Banding with Pro 100

pkk said:

The printer is capable of a good print. The first one I ran after it had sat since last winter came out perfect. Then about halfway through the second print the banding started.

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This is a classic sign of ink starvation.

pkk said:

These magenta & photo magenta carts are the ones that came with the printer so they are 6-8 months old. The chips were removed for the refill carts & then when the problem appeared, which was right away, I put the chips back on the OEM carts & tried them with no improvement. This was all back in January when the carts were new. Now they are 7 month older but the problem is exactly the same.

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1) The cartridges were new and sealed when you received the printer?
2) The cartridges were 6 - 8 months old when you received the printer?
3) Do you know how the cartridges were stored before you received them?
4) You took the chips off the cartridges. Did this require you to unseal the cartridges first?
5) For how long were the de-chipped OEM cartridges stored before use? How were they stored?
6) What were the make/model of the first cartridges you used? Did you flush them before or during the time you used them?
7) How many times have you flushed the original OEM cartridges that you have now been using for 7 months?
8) How often do you print something on this printer? What is it you print when you do print something? Does it include ink from every cartridge like a nozzle check would?

pkk said:

I am using tap water to flush but it is not hard.

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1)Are you sure? It might be good to use distilled water for the entire process or at least at the end for the final flush.
2) How do you flush the cartridge? What is your end point, ie how you know you are finished flushing? Are there any stubborn ink bits, patches or streaks in the sponges?

Depending on your answers, it still may be reasonable to purchase a new OEM Canon Magenta cartridge and give it a try.

pkk said:

Wow! Lots of replies! I would have gone back to Canon already but I bought this new in the box from an individual who got it with his camera as part of a rebate. I didn't realize till later that I could have gotten the same deal with rebate directly from Canon & have the warranty too. Live & learn. These magenta & photo magenta carts are the ones that came with the printer so they are 6-8 months old. The chips were removed for the refill carts & then when the problem appeared, which was right away, I put the chips back on the OEM carts & tried them with no improvement. This was all back in January when the carts were new. Now they are 7 month older but the problem is exactly the same.
I am using tap water to flush but it is not hard.
I will try manipulating those seals a little since it's a free effort. It seems like there would be ink leaking past them when the printer's off if they were not sealing.

Another thing to mention. The printer is capable of a good print. The first one I ran after it had sat since last winter came out perfect. Then about halfway through the second print the banding started. This was true back in the winter too. That's why I don't think a new head will fix it.

If we can't find a solution here I'll wait for Canon to offer another of their rebate deals & get a whole new printer with warranty for the cost of a set of carts. I'd sure like to get one working though.
Thanks again for all the interest.

Pkk

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All may not be lost if the seller will give you a copy of the original receipt.

Couple of years ago I sold a lens i got as part of a bundle deal from Canon.

The purchaser ran into some quality issues after six months and asked for a copy of the receipt which I gave to him.

Do not know the outcome, but it may be worth a try.

RS

Let me reply to Stratman first.

1. Yes the entire printer, printhead & carts were still sealed in the original packaging from Canon, unoprned.
2. Everything new wherever he bought it from in December. No way to know how long the vendor had it.
3. They were stored in his apartment.
4.No the chips could be removed without unsealing any of the cellophane wrapping.
5. The magenta carts were retrieved & rechipped back in January so they were never really stored. They didn't work either so at that point I had to get back to printing & gave up until now. The carts have sat in the printer unused since then. But as I mentioned the first attempt to print came out perfect as did the nozzle check.
6. I've always used Canon OEM carts to refill.
7. I've flushed them twice. Once when I got my second Pro9000, to head off any possible problems, & again when I got this printer. I flushed & conditioned a set of the CLI8 carts (except the yellow which I got from PC) transferred the chips, & started having starvation problems with the magentas right away. So I returned the chips to the OEM carts I'd just gotten with the printer but no help. This printer has never really done much printing. It has been idle since January.

My method of flushing might be a little unorthodox & I was hoping I wouldn't have to put it on the forum because I can already hear the hooting. I have a contraption called a water flosser for cleaning my teeth. Made by Waterpic. It has a small pump that pushes water through a hose and very small fittings to clean between your teeth. These fittings fit perfectly into the refill holes, either topfil or German, & force water through the sponge & out the exit & vent holes. I flush until there almost no color left in the spunge & clear water is coming out the vent. I then drain them & let them air dry for a couple of days. I have noticed that the first time they are filled sometimes the spunge is noticeably slow to soak up all of the color. I've let them sit for an hour or so after the initial fill & then come back & finish filling.

