Is there anyway to stop the IP4700 wasting all that ink?

[BWlover]

I bought an IP4700. Rather nice printer in many respects, though it has some quirks. For one, if you use the Canon glossy photo paper with their recommended settings (the general 'glossy photo' setting) the photo is very weak, lacking contrast and power, and has a distinct magenta cast. The PP-201 paper (only a lousy THREE! 10x15 included) print fabuously... After some tweaking (cyan +5, magenta -6, yellow -4, contrast +20) you can get prints on the GP-501 (sold here as 'everyday use' paper; I think the number is not used in the US) which look a bit better than on PP-201. I think a marketing ploy of Canon: the PP-201 is 2.5 as expensive here. Let is print worse intentionally and people think it is the paper quality. PP-201 as a nicer gloss though...

The second thing that I definiely do not like: its ink usage. I read on the internet test where they printed 45 to 57 full-colour A4's before the first ink tank running out. This must have been people printing everything in one go. I did not get more prints than 24... And after two more pages the other colours ran out. Not good: it must waste A LOT of ink during the CONSTANT cleaning (sometimes in between two 10x15 (4x6 inch) prints it excutes a full cleaning cycle!
But what is even worse, and proves the above: I have only ONCE used the printer to print two 10x15cm photo's using the PG-520 catridge (at the all black, fastest setting), and less than two A4 of text and the ink monitor already indicates that ~30% (or what it is the first decrease?) is gone! Not on printing for sure, because all the other prints where photo prints.
I bought some Hobbicolors (great ink!) but only orderded the dyes thinking I was not going to use the pigment. Apparently, I have to buy it anyhow, simply for the cleaning cycle.
Now my questions: is there ANY, any option to stop some of these cleaning cycles? (I am afraid I already know the answer). The other question: would it be OK to refill with dye ink if I am not going to use this printer as a text printer anyhow? Or maybe even cleaning liquid?

 

[qwertydude]

Well the only way to prevent all those needless cleaning cycles is to refill your ink and disable ink monitoring. Once you disable ink monitoring you have to manually keep an eye on ink levels but you'll find it stops going through all those unnecessary cleaning cycles and surprisingly behaves like a normal printer. You can't just fill the black with dye ink. If you want to convert it you'll have to rinse out all the pigment ink from the cartridge since pigment and dye inks aren't very compatible. You might be able to get away with it once but then you may find you get flow issues on subsequent refills. But you can fill the cartridge with a solution of water and dish soap. The ratio is about 3 drops to two ounces of water. Put that in a needle bottle or syringe and fill as normal.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I think the number is not used in the US) ... the PP-201 is 2.5 as expensive here.

You obviously don't live in the US, but where is here? Why don't you go to your profile and put in your location so that we will know where you are?

I don't have one of these newer printers but I have seen several people mention that if you don't use a resetter and wait until the printer asks you if you are willing to void the warranty, then it will not only quit reporting the ink levels in your cartridges, it will also quit doing all those unnecessary cleaning cycles.

I think it would be OK to put a cleaning solution in your pigment black cartridge to avoid refilling with ink but some of those cleaning solutions cost almost as much as ink. There have been reports of dye ink leaking through the pigment nozzles because of its lower viscosity and the larger sized nozzles, so you want to make sure that isn't happening with whatever solution you decide to go with. And there have been reports of dye and pigment black ink interacting in such a way that it causes clogging. Also, it would be a good idea to make sure you have some black ink in your cartridge, just so that you can see that you don't have any clogged nozzles when you do a nozzle check.

Maybe the answer to your first question will remove the need for your second question.

 

[BWlover]

Thanks for the tip: I live in the Netherlands and added it (hope it shows up correctly now).

The answer surprises me a bit: I read somewhere (I even think it was this forum) that you get erratic behaviour with the canon (ip4700 but it might have geen ip4500 or ip4600): they report that sometimes the printer refuses to print, stops in the middle etc. etc. Also I did not like the idea of having to check the catridges all the time (reasoning this does not help avoiding issues the chips and the contacts - people seem to have problems with this as well). So my chip resetter just arrived today... But if what you say is true (qwertydude, do you have personal experience with this?) than this would be worthwhile considering. Of course, the nasty thing is that the ink monitor will only stop completely once I have spend at least one full catridge on cleaning...
Canon is playing some serious tricks on its consumers I think... No wonder people move to refills...

 

[ghwellsjr]

Yes, new Canon printers are not what they used to be. That is the reason I have been buying used MP780's. People are selling perfectly good old Canon printers like crazy just because they want built-in wireless or a smaller printer.

And yes, we can see you're in the Netherlands.

 

[qwertydude]

I personally use a Canon ip4600. I print a whole lot more than most and in about one year of ownership I've already had to reset the waste ink pad warning with the reset tool posted here, and that's one year of having ink monitoring disabled so less cleaning cycles and still filled the waste ink pad. I'll buy a new printer when ink start dripping out of my printer.. So yes I do have lots of experience with this newer model.

