Canon i960 Banding Issue

[turbguy]

This is my first post. I have searched the forum for issues similar to mine, but I didn't find an exact match.

Here goes....

My Canon i960 used to print wonderful photo-quality prints. About 3 months ago, it developed a slight banding problem, particularly visible in light blue skys, although all other colors seem effected. Cleaning the printhead via the included software did not resolve the situation. The banding appears on both matte and glossy papers, including Canon papers. I have always used Canon OEM ink tanks.

I doubt that I have printed more than 1000 pages since new.

Does anyone on the forum have any suggestions? Do I need a new printhead??

Thank you in advance.

 

[fotofreek]

Lots of posts have dealt with the problem of banding and associated color shifts. Click "FAQ's" at the top of the page and read the first FAQ, what to do when your printer doesn't print properly, and the other link on the same FAQ about clogs. Lots of stuff to read through, but it will give you some idea of what to do when the Canon software cleaning routines don't cure the problem.

What does the nozzle check look like? Possibly the PC nozzles show incomplete printing. Could also be the cyan nozzles. Since either of these would be used in blending certain colors you will see color shifts due to lack of complete PC or C printing in addition to incomplete printing in the sky areas.

After you read through the posts in the FAQ start with the least potentially damaging cleaning routine for your printhead. IF that doesn't work, move on to more agressive techniques. My i960 had a similar problem with the PM nozzles. I eventually bought a new printhead (best price from inkcessories.com - either from their web site, or cheaper if they are selling one on ebay) and I am still using this excellent printer.

 

[turbguy]

The nozzle check looks great on plain paper. I switched to matte paper and got a better "read". Actually, there appears to be some banding most obvious in black, although it's very slight.

To remove the printhead, I have to remove the carts first. What method does one use to protect the removed carts while they are out of the printhead (I didn't keep the orange twist off covers)? Tape??

 

[fotofreek]

electricians tape seems to work pretty well and it doesn't leave a residue.

 

[Trigger 37]

Turbguy, That is a long time for printing. Have you done some deep cleaning to see if this improves. The nozzle check is a very good check if you look very close to see each and every nozzle printing. If one is missing you will see streaks in your photos. Another thing that can cause banding is that a ink cart is beginning to run a little short on ink and after printing most of a page the color will begin to fade and look like banding. When was the last time you put in new ink carts. I suspect you don't refill your own becuase you don't no much about your printer, like taking out the printhead and cleaning it.

Before you ever print a photo on good paper, get a set of good color bars, and print a 5x7 on plain paper. This will tell you if you're going to have any banding before you print something really important. When you print a nozzle check, this is such a very small about of ink it does not put any kind of load on the ink carts. Good printing requires a completely free flow of ink throughout the entire process for a full 8x10 picture. The printhead is only as good as flow of ink from the carts.

 

[turbguy]

Thanx for you suggestion.

Deep cleaning didn't clear the problem. The banding occurs even with full OEM carts.

New OEM ink carts were installed within the last month or so.

The sugestion to print a smaller 5x7 set of color bars is a great idea. Does anyone have a .jpg file of color bars to share, or can pont me to one??

 

[Beetlenut]

Turbguy,

A six color 5 x 7 test color bar jpg can be found at this link of Neil Slade's website...

http://www.neilslade.com/gifs/TestPrint6Color.jpg

You can visit Neils site for other great info as well...http://www.neilslade.com/papers/inkjetstuff.html

I copied the jpg & keep it in "My Pictures" file for use whenever needed...(Thank's Neil)


I just found this link to a Zip file which has images of purge colors & test print color bars...

http://www.inksupply.com/html/zip/purge.zip


Hope this helps.

 

[turbguy]

Than for the responses to date.

I have performed the "compressed gas" approach to cleaning the printhead from the ink inlet side, did several cleaning cycles, re-aligned, did a nozzle check (looked the same as before) did a purge print with 6 color bars (very slight banding) and photo prints look exactly the same as before. Banding most noticable in the lightest colors (dark blue skys OK, it's where the sky mets the horizon that you can most easily see the banding).

Strange, much less visible banding in darker colors where more ink must be being used.

Switching to "diffusion mode" instead of "AUTO" in the driver helps slightly, but not much.

Does anyone suggest moving up the scale to hot water cleaning the printhead with distilled water??

 

[turbguy]

I thought i'd post a photo of the banding I'm seeing. Here goes...

 

[turbguy]

Let me try than again (darn resizing...) with a smaller image size.