Canon MP730 Printer Waste Ink Tank Full Resolution

Canon MP730 Disassembly and Assembly

Canon MP730 Printer Purge Unit Disassembly and Assembly

I purchased a Canon MP730 Multi Function Printer January 30th, 2004. Since then I have printed 11,700 pages, a lot of them full page colored pictures. I have reset the ink counter 2 times without replacing or emptying the waste ink tank and have replaced the print head twice. I refill the ink cartridges myself. In August 2008 the printer started printing solid areas with white space smears and then the colors stopped entirely. The PDF document accessed by the link below explains what I think the problem was and shows how I disassembled the MP730 to assess the damage and fix the problem. The document is copyright and may be downloaded for personnal use but may not be copied to another site or sold for profit in any form.

Note: this is a 21 mega byte file and takes about 1 minute to download over a high speed connection.

Those who use the document do so at their own risk and I will not be responsible for any damage to them, the printer, their house(ink spilling, etc.) or any other problem that arises.

Also be sure to follow the safety precautions in the document

NOTE: Before I took the printer apart I had tried 1) using the Canon software to deep clean the print heads multiple times, 2) taken out and cleaned the print head manually, 3) changed the ink cartridges, 4) put in a whole new Canon print head (QY6-0064) with new Canon ink cartridges. When these efforts didn't work I took the more drastic action of taking the printer apart and replacing the purge unit (QG4-0279-000) with one ordered via overnight mail from Canon (1-800-481-2569 9-7pm M-F as of 09/10/2008). Thus before you start this project make sure you have done 1-4 above.

Oh yes, there is really no "ink tank", it would be easier if there were.

Canon MP730 Printer Purge Unit Disassembly and Assembly

At the the time I wrote the document above I had not taken the purge unit apart. Since then I took my old unit apart, cleaned it and put it back together and have written a document describing that.

Canon MP730 Printer Purge Unit Disassembly and Assembly.

Problems others have had

This section records some problems people had with following the documents.

1. After putting everything together only some colors printed.
Possible Solution - While the printer is apart the ink in the print head may dry up. Soak the bottom of the print head, just over the circular input areas in denatured alcohol to get out the dried ink and blow out gently with compressed air.

2. After putting everything together I got the message "Put In Your Cartridges".
Possible solution - One of the ribbon cables came loose or was not put back properly so the printer does not recognize that the ink cartridges are there. Go back and make sure the ribbon cables are all tightly connected.

3. After putting everything together I get a few lines of print and then the ink fades away.
Possible Solution - When you cleaned the purge unit the rubber tubes going to the suction unit (see second document) came loose so when the purge unit tries to suction in more ink there is no suction and thus no ink.