# Canon Pro-100: how to remove ink on interior rollers?



## Bob_B (Aug 12, 2014)

Hi,

    My Canon Pro-100 has somehow gotten black ink on one or  two of the interior rollers or some interior surface. The result is a  black irregular horizontal smear (ca. 1 inch long by 1/8 width) at the  top left of the print. There is no ink on the feed roller and the exit  rollers are clean. I've tried the maintenance procedures to clean the  bottom plate and rollers, but I haven't been able to complete remove the  ink from the inner rollers. Several searches on the 'net have described  how to clean the feed roller and exit rollers, but I haven't found much  about cleaning the interior components and rollers. Does anyone have a  suggestion for getting this ink off those rollers? (BTW, I am assuming  the ink is on a roller only because of the horizontally oriented smear  at the top of the print. Could it be something else?) Red River paper  talks about using a paper slightly saturated with rubbing alcohol and  running it through the printer, but I'm apprehensive of doing this.  Maybe as a last ditch effort.

Thanks for the help.

Bob


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## clee01l (Aug 12, 2014)

I have the Pro 100 too. Red River has a good reputation and an impressive array of papers. It seems unlikely that they would risk that reputation and give advice that would damage your equipment. I would try their alcohol remedy.  Is the ink smear on the print surface or the back of the sheet?  If it is just on the back, I would ignore it and I think eventually it will resolve itself.  Is it fresh ink? IS a cartridge leaking?  My prints are dry by the time the print is finished,  I can't imagine that ink would persist very long on the internal parts of the print unit.


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## Bob_B (Aug 12, 2014)

Thank you for your reply. Agreed about Red River; they are trustworth imho. The smear is on the print-side, upper left of the printed page. That would be about 4 inches off the centerline of the print stream. It appears to me that there is liquid ink (not dried ink) getting on the paper. Only black ink is involved. The problem just started yesterday, and I am indeed a bit concerned that the black cartridge may have a leak, but I looked and couldn't see any sign of leakage. I installed it approx. 1 month ago, and there have been no issues until yesterday. I thought I had done a decent job in cleaning up after yesterday's smear, but the smearing reappeared this morning.


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## Victoria Bampton (Aug 12, 2014)

Something like rubbing alcohol was going to be my suggestion too.  I remember running a sheet of paper saturated with windowlene in the far distant past.  As long as it's decently thick paper, so it doesn't start to fall apart, it worked fine.


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## clee01l (Aug 12, 2014)

What size paper?  Upper left would be the right side of the printer? correct?  This is the landing are for the print heads.  If so I suspect a leak.  
Print a test page on regular letter paper.  Have you performed all of these utility tests?


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## Bob_B (Aug 12, 2014)

Thanks for the replies you guys!

I used 8 1/2 x 11 high quality printing paper (Hammermill) as well as a couple of sheets of Red River heavy matte paper for testing and cleaning. Yes, I've gone through each of the Canon maintenance procedures. They helped (I think), but the smear reappeared. The ink is coming from the printer's righthand side approximately 4 inches to the right of the centerline, producing a smear on the paper's left top edge (8 1/2 inch width, making the smear ~ 1/2 inch from the edge). So, this is the printer head landing area and could mean the black cartridge has a leak? I think you're on to something, as one of the sheets that had the smear also had what appeared to be a droplet of ink on its left edge about 1/2 inch from the upper left corner of the paper. Other than replace the black cartridge, what else do you suggest I do? Of course, once the black cartridge is replaced, I'll run those cleaning procedures a few more times. Anything else? Is there any cause to worry about ink dripping when the printer is turned off? I thought this capped the ink and prevented flow, but does it do so if there is a leak?

Bob


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## Bob_B (Aug 12, 2014)

I replaced the black ink cartridge this evening, and then ran a sheet of paper through (no characters printed): no black smear. Not trusting that test, I waited an hour and printed two sheets of graphics and text on plain paper. Again, the smear did not reappear. I'm left for now believing that, as Mr. Lee suggested, the black ink cartridge was leaking. I'll be watching for future smearing, and will reply to this post should it reappear.

Thanks to Cletus and Victoria for their responses and suggestions. They're greatly appreciated.

Bob


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## MikeOld (Aug 18, 2014)

Maybe try the front paper tray instead or print from Preview or Lightroom from your PC. I would say to reinstall print head or clean the print head connections with rubbing alcohol, but it would be better for you to contact the seller for a replacement.


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## Bob_B (Oct 5, 2014)

Just a follow-up note: The problem was indeed a faulty black ink cartridge. Replacing with a new one cured the problem. Stepping on my soapbox: for the price of ink, you'd think there would be a 0.000% chance of bad cartridges. Stepping off: oh well, problem solved. 

Best wishes,

    Bob


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## clee01l (Oct 5, 2014)

Bob_B said:


> Just a follow-up note: The problem was indeed a faulty black ink cartridge. Replacing with a new one cured the problem. Stepping on my soapbox: for the price of ink, you'd think there would be a 0.000% chance of bad cartridges. Stepping off: oh well, problem solved.
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Bob


Nothing is perfect. However, there should be 100% chance of a full replacement


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