Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[sevenlayermuddle]

I've an inkjet printer that stopped printing magenta shortly after I refilled the cartridges a few days ago.  It's a Brother (DCP 340CW) and is slightly unusual in that the cartridges sit in a corner of the base and feed the print heads via come clever plumbing. 

I've tried umpteen cleaning cycles and I've also tried a factory-fresh manufacturer's original cartridge, all to no avail.  Any tips or suggestions before I start dismantling it in an effort to gain access to the print heads so I can clean them properly, and perhaps wreck it completely in the process?

I've always done my own ink-refills on the basis that I don't care if it voids the warranty, by the time you've refilled three or four times, you've saved enough cash to buy a new printer if needs be.    That's indeed been the case and I'm quids in over 3 years' usage, so if the printer needs to be scrapped so be it.   I just hate throwing things away.

[tonyappuk]

Just a thought SLM, if the cartridges don't feed the heads by gravity it is essential that the "plumbing" you refer to has no air leaks so the print head can pull it through. I may be talking rubbish but I thought it worth suggesting.
Tony

[sevenlayermuddle]

Just a thought SLM, if the cartridges don't feed the heads by gravity it is essential that the "plumbing" you refer to has no air leaks so the print head can pull it through. I may be talking rubbish but I thought it worth suggesting.
Tony

I suspect you're talking perfect sense, thanks. 

There's a nozzle in printer that engages with an orrifice in the cartridge, and that all looks clean and secure.   I can't see any more of the plumbing until after dismantling the printer, but I'll certainly look for any signs of leakage once I'm inside, and maybe before I do anything too brutal to the print heads.

SLM

[Ezzer]

if your about to start on the print heads the start with a semi woven type of cloth/tissue (the type that dosn't leave small bits of fluff) preferably one soaked in an alcohol (not domectic as this would leave a sugary residue which will cause no end of problems.)

Start by gently contacting part of the cloth to the print head for a few seconds, and gently wipe in one direction once then look at the residue on the cloth. your eventualy looking for a fresh streak of ink on the cloth, and particuarly the first contact do this very gently as you don't want to force dust or dried ink into the jets so rendering it perminately blocked

[sevenlayermuddle]

Thanks for the advice Ezzer, I was planning to try methylated spirits but maybe I'll try and get something safer, and I'll follow your guidelines for contact & wiping.  Alternatively, or in addition to alcohol, the cartridge-refill kits come with little bottles of 'cleaning flush' which certainly shouldn't do any harm, but may not be manly enough to clear a complete blockage.

It'll probably be my weekend project - it's either that or reassembling the bath panelling which came off last weekend to fix a water leak, and taking a printer apart sound like heaps more fun.  I'll report back how I get on.   Unless, of course, I wreck it so badly that I'm too embarassed to talk about it anymore

SLM

[Ezzer]

I would have thought meths would be ok although if you have some of this cleaning flush stuff then I would give that a go first as I would have though that would be a specificly effective solvent for the ink

Although I should have also mentioned, don't keep a solvent in contact with the heads for any lenght of time and wipe off any coating left after cleaning as soon as possible as some of the printer cartridge heads appear to be made from polyester, which long term will degrade with various solvents 

[sevenlayermuddle]

Well I said I'd report back on this...

I suceeded in dismantling the printer, which was no easy task in the absence of a repair manual, but without breaking anything obvious.  The plumbing all looked in good shape and well connected, so I proceeded to remove the heads.  That was even less easy - I expected the head-assembly to unclip or unscrew, but actually it required bending back metal tabs that hold the guide rails.  Ugly.  I cleaned the heads pretty much as Ezzer suggested, with the addition of leaving them to soak in printer flush for 10 minutes or so (googling suggested that may help).  Upon reassembly, the result is no different - no magenta.   I optimistically tried some more printer cleaning cycles from the menu, but still no good.

One thing I noticed is that the printer-head assembly itself contains chambers for each colour, sealed with a transparent plastic membrane.  After dismantling and cleaning, most of the ink had disappeared from these chambers - except magenta which was still full.  I'm assuming that might just be confirmation that it's well and truly blocked, maybe by a bit of debris that got in when I was refilling the cartridges last week?

