Ip 6000D grainy and course banding

[Josh87]

I bought the hobbicolors kit from dave and i finally installed it. It didn't do it right off but now i have this problem with photos showing courseness and banding. I've done multiple nozzle checks and head cleanings but with no result. I emailed dave and he came to the conclusion that my heads are clogged. The thing is i used the printer at least 2 or 3 a week to prevent it from clogging like this. (I usually use it more frequently though) I just needed some help from you all in what actons I should take to fiz this problem. Any links or advice would be great.

 

[mikling]

First, if you ever encounter missing colors on a Canon. Stop printing immediately until the problem is remedied. Continued printing thinking that the fault is acceptable could lead to major work or damage to printhead.

Firstly, how many times have you refilled with the cartridges you are using? If it is multiple times 6+, do a search on flushing your cartridges in this forum. This is likely the problem. If you wish to not do the work, then new cartridges and preferably only Canon OEM cartridges are best if you intend to refill afterwards.

Second, make sure that the ink outlet sponge/media on the bottom of the cartridge is not pushed up.

Third, if you did encounter missing bands and still continued to print, then I would suggest that it is time for a head cleaning or tuneup. If the first point was true then you have dried up ink on the heaters within your printhead. All the symptoms would indicate a clog BUT if you had been using your printer recently on a frequent basis, a clog is extremely unlikely. You encountered bad ink flow from the cartridge.

To clean this out, remove your cartridges, and then your printhead. Unpower the printer. Now take the printhead and put it at various angles under a column of warm running water from a faucet. Do this until no colors emanate from the head. Turn it over, and now you adjust the warm column of water so it is the size of the ink port. Direct it at the ink inlet ports until no colors emanate from the nozzle side. Continue with all colors. Soak for an hour in warm water and repeat the previous procedure. 75% of the time you'll recover. If it is not complete but shows improvement, repeat but soak for a longer duration in warm water.

I routinely include instructions like this for my customers because too many don't realize there is a limit to refilling whereupon some work needs to be done or new cartridges are called for. I also include instructions that defer the time until a cleaning is required as compared to the standard method.

I always recommend the Canon shell because I know the inks that I provide are matched like the original Canon ink in its physical properties. That way the sponge media works like it was intended to with the Canon ink as it would with my ink. The sponge media of compatibles are unknown, so while the ink provided with the compatible works there is no guarantee that aftermarket inks will provide the same characteristics as that of the ink of the compatible.

Hope you recover from your problem.

 

[Josh87]

Mikling,
Thanks for the reply. This was the first refill for most of the carts. I had been replacing them as they were used up. I do belive that i did notice that the M cart sponge was pushed up slitley at the exit port. but it was maybe a 1/16 space and was only on one side of the exit port.

I will give your method a shot. Ill post my results.

Thanks much,
Josh

 

[Josh87]

Just a question, I assume that i have to make sure there is no water on the print head when i insert it back into the printer but do i have to wait a certain amount of time to replace the print head after soaking

 

[Tin Ho]

Mikling is correct that when a clog has occurred continue to use the printer will make it worse, not better.

 

[Josh87]

Ok i just reinstalled the print head and ran a nozzle check and it seemed ok. Dave from hobbicolors ink sent me a page that had BK, P, PC, Y, M, PC, Green, Red. The PM and the M have banding on them and a little on the Red. The banding is like the color is missing faintly not from any other color. Dave said i might have overfilled the carts or that they are leaking. now there was ink dripping from the head when i took it out. So im not sure what to do next?

Thanks,
Josh

 

[mikling]

proper instructions always advise that you NEVER insert a cart into a printer, any brand while it is dripping leaking etc. That will lead to flooded heads and cross contamination etc. You probably did not reseal your tank hole properly. Did you get instructions? All the possibilities should have been outlined.

 

[hpnetserver]

Hello Josh87, I use Hobbicolors refill kit too and I can tell you if you see ink dripping from your print head you definitely have a leak. Good news is it can be easily fixed. And it does not harm anything in any way. If you have just bought the refill kit I think you have the newer type of cartridge from Hobbicolors. The newer ones are more likely to leak. The older ones never leaked. But being more likely to leak is actually better. I have never needed to purge any of the newer ones after more than one year of use. They always give plenty of ink supply and never clog my ip8500 print head.

When I first bought the refill kit with newer type of cartridges I did not know they were different and I did not read the refill instruction. I thought it was piece of cake. I filled them up and plug them in just like what I learned from the previous experience. At the very first print I knew something was very wrong. The banding was beyond believe. Then I read the instruction. I quickly realized I should have read the instruction first. So I managed to force some ink out of each cartridge. The technique to get ink out of the cartridge was in the instruction so I did it quickly. All the problem went away after that. It was quite a lesson that I will never forget. So if you see ink dripping from the print head don't woory. Just follow the instruction to fix it.

If a cartridge leaks it means it is supplying more ink than it should. It is far better than it supplies less. Your print head would be in real trouble if it does not receive enough ink. If I were to buy cartridges again I would make sure to get the kind that is more likely to leak, such as those from Hobbicolors. There is one more plus side about this kind of cartridge which I found out recently. I had my ip8500 powered off for more than a month probably close to two at one time. No problem whatsoever. I powered it up and did a nozzle check first. The printer did a cleaning cycle by itself. The nozzle check was perfect. I went ahead to print some photos and not a single problem. It told me that the cartridges were supplying plenty of ink to the print head. I believe being more likely to leak has a connection to this. Being able to supply a good ink flow helps to prevent clog from happening.

Ask Dave at hobbicolors to send you the instruction if you odn't already have one. Ask him specifically how to get excessive ink out of the cartridge. Once you take care of that your printer will do just fine.

 

[Josh87]

hpnetserver,
Thanks for the advise. i tried blowing through the top vent on the cart to get some ove the ink out. But it really didnt seem to make any difference with the print quality.

Would soaking the print head in windex help disolve a clog? Also i want to try to use an old cartridge for putting windex in it and trying to disolve it that way. But i cant get all of the old ink (yellow) out of it. will this cause any contamination to the head? Should i try printing with the windex cartridge in the printer?

Sorry for all the questions. you all have been so helpful =]

 

[hpnetserver]

Hello Josh87, Well if there is ink dripping you definitely have a leak. If you have blown air into the vent to get some ink out and if the problem still persists maybe it is the wrong one? When you take the print head out while there is a leak did you see where the ink is leaking from? Did you see the color of the ink? Maybe there is a sealing problem in one of the ink cartridges. Maybe there is a defective one.

Bottom line is if you did see ink dripping, or it did not drip but it was there, then it is not a clog. That's good news. You are only began to use the product. It's not likely to get a clog in such a short time. It must be either it is still overfilled or there is a leak. Let the printer idle for a few minutes and look at the print head again. If there is ink on its surface. If you see ink it is caused by a leak. If it is dry it's not leaking. That could be a clog.

If the leak is very small and slow a light clean cycle will fix it but only for a few minutes. After that ink will leak again and the problem comes right back.

If you make your own cleaning cartridge it is better to clean the ink out of it as much as possible. I am not sure if there will be contamination problem if there is still some ink in the cartridge. If the problem is not a clog you do not need to make a cleaning cartridge. Can you post a scan of your nozzle check? I believe people will tell you if it is a clog quickly.