Print quality - standard vs high

[vladojko]

Hi all,

I registered on this board looking for the help, hopefully someone would have an idea what is going on with my printer. I have Canon Pixma MP560 printer. I was using OEM cartridges for several months together with Sudhaus inks, and I was refilling them with the top method and closing the hole with the tape, which often led to the leakage of ink inside printer. Finally I made a "smart decision" and I bought a set of refillable cartridges.

They used to work fine for couple of refilling, but now I have a weird problem that I can't solve even after reading many articles on this forum. When I am printing text on the plain paper, my text looks kind of italic in number of lines, there are also many empty lines (like the nozzle is clogged). But, this happens only if I am using standard print quality - if I choose print quality to be high, my printouts are just perfect!!!

Also, printing on photos is not really the best thing out there - I am using original Canon paper and there are tiny tiny parallel lines on every photo, approximately at the same place.

I will try to attach the scans of both text and photo if the forum allows me.

What i tried - washing the print head in Windex (Lidl version), cleaning nozzles many many times (including deep cleaning), but no luck. I read here on the forum that only OEM cartridges should be used, but before cashing out 60 EUR for new set of cartridges, I would like to hear some opinions... For the text I could live with the slow high quality printing, but I also need to print photos from time to time...

 

[vladojko]

It seems that I can't attach images yet, or add links to the posts

 

[The Hat]

It seems that I can't attach images yet, or add links to the posts

Youre perfectly right you cant post images for at least 24 hours after that you will be able too.

So lets deal with you problem first, the OEM cartridges that you were using originally would be alright to use again
but you must seal the top hole 100% air tight, tape is no good only plastic plugs or hot wax will work properly.

Your smart decision was not your best idea at all, the problems youre now having is evidence of that.

The problem with using compatible cartridges is that they cant continue to deliver enough ink to your print head
which then looks like a nozzle blockage but it isnt, it is in fact an ink starvation problem most lightly caused by the poor quality cartridges.

Youll need to start again but this time use your OEM cartridges as they will provide the best ink flow and prevent the lines appearing on your prints.

Until you can get this problem fixed please dont print anything other than a nozzle check
otherwise you may damage your print head, so lets hope you havent done that already.

Tomorrow you can post us a nozzle check but there will be no need to do anything with the print head in the mean time,
you could buy a set of cheap compatible cartridges just for testing purposes to use
if youre stuck but once their empty dispose of them, dont refill them..

 

[fotofreek]

Hopefully you haven't damaged your printhead. Normal ink flow also is a coolant for the nozzles. Canon printheads use small heating elements to essentially boil the ink to expel the amount that creates a picture or text print. If ink flow is poor the heating elements can burn out. The Hat is correct that you would best use the OEM carts to refill, but you need to seal them properly. You should probably also purge and dry them thoroughly before refilling again to be sure there isn't a buildup of dried ink that would diminish ink flow. There is a lot of information on this forum on sealing a top-fill hole and on purging carts.

 

[vladojko]

I am back, after flushing and refilling OEM cartridges. I closed them with the hot glue and there is no leak.
Nozzle checks look ok for 4 color inks, but black still has problem. I tried cleaning of black nozzle through printer driver on PC 4 times, and once i did deep cleaning, but no improvement is visible. I printed one page in normal quality and one in high - before changing cartridges high quality prints were ok and only standard were messy, but now both or them look terrible.

I still do not see an option to attach the file to the post, as soon I discover how to do it I will post scanned pages...

 

[vladojko]

ok here is link, hopefully it works now

http://www.totaltv.be/SCN_0050.pdf

I am afraid that print head is screwed...

By the way, this MP 560 I want to give to a friend, as i bought MX895 few days ago in sales, but I want to make sure I do not make same mistakes with the new printer once i empty the original cartridges...

 

[vladojko]

One more update... I removed again print head, cleaned it once more with Windex clone and I left it on folded paper towel laying in 1 cm Windex, I am planning to leave it overnight. When I pressed the head against the towel, ink was going out from all input ports, so I suppose that black is not clogged completely.

Also, the sponge in the printer that is below print head is filled with the fresh black ink (liquid, not dried). I suppose it is coming from nozzle cleanings that i performed or from some earlier leakage. When i took the print head from the printer, on its bottom there was some black ink.

Now after switching back to OEM cartridges I do not have any more ideas what else could be the problem except the print head. Does anyone have any clue what else could I do in attempt to fix this printer?

 

[The Hat]

Lets see if we can solve some of your problems if not all of them.

I am glad to see your back using your OEM carts again after a purge, can I asked how you dried them
before refilling them because your nozzle check looks a bit washed out.

Please dont print anything other than a nozzle check till you get everything working again.

Now the first thing to do is to empty out your PGBK cartridge (Fat one) put the orange clip on first
then remove the seal on top and suck out that ink inside with a syringe,
then refill it with the BK black (Photo black) this time, then reseal your cartridge.

Remove all of the cartridges from your print head and then the head itself leaving the empty carriage
in the middle of your printer, and then remove your power plug.

Soak your print head in about 2.5 cm of window cleaner (W5) in a small bowl (Saucer) and squirt just a bit of W5 onto the inlets inside the print head
where the cartridges usually sit and cap the rest of your cartridges with the orange clips also.

Now move the print head carriage to one side and using a tweezers lift out the black sponge that is between the plastic teeth circled in red

Be very careful as this sponge is very thin and will break if pulled hard,
it will also be very wet and messy so have some paper ready to place it on.

To remove the sponge all together it will be necessary to move the print head carriage over the other side of you printer
do this while holding the sponge flat so as it wont get caught during this manoeuvre.

Another thing to be careful of is to remember which side of the sponge is which
it usually can only go back into the printer the same way up.

Once you got the sponge out give the whole area a good clean,
it doesnt have to be perfectly clean just dry (Use the W5 on a small cloth).

You can wash the sponge in a bowl of warm soapy water and just squeeze it between two pieces of newspaper for a minute to dry;
it doesnt have to 100% dry it will go back better if its still a little moist.

Now if youre still with me I forgot to mention earlier to wear latex gloves, Ouch..

Just reverse your procedure to reinstall the sponge again, it will take a bit of jiggling about to get it settled in place properly,
so long as you put it back the right side up that is.

Now if you dry off you print head, but make sure you didnt get any of the electronics wet but leave the inside of it wet
and pop it back into your printer followed by the cartridges and then power on your printer.

Just do one normal head clean and then a nozzle check and see if there is any difference to your previous nozzle checks.

If it has improved then do another normal head clean and leave the printer to sit for half an hour before doing the next nozzle check
and all should be well if you print head didnt receive any damage during your previous attempts to correct your problems by printing..

 

[vladojko]

Thanks a lot for your answer, I will try to do that. Nozzle check looks washed out due to scanner, from some reason images from Canon scanner in general look washed out (at least for me). Other colors look just fine, just black is messy - the rest look same to the nozzle check from my new printer. I washed the cartridges with warm tap water from the output port side, 7-8 min per cartridge until there was no ink going out of them, then i dried it with the folded paper towel for few hours (using the method I found here on the forum), and finally I let them dry on the air for ~36 hours.

Just couple of questions:

1) why do we need photo printer in the cartridge now?
2) do I need to wash the cartridge before filling it with the black photo ink?

 

[The Hat]

Just couple of questions:

1) why do we need photo printer in the cartridge now?
2) do I need to wash the cartridge before filling it with the black photo ink?

By using the BK black instead of PGBK black it can help to get the blocked nozzles working again much quicker,
you also get a much better consistent flow of ink.

There is no need to do anything with the cartridge other than just emptying out the old ink in it..