ipf8300 Ink Dropout - Help

[feckman]

Hi all,

I have a pair of Canon ipf8300 printers.  One of them sat for a LONG time without being used (9 to 12 months).  After restarting the machine, it was determined that both printheads were shot.  So, I installed all new cartridges and two new printheads and got it back up and running.  The results are good, BUT one half of one channel is completely missing.  See the test print below (sorry for the crummy photo).

Any thoughts on what could cause this and what I might try to fix it?  Many thanks in advance!

--Jim.

[feckman]

Bump - anyone?

[smjphoto]

I'm not sure why you are getting no responses...
I have an 8300, but I have no idea how to solve your problem. I would talk to my dealer in San Jose, Ca as he services these in out of warranty condition. You don't tell us where you are or how old the unit is or who you've talked to, or what you've tried, already. There is a lot of great help on the web, but I haven't seen this exact problem come up.

When you changed the heads and added new ink, did you drain or clean the reserve tanks and lines?
Good luck. If you solve it,  I would love to know what the issue was.
Stuart

[Garnick]

Hi Jim,

Let me preface this by say that I have zero experience with Canon printers, although I have accumulated a considerable number of hours spent with Epsons of various breeds during that past 10+ years.  Now I realize that statement sounds like this will likely be a waste of your time.  However, I imagine perhaps some issues might be global in nature when it comes to dealing with this sort of technology.  I have encountered this problem on all of my Epson printers at one time or another.  Of course the fact that my knowledge of the workings of your Canon is sorely lacking, I do have a couple of questions.

1. Are your ink carts pressurized?  If so, I would try restarting the machine and make sure the pressure pump is doing what it is meant to do.  There could also be a leak in the pressure
    seal on the cart.  If that were the case it wouldn't be delivering any ink to the print-head in that channel.

2. How many cleaning cycles have you run to try to get this nozzle back?  It generally requires several cycles to recover this sort of dropout, but occasionally just 1 will do the job.  And
    then sometimes it needs some more heavy-handed cleaning cycles to take care of the problem.  

3. Have you tried another cart?  This could also be caused by a faulty cart or chip.

One thing I find rather puzzling.  You mentioned that "the results are good, BUT one half of one channel is completely missing".  Again probably my lack of knowledge concerning Canon printers, but I cannot believe you don't see the effects of this dropout in your prints, although there's no mention of this.

Since I'm coming at this from a position of ignorance concerning your particular printer, I doubt that anything I've mentioned will be of use to you.  Perhaps food for thought at least.  I hope you'll find a fix soon Jim.

Gary        

[Malcolm Payne]

It could very well be a problem with the data cable to the heads, either a poor connection at one end or an actual break in one of the lines. I had a very similar problem some 18 months ago - there's a thread somewhere hereabouts that discusses it in more detail. Apparently it's most often the Photo Magenta that fails. You could try reseating the connections at either end or, failing that, replace the entire cable - it's probably the cheapest first step if no other solution presents itself.

In my case the service technician didn't spot the cause and insisted on replacing both heads, probably unnecessarily, costing me a small fortune as neither they nor the ink wasted in the process were covered under the warranty. He did say that a complete drop-out of a single channel such as you have is not typical of normal head failure symptoms. He'd replaced just about everything else, including the main and head-carriage boards, and I think was close to giving up when he finally thought to replace the cable, after which everything immediately worked perfectly. I was not impressed ...

Hope that might be of some help anyway - good luck.

[Ernst Dinkla]

The Light Magenta gone in relation to the flat cable that connects to the head carriage has been more common. At least on an IPF9000 of a friend it happened twice. The wire that is at the bottom of that flat cable got more wear in that model. How it is arranged on the iPF8300 is unknown to me.

--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
April 2014, 600+ inkjet media white spectral plots.

[feckman]

It could very well be a problem with the data cable to the heads, either a poor connection at one end or an actual break in one of the lines. I had a very similar problem some 18 months ago - there's a thread somewhere hereabouts that discusses it in more detail. Apparently it's most often the Photo Magenta that fails. You could try reseating the connections at either end or, failing that, replace the entire cable - it's probably the cheapest first step if no other solution presents itself.

Thanks to all for the input and suggestions, but I would bet dollars to donuts that THIS is the issue.  It's just too similar to what I'm experiencing.

Does anyone know the part number for this cable and where I can get a replacement?  And is the replacement/reseating process fairly straightforward?  I have access to the service manual, so I can tear into the machine if I need to, but some direction would be appreciated.

Many thanks again.

[feckman]

So, I searched the service manual and found many references to a "flexible cable," but no part numbers.  This is the closest thing I was able to find online, but it's for an ipf8000 and I'm not sure if it'll work in my 8300 (or if it's even the right part).

http://www.sdott.com/product.php?productid=17804

Anyone with experience here able to help?

Thanks again,

--Jim.

[Malcolm Payne]

Going by the photographs at the bottom of that page, that looks like the right cable. I think the iPF8300/iPF8000 cables may be the same but can't confirm that, so use at your own risk if you can't find the exact SKU for the iPF8300 part.

As far as I know it's not too difficult to get to the connectors at either end, but the tech already had the front off the machine when he did mine so I'm not sure how much prior disassembly is necessary. The cable is supplied as a straight run but needs to be folded at right angles in a couple of places if I remember correctly - there are fold lines already printed on the cable in the appropriate places, but check carefully against the original to see how that lies before doing anything irrevocable! Otherwise, I think the replacement process is fairly straightforward.

[feckman]

Just wanted to close the loop and report back on this.  I was able to find a set of replacement cables from a dead 8300 locally and this WAS the issue.  Seems like a design flaw and something that Canon should (a) immediately identify in situations where complete photo magenta dropout is the issue and (b) cover beyond the warranty.

Thanks again for all the help!  Although it was a real hassle, I am glad to have the machine back up and running without wasting thousands on parts that are perfectly fine.  The output from this printer really is outstanding.

--Jim.