Actually the cause of the clogging is more likely to be the ink (Cyan) but not the G&G cartridge. It is very simple, other colors worked fine. Same cartridges, aren't they? It has to be the 3rd party ink (Cyan) that has an incorrect viscosity and surface tension formulated in it. It is true that OEM cartridges are better built. But many, if not most, 3rd party compatible cartridges are decent and work fine. Ink is far more complex to formulate than making plastics. Choose ink from a trustworthy supplier. The root cause of your print head clogging is most likely caused by the poor quality of ink.
Is this a printhead problem?
- Thread starter roofrabbit
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Roofrabbit, even though you have replaced all the ink carts with good Canon Carts and they read good and the sensor works, the EEprom in the logic board has recorded some of this information. One way to insure this is gone is to clear the EEprom. There are codes on this web site telling you how to do this. If you have a Service Manual, the codes are in there. Of course, the Service center is going to want to know what happened to all the data. The answer is you were getting flashing orange lights and you tried several reset codes you found on the internet, and they got rid of the flashing lights. It probably also reset the EEprom. What ever it takes to get them to give you a new printhead. I got Canon to ship me one directly,... as you see I live more than 75 miles from the nearest service center, and I told Canon tech support that it would cost me the gas for 300 miles since it would be one trip down to deliver it, and then back home, and once it was ready I would have to repeat the whole trip. This I explained was going to cost me $60. So Canon shipped me not only a new printer, because the problem could have been the carriage and not the printhead, put they sent me a new Printhead also. I shipped the old printer back, and kept the new printhead.
I will tell you that Canon has the best customer service of any company I have ever seen. I've been dealing with Epson on a very expensive printer, and all I get to talk to is some low level tech in India that has no authority to fix anything.
I will tell you that Canon has the best customer service of any company I have ever seen. I've been dealing with Epson on a very expensive printer, and all I get to talk to is some low level tech in India that has no authority to fix anything.
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Even if the same style cartridge is used for all colors, that doesn't prove the problem is in the ink and not the cartridge. Roofrabbit could have been printing images that required more cyan than any other color and that is why the problem showed up with cyan.Tin Ho said:
I had similar problems with G&G cartridges. I did experiments and discovered that because they have only one sponge material, air has trouble getting down to the hole between the two chambers and that restricts the flow of ink out of the reservoir which then can lead to the problems mikling has mentioned.
See this link for the complete story:
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=9993#p9993
Tin Ho, myself and ghwellsjr pretty much agree on the same issue. I did say the cause could be any one or a combination of issues and also could be due to a bad batch or low bid "supplier of the day" issue. Sometimes the fit is poor and the sponge inlet interface is compromised and don't touch properly. Other times the seal itself has left over flashing from the moulding & sealing process and doesn't provide a good fit for the seals. This does not mean that these problems always exist because they don't. However, unless you know exactly what to look for, and detect problems early, my belief is that your chance of having a poorly performing cartridge that can damage your printhead is higher than refilling a Canon OEM one where all other factors are in check except for the ink. While refilling entails more work, the risk reward ratio is higher in my opinion. But like all risk reward options it is up to the individual to assess their tolerances.
Ghwellsjr:
Double layer sponge is patented by Canon. Only OEM cartridges have double layer sponge. The patented double sponge is better but single layer used by all 3rd party cartridges do work in terms of using single layer design. All HP cartridges contain a single piece sponge. They work just like having an empty reservoir. The ability of the print head to suck ink down into the nozzles relies on if the sponge is willing to let go the ink. If the ink's viscosity is too high the print head will not get enough ink. The ink flow does not stop. But it is reduced. Reduced ink flow is the single number one reason to clog the print head.
Yes, when a 3rd party cartridge fails to supply a good ink flow it is common for people, including ink vendors, to blame the 3rd party cartridge. But in my study of the issue, it happens to be mostly the viscosity issue of the ink that caused the peoblem. I have some viscosity data of Canon OEM ink. And I have measured some 3rd party ink's viscosity. It's a wild jungle out there. That's really the problem.
In my opinion, a 3rd party ink vendor needs to sell ink in conjunction with OEM and 3rd party cartridges. The viscosity of each color of ink is different. That is why a particular color tends to have problems but not others. Buying ink from vender A then cartridges from Vendor B will be more likely a problem running into. Buy a pair which is already tested by the vendor. There is a much better chance the pair will work fine because the vendor has tested it and has to back it up.
Why blame only the cartridges when there is problems? The fact is the 3rd party ink is actually more problematic.
Mikling:
There have been lots of discussions about purging OEM cartridges and refilling methods. Why these discussions if OEM cartridges are so good?
You are right. OEM cartridges are so good. The problem is else where. That's why there were discussions aout purging and refilling methods. Someone just posted a few days ago and said he/she never really saw the need of purging his/her cartridges 3rd party or OEM. So why is there such a difference among people? I think this tells us one thing. It is the ink that makes the difference.
Double layer sponge is patented by Canon. Only OEM cartridges have double layer sponge. The patented double sponge is better but single layer used by all 3rd party cartridges do work in terms of using single layer design. All HP cartridges contain a single piece sponge. They work just like having an empty reservoir. The ability of the print head to suck ink down into the nozzles relies on if the sponge is willing to let go the ink. If the ink's viscosity is too high the print head will not get enough ink. The ink flow does not stop. But it is reduced. Reduced ink flow is the single number one reason to clog the print head.
Yes, when a 3rd party cartridge fails to supply a good ink flow it is common for people, including ink vendors, to blame the 3rd party cartridge. But in my study of the issue, it happens to be mostly the viscosity issue of the ink that caused the peoblem. I have some viscosity data of Canon OEM ink. And I have measured some 3rd party ink's viscosity. It's a wild jungle out there. That's really the problem.
In my opinion, a 3rd party ink vendor needs to sell ink in conjunction with OEM and 3rd party cartridges. The viscosity of each color of ink is different. That is why a particular color tends to have problems but not others. Buying ink from vender A then cartridges from Vendor B will be more likely a problem running into. Buy a pair which is already tested by the vendor. There is a much better chance the pair will work fine because the vendor has tested it and has to back it up.
Why blame only the cartridges when there is problems? The fact is the 3rd party ink is actually more problematic.
Mikling:
There have been lots of discussions about purging OEM cartridges and refilling methods. Why these discussions if OEM cartridges are so good?
You are right. OEM cartridges are so good. The problem is else where. That's why there were discussions aout purging and refilling methods. Someone just posted a few days ago and said he/she never really saw the need of purging his/her cartridges 3rd party or OEM. So why is there such a difference among people? I think this tells us one thing. It is the ink that makes the difference.
