Scheduled print head cleaning?

[EricRFMA]

I have a Pro-10 and have learned the hard way that the print heads need to be cleaned regularly. Of course, I'm contantly forgetting to do that.

What I'm looking for is a way to have the head cleaning happen automatically. I'm on a Mac, so I looked for a AppleScript dictionary in the printer utility, but there isn't one. There doesn't seem to be a separate utility in the Canon IJ Printer Utility bundle either.

Anyone know anything?

Thanks!

-Eric

[TCampbell]

I'm thinking that perhaps you are powering the printer off.

The Pro-10 does this automatically already.  Power it on and leave it on (never power it off unless you need to move it).  It will run a mild cleaning cycle every 60 hours.

BTW, if you power if off completely or unplug it, it has no real-time clock so it has no idea how long it has been without power.  This forces it to do a more aggressive cleaning cycle in case the printer was off for a long time.

Jose Rodriguez has a YouTube channel on these printers.  He used to run a scheduled task every couple of days to produce a test print in order to keep the ink flowing and fresh (the amount of ink used to produce the small prints is far less than what would be wasted by a full cleaning cycle).  He later learned that if he just leaves the printer on, it will automatically run cleaning cycles (and it still runs those cleaning cycles even if you produced prints during the time period.)

The PIXMA PRO-10 is a "pigment" based inkjet.  The PIXMA PRO-100 is a "dye" based inkjet.  Pigments tend to be better for archival quality (ink fading is very slow on pigments compared to dyes).  But pigments clog easier.  For this reason the PRO-10 (pigment) runs a small cleaning cycle every 60 hours.  The PRO-100 (dye) doubles the wait ... and does the cleaning cycle at 120 hours.  

[EricRFMA]

Hi Tim... thanks for your reply!

I am not turning the printer off. However, the 60 hour mild cleaning cycle has not been enough to keep my nozzles fresh and clean. In some previous discussion, someone suggested doing a (manual) head cleaning daily, which is what I keep forgetting to do.

I can try to print a random test page daily, since I think I can automate that, and see if that does the trick. I just can't automate anything that requires the Print Utility 😞

Thanks again!

-Eric

P.S. Does anyone know where there is a file I can print (at low res) that would clear out the heads?

[TCampbell]

What OS are you running?  (Windows, Mac, etc.)

It would be fairly easy to generate your own test image using something like Photoshop to force it to print through a rainbow of "colors" as well as a variety of black & white tonality.

One caveat... I am not an expert on this (maybe John knows) ... but it has two "black" tanks... BK and PBK (black and photo black).  I *think* "photo black" is only used when the printer thinks it is printing to "photo" paper and regular black is only used on regular (non-photo) paper.

[EricRFMA]

Thanks again Tim...

I'm on a Mac, so I've already whipped up an Automator action that will send a file to the printer.

Good point about the two black inks... Different ink on diffferent paper. Not sure how to address that.

[jrhoffman75]

What about a daily nozzle check via Automator. It will use every ink tank. 

[TCampbell]

---

@jrhoffman75 wrote:

What about a daily nozzle check via Automator. It will use every ink tank. 

---

That would be great.  

On the mac, Canon embeds that capability in the "System Preferences" -> "Printers & Scanners" -> (pick the printer) -> "Options & Supplies..." -> "Utility" -> "Print Test Page" 

I haven't been able to find a utility I can directly invoke (e.g. a command that I can add to an automator script) to kick off a test page.  

Do you know of a way to do this without navigating there via the user interface?

[pipur]

Providing code from the SPL-file that in Windows is sent to a PRO-1 printer for a nozzle check. 

There's xml in it - but also a portion with none-ASCII characters as well so I'm not quite sure about the file format. I could send it to you if copy-paste doesn't work. 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?><cmd xmlns:ivec="http://www.canon.com/ns/cmd/2008/07/common/"><ivec:contents><ivec:operation>StartJob</ivec:operation><ivec:param_set servicetype="print"><ivec:jobID>00000001</ivec:jobID><ivec:bidi>0</ivec:bidi></ivec:param_set></ivec:contents></cmd><?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?><cmd xmlns:ivec="http://www.canon.com/ns/cmd/2008/07/common/" xmlns:vcn="http://www.canon.com/ns/cmd/2008/07/canon/"><ivec:contents><ivec:operation>VendorCmd</ivec:operation><ivec:param_set servicetype="print"><vcn:ijoperation>ModeShift</vcn:ijoperation><vcn:ijmode>1</vcn:ijmode><ivec:jobID>00000001</ivec:jobID></ivec:param_set></ivec:contents></cmd>  BJLSTART
ControlMode=Driver
$JobType=Mnt
BJLEND
  BJLSTART
ControlMode=Common
SetTime=20181113092649
SetSilent=OFF
BJLEND
  BJLSTART
@TestPrint=NozzleCheck
BJLEND
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?><cmd xmlns:ivec="http://www.canon.com/ns/cmd/2008/07/common/"><ivec:contents><ivec:operation>EndJob</ivec:operation><ivec:param_set servicetype="print"><ivec:jobID>00000001</ivec:jobID></ivec:param_set></ivec:contents></cmd>

I got it working in Windows, good luck. 

/Peter

[EricRFMA]

I'm working on getting an Applescript together to make that happen, but the preference pane isn't very scriptable, so it's taking a while.

In the meantime, I've reseated the print heads and done several deep cleanings and haven't gotten anywhere. Very discouraging.

Oh crap... Now it's telling me to replace the Grey cartridge because it's empty... But I just replaced that cartridge while I was going through the cleaning cycles!!!  Is it possible they sent me a near-empty cartridge? I was a tad suspicious, because some of the cellophane bags containing the cartridges were ripped.

But now I just noticed the other cartridges I replaced during all this show low as well. I don't remember them getting drained so quickly last time. Looks like I'm going to have to order another set of Group 2 cartridges.

Grumble

[ArthurJ]

Hi EricRFMA,

You mentioned that "the 60 hour mild cleaning cycle has not been enough to keep my nozzles fresh and clean". What kind of print quality issues are you seeing?