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 | Canon i860 Problem...any suggestions? by fiterfly (11/25/08 6:56 AM) reply | + / - | Hello everyone,
I have been the happy owner of a Canon i860 for a long time and absolutely love it. Recently, it started having issues. Mostly, the 3eBK nozzle is not printing anymore (in addition to other nozzle check ugliness). The current nozzle check and manual print alignment pat looks like this:
http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~bbyang/temp/i860.pdf
I have tried to become as informed as possible through other posts in this forum, most notably the following threads:
http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/inkjet/31149
http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/inkjet/31712
From the resources on this website, I have tried the following:
1) changed new (generic) ink cartridge back to refilled ones that have worked earlier
2) Soaked the print head in Windex overnight. Cleaned with distilled water after.
3) Soaked the print head in 70% IPA overnight. Cleaned with distilled water after.
4) Put 70% IPA on the inlets of the print head and let it sit overnight until it ran out the other end clear.
5) Blasted compressed air through inlets of print head.
6) Finally broke down and bought a new print head (nothing changed).
7) Cleaned the electrical contacts between the print head and the carriage with a q-tip with the 70% IPA.
8) Checked the purge unit by dripping 70% IPA onto the sponges in the far right of the printer and turned it off and on a few times. The IPA is definitely getting absorbed in both pads, so I think the purge unit is working. This step was repeated several times, followed by a deep cleaning.
None of these steps changed anything.
Do any of you have any suggestions as to what might be wrong? What should I try next?
The only other thing I can think of is to attempt to replace the purge unit. Since it is sucking in the IPA in step 8, however, I am not confident that it would be a wise, non-refundable $30 to spend.
Is there anything else I can do? Am I at the end of the road with this beloved printer?
Thank you in advance for all of your help!
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 | Re: Canon i860 Problem...any suggestions? by fiterfly (11/25/08 7:03 AM) reply | + / - | Here is some more background info:
I have been refilling the original ink cartridges that came with the printer over three years. It has been under lots of black and white use and occasional (once or twice a month) color printing. I clean the print heads using the maintenance software when I refill the ink.
Some where along the line, the column "G" in the print head alignment stopped printing (I think it's cyan), the "I" column comes out in black and white stripes in manual alignment, and there are some horizontal lines missing in the 3eBK nozzle check pattern. The printer worked fine otherwise. I tried to fix it by soaking the print head in Windex overnight, but didn't do anything else when that did not fix these minor issues.
A month ago, I was given some generic ink cartridges, so I decided to switch the ink cartridges once they ran out, instead of refilling my 3+ year old ones. Trouble struck when I replaced the 6BK and 3eBK. The printer started printing every third line of text darker than the others. Switching back to the old print cartridges did not fix this.
After going through all the cleaning steps (up until buying a new printhead), 3eBK stopped responding altogether and more columns in the print head alignment disappeared. I then broke down and bought a new print head.
Yesterday, the new print head arrived, and to my dismay, changed nothing. I did some more of the cleaning mentioned in the above post, but nothing has changed.
What would you suggest? Should I invest in the purge unit to see if that will fix it? Is it time for a new printer?
Thanks so much in advance for your help, and reading my long (wanted to make them detailed) posts.
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| Re: Canon i860 Problem...any suggestions? by fiterfly (11/30/08 2:34 PM) reply | + / - | Hello Ron350,
Thanks for looking into the response.
The test prints look like that regardless of whether I used the old or new print head. I was very disappointed.
What are your thoughts?
Also, what do you think of the following logic?
1) 3eBK does not print regardless of old or brand new print head => not clogged ink in the print head.
2) The pads successfully suck in IPA that I put in the pads on the far right of the printer. Also, all ink levels (including 3eBK) goes down after deep cleaning => purge unit is functioning.
3) Cleaned the contact between print head and the printer and it made no difference.
4) Driver is up-to-date => not software.
Therefore, the problem must be something electrical, beyond the basic repairs that most of us can do.
Thanks so much for your help!
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| Re: Canon i860 Problem...any suggestions? by ron350  (11/30/08 9:30 PM) reply | + / - | I am no expert but I have to agree with your logic.
It looks like the 3eBK part of the print head is not receiving the signal to fire.
What brand of ink were you using when refilling the cartridges?
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| Re: Canon i860 Problem...any suggestions? by dr-inkjet (11/30/08 10:04 PM) reply | + / - | perhaps there are 2 parts would be error: the logicboard or purge unit. first you must to check the purge unit, at the bottom of head cap there are 2 pipes as a flow for ink to the waste ink pad/absorber, please check that this 2 pipes are attached well to the pump/purge unit.
if this doesn't work, the logic board must be the error part.
