Print head clogging with IJG photocyan ink Canon i950

[Bob Midden]

I'm curious how many people have had their photocyan print head clog using Ink Jet Goodies ink. I recall seeing others with this problem and I'm starting to wonder if there might be a defect in this ink. The photcyan print head on my Canon i950 printer seems to be permanently clogged. I tried the procedure described here using a syringe and drinking straw to force hot water through the print heads but that didn't solve the problem. I tried this at least a dozen times with the clogged print head and could never get it cleared. I've tried many regular as well as deep cleaning cycles. Nothing seems to work. I'll have to replace this print head. But I would like to find a way to avoid this problem in the future. There are times that I need prints quickly and when I run into this problem it takes at least a few days to get a replacement head and it's expensive if it's not covered under warranty. Since I'm using non-OEM inks I suspect that Canon will refuse to replace this print head for free.

I'm willing to use Canon photo cyan if that's the only IJG ink that's bad. But one of the reasons that I bought the i950 rather than an Epson was because it was relatively easy to use much cheaper non-OEM inks and everyone seemed to be raving about IJG ink. I realize that this problem may be the print head itself rather than the ink but I never had a serious clog using Canon inks, only with the IJG ink and so far, only with the photo cyan.

 

[Mike Morbach]

I'm sorry to say that you might be onto something. I seem to be suffering the same effect. How about it guys is this an IJG problem or just a Photo Cyan problem in general. You burst my bubble. I am considering the i950 to replace my s9000. But now you tell me you have the same problem.

I'm curious how many people have had their photocyan print head
clog using Ink Jet Goodies ink. I recall seeing others with this
problem and I'm starting to wonder if there might be a defect in
this ink. The photcyan print head on my Canon i950 printer seems to
be permanently clogged. I tried the procedure described here using
a syringe and drinking straw to force hot water through the print
heads but that didn't solve the problem. I tried this at least a
dozen times with the clogged print head and could never get it
cleared. I've tried many regular as well as deep cleaning cycles.
Nothing seems to work. I'll have to replace this print head. But I
would like to find a way to avoid this problem in the future. There
are times that I need prints quickly and when I run into this
problem it takes at least a few days to get a replacement head and
it's expensive if it's not covered under warranty. Since I'm using
non-OEM inks I suspect that Canon will refuse to replace this print
head for free.

I'm willing to use Canon photo cyan if that's the only IJG ink
that's bad. But one of the reasons that I bought the i950 rather
than an Epson was because it was relatively easy to use much
cheaper non-OEM inks and everyone seemed to be raving about IJG
ink. I realize that this problem may be the print head itself
rather than the ink but I never had a serious clog using Canon
inks, only with the IJG ink and so far, only with the photo cyan.

--
Mike Morbach
I'm still learning
http://www.pbase.com/spike777

 

[frank trotti]

I clogged a total of 4, using both OEM and IJG, (2 each way!!)...Canon is well aware of the problems with SOME of the i950's, and will readily replace the head under warranty. The best approach is to call them, be very nice, follow their instructions, politely decline their offer to take your printer to a service station,(make a transportation excuse or something!!)...They will then send you a new printhead,($90.00 US value!!). I hope that approach works well for you...Eventually, after getting a completely replaced printer and a total of 4 heads, they sent me an i9100...Canon warranty service rocks!!...But remember...BE NICE !!! These poor phone reps get "beat up" verbally all day by irate and sometimes clueless customers. The occasional nice guy is a welcome pause for them, and you'll get what you need as a reward...BTW...Ph. No. is 757-413-2848 in the US...Pay for the call, the 800# takes forever, and I think they assign their meanest guys to answer it!!...Good luck....Frank

 

[Kris Kadela]

