Very light user requires suggestions for clog-free all-in-one printer

[Mr K]

Very light user requires suggestions for new all-in-one printer that won't clog

Hi all,

Have been reading the forums for a while, it