 

[leo8088]

There have been some similar posts here before that reported excessive consumption of ink by ip4700. If you refill your cartridges with the German Method you should fill up the sponge to nearly full too. The sponge holds a lot of ink. If it is not refilled sufficiently the cartridge will run out of ink much sooner.

 

[Monday1]

Ok, first of all I want to thank you very much for making it easy to enter into this form. I have tried to enter others without success because my pass word did not match their records of my e-mail etc. Where they got my e-mail I don't know.
Second I am thankful that this form is sponsored by a family business which stresses good conduct etc. I just hope that you all will be super honest with me and don't try to sell me something I don't need.
Back in May I bought a Canon iPF760 printer and have not turned it on yet because of all the horror stories I hear about it being designed to waste ink.
If I talk to Canon representatives they say its not true.
So I am trying to find honest answers, not from Canon Reps who say: buy only Canon inks or others that say: buy from us.

So far I have found people that are hurting because the printer cleans itself after each print. Another says that the printer wakes up out of sleep mode every 4 hours and cleans itself (with ink) so the print head doesn't clog. So what kind of design is this? If the printer uses 2.5 ml of ink each time it cleans itself. And if I spend $66 for each 310ml ink tank. That means I will spend $1200/yr to maintain a $450 print head.

Now I am looking for a consumers who do not work for Canon or for another ink company (sorry) that will say: I have a iPF--- printer from Canon and this is what I tried and here are the results (good or bad).

One Canon rep did say that he turns off his printer all the time without ill effects. Because if he would go through the procedure of pulling the ink tanks in turning off the printer (to be moved) it would be a tremendous waste of ink. The literature says to have a maintenance tank that has 60% capacity before you do this.

A consumer told me that I could manually clean the print head with a damp cloth.
A salesman wants to sell me a sprayer that attaches to the kitchen sink (patient pending) to clean the print head. Umm why would he go through all that trouble if there was no need.

But I have yet to find someone who will say: I have tried this with this result.

Monday1

 

[The Hat]

Hi Monday 1 and welcome, I promise not to sell you anything you dont already have.

The best thing you can do with your new printer is to leave it turned on all the time,
that way it wont waste ink unnecessary and fill up the maintenance cartridge on you.

Leaving the printer on will only waste a little power thats all which is a darn side cheaper than Canon inks, I do that with one of my printers and it works pretty well.

There is no need to do any manually cleaning on your printer because it can take care of itself without you having to do anything to it, there just Ghost stories they were telling you.

When you use the printer try to bunch all of your jobs together and not do one every few hours that way the printer does far less prepping and washing (Its far more economical)

Now I dont work for Canon (they cant afford me) and I did have a Prograf W6400 (dont anymore).

I fill all of my own cartridges which works out 70% + cheaper than using Canon inks and
I would advise you to think about doing the same when you get your head around all of the myths and stories that are wrongfully put about.

I hope I have got your curiosity going and come back with more question for us (most honourable guys) and get that printer of your up and running and enjoy printing instead of wondering if you have made a big mistake in buying it. (You havent trust me)
Happy Printing..

 

[Monday1]

Thank you "The Hat" for your response. And you are not alone. there are several people in this forum who agree with you. They are talking about refilling the ink tanks and disabling the ink monitoring.

Some comments include:

"my chip resetter just arrived today..."

"if you don't use a resetter and wait until the printer asks you if you are willing to void the warranty, then it will not only quit reporting the ink levels in your cartridges, it will also quit doing all those unnecessary cleaning cycles."

"Once you disable ink monitoring you have to manually keep an eye on ink levels but you'll find it stops going through all those unnecessary cleaning cycles and surprisingly behaves like a normal printer."
" You can't just fill the black with dye ink. If you want to convert it you'll have to rinse out all the pigment ink from the cartridge since pigment and dye inks aren't very compatible. You might be able to get away with it once but then you may find you get flow issues on subsequent refills."
"you can fill the cartridge with a solution of water and dish soap. The ratio is about 3 drops to two ounces of water. Put that in a needle bottle or syringe and fill as normal."

Ok I am ready to learn the process. Just how do I refill ink tanks and disable the ink monitoring. When I refill ink tanks do I re-use the Canon ink tanks?
Or do I buy refillable ink tanks that have their chips permanently reset? Do I get a chip resetter?
The printer manual has stated that if you turn off the printer (to be moved) make sure you check the maintenance cartridge that it has 60% capacity before you pull the ink tanks.

Does this mean that the lines between the ink tanks and the print head holds that much ink? (60% of the maintenance cartridge)
If you fill the a second set of ink tanks with a solution of water and dish soap.
Would all that ink that are in the lines have to be used before the print head is cleaned?
Thank you so much for your consideration
Monday1