I clogged a total of 4, using both OEM and IJG, (2 each
way!!)...Canon is well aware of the problems with SOME of the
i950's, and will readily replace the head under warranty. The best
approach is to call them, be very nice, follow their instructions,
politely decline their offer to take your printer to a service
station,(make a transportation excuse or something!!)...They will
then send you a new printhead,($90.00 US value!!). I hope that
approach works well for you...Eventually, after getting a
completely replaced printer and a total of 4 heads, they sent me an
i9100...Canon warranty service rocks!!...But remember...BE NICE !!!
These poor phone reps get "beat up" verbally all day by irate and
sometimes clueless customers. The occasional nice guy is a welcome
pause for them, and you'll get what you need as a
reward...BTW...Ph. No. is 757-413-2848 in the US...Pay for the
call, the 800# takes forever, and I think they assign their meanest
guys to answer it!!...Good luck....Frank

Photo Cyan clogging is nothing new for the S9xxx and i950 series. Every clog I ever had was always Photo Cyan and not always with 3rd party inks.

I simply went ahead and bought 3 printheads for my S900 and S9000 even though the S9000 is still under warranty. I figure that since I refill I save enough to replace the head every few months and still save a bunch. Now I have those printheads just sitting on a shelf ready to be used when needed. No downtime.

 

[JDA]

I've had the same problem and also had the Photo Magenta, Photo Cyan, and Yellow appear to be clogged at different times on me.

Canon is good about sending out printheads and each one they sent only lasted about 20 - 50 8x10 prints at best before a different clog started on the i950. They even sent a replacement printer out and it started doing the same thing in a very short time. It was a refurbished model and probably was never cleaned properly at the factory.

I tried cleaning the printhead with everything from Isopropyl Alcohol 91% to to Windex with Amonia with very little resulsts by themself. I would most of the time get a couple of good prints and then the nightmare with clogs would start showing up again.

This is what I did with the last printhead and this was one of the clogged printheads that I had replaced.

1) I found a small lid and filled it with Windex (generic brand from Family Dollar that has Amonia and costs $1 for a 1/2 gallon). I sat the printhead in the filled lid and let it soak and dropped a few drops of Windex on each nozzle and let it soak for about 30 - 60 minutes. The lid is a small diameter and only allows the bottom portion of the printhead to be covered in cleaner. Don't submerge the whole printhead where the pc board is located, only the very bottom covering only the white portion to be safe.

2) I then used an air compressor and then blew out the nozles and dried everything off.

3) I had a clear tube that fit over the ink nozle and used the IJG syringe without the needle to force Alcohol and the Windex through each ink nozle. At this point I knew each nozle was unclogged and used the air compressor to dy it off.

4) I put it back in the printer and ran a couple of clean cycles and did a nozzle check and it looked good.

I figured great! I started printing and and the first couple of 8 x 10's looked good, but shortly the clogs started happening again. I thought for sure that it was the IJG ink or faulty cartridges, so I replaced all the cartridges and opened a couple new bottles of IJG for the Cyan and Magenta that was giving me problems at this point. Well this didn't solve the problem and I was still wasting paper for my calendar project.

I started thinking that it just didn't make sense that there was no consistent ink flow, because when we first used the printer with IJG ink it printed off about 650 8 x 10's without a problem.

This is the solution that finally worked for me and I printed off 100 more 8 x 10's with the same printhead and they printed out perfectly without one problem to my amazement.

1) I would first do some of the above mentioned cleaning procedures. This will help make sure that there is no internal clogs on the printhead and may play a role in the fix, if you do have a bad clog.

2) Here it what I believe to be the most important part that finally solved my problem and has kept it fixed to this point.

A) Open the printer lid and let the printhead come to the center like you changing ink and then unplug the printer from the wall.

B) Get a flashlight and look all the way to the right inside the printed where the printhead normally parks when it's off. You will see an ink pad with ink on it and there is also a clear plastic piece that is right behind it.

C) After you located the ink pad that the printhead normally parks on. Get you a roll of paper towel or tissue paper (this is what I used) and fold it up into 2" x 2" squares and make it about a 1/4" thick so it will be very absorbant.

D) Now take one of the pads you just made and pour some Windex on them and place it over the ink pad inside the printer and lighty dab for about 30 - 60 seconds. You should notice a lot of ink on the tissue paper when you look at it. Keep repeating this process and checking with the flashlight to see your progress. I personally did this about 10 - 15 times and used about a 1/2 of a roll of toilet paper. I noticed the pad had become much cleaner and most all the ink was removed of the pad.

