Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

5

Time Required

                          4 - 6 hours

Sections

1

  • Ink absorber pads - cleaning
  • 5 steps

Flags

Member-Contributed Guide

An awesome member of our community made this guide. It is not managed by iFixit staff.

  • BackCanon ip4600 printer

  • Full Screen

  • Options

  • History

  • Save to Favorites

  • Download PDF

  • Edit

  • Translate

  • Get Shareable Link

  • Embed This Guide

  • Notify Me of Changes

  • Stop Notifications

Introduction

BUT this is only a small part of the story!

The waste ink is not drained into a tank, but soaked up in a set of pads in the base of the printer. When the printer sets the ‘Ink Absorber Full’ error flag it has estimated (I don’t think it can measure it) that the pads have taken up as much ink as they can.

It is possible to reset the error flag and ignore the problem - that is OK for a while. I finally stripped down my printer about a year after the warning first came up, and the pads were then pretty soaked with ink and definitely needed cleaning.

Here, I give a brief guide to accessing and cleaning the ink absorber - retuning the printer ink absorption system to near ‘as new’ condition.

Step 1

              Remove the sides and top of the case
  • Follow the attached Simplified Service Manual (PDF) to remove the side and top covers from your printer.
  • Note that it is not necessary to remove the rear to silver trim corners.

Follow the attached Simplified Service Manual (PDF) to remove the side and top covers from your printer.

Note that it is not necessary to remove the rear to silver trim corners.

1024

Step 2

              Remove the printer from the lower part of the case.
  • 5 screws directly attach the printer to the base of the case. 3 at the rear are obvious. A sixth screw also needs to be removed from adjacent to the USB socket.
  • The first photo shows screw 4 at the front left corner.
  • The second photo shows screw 5 - which is buried just to the left of the motor.
  • The third photo shows the final screw, which attaches the metal frame adjacent to the USB socket.
  • You can now carefully lift the printer from the lower part of the case, taking care of wiring!

5 screws directly attach the printer to the base of the case. 3 at the rear are obvious. A sixth screw also needs to be removed from adjacent to the USB socket.

The first photo shows screw 4 at the front left corner.

The second photo shows screw 5 - which is buried just to the left of the motor.

The third photo shows the final screw, which attaches the metal frame adjacent to the USB socket.

You can now carefully lift the printer from the lower part of the case, taking care of wiring!

Step 3

              Clean the ink absorber pads.
  • There are 9 pads in total, 3 in the right hand section (these will be worst), 3 large ones in the centre and 3 more at the left.
  • All the pads should be lifted out, washed out thoughly in warm water and then dried. A nice sunny day helps!
  • The photo shows all the pads clean and reinstalled.
  • Whilst the printer mechanism is out, is also worth checking and cleaning the pipes that feed ink from the ink pads to the base of the unit.

There are 9 pads in total, 3 in the right hand section (these will be worst), 3 large ones in the centre and 3 more at the left.

All the pads should be lifted out, washed out thoughly in warm water and then dried. A nice sunny day helps!

The photo shows all the pads clean and reinstalled.

Whilst the printer mechanism is out, is also worth checking and cleaning the pipes that feed ink from the ink pads to the base of the unit.

Step 4

              Put it all back together!
  • As they say, this is a simple reversal of the disassembly.

As they say, this is a simple reversal of the disassembly.

Step 5

              Reset the Ink Absorber counter.
  • There are various things about resetting the counters online, but the reliable method is to download the service engineer’s software.
  • I was very grateful to find this at: http://www.grumpymiddleagedman.co.uk/201…
  • You will need to put your printer into service mode. Assuming that your printer (ip4600 series) is already installed on your PC, reset can be done once your printer is in Service Mode.
  • a. Switch Off the Printer b. Hold the Resume Button c. Switch On whilst Holding the Power Button d. Release the Resume Button e. Press the Resume Button Twice f. Release the Power Button. By this time your printer is in service mode.
  • Run the Service Tool Program (Resetter). Select your Region (EUR). Press the ?? at RHS of ‘Set Waste Ink’ section.
  • All done - hopefully successfully!

There are various things about resetting the counters online, but the reliable method is to download the service engineer’s software.

I was very grateful to find this at: http://www.grumpymiddleagedman.co.uk/201…

You will need to put your printer into service mode. Assuming that your printer (ip4600 series) is already installed on your PC, reset can be done once your printer is in Service Mode.

a. Switch Off the Printer b. Hold the Resume Button c. Switch On whilst Holding the Power Button d. Release the Resume Button e. Press the Resume Button Twice f. Release the Power Button. By this time your printer is in service mode.

Run the Service Tool Program (Resetter). Select your Region (EUR). Press the ?? at RHS of ‘Set Waste Ink’ section.

All done - hopefully successfully!

Once you have cleaned the 2 in pads, washed and reinstalled the ink absorbers and reset the counter you will have completely restored your ip4600 printer.

Cancel: I did not complete this guide.

                                                                                      One other person completed this guide.

Attached Documents

  • Canon_ip4600-ssm
  • PDF - 6.69 mb
  • View

Canon_ip4600-ssm

PDF - 6.69 mb

Author

                                      with 1 other contributor 


                    Nick Fane

Member since: 02/01/2020

151 Reputation

                                      1 Guide authored                  



                       Badges:
                       5





                                                        +2 more badges

Team

                       Repair Cafe Malvern Hills                        

                                                  Member of Repair Cafe Malvern Hills 



                    Community                     


                                            11 Members                     


                                            1 Guide authored

Terry Bracey - Dec 9, 2020

Reply

Excellent post, rejuvenated my aging Canon. At first, I was skeptical about the 4-6 hours needed but this turned out to be true; even longer as there was no sun in December to dry the pads. It’s only when you come to clean the ink absorbers are your suspicions confirmed that, every time you sit there patiently awaiting the blasted thing to actually start printing as it sits there clunking and chuntering for [ literally ] minutes, these machines squirt most of their ink straight through into their bowels as opposed to directing it onto paper. This, coupled with the knoweledge that printer ink is officially declared as the world’s most expensive liquid is a blood boiler.

Anyway, many thanks for your help and may I offer a couple of tips?

Take a video as you remove the nine pads. Life saver in getting them back in the right order and:

If you’re using the sink to wash out the pads, wait until the wife is out

Nick Fane - Dec 10, 2020

Great to hear you succeeded and that my post helped Terry.

Unfortunately the print head packed up on my iP4600 only a few months after I did this, and as I had an almost unused iP4800 awaiting in the wings, there wasn’t much point in spending £20+ getting a replacement - so for the moment it is ‘retired’!

Michael Robertson - Apr 29, 2021

Reply

Nick Fane - May 3, 2021

Sorry to hear this Mike. I’m slightly surprised there is a completely different variant of the IP4600 - not least as the service manual I attached claims to also cover the later IP4800 (but of course does not go as far as removing the printer from the base of the case). Sadly, my experience is limited to my one printer, so I can’t offer any help. If you do resolve it, please post so others can see the solution.