I'll call the guy I got the printer from but if he's like me he won't have the receipt. He got his rebate, I got the printer, he has no interest in keeping all that. If this was a matter of getting Canon to replace the head they might do that without asking too many questions. But the whole printer? Different shipping address? Doubtful.

Thanks again for the all the input.

And no that's not why my gums are green. That's from something else.

Pkk

Based on your latest post it seems unlikely that two different cartridges would give the same problem as one of them was a new, sealed OEM cartridge that came with the printer. However, your issue per the images you've posted look like classic ink starvation from a poorly functioning cartridge.

That you can print an initial image or a nozzle check without banding and then you get the banding also points towards ink starvation once there is enough ink available in the lower sponge but the other sponges do not allow ink to flow appropriately to replace what's been used below until you let the printer rest for a time.

The kicker here is that you've had the same issue across three different printers. This points towards something in your routine that creates the potential for the problem.

The last issue is that you let the printer go fallow for long periods of time which can cause issues of clogs within the print head. At this point, flushing and soaking the print head over a few days may be worth a try. Patience and careful handling may reap a reward. Or not.

In the future, print something once a week that uses all the cartridge colors. A nozzle check should be enough unless the printer is in extreme environmental conditions.

Your cartridge flushing method sounds good to me! Creativity based on the material at hand lends a personal touch to refilling which increases user satisfaction.

To recap...

Your issue looks like classic ink starvation. You've used a refilled Magenta and the sealed OEM Magenta that came with the printer and the problem remains. You've flushed the print head and no change. You've had this issue across 3 different printers. You refill using the top fill method and have flushed your current set of cartridges twice. You've let the printer sit unused for ~6 months but the problem is unchanged.

My suggestions:
1) You can try a new store bought OEM Magenta.
2) You could consider a new print head.
3) Call Canon tech support if the printer is still under warranty. This would be the first thing to do if possible.
4) Flush and soak print head over a period of several days as per recommendations found on this forum.
5) Make sure print head gaskets are seated properly and cartridges are not deformed and sponges seated properly.
6) In the future, never let your printer go more than a couple weeks without printing something that uses all the colors. A nozzle check should suffice.
7) Another deal on the Pro-100 should crop up. Get two.

Not much else at this point to say. Good luck.

Thanks to everyone for your time & interest. This forum is a great resource.

Pkk

Try to get yourself a large Syringe with the the Leuer tip on it. Take a spare orange clip from a non OEM cart and drill a 1/8" hole thru the rubber so that you can put the flushed cart in it and with the syringe draw almost all of the water out of the sponge. I use a food dehydrator for 24 to 48 hrs. and then good to go.

Sorry for the delay, I'm the one that just set up 2 pixma pro-100 printers.

Both virgins, #1 I put in the supplied official Canon ink, and the other with Precision Colors ink, with the new magenta.

Also #2, with the PC ink, I used a flushed yellow cart from PC, so #2 has never seen anything but pure PC ink.

I ran the image a couple times with the image from post 3, and it was perfect.

Now, this was on plain paper, set to best quality.

I saw no magenta problems.

Should I try on photo papre?

Should I use purge patterns? they would be much harder on the carts.

And a question for me, I have yet to connect my printer potty and buy a 2nd one. If I can't reset the waste ink counter, and I change inks 8 at a time, why bother?

Thanks

This whole business about the waste ink counter is useless unless you're cleaning your heads constantly. I run 10 Pro-100's all day, five days a week, sometimes running 300 shts. a day, per machine! I've never had an alert about the pad getting full since I stopped cleaning every day. Now I just follow mikling's advice about keeping the carts as full as possible and as long as the carts are flowing right you'll be fine. As soon as you see a streak, change out that cart and if you caught it right away you won't have to do any cleaning because it does one anyway.

@Grazer5, very true indeed for you but not necessarily for everybody else, no two guys run their machines the same way as you do, but do you realise one day you’ll have the same 10 problems all at once.

Once fitted, that problem never arises again literary..

Happy Printing..

Grazer5
What in the world do you print on your PRO-100s? If it's text documents please don't tell me! That would be a huge waste of an excellent PHOTO printer/s!
If it is indeed photos then all I have to say is Holy Cow that puts me to shame.

Joe