I plugged the printer back in and did a quick clean cycle and a nozzle check and it looked perfect.

I started printing and I kept waitng for a problem with missing ink to show up checking each print and no problems showed up. After about 10 perfect prints I decided to go for more and printed out another 90 + 8 x 10's for my calendar project and everything worked perfect like the day we bought it. Thank God!!

I really don't know if this will fix everyones problem with clogged head symptoms , but this was my solution to the problem. I've come to the conclusion after 3 printhead replacements and another i950 replacement it had to be something else and in my case it was this ink pad that had been gummed up with ink.

It's odd that this ink pad is never mentioned on the Canon, but I did read some cleaning tips for an Epson printer and this is where I first heard about an ink pad. That's when I decided to check with a flashight to see if the i950 used an ink pad and sure enough mine was all gummed up with ink big time.

If you are experiencing constant clog problems, it is sure worth a try to clean that ink pad. It sure fixed all the problems I was having with clogged heads and banding.

Remember any of the things I mentioned above, please try at your own risk and take your time and be somewhat gentle when dabbing the ink pad. I would hate for someone to tear their printer up, but if you feel comfortable with working on stuff this sure has seemed to have fixed my problems and it's printing like new again. I just wanted to share my experience with my problems and thought it might be of help to others. I know how aggrevating this problem can be and the time and wasted paper can be costly.

Good luck to everyone. JD...

 

[Drestin Black]

I'm in the category of never having any clogs in my s9000, almost all of the time using IJG inks.

I'm curious how many people have had their photocyan print head
clog using Ink Jet Goodies ink. I recall seeing others with this
problem and I'm starting to wonder if there might be a defect in
this ink. The photcyan print head on my Canon i950 printer seems to
be permanently clogged. I tried the procedure described here using
a syringe and drinking straw to force hot water through the print
heads but that didn't solve the problem. I tried this at least a
dozen times with the clogged print head and could never get it
cleared. I've tried many regular as well as deep cleaning cycles.
Nothing seems to work. I'll have to replace this print head. But I
would like to find a way to avoid this problem in the future. There
are times that I need prints quickly and when I run into this
problem it takes at least a few days to get a replacement head and
it's expensive if it's not covered under warranty. Since I'm using
non-OEM inks I suspect that Canon will refuse to replace this print
head for free.

I'm willing to use Canon photo cyan if that's the only IJG ink
that's bad. But one of the reasons that I bought the i950 rather
than an Epson was because it was relatively easy to use much
cheaper non-OEM inks and everyone seemed to be raving about IJG
ink. I realize that this problem may be the print head itself
rather than the ink but I never had a serious clog using Canon
inks, only with the IJG ink and so far, only with the photo cyan.

 

[Roy Sletcher]

I'm curious how many people have had their photocyan print head
clog using Ink Jet Goodies ink. I recall seeing others with this
problem and I'm starting to wonder if there might be a defect in
this ink. The photcyan print head on my Canon i950 printer seems to
be permanently clogged. I tried the procedure described here using
a syringe and drinking straw to force hot water through the print
heads but that didn't solve the problem. I tried this at least a
dozen times with the clogged print head and could never get it
cleared. I've tried many regular as well as deep cleaning cycles.
Nothing seems to work. I'll have to replace this print head. But I
would like to find a way to avoid this problem in the future. There
are times that I need prints quickly and when I run into this
problem it takes at least a few days to get a replacement head and
it's expensive if it's not covered under warranty. Since I'm using
non-OEM inks I suspect that Canon will refuse to replace this print
head for free.

I'm willing to use Canon photo cyan if that's the only IJG ink
that's bad. But one of the reasons that I bought the i950 rather
than an Epson was because it was relatively easy to use much
cheaper non-OEM inks and everyone seemed to be raving about IJG
ink. I realize that this problem may be the print head itself
rather than the ink but I never had a serious clog using Canon
inks, only with the IJG ink and so far, only with the photo cyan.

