who made their brand inks and they said they couldn't disclose that
information. Who exactly makes each "brand" of ink is not information
given to ANYONE - not even Measekite. So he has no idea either. Case
closed.

-Taliesyn
 
Taliesyn said:
One more time for the pretending-to-be-deaf ... I called Canon to ask
them who made their brand inks and they said they couldn't disclose that
information. Who exactly makes each "brand" of ink is not information
given to ANYONE - not even Measekite. So he has no idea either. Case
closed.


ur case is closed. nobody can reason with you. time to grow up. why
don't you admit real good that you are a school kid on an allowance.
you are not learning very well.

A company who designs and engineers a product and puts their name on it
and sells it in all venues is the mfg/formulator regardless if the
actual productionis outsourced. I know you have not had any courses in
economics, marketing, salesmanship or any advance business because they
are not taught in high school.

Why don;t you do me a favor and put me in your delete file.
 
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