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Canon Printer Tips
Unclogging The Printhead - Three Methods
Canon printers have a semi-permanent printhead. It's the 'holder' that the Canon ink cartridge (tanks) fit into. It can be removed fairly easily. Over time, it can and does become clogged, mainly from letting the printer set without use. You need to print both black and color at least once per week in order to prevent clogging and keep the ink flowing.
Normally you can clear up minor clogs and streaking by running the cleaning cycle found in your printer's software utility. For quick access to your printer's utility (drivers): In your browser's address bar type: control panel\printers and hit 'enter' on your keyboard. This will bring up a page with your installed printer's icon. Place your mouse cursor over the printer icon and 'right-click' on it. When the dropdown menu shows, click on 'properties'. This will bring up the printer utility. Look for the 'maintenance' tab and follow the cleaning prompts.
If the cleaning cycles don't do the trick in clearing up poor and incomplete output, don't give up and assume you'll need to buy a new print head (they often cost more than a new printer!). You can try the following as it will cause no harm: (we and many others have succesfully done this)
Remove the Canon ink cartridge tanks from the printhead (tank holder) and seal them in a ziplock plactic bag. Set the removed Canon ink cartridge aside, preferrably propped upright. Next remove the print head, it snaps out. Use the kitchen or other sink and turn the water on so that it is running slowly and that it is warm. Hold the print
head, bottom facing down, and cup your hand under the running water so that the water fills it up and flows into the the print head. This will flush the ink out of the printhead. You'll need to turn the print head over, bottom side up, and flush it that way as well. You'll see when there is no more ink being flushed out.
You WILL need to do a final flush/rinse with some distilled, or purified water. This ensures that any risidual minerals or impurities of the tap water are flushed out of the print head. Set the print head on a paper towel to dry, drying time will vary. TIP: To expedite the drying process, shake the printhead vigorously as there is a fair amount of water retained after rinsing!
Place the printhead (tank holder) back in the printer and reinsert the Canon printer cartridge. The printer should automatically do a print head alignment. If it doesn't, manually perform a "Printhead Alignment" through the printer's utility. Next, run the "printhead cleaning" cycle and print a nozzle check.
Here's another, similar method:
Open the lid of the printer and when the print head moves to the left, remove the Canon ink cartridge (tanks). You should then be able to easily remove the print head. It has the circuitry on it and on the bottom are the outlet nozzles.
Get a small, shallow pan and lay a couple of paper towels in the bottom. Heat up (via microwave) enough purified/bottled water to cover the paper towels. Set the print head on the towels. You should see ink 'bleeding' out. Move the print head to several different spots (about a minute each spot). This will dissolve the ink clogs. Remove the print head and gently dab it dry on fresh paper towels.
Place the print head back in the printer and insert the Canon printer cartridge. Run a print head alignment and a regular cleaning followed by nozzle check and test print(s). That should do it. If not, repeat the above procedure(s).
If the above two methods don't quite do the trick, try this:
Remove the Canon printer cartridges and printhead (cartridge holder) from the printer as instructed above. Get a small bowl, dish or pan, large enough to accommodate the printhead. Lay down a layer or two of paper towels in the bottom of the container to protect the printhead circuitry from contact damage.
Make up a 50/50 mixture of ammonia and distilled water, about a pint will do. Heat the mixture up in the microwave for about a minute or so, not boiling. Slowly pour over the paper towels so that you have approximately 1/2 inch mixture total. Set the printhead (cartridge holder) into the container and pour some of the remaining mixture over the top, just enough to wet it good. Let it soak for several hours (3-4) or overnight. You can move it slightly to a different spot every hour or so.
Remove the printhead and rinse thoroughly with distilled water. Shake it dry, set it on folded paper towels to air dry. Reinsert the printhead and ink tanks. The printer should do an automatic "Printhead Alignment", if not manually do so and run a cleaning cycle or two followed by printing a nozzle check pattern to check your progress. Repeat as necessary.
Canon FAQ's
* Why don't the colors displayed on the monitor match the printed colors?
Because your monitor and printer use different technologies to represent colors, your printed colors cannot exactly match the colors you see on your monitor screen. Try using the ICM (Windows 95or 98) or ColorSync (Macintosh) setting. Refer to your User's Guide for more information.
* The quality of my printed output is unacceptable. What can I do to improve this?
Verify that you are using the correct printer driver for your printer model. Let the printer driver automatically select the settings for the best quality. The paper you are using may be damaged, old, dirty or loaded incorrectly. Remove the paper and reload a new stack ensuring that the printable side is face up. Run the head cleaning utility. Perform up to 4 cycles if necessary. The resolution of your image may also be set too low. Increase the image resolution using your image-editing software, or decrease the size of the image. Another troubleshooting test to try is moving the printer to another computer. This will eliminate the possibility of a defective printer cable, parallel port, or software issue.
* My printouts are missing color and/or black print. How can I fix this?
If the printer is printing blank pages, make sure you are using the correct printer driver and make sure the paper size is correctly selected in the driver. If the printer is printing black only, the Ink option in the printer driver may be set to Black instead of Color or a setting in the software may be set to print black only.
Also, the print head nozzles may be clogged. Perform a head cleaning, NO MORE than 4!
For Printers which use the BCI21-B, BCI21-C or BCI21-E Canon ink cartridges, over time the print head will wear out and must be replaced in order to continue producing acceptable printouts.
* The printed output is broken up and/or has white streaks running thru it. What's up?
The print head nozzles may be clogged. Perform a head cleaning and print a test print. If there are gaps in the dot pattern, continue with another cycle. Perform up to 6 cycles if necessary.
To prevent drying and possibly clogging of the print head, it is recommended you print something in color once a week. Try this if the color print is 'light' or missing in spots:
Unplug the printer from the computer. Then locate the 'resume' button which is the button on the top right, push it until you hear 1 beep, do that 6-10 times, this shoots out some ink to clear the 'clogs'. Then plug the printer back up and try the print again.
If the printer is printing in streaks and 'smearing'; follow this procedure to remove any excess ink from the printer carriage area:
OPEN printer so the ink cartridges move to center of the carriage.
REMOVE all printer cartridges.
FOLD a letter size piece of paper in half, and then in half again the other way so it is quartered.
START with the long, folded edge and insert into front of printer where paper normally feeds out. (it will slip in a little over halfway)
MOVE the paper left and right to remove any excess ink under the carriage. When the excess ink is removed the printer should print streak-free.
Avoiding A Mess
When you are refilling a Canon ink cartridge, you should do it over some newspapers, or better, an old rag or shirt. Cloth will soak up any excess ink immediately and is easier to clean up. Our refill kits are designed to minimize this. Once you get used to refilling, a mess will no longer be an issue.
Cleaning Up
The first time you refill a Canon ink cartridge, you might get a little ink on your hands. To get the ink off, use a mild bleach and water solution then wash with soap and water.
Max Patch Ink is widely trusted for Canon ink cartridge and Canon printer cartridge supplies. We also offer remanufactured and compatible ink jet cartridges for many other brands.
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