A few weeks ago a member on this forum concluded there was a relationship between long printing sessions (Multiple prints) and clogging. A search would probably locate it.

If I remember correctly, the hypothesis was that the heating of the ink in the Canon print heads eventually resuted in print head overheating and eventual head failure.

The theory was more anecdotal than scientific, but well reasoned. There were no specifics about what constituted a long print run, or other supporting data.

His writings seemed similar to problems I have experienced. As a precaution, I try to keep runs to less than 10 prints, then wait about 5 minutes to allow head cooling before continuing.

I offer this information FYI only.

Roy Sletcher

 

[NightShift©]

I'm curious how to recognize a clog in the i950. here is my head alignment test page:

I imagine the erratic lines represent a clog right? Its not really addressed in TFM. My prints look fine... just curious.Thanks

 

[JDA]

I'm curious how to recognize a clog in the i950. here is my head
alignment test page:

I imagine the erratic lines represent a clog right? Its not really
addressed in TFM. My prints look fine... just curious.Thanks

You need to do a nozzle check instead of the head allignment test and look at that pattern to check for clogs. When you do a nozzle test pattern check you will get 6 test patterns at the top of the page ( 3 on each side), one for each color.

If you have a bad clog one of the 6 colors won't show up at all. If you have a partial clog then some of the lines will be missing. The yellow, pc, pm, may be had to see since they are lighter in color, so look closely when you do a nozzle test print.

I hope this helps. JD...

 

[Adam2]

What doesn't make sense about this is that PC is just Cyan diluted to 1/6th of its original dye concentration. Perhaps there is a manufacturing defect in the printhead?

I'm curious how many people have had their photocyan print head
clog using Ink Jet Goodies ink. I recall seeing others with this
problem and I'm starting to wonder if there might be a defect in
this ink. The photcyan print head on my Canon i950 printer seems to
be permanently clogged. I tried the procedure described here using
a syringe and drinking straw to force hot water through the print
heads but that didn't solve the problem. I tried this at least a
dozen times with the clogged print head and could never get it
cleared. I've tried many regular as well as deep cleaning cycles.
Nothing seems to work. I'll have to replace this print head. But I
would like to find a way to avoid this problem in the future. There
are times that I need prints quickly and when I run into this
problem it takes at least a few days to get a replacement head and
it's expensive if it's not covered under warranty. Since I'm using
non-OEM inks I suspect that Canon will refuse to replace this print
head for free.

I'm willing to use Canon photo cyan if that's the only IJG ink
that's bad. But one of the reasons that I bought the i950 rather
than an Epson was because it was relatively easy to use much
cheaper non-OEM inks and everyone seemed to be raving about IJG
ink. I realize that this problem may be the print head itself
rather than the ink but I never had a serious clog using Canon
inks, only with the IJG ink and so far, only with the photo cyan.

 

[DianeR]

Same here - no problems with S9000 and IJG.

DianeR

I'm curious how many people have had their photocyan print head
clog using Ink Jet Goodies ink. I recall seeing others with this
problem and I'm starting to wonder if there might be a defect in
this ink. The photcyan print head on my Canon i950 printer seems to
be permanently clogged. I tried the procedure described here using
a syringe and drinking straw to force hot water through the print
heads but that didn't solve the problem. I tried this at least a
dozen times with the clogged print head and could never get it
cleared. I've tried many regular as well as deep cleaning cycles.
Nothing seems to work. I'll have to replace this print head. But I
would like to find a way to avoid this problem in the future. There
are times that I need prints quickly and when I run into this
problem it takes at least a few days to get a replacement head and
it's expensive if it's not covered under warranty. Since I'm using
non-OEM inks I suspect that Canon will refuse to replace this print
head for free.

I'm willing to use Canon photo cyan if that's the only IJG ink
that's bad. But one of the reasons that I bought the i950 rather
than an Epson was because it was relatively easy to use much
cheaper non-OEM inks and everyone seemed to be raving about IJG
ink. I realize that this problem may be the print head itself
rather than the ink but I never had a serious clog using Canon
inks, only with the IJG ink and so far, only with the photo cyan.

