Canon IP3000 broad smears at page end

[yuyakay]

Hi everyone. ... new member, first post.

My IP3000 started making broad smears starting around 1.5 inches from the end of a 8.5 X 11. The smear can be seen on the right side in the photo of the hummingbird. It is also slightly visible in the Ocelot picture below the hummingbird.



My printer never did this before, so it's really frustrating. I just don't know why it should start this now.
I tried putting sticky notes on the trailing edge of the paper to give the rollers more to hold on to, but that didn't help at all.
When I set the printer to "Reduce paper abrasion" that helped considerably but did not eliminate the problem.


Do printheads become roughened, and cause more abrasion as they wear? I would have thought the opposite. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Trigger 37]

yuyakay, If you load heavy weight photo paper in the cassette it will cause the paper to curl and bulge and this will cause smearing as it touches the bottom of the printhead.

The Canon User guide recommends printing plain paper from the cassette and loading photo paper in the read sheet feeder. Try this and I think it will solve your problem. Also if you are printing on very heavy paper, this can cause the same problem. I'm not sure if the print driver will allow you to set the printer for envelope thickness and still print 8 x10 but you can try it.

 

[yuyakay]

Thanks for your reply Trigger.

I always use the sheet feeder when printing photos, and the paper is Kodak Premium Picture Paper, which is what I've always used successfully and which is not really very thick. Unfortunately the small size required for upload makes it hard to see, but does it look to you like printhead abrasion?

 

[yuyakay]

Here's a crop of just the hummingbird.

 

[Trigger 37]

yuyakay,... I'm sorry, but the uploaded picture is out of focus to the point I can't see tell if there is any smear anywhere.

I'm sure your digital camera has a "Macro" focus mode where you can get much closer. The picture needs to be laying flat and balanced lighting over it, and no flash.

Since I (we) can't see the smear, the question is, "Does it happen at the same spot every time and is it always on 8x10 paper. Is the paper you are using flat or does it have some curl to it. It appears from the picture that there is some curl as the photo does not appear to be laying flat.

Try some different paper. I find that Kirland Professional Glossy Photo paper is the absolute best. There are many professionals that believe that this is actually "Ilford" professional paper that Costco sells under their own Kirkland label. It is also less expensive than Kodak. It is very heavy paper but it prints just fine in my iP6600D, which has the same paper path structure as your iP3000.

One last suggestion, print something on photo paper that would easily show any smear, like a page of crosshatched black lines. This is easy to create and save as a .jpg file and this should show you if the head is dragging on the page. It might also work on plain paper, except it will probably use the pigment back and that does not always smear. Anyway, try a few things until you get some more data. Also, change the output tray depth so that it supports the paper in a different way. Don't do all of these at once or you won't know which one changed what.

 

[yuyakay]

Trigger,

"yuyakay,... I'm sorry, but the uploaded picture is out of focus to the point I can't see tell if there is any smear anywhere."

I stated that the smearing is on the right side of the picture of the hummingbird. The smearing is so obvious that I didn't see the need to describe it in any further detail. The entire right 25% of the photo has rust colored vertical smearing. I'm sure everyone sees it. It can even be seen in the thumbnail.

BTW, the photo is well in focus, as is the photo of the photo. Although the bird has its feathers fluffed, the eye and the beak are crisp, and the fine detail of the branch would not have been visible in a poorly focused picture.

Also the photo of the photo was taken in Macro mode with a Canon A710. Yes the paper is slightly convexed. The Canon website recommended a bowing of the paper that measures 3 to 5mm at the center, to help with smearing at the page end. It didn't work. I had previously experimented with extending and/or elevating the tray to support the paper a different way, and that did not work either.

The only thing that has partially remedied the problem is setting the printer to "Reduce paper abrasion". I never used to have this problem. The paper is the same I've always used. Something about the printer has changed. Anyone?

 

[Ron350]

Yuyakay have you removed the print head and checked for excess ink on the bottom?

When you open the top hatch and look inside are all 8 of the white rollers clean and touching the rough black steel shaft?

Like Trigger 37 I can not see the smudge but I do see what looks like tree bark along the edge of the print.

 

[yuyakay]

Hi Ron,

I'll check out my printer and get back to you. Right now I'm in the middle of doing my taxes

Well at the very right edge of my upload you can see the fabric of the sofa that the photo was lying on when I took the picture.
If by tree bark you mean the rust colored vertical (smear?) that goes through the orange flowers, all the way from the bottom to the top of the photo, that's not tree bark, that's the smear. Thanks for your input. I'll get back to you.

 

[Ron350]

OK I am not seeing the smudge looking at the photo using my old computer.
I am only seeing the sofa fabric around the edge of the picture.

 

[yuyakay]

I've circled the areas that have the vertical rust colored smear.