Possible flow problem with brand new Canon carts......

[fortisi876]

Is it possible?


I worked on my inoperable i9900 this evening for a lil bit and I think I'm beginning to get better [than before] prints but far from working properly. I popped out the brand new carts a few times and it looks to me as if the ink isn't flowing properly, I say this cuz if you look closely, the sponge isn't completely saturated. A matter a fact, the top of the sponges still look clean/white.....so my question, is it possible that there is a vent issue on this set of new carts?

This is what I'm getting:

 

[qwertydude]

The tops of the sponges can remain white normally, but that doesn't look like the normal flow problems to me because the banding isn't consistent. Usually a flow problem manifests itself with good ink flow at the beginning of the print then nothing for the rest. What's strange is that each pass has the color loss at the same area and the unusual rainbow patterning visible in the normal flow area like on the very right. I'm guessing this is more than a conventional flow issue.

 

[ghwellsjr]

As qwertydude pointed out, the tops of the sponges of new Canon cartridges will remain white. You should make sure you have ripped off the piece of tape coverinng the air vent hole. I'm sure you have or you would have much more severe symptoms.

It looks to me like you have an intermittant electrical problem. Am I correct in observing that a small band in the middle of the picture above the Dunlap logo is printing correctly? Am I correct in observing that any given portion of the picture is exactly correct or it is pure white? I'm going to guess that if you reprint the same picture, the defects move randomly to different places, correct?

If these observations are correct, then your problem cannot be an ink flow or air flow problem because each color would be showing a different pattern of defects.

Try these experiments:

1) Remove the cartridges and the print head. Be very careful not to jar the print head because you don't want to allow residule ink to get into the electronics. Clean the contacts on the back of the print head and where they meet with the carriage. Use Windex or just water on a soft cloth but make sure everything is dry before putting it back together. See if it prints any better.

2) Print a narrow picture, like a 4x6. This will put less strain on the ribbon cable connecting the moving print head to the rest of the printer.

3) Print a large picture consisting of almost all white but with a thin vertical strip of an image about 4" wide going down the center of the page. I don't know if the printer is smart enough to have the print head move back and forth over just the active print area but that is what we are trying to do--limit the print head travel to reduce the stress on the ribbon cable.

4) Repeat the process in #3 over the left hand edge of the page.

Good luck and let us know what you learn.

 

[Grandad35]

fortisi876,

I assume that the image that you posted is a photo of a print, and that the stripes run from the top to the bottom of the print. If so, you don't have a clog or ink delivery problem - you have a sick printer. There is no way that ink flow would start and stop at exactly the same place on each scan of the print head.

One (repairable) thing that could cause a print like this would be a dirty timing strip - but that is a real long shot. Use the search function at the top, enter "timing AND strip" (without the quotes) and select "Posts" from "Show results as" to see previous posts on this subject. However, I do not remember ever seeing a problem like yours. Do all of your prints look like that? Do the test prints generated by the printer (nozzle check and service print) look OK? If they also print in stripes, the problem is internal to the printer

Another long shot would be to reload the driver, just in case it somehow got corrupted and is transmitting bad data.

 

[WhiteDog]

The white stripes in your print arise because either

a) the print head is not printing when travelling either left or right across the paper, but does print in the opposite direction. In my expereience there is no easy cure for this, and for which there can be several causes.

or

b) ink is not emitting from the whole of the nozzle strip, which is about 1/2" in size.

Soaking the head in Windex might help. Also, soak the pads under the head resting point with 'Windex once a day, and be patient. Do not push the machine to print much in this condition.

 

[ghwellsjr]

So, now we're confused. Do the stripes represent the direction the print head moves back and forth across the paper or the direction the paper comes out of the printer? I assumed the first condition. If so take a look at this link and study the different ways this printer can print:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=9079#p9079

Try printing something using plain letter size paper at quality 5 and then 3. This might give you a clue as to whether the problem happens in just one direction or both directions.

 

[fortisi876]

I cant thank you ALL, who shared your knowledge and ideas with me to work through these issues, enough. I thought I toasted my printer going into 'service mode' 2 weeks ago!

Apparently, I had dirty contacts on the back of the print head carriage.....I followed ghwellsjr's advice in cleaning the contacts and I noticed a huge improvement in just the first print. The funny thing is I gave those contacts a wipe with alcohol and a cotton pad last night after reading the suggestion on another forum, as a result of that I got the improved image I posted here on my first post. It was so much worse last week. Tonight, I just wiped those contacts with a lintfree wipe since I read it for the second time and BAM......it seems to be printing much better. Just for kicks I performed the other two steps as recommended by gh on larger plain paper and they look great.

I think I still see some minor banding but wont complain about until I print on glossy paper.

Thnx again to ALL!