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Why is it doing this?


hershy314

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I tried printing a photo of my nephews for my mom but it's not coming out right. I know there is plenty of ink cause I just put new ink in the printer a couple months ago and I don't do much printing.
IMG_20141111_0001.jpg
As you can see from the photo there is something just not right. When I put the ink in, it worked just fine. I replaced both the color and the black ink. Is my printer just being a punk or what? Is there an easy fix, besides buying a new printer lol.
 

IamSam

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I had an Epson printer that did that all the time. Had to run the printer head/nozzle cleaner app that came with it. Never got much better.
 

Hoogle

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You will need to soak the head looks like you have a clogged up print head or faulty.

if it is an epson you can get it serviced for £22.20 with every town practically having an epson service centre (free if under warranty) They will have tools that will do a strong head clean but be warned it uses a set of inks. Depending on the service centre they may use service inks to do this or some may say you have to provide them. However if you add up a set of inks plus the service charge of £22.20 your close to £60 which can get you a fairly decent printer these days especally as everywhere like TESCO and Currys have a half price Epson promotion at the moment.
 

Hoogle

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Cannons are not so easy to remove the printing head not even sure if it is possiblewithout replacing the mechanism. But you would soak it in an alcohol based solution (not Vodka to sticky) but not pure alcohol as it will damage the head. In all fairness for the hassle and money it will probably end up costing you may as well pop down to Tesco and buy the epson Xp-412 good little printer for occasional photo and none heavy usage I believe I saw it on offer for £39 normally £90
 

ALB68

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Hoogle is right on all counts. For goodness sake though buy an Epson and not a Canon.
 

hershy314

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I got the Canon cause it was cheap. True not the smart way to go, but when you don't have much money you want to spend as little as possible. Really didn't want to buy a new printer, but guess I'll have to. At least I'm getting more hours at work so that helps.
 

ALB68

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I got the Canon cause it was cheap. True not the smart way to go, but when you don't have much money you want to spend as little as possible. Really didn't want to buy a new printer, but guess I'll have to. At least I'm getting more hours at work so that helps.

Well, I hear you but ink costs for Canon desktops will put you in poverty if you use them much. I have a Pro100 sitting in here now and I retired it. Ink is like $17.00 a color. I have an Epson Artisan 1430 with a continuous ink system from Cobra Ink Systems and it has been wonderful. You couldn't justify it if you just print a small amount though.
 

dv8_fx

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@hershy314....

I don't think you can pull out the working end of a Canon printer head. Don't think of trying either....

I had a friend who did this .... you need cd cleaner solution.

Do this in bright light and you at a higher viewing position so you can clearly see the inside of the printhead mechanism nozzle.

Dab a cutton bud into the solution and gently squeeze out excess solution. Fling it a bit for extra measure but not too much as it may dry out completely.

Gently wipe the inside of print head mechanism where the ink cartridge nozzle sits on.... do it gently. Try to remove as much ink grime as you can. You have to use a new bud for each of the color nozzles.

Re-insert the cartridge and do the usual print head cleaning. If there's improvement in print quality, repeat the process.

If it doesn't even after a second cleaning..... time to play Taps for the printer and get a new one. It might be no point to send for maintenance or print head replacement as it might be or for sure, the equivalent of getting a new but older Epson model .
 

Tom Mann

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Hershey: "...I just put new ink in the printer a couple months ago and I don't do much printing. ..."

That's precisely the problem. Many inkjets, especially older ones, will clog unless used at least once or twice a day.

@Hershey: Sam said, "Had to run the printer head/nozzle cleaner app that came with it."

From the sound of it, your printer probably is past the point that using the software app to clean the nozzles will be effective, but instead of immediately jumping right to cleaning using EtOH or some other externally applied cleaning solution, have you at least tried the software cleaning routine? It's definitely worth a shot.

Tom M
 

hershy314

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I might as well get a new one, really don't want to mess with it. Problem though is both ink things are nearly full, bout $55 worth of ink. I'd like to find another printer that uses this same ink that way it's not wasted. Course that might be easier said than done. I know everyone is saying to go with Epson so I might do that instead. I've got a few weeks to make a decision.
 

dv8_fx

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Sorry to hear that. But cheer up. I'm sure you'll find one.

Look at this way, getting a new one will lessen your aggravation. Your old printer, even if you manage to get it back to working order is bound to breakdown again due to aging parts. That's adding on to your future expenses.

With a new one, especially a good EPSON model, it will give you years of trouble free operation. All you have to spend for is ink and paper......
 

Tom Mann

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Hershey, running the cleaning app is hardly what I would term as "messing with it". It's nothing more than a standard maintenence procedure. It's nothing more than pressing a button in the software and feeding it some blank sheets of paper.

There is a chance it might help, so that you could get some use out of your current printer and the inks you bought. If you are thinking of throwing it out anyway, what's the harm in giving this approach a shot?

T
 

dv8_fx

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Hershey, running the cleaning app is hardly what I would term as "messing with it". It's nothing more than a standard maintenence procedure. It's nothing more than pressing a button in the software and feeding it some blank sheets of paper.

There is a chance it might help, so that you could get some use out of your current printer and the inks you bought. If you are thinking of throwing it out anyway, what's the harm in giving this approach a shot?

T


Good point here, hershy.... If the printer is destined for spareparts or landfill, no harm at this point to try out the cleaning apps or desperate measures of you doing manual cleaning.

If it works, good for you. If not..... at least you tried.....
 

ALB68

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Sorry to hear that. But cheer up. I'm sure you'll find one.

Look at this way, getting a new one will lessen your aggravation. Your old printer, even if you manage to get it back to working order is bound to breakdown again due to aging parts. That's adding on to your future expenses.

With a new one, especially a good EPSON model, it will give you years of trouble free operation. All you have to spend for is ink and paper......

I told you guys I have that Cobra Inks system hooked up to an Epson 1430. I put the Epson in last fall in like September. I print on transparency for screen printers to use for screen burning. This uses all black ink. I have printed a ton in the last year and so far I have spent $50 on ink from Cobra. That was for all 6 colors in a set which I didn't really need anything but the black at that point. I also print a good bit of full color. The printer with the CIS was around $500 but it is just an absolute work horse. When the printer thinks it's out of ink we just re-set the chip and keep on truckin. The ink is really good too.
 

hershy314

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I told you guys I have that Cobra Inks system hooked up to an Epson 1430. I put the Epson in last fall in like September. I print on transparency for screen printers to use for screen burning. This uses all black ink. I have printed a ton in the last year and so far I have spent $50 on ink from Cobra. That was for all 6 colors in a set which I didn't really need anything but the black at that point. I also print a good bit of full color. The printer with the CIS was around $500 but it is just an absolute work horse. When the printer thinks it's out of ink we just re-set the chip and keep on truckin. The ink is really good too.

I honestly can't see spending that much on a printer unless I was using it to make money.
 

ALB68

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I honestly can't see spending that much on a printer unless I was using it to make money.

Andrew, I am not suggesting you should. I am simply making a point about how good this is. I make money with mine and am fully justified in the cost. No, you would not be. agreed.
 

Tom Mann

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I went to canon's site to find a cleaning app for my printer, but nothing. I'll keep searching but I'm not having any luck.
I've always seen the control to initiate the cleaning function as part of the printer driver software that you install when you first added the printer to your system, and that you (can usually) see whenever you print. There may be a separate app specifically to do cleaning, but that wasn't what I was talking about.

Tom
 

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