 

[Michael Friedman]

I've done the same thing. I bought two spares and then finally freed the clog in one of my "bad" ones, so I've now got three extras.

It seems like such an obvious strategy, since the savings using IJG inks are astronomical with the amount of printing I do.

i've been using IJG inks for around six months and the only problem I've had was with that bad batch of cartridges they had several months ago. They totally killed one printhead and partially damaged another. No problems at all since then, other than one head that died of "natural causes."

-Michael

I simply went ahead and bought 3 printheads for my S900 and S9000
even though the S9000 is still under warranty. I figure that since
I refill I save enough to replace the head every few months and
still save a bunch. Now I have those printheads just sitting on a
shelf ready to be used when needed. No downtime.

 

[Mike Caldwell]

A few weeks ago a member on this forum concluded there was a
relationship between long printing sessions (Multiple prints) and
clogging.

I was having that problem printing 13x19s. i drilled out my vent holes to 1/16th inch and had no further problems. It also helped when I started single loading paper.

this could be either heat buildup or ink starvation. seems to me symptoms would be the same.

HTH
--
Mike Caldwell
'if your only tool is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail'

 

[Chris Maddock]

What doesn't make sense about this is that PC is just Cyan diluted
to 1/6th of its original dye concentration. Perhaps there is a
manufacturing defect in the printhead?

More likely a design defect. A plain manufacturing one would average out across all the colours, not be weighted in favour (?) of the PhotoCyan.

Then again it could be a design defect, perhaps a slightly different ink path for PC than the others that can be exacerbated by manufacturing problems.

--
KRs
Chris

My meagre efforts are at http://www.dslr.co.uk

 

[Magic Murray]

When I spoke to canon about my clogged photo magenta problem they explained that partially displayed alignment blocks or the blocks on the nozzle check indicate ink supply problems. I had very little of the PM nozzle check showing at all (25%). On their instructions I used the IsoAlchohol cleaning and used a modified syringe to force it through the print head.

After a few repeats this seemed to fix the problem but I still had an ink supply problem. I used a syringe to increase the size of the vent on the ink tank. That fixed the problem. I had very similar alignment patterns to yours.

I also cleaned the ink pads inside the printer (used some highly absorbent pads my wife uses from time to time (heh heh)). There are two of these one at either end of the head carriage...

Until I cleaned the pads my clogging would come back now (knock on wood) it hasn't for two weeks.

I think these pads got super saturated in the spring of this year when there were quite a few faulty ink tanks around. I installed a set and basically watched the ink drain into the printer. These were replaced by the distributor.

I'm wondering how many others reporting clogging also fell prey to the faulty tanks. InkJetGooodies and WeInk both shipped these 'new' style tanks for a while and then quickly replaced them...

I'm curious how to recognize a clog in the i950. here is my head
alignment test page:

I imagine the erratic lines represent a clog right? Its not really
addressed in TFM. My prints look fine... just curious.Thanks

--
Nikon guy

 

[JJ (Mo)]

n/t

 

[pops]

I have the S9000 and I have just ordered another print head ( my 3rd ) for this printer. I have had clogs on both Cyan & Magenta using both Canon and Tyler Martin Inks. This 3rd. print head cost me $109.73 tax included by Canon with no guarantee that my problems of clogged heads will end. If I still have the clogged head after this I will opt for an Olympus Dye Sub instead.

I clogged a total of 4, using both OEM and IJG, (2 each
way!!)...Canon is well aware of the problems with SOME of the
i950's, and will readily replace the head under warranty. The best
approach is to call them, be very nice, follow their instructions,
politely decline their offer to take your printer to a service
station,(make a transportation excuse or something!!)...They will
then send you a new printhead,($90.00 US value!!). I hope that
approach works well for you...Eventually, after getting a
completely replaced printer and a total of 4 heads, they sent me an
i9100...Canon warranty service rocks!!...But remember...BE NICE !!!
These poor phone reps get "beat up" verbally all day by irate and
sometimes clueless customers. The occasional nice guy is a welcome
pause for them, and you'll get what you need as a
reward...BTW...Ph. No. is 757-413-2848 in the US...Pay for the
call, the 800# takes forever, and I think they assign their meanest
guys to answer it!!...Good luck....Frank

Photo Cyan clogging is nothing new for the S9xxx and i950 series.
Every clog I ever had was always Photo Cyan and not always with 3rd
party inks.