The whole job took about two or three hours including coffee breaks and frequent hand-washing.  It's a horrid messy job with all that wet ink, and there's plenty of scope for doing more damage, so I probably won't try again.

Time for a new printer I guess.  Thanks for the advice anyroads.

[Ezzer]

only other idea if things are that bad, if theres a way of getting some suction to either  first the chamber or secondly the ink jet, as for the ink jet side, know any electical enginneer who may have a solder sucker.

Maby an old empty ink tube from a biro could be a thin enough tube with which to empty the chamber and hopefully the obstruction

[tonyappuk]

I have seen it suggested that you can use centrifugal force to clean blocked heads. You remove the head assembly, soak it in a suitable cleaner (often warm water is recommended) and then whirl the assembly around your head on a piece of string. It seems unlikely but there is a sort of logic behind it and if you can be bothered to go through the dismantling process again it might be worth a try.
Tony

[sevenlayermuddle]

OK Ezzer & Tony,  Maybe I'll have another go.

Per the suction idea,  the refill kits that I use come with a syringe, and I'd already pondered the thought of squeezing the needle into the tube and and either pushing or pulling the syringe to force the ink this way or that.  But I'd imagined there must be chance of wrecking whatever little micro-valves there might be on the print head and so I resisted that idea, but with Ezzer's encouragement (and little to lose) maybe I'll give it a go.

Tony - your idea sounds good to.  The only problem is, I didn't admit that I'd failed to disconnect the (very very fine) ribbon cable from the heads  as it was stubbornly tight in a connector block.  So my efforts today were based on what I could achieve with the heads still dangling on the ends of cable.   But I could've tried harder, and whirling them around my head sounds like a lot of fun and a good de-stressing excercise (best done outdoors though).  And again, what's there to lose?

I suspect I'll have more hand-washing tomorrow at this rate, maybe I'll spend more in soap that I saved in ink over the years.  I wish now that I'd bought a big industrial-sized pack of disposable gloves that I saw on offer in Screwfix recently.

[oldfogy]

Not sure if it's already been mentioned but "air blocks" are one of the worst problems with heads/cartridges.
Some refill kits come with a purging tool for such events, which basically is a pump/syringe to force the ink through the head/cartridge.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Thanks for all the help and advice

But I need to own up that I've just received an amazon 'dispatch' notification email for my new printer 

The old Brother printer was only three years old but it's seen a lot of use and, though it depresses me, maybe that's as much as you can expect nowadays.   In any case, the well-known 'business-model' behind printers seems to be to sell the things at a loss and then claw back profits on ink supplies.  That being the case, you may as well use it to advantage by freely buying new printers.

I've chosen a Canon this time for various reasons but, whilst researching the market, I noticed that Costco are doing the entry-level Brother for a bit of £40.  That's only slightly more than the official RRP for a complete set of cartridges.  Isn't it crazy?  I've heard rumours that some unscrupulous online sellers are actually buying cheap printers (even cheaper that that one), rescuing the cartridges for resale, and then dumping the printers.  If printer makers (or government legislators) really cared about the environment, then I say they ought to put a stop to that kind of business model.  Just my opinion, and way off topic.

[oldfogy]

I've heard rumours that some unscrupulous online sellers are actually buying cheap printers (even cheaper that that one), rescuing the cartridges for resale, and then dumping the printers.

One of the biggest problems with cartridges that come "supplied with printers is that they are sometimes classed as starter cartridges, which basically means they may only be 50% full/empty to begin with.

[sevenlayermuddle]

[One of the biggest problems with cartridges that come "supplied with printers is that they are sometimes classed as starter cartridges, which basically means they may only be 50% full/empty to begin with.

Yes OF, I know, and I don't approve. 

One of the reasons I chose this particular Canon (an MX700) was that, for it's price range, it has bigger than average ink tanks at 13ml.   I wait with cynical interest to see if the ones that come with it contain the full 13ml.

- SLM

[oldfogy]

That's where I miss my "old" Epson printer, (Epson Stylus Color) the cartridges were 45ml and compatable s were still only £3 - £4