Canon mx870 only printing alternate strips

Hi John, When you have one or several clogged nozzles, the grid will have sections of it missing sporadically, but when your missing segments in parallel straight lines, this is caused by electrical failure due to over heating from poor ink flow.

The link you posted is for a refurbished print head and not a new one, mostly these are usually still faulty, it just all depend on where you get them from, you may have more luck with this site, but I can’t give you any guarantees...

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free...=b&memo1=1t3&gclid=CN3N0vXq184CFcG77QodecUMag

Thanks, The Hat; understood.
So, I think I'd go for a known good printhead from Peter's link [thanks!].
But the question is whether to spend on the part, or go for a new printer/scanner, and if so , which?

Any experience or thoughts on the Canon Maxify MB5050?

John Baddeley said:

Any experience or thoughts on the Canon Maxify MB5050?

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Got one and it’s not a bad printer at all, in fact you couldn’t have picked a better choice...

What else did you consider when you bought the 5050?
Would you have considered an Epson, or are you a dyed-in-the-ink Canon man?

John Baddeley said:

What else did you consider when you bought the 5050?
Would you have considered an Epson, or are you a dyed-in-the-ink Canon man?

Click to expand...

Epson, heavens forbid, it has to be Canon, I am a sucker for lost causes, and am looking after nine of them..

John Baddeley said:

Just out of interest, how can you tell it's not a clog in part of the printhead?
What are the risks in buying a compatible printhead such as this:-?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Compa...-MX860-MX870-MG-5140-PrintHeads-/391050886985
many thanks everyone!
John

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It is most likely an electronic failure, and also a lot of dirty/clogged nozzles. But it might be serious clogging only, then cleaning the print head might bring it back to good working order. But cleaning the print head outside the printer using water or cleaning fluids might actually create an electronic failure by leakage current caused by water or other fluid left where it does not belong.

Here is a print head that looked like it had suffered electronic damage, but it was clogged and could be saved by cleaning. Also see this thread and specially notice this post. The extended nozzle check suggests the MG5150 print head was damaged electronically, but it only was severely clogged.

A typical nozzle check showing electronic failure in the pigment black is here, notice the clean and "geometric" look of the nozzle check:



If you decide to buy a new print head I strongly recommend getting it from CRC Tasktron. The print head you linked to clearly is used. Notice the pink spot on the white ceramic plate. It is caused by leaking magenta ink. Clearly this print head is not new. As The Hat also mentioned it is "refurbished", not new.

The feature set of the Mb5050 and our old mx870 seem pretty similar. What pro and cons would you see between them?

Does the Mb5050 have a flip-down paper feeder at the back for card and envelopes?
i can't see any mention in reviews and specs.
Thanks

John Baddeley said:

Does the Mb5050 have a flip-down paper feeder at the back for card and envelopes?

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I do not see that capability either.

See the user manual at http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/7/0300016177/02/MB5000ser_OnlineManual_Win_EN_V02.pdf