Canon iP7250 Weird consistent lines in black sections. Can I save my printer

[GoldenAlexander]

Hello all I'm a newbie on your forum who has an iP7250 which I've had for 6 years or so. I build guitar effects pedals as a hobby and this printer is only used to print my designs onto self adhesive labels which are attached to the front of the pedal enclosure then covered in epoxy. It used to get regular use a few times a week but unfortunately hasn't seen any action since my son was born 2 years ago.
I decided last week to get back into my hobby and build a few pedals but pretty quickly noticed my prints were terrible. I realised I probably had some ink blockages through not being used so ordered some fresh ink, ran nozzle cleaning etc and everything has come back fine except for some horizontal lines only in the black sections of my images. I've taken the print head out and cleaned it with some warm water and the cleaning solution mentioned in one of your other threads - warm water, isopropyl alcohol and some ammonia which has made no difference. Every image check I do has identical lines on the black section of the print out.

Can my printer be saved or have I killed him through neglect?

Thanks in advance for any advice I can get. I've attached an image of a nozzle check pattern below. The lines in the black are consistent across every check pattern and image. I've also changed ink cartridges twice and am now using OEM ink.

 

[stratman]

Welcome to the forum, GoldenAlexander.

• The printer has not been used for 2 years
• You had blocked ink on a sprint(s) and nozzle checks.
• You have done "nozzle check cleaning". Could this be a Regular or Deep cleaning performed from the Canon software or LED screen?
• You have done external cleaning. Unknown if you soaked or just flushed.
• You are no on your 3rd set of inks, currently OEM ink.
• The Black Dye-based loss of ink has NOT changed at all despite your efforts.

Until the blockage is resolved do not print anything other than a nozzle check unless a trusted forum member says otherwise.

The blockage you see in the Dye-based Black nozzle check could be due to clogs as the printer sat fallow for two years. But, these "clogs" have NOT changed at all even with all your interventions. The potentially that these are irreparable electrical malfunctions are a good possibility. The cure is a new print head.

A caveat is that an electrical malfunction in the print head may propagate to the logic assay board or vice versa. This is very rare. What this means is that if the electrical malfunction is in the logic assay board and you pout in a new print head then the print head may become corrupted. Similar issue with the old print head installed in a different printer. But, as said, this is very rare and usually a new print head will resolve your issue.

Lastly, on the hope that this is due to clogs, a proper trial of flushing and soaking is reasonable to try.

Flush the print head in the sink until very little or no ink either flushes out or beads up on the ink inlet screens. Use water (distilled if you have hard water) and several drops of Dawn liquid dish washing soap or similar in the water and mix. You can heat the water to warm, not hot. Crumple up a kitchen paper towel and place in the bottom of the bowl. Place the print head nozzle side down on the paper towel. I pump the nozzles up and down on the paper towel to help move solution through. Let sit until water dirty or 12 hours (sooner if you would like) and change out water/Dawn/paper towel for fresh. You can flush the print head at these change outs then. Repeat this for a week if you have the patience. The longer the better.

Before installing in the printer, flush with water (use distilled for final rinse if you have hard water) and let dry over night to ensure no water wets the electronics and PCB board or you might get a new surprise electrical malfunction. Run a Regular Cleaning and then a nozzle check. Scan, crop and post before continuing.



Maybe next time you can tell us about your guitar pedals and post an image of your work.

 

[PeterBJ]

Copying the nozzle check and enlarging the part with the vertical bars and "BK" letters shows fuzziness in the bars. This is caused by damaged dye black nozzles. Only a new print head will correct the error. No amount of cleaning will improve the printhead.

 

[The Hat]

This is caused by damaged dye black nozzles. Only a new print head will correct the error. No amount of cleaning will improve the printhead.

Jasus @PeterBJ, your starting to sound like me.. Give them the medicine with no sugar..
But correct..