I simply went ahead and bought 3 printheads for my S900 and S9000
even though the S9000 is still under warranty. I figure that since
I refill I save enough to replace the head every few months and
still save a bunch. Now I have those printheads just sitting on a
shelf ready to be used when needed. No downtime.

 

[NightShift©]

You need to do a nozzle check instead of the head allignment test
and look at that pattern to check for clogs. When you do a nozzle
test pattern check you will get 6 test patterns at the top of the
page ( 3 on each side), one for each color.

If you have a bad clog one of the 6 colors won't show up at all. If
you have a partial clog then some of the lines will be missing. The
yellow, pc, pm, may be had to see since they are lighter in color,
so look closely when you do a nozzle test print.

I hope this helps. JD...

Thanks for the info JD. Before I made my original post I did that and the 6 grids looked fine so I didnt bother to post the nozzle check page.

 

[johnd1]

...........I can't seem to get it unclogged. I was using real cheap carts. First time though.
John
John

I'm curious how many people have had their photocyan print head
clog using Ink Jet Goodies ink. I recall seeing others with this
problem and I'm starting to wonder if there might be a defect in
this ink. The photcyan print head on my Canon i950 printer seems to
be permanently clogged. I tried the procedure described here using
a syringe and drinking straw to force hot water through the print
heads but that didn't solve the problem. I tried this at least a
dozen times with the clogged print head and could never get it
cleared. I've tried many regular as well as deep cleaning cycles.
Nothing seems to work. I'll have to replace this print head. But I
would like to find a way to avoid this problem in the future. There
are times that I need prints quickly and when I run into this
problem it takes at least a few days to get a replacement head and
it's expensive if it's not covered under warranty. Since I'm using
non-OEM inks I suspect that Canon will refuse to replace this print
head for free.

I'm willing to use Canon photo cyan if that's the only IJG ink
that's bad. But one of the reasons that I bought the i950 rather
than an Epson was because it was relatively easy to use much
cheaper non-OEM inks and everyone seemed to be raving about IJG
ink. I realize that this problem may be the print head itself
rather than the ink but I never had a serious clog using Canon
inks, only with the IJG ink and so far, only with the photo cyan.

--
Mike Morbach
I'm still learning
http://www.pbase.com/spike777

 

[johnd1]

I'm curious how many people have had their photocyan print head
clog using Ink Jet Goodies ink. I recall seeing others with this
problem and I'm starting to wonder if there might be a defect in
this ink. The photcyan print head on my Canon i950 printer seems to
be permanently clogged. I tried the procedure described here using
a syringe and drinking straw to force hot water through the print
heads but that didn't solve the problem. I tried this at least a
dozen times with the clogged print head and could never get it
cleared. I've tried many regular as well as deep cleaning cycles.
Nothing seems to work. I'll have to replace this print head. But I
would like to find a way to avoid this problem in the future. There
are times that I need prints quickly and when I run into this
problem it takes at least a few days to get a replacement head and
it's expensive if it's not covered under warranty. Since I'm using
non-OEM inks I suspect that Canon will refuse to replace this print
head for free.

I'm willing to use Canon photo cyan if that's the only IJG ink
that's bad. But one of the reasons that I bought the i950 rather
than an Epson was because it was relatively easy to use much
cheaper non-OEM inks and everyone seemed to be raving about IJG
ink. I realize that this problem may be the print head itself
rather than the ink but I never had a serious clog using Canon
inks, only with the IJG ink and so far, only with the photo cyan.

--
Mike Morbach
I'm still learning
http://www.pbase.com/spike777