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| Re: Canon i860 Problem...any suggestions? by fiterfly (12/1/08 6:19 AM) reply | + / - | Hello Ron and Dr-Inkjet,
Ron:
I'm glad you agree. I have been refilling my ink cartridges from http://www.ink-refills-ink.com/ for the past four years. The problem occured shortly after I got free ink cartridges from a friend. He purchased the compatible cartridges from http://www.distribution-online.com/ and did not need them any more because he got a new printer.
My nozzle check had some issues anyway that didn't show up in regular printing (one of the black rectangles was striped in the entire column of the print head alignment), so I don't think it's just the new ink cartridges. Though the fact that changing the print head did not fix it also made me wonder whether I needed to blame it on the new ink cartridges.
Has anybody had any experience with ink from distribution-online.com?
Dr-InkJet:
Thanks for your suggestion. I would love to figure out how to troubleshoot the purge unit. Could you give me some further instructions on how to check the pipes you are talking about?
I know how to remove the top of the printer, the ink cartridges and the print head. Afterwards, I know how to locate the sponges on the far right of the printer that aborbs the waste ink during cleaning. I do not know how to remove the sponges to see the purge unit or the tubes, which I assume are underneath.
Could you give me some disassembly tips?
Thank you!
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| Re: Canon i860 Problem...any suggestions? by ron350 (12/1/08 2:07 PM) reply | + / - | Fiterfly
If you did this –
“8) Checked the purge unit by dripping 70% IPA onto the sponges in the far right of the printer and turned it off and on a few times. The IPA is definitely getting absorbed in both pads, so I think the purge unit is working. This step was repeated several times, followed by a deep cleaning.”
your purge pump is working properly.
Just for fun you can try a eeprom reset in Service Mode and see if that helps.
That is the one (below) where you press the Resume Button 3 times.
Canon Service Mode: This printer has a service mode for service-related settings and for performing test prints. The operator panel buttons are used to enter the desired service mode.
Service Mode Operations
With the printer powered off, hold down the resume button and press the power button.
While holding down the power button, release the resume button and press the resume button twice in succession. Now release the power button.
The indicator will blink in green and remain lit in green.
Select one of the following service mode functions by pressing the “RESUME Button” the specified number of times.
Press Resume Indicator Functions (Zero) times Green Power off the printer.
1 time Orange Service test print
2 times Green EEPROM information print
3 times Orange EEPROM initialization
4 times Green Waste ink counter resetting
5 times Orange Destination settings
6 times Green Print head deep cleaning
Execute the function you have selected by pressing the Power button.
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| Re: Canon i860 Problem...any suggestions? by fiterfly (12/2/08 7:42 AM) reply | + / - | Ron350:
Thanks for the service mode information. Just for fun, I tried doing the EEPROM and Waste Ink Counter reset. It didn't seem to fix anything. The EEPROM Information and Service Test prints didn't really give me any additional insight, since the black wasn't working:).
I am still interested in disassembling the printer further to check the "two pipes" that Dr-InkJet was talking about. For that matter, I would be interested in any other disassembly procedures that anybody might have to provide. I am running out of ideas, and so I have nothing to lose.
Does anybody out there have any other suggested tests, or have the service manual for this printer by any chance?
Thanks again for your help.
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 | Re: Canon i860 Problem...any suggestions? by SPUDS (7/3/09 10:20 AM) reply | + / - | My i860 brothers, when I print photos they come out green (not good!). When I print a knozzle test the color strips next to 6c, m and y are correct. However, the small blocks on either side of 6c,m and y are green? Also, the m and n blocks that should be black are dark green.
I have claened the back of my print head with q tips as well as the interior buttons with q tips as well. Any ideas as to what may be causing the problem?
Also, I refilled new empty cartridges and replaced the previous set and ran many photos; still green.
Spuds
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| Re: Canon i860 Problem...any suggestions? by ron350 (7/3/09 11:27 AM) reply | + / - | Spuds it sounds like you have restricted ink flow with the Magenta ink.
The restriction could be in the ink cartridge or in the print head.
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| Re: Re: Canon i860 Problem...any suggestions? by Anonymous (7/3/09 11:57 AM) reply | + / - | Ron350, magenta and all other cartridges are releasing ink. I again cleaned the print head contacts with no change. New print heads cost approx. $70. I may be better off buying a new printer I like my i860 it has been a very good printer until now.
Thank you for the feed back.
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