Got so much from this forum so here's a summary of my experience so far with a Canon IP3000
Purchased September 2006. Has done over 40,000 pages, always having ink carts refilled. Counter shows 26,095 but its mostly used double sided and the counter only counts sheets of paper not sides. Initially used with IMS ink from Costco but more recently using Eurojet which I understand is German. The printing is mostly double sided brochures on plain paper with dense type & full colour pics. It has been a tremendous printer for us. Total ink cost must be around 200. The Eurojet ink is cheaper than the IMS ink we previously used - partly because that came as a kit with all the bits and we now just buy the ink.
Filling method is by using a bottle with built in needle filling through a small hole drilled in the top of the cartridge and stoppered with a rubber bung (IMS method). Has worked very well apart from inky fingers.
We used the original canon carts and have just bought new ones. They must have each been filled a hundred times. The cost saving makes the price of the printer almost irelevent. Just think a set of cartridges is about 28 so a cost of perhaps 2800 against about 228 including new carts. We could not do the work at Canon prices.
We have had the dreaded waste tank full warning. I cleaned the unit using instructions I think from this forum. Since we do not do borderless photos the waste pad was not too bad and I just washed it and replaced it. May buy a new one next time.
Have had to wash the print head out twice. This has been because the printer has been failing to print, the cartridges are full and head cleaning does not resolve the problem. The last time was this weekend. It was pretty dire and we are in the middle of the Christmas rush so nearly went out and bought a new printer.
It took several repeated washes to clean out the cyan in particular. I realise I should do this more often. I cleaned the print head using running water from the hot (very) tap. After several attempts I finally I left it over night in water. Changed the water with fresh hot water a couple of times. Then - it was very late, I was tired, I had been out collecting my youngster from a gig - I put it in the micro wave. Thinking was the waves would locally heat ink residue in the water and loosen any ink deposit. Used defrost setting for 10 mins. Forgot about the metal parts. Won't do that again even though it did not give me any problems. Tried blowing hot water through the nozzle by filling a drinking straw & blowing. Also just blowing air. Obviously did not work the first few times. Also after the nights soaking also sucked - interestingly this brought out blue ink. So despite all the washing and blowing there was still some ink there that sucking brought out - but not up the straw!. All other nozzles were clean. Finally left the head to dry overnight. Its now working fine. We have just done another few hundred sides ready for tomorrow.
I have also just cleaned out a couple of cartridges. First tried running water back thru them, running the water through from the ink nozzle outlet. Then just filled through the ink fill hole I have made and blew the water through. That worked fine giving nice clean sponges. I will keep these as spares but use the same colour in them next time.
It is now time to buy a new canon as a spare / second printer. I will also use for photo quality printing I hope. Probably an ip4500 and have to bite the "no ink level warning" bullet. I know the worst thing you can do for the print head is run it dry.
From all this reading around this weekend I realise continuous ink systems are now a possibility with a canon. So will read up on them further.
We also have a Canon B820 fax machine that we also use for copying as well as a fax. It is absolute rubbish but I do not want to pay out for a good canon multi purpose machine though we need an auto feed for the copier. A good multi purpose is about 180 and an Ip4500 is about 65. So that leaves 115 for good scanner with adf. Surely we can do better for that and keep the B820 just as a fax.
Any suggestions on purchase choices welcome.
Purchased September 2006. Has done over 40,000 pages, always having ink carts refilled. Counter shows 26,095 but its mostly used double sided and the counter only counts sheets of paper not sides. Initially used with IMS ink from Costco but more recently using Eurojet which I understand is German. The printing is mostly double sided brochures on plain paper with dense type & full colour pics. It has been a tremendous printer for us. Total ink cost must be around 200. The Eurojet ink is cheaper than the IMS ink we previously used - partly because that came as a kit with all the bits and we now just buy the ink.
Filling method is by using a bottle with built in needle filling through a small hole drilled in the top of the cartridge and stoppered with a rubber bung (IMS method). Has worked very well apart from inky fingers.
We used the original canon carts and have just bought new ones. They must have each been filled a hundred times. The cost saving makes the price of the printer almost irelevent. Just think a set of cartridges is about 28 so a cost of perhaps 2800 against about 228 including new carts. We could not do the work at Canon prices.
We have had the dreaded waste tank full warning. I cleaned the unit using instructions I think from this forum. Since we do not do borderless photos the waste pad was not too bad and I just washed it and replaced it. May buy a new one next time.
Have had to wash the print head out twice. This has been because the printer has been failing to print, the cartridges are full and head cleaning does not resolve the problem. The last time was this weekend. It was pretty dire and we are in the middle of the Christmas rush so nearly went out and bought a new printer.
It took several repeated washes to clean out the cyan in particular. I realise I should do this more often. I cleaned the print head using running water from the hot (very) tap. After several attempts I finally I left it over night in water. Changed the water with fresh hot water a couple of times. Then - it was very late, I was tired, I had been out collecting my youngster from a gig - I put it in the micro wave. Thinking was the waves would locally heat ink residue in the water and loosen any ink deposit. Used defrost setting for 10 mins. Forgot about the metal parts. Won't do that again even though it did not give me any problems. Tried blowing hot water through the nozzle by filling a drinking straw & blowing. Also just blowing air. Obviously did not work the first few times. Also after the nights soaking also sucked - interestingly this brought out blue ink. So despite all the washing and blowing there was still some ink there that sucking brought out - but not up the straw!. All other nozzles were clean. Finally left the head to dry overnight. Its now working fine. We have just done another few hundred sides ready for tomorrow.
I have also just cleaned out a couple of cartridges. First tried running water back thru them, running the water through from the ink nozzle outlet. Then just filled through the ink fill hole I have made and blew the water through. That worked fine giving nice clean sponges. I will keep these as spares but use the same colour in them next time.
It is now time to buy a new canon as a spare / second printer. I will also use for photo quality printing I hope. Probably an ip4500 and have to bite the "no ink level warning" bullet. I know the worst thing you can do for the print head is run it dry.
From all this reading around this weekend I realise continuous ink systems are now a possibility with a canon. So will read up on them further.
We also have a Canon B820 fax machine that we also use for copying as well as a fax. It is absolute rubbish but I do not want to pay out for a good canon multi purpose machine though we need an auto feed for the copier. A good multi purpose is about 180 and an Ip4500 is about 65. So that leaves 115 for good scanner with adf. Surely we can do better for that and keep the B820 just as a fax.
Any suggestions on purchase choices welcome.
