Problem with first attempt at Hobbicolors - Canon Pixma 4000

[Tin Ho]

Robertd, you have two printers that use a common set of cartridges. You can exchange color ink cartridges one at a time to find which cartridge is responsible for the color shift. This is a simple diagnosis technique if the problem is caused by a single faulty cartridge.

 

[on30trainman]

Been refilling (both virgin and OEM Canon emptys) using a syringe for many months now - noooo problems here. I use Hobbicolor inks - they do seem to have a greenish cast - that was fixed by generating a profile using Profile Prism. Bought a set of his lastest Canon inks but haven't had a chance to use them yet. But I can see no reason to use a refilling machine.

Steve W.

 

[Inky]

robertrd-

I like the hobbicolors BCI6 ink overall for my ip5000, but I have to agree they need profiling and the gray is slightly green/yellow, with an overall slight yellow tint to prints. The cyan is a tad weak. The good news is profiling can correct it and 3rd party inks can be much worse!

I'm testing the the UW8 ink from hobbicolors now and the color is perfect, when it works. Unfortunatly, the cyan cart or ink has major problems leaking, pooling on the head, and contamination of other colors. I have to run several clean cycles to get good prints, making it unusable. Hobbicolors is sending a replacement cartrige and hopefully that fixes the problem. I like their carts overall and this is the first problem of this type I've had from Hobbicolors out of 10 carts. Hopefully it's not the ink viscosity itself. Will update when the replacement arrives.

The Hobbicolors UW8 color match for the ip5000, when it works, is just about perfect. If the new cartrige fixes the problem, the UW8 will be the ink to beat.

BTW: I think it's very unlikely bubbles in your cartrige is causing your problem. It's the ink, the cartrige, or your printer, but it's not the air or the way you refilled the carts unless you did something really wrong. I'd second the reccomendation you swap out carts one by one to isolate the problem running a nozzle check each time. Try to notice any abnormalities in the nozzle check and see if they improve by swapping carts or cleaning.

For example, there can be clogs causing patchy printing. There can be blurred printing which is caused by leakage or viscosity problems. Banding can be caused by either. Sometimes a problem color can cause another to also malfunction for reasons unknown, but only one needs reoplacing to solve both problems.

 

[ghwellsjr]

robertrd:

I never use the cassette when printing photo paper. It has to take a sharp bend which might explain the wheel tracks on the Canon paper. Why don't you try again using the auto sheet feeder?

Your zipped file appears not to have the source file in it which makes it very difficult to figure out what you are trying to show.

mikling:

The iP4000 has 2 picoliter nozzles for the dye inks but the iP5000 has 1 picoliter!

You referred to Epson cartridges a couple times, but robert has two Canon printers. He did say he was printing on Epson paper. Do your comments about Epson sponges/printers apply to the Canon printers that have a separate print head and a two-compartment cartridge with a "sponge" in one of them and a supply of ink in the other one?

Mick Carlotta has explained that the sponge is a misnomer because it does not want to absorb ink, in fact it repels ink. He calls it a foam (not to be confused with the foam you mentioned which is bubbles in the "sponge") which gets filled with ink under vacuum during initial filling and remains that way as long as there is a supply of ink in the other compartment, but once it runs out, the foam will take on air (big bubbles, not small ones) that can never be expelled except by vacuum. I'm not quibbling over nomenclature, I'm just trying to clarify what happens in the "sponge/foam" part of the Canon BCI type cartridges.

 

[Inky]

The iP4000 has 2 picoliter nozzles for the dye inks but the iP5000 has 1 picoliter!

To clarify the 5000 can also print 2pl and does for many paper/quality combinations. It's always a good idea to troubleshoot both high and low quality to isolate problems on the 5000, though I've yet to find a problem that was limited to 1pl printing.

Adding new ink will usually fix sponge problems by dissolving top ink but if the cart is really old it may remain viscous enough to impede airflow. Good blanks cost under $2 and last for several refills at least so it's not really an issue for me anyways. Also old carts can be washed and make good cleaning carts when filled with windex.