 

[GoldenAlexander]

Thanks for the diagnosis gents. I had assumed it was a goner but thought I'd check just in case it could be saved. The print quality was perfect for my use case. I've probably killed the black nozzles by printing excessive black ink onto gold and silver self adhesive paper using third part inks. I build a lot of pedals in this style.

One final question could anyone recommend a printer for this kind of application?

@stratman I've attached a sample to this post so you can see the kind of builds I like to do

 

[stratman]

Super creative work, Golden.

You must have one helluva pedal board!

You said you use aftermarket inks. No third party dye-based inks are known for their archival fade resistant properties compared to OEM Canon ink. Not even close. Have you noticed fading of your prints?

On the other hand, aftermarket pigment inks are generally thought to be significantly fade resistant compared to dye-based inks. Also, pigment inks are water resistant. Not a bad thing if playing in bars with sloppy drunks, whether patrons or band mates.

However, the paper you use also determines fade resistance characteristics. Also, your paper may be specific for dye-based inks and not pigment inks, so proper pairing of paper with ink is needed.

I mention this if you are considering a new printer rather than a new print head.

 

[GoldenAlexander]

Thanks @stratman I'm pretty sure I'll go for a new printer. I've had a look and a new print head is going to be approx £100 for an official canon one and a lot less if I go to aliexpress but I'd be highly dubious of those tbh.

I'm going to put the ip7250 into the house and use it to print documents whenever the need arises as that cartridge is working just fine. I'll order myself a new photo printer whenever I can find one in stock anywhere. I had a look last night and there's some seriously slim pickings out there at the minute.

I've genuinely never noticed any fading to any of my pedals. I've sold a lot and given a bunch away and no one has ever said anything about it. I'm not too bothered about water resistant properties in inks either because I coat the tops of all my builds in epoxy resin. Regardless of abuse from feet, spillages or anything else they pretty much all look brand new and it really makes the colours pop.

My board changes ALL of the time I took this one a while ago it never really stays the same for more than a week or so. Too much choice

Thanks again for your help gents.

 

[stratman]

Awesome board.

I don't know what most of the pedals are but they look great, including the magic box top left that needs no cable.

For me, it was lust at first listen to a Maestro PS-1A Phase Shifter my neighbor was rocking on Starship Trooper by Yes in the 1970's. PFM! (Pure Feckin Magic)

 

[Hugorm]

Thanks @stratman I'm pretty sure I'll go for a new printer. I've had a look and a new print head is going to be approx £100 for an official canon one and a lot less if I go to aliexpress but I'd be highly dubious of those tbh.

I'm going to put the ip7250 into the house and use it to print documents whenever the need arises as that cartridge is working just fine. I'll order myself a new photo printer whenever I can find one in stock anywhere. I had a look last night and there's some seriously slim pickings out there at the minute.

I've genuinely never noticed any fading to any of my pedals. I've sold a lot and given a bunch away and no one has ever said anything about it. I'm not too bothered about water resistant properties in inks either because I coat the tops of all my builds in epoxy resin. Regardless of abuse from feet, spillages or anything else they pretty much all look brand new and it really makes the colours pop.

My board changes ALL of the time I took this one a while ago it never really stays the same for more than a week or so. Too much choice

Thanks again for your help gents.

View attachment 12191

Please notice.
BK is only used for picture printing and only for sharpening edges.
You can do color printing in ok quality with the fault.
There is one very good reason to do so: cheap ink.
Try to see if you can find any significant difference in your print-outs.

Don't waste money on aliexpress. You risk getting other faults (I've tried three times).
£100 for an official canon one is cheap compared to a new printer (if you can find one for photoprinting) as IP 7250 is no longer manufactored.

With your number of coppies (<900) the printer is worth a new printing head and may be transported (send) with very little risk of flooding waste ink.

 

[GoldenAlexander]

Well I've found a company in the UK called CRC Tasktron who have a legit canon printhead in stock and have ordered one for £60. Fingers crossed this solves the issue and I can get my canon up and running again.

I'll let you all know what happens after it arrives. Fingers crossed this solves my issue. Thanks again for the help I've received so far.