Inkjet problem: Ink on leading left corner of page

[Danny]

My Mom has a Canon I320 inkjet printer and she pointed out a recently
occurring problem. On a printed page, there is a blackish streak on
the leading left corner of the page and a smaller streak on the
trailing left corner. The ink looks as though it has been absorbed(as
opposed to printed) into the page as if the left hand corner has run
through a droplet or two of black or multicolor ink.

I believe the printer parks the color and black cartridges at the
right hand side of the printer and this is where they perform their
cleaning cycles(flushing ink through the jets to make sure they are
clear before printing commences). My theory is that the trough or
sponge or whatever the cartridge nozzles spray into has become filled
or saturated and that the excess is now trickling out into the paper
path. Paper feeds from the back of the printer and the left edge of
each page travels right by the area where the cartridges park during
their cleaning cycle. Is anyone familiar with the disassembly of
inkjet printers, especially Canons, and if I can somehow get at this
"cleaning area" trough or sponge and empty(chip out more like it) or
replace it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. My Mom has used
the printer for quite a few years and I know I have bought her a half
dozen or more of each of the tri-color and black cartridges and she
prints a page or so every few days...in other words not often enough
or not enough pages so that the cleaning cycle occurs before every
single page she prints. That's a lot of ink building up somewhere.

 

[MSfortune]

Most likely there is a fiber (pet hair, lint, etc) buildup on the lower
portion of the printhead or carriage. This picks up ink from the
servicing and then drips it on the page. When the carriage turns around
the (now reduced) ink laden fiber leaves a smaller wisp on the paper.
Cleaning the underside of the carriage around the nozzles with a
moistened Q-tip should solve the issue.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

It may well take more than a moistened Q-tip for that much buildup. I
think the poster is in the right ballpark when he speaks of chipping
the mound of ink away. He has to be careful he does not damage
anything. One way to provide working room is to let the printhead
move to the left and then pull the plug so it stays there while you
clean. Some people like to pull the cover off a machine, but I like to
cut a big hole over the cleaning area so I can work more easily. Then
I duct tape the piece back on. This is perhaps too much to bother with
for a single printer and there are risks of damage if not done
properly.

Too bad he purchased so many carts for a machine that is not worthy.
Otherwise, I'd say move on now without dirtying you hands with this
toy.

 

[Danny]

Thanks for the tips from you and the others. I have done some more
research and there may be another possibility...paper curling. I'm
going to reverse the paper in Mom's holder to see if perhaps the
sheets she has are curling up at the edge. I think that's usually due
to humidity which would definitely not be the case in the winter time,
but perhaps she is using cheaper/thinner paper than what I usually
provide her(pretty rigid stuff as I recall with 25% cotton content).