Canon Pro100S ink sponge full - leaving ink marks on prints

[hunterandlola]

Hi,

I have a Canon Pro100s which is just over a year old and has just started leaving ink stains/streaks at the top centre of the page whenever I print a borderless print.. I've tried everything from deep clean, base plate cleaning (numerous times), roller head cleaning, and also manually cleaning the base plate protusions using a cotton swab - and it's still got the issue. When I complete a base plate cleaning I get ink streaks over the fold, and if I look inside the printer, I can see that the ink sponge between the base plates is completely saturated with ink..

Is this normal for a printer only a year old? And how do I go about resolving this? I've tried carefully dabbing the sponge with a piece of lint-free cloth, but other than covering myself in black ink, it doesn't seem to be resolving it - and I've now wasted two full black ink cartridges, plus two other colours trying to resolve this as I'm getting a bit short on time with customer orders to print and ship.

Any help would be really appreciated! Thanks.

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

If you have ink "pooling" or over saturating the sponge or pads, you have to get it out.  Latex gloves will solve the problem of keeping your hands clean.  Cotton balls, sterile pads or new sponges are a good way to get ink out of the printer.

Some resort to removing the pads for cleaning, but some are buried and hard to remove.    

[jrhoffman75]

Borderless printing oversprays the paper to ensure full coverage. The sponges in the printer catch the ink. Rick's advice is right on.  

[bellevuefineart]

In my experience it's not just borderless printing. My sponges are soaked as if I'm doing borderless, but I've never used borderless ever. 

[spiceyjelly42]

How do you remove the pads to clean? What do I clean them with and can I reuse them?

[garty2021]

one easy option is to use A3+ paper. Print it out and cut after. Longer process but GUARANTEED no dodgy borders! You could even give them a nice white border for free!! The small ink foam pad at the top can be padded with tisue paper etc. Switch off with inks in their normal right side compartment and open lid and then absorb as much as possible. Diluted ammonia is very effective but smelly cleaner (outside!) OR you could remove the entire ink nozzle system. Remove ink cartridges then carefully remove the ink nozzle part. You could then remove the foam strip with care and wash, dry and replace. It is tricky but doable. There is a much larger ink reservoir underneath the inner workings. It would require removing top and inner parts. Again very tricky, very messy but doable. It should take several years before being an issue depending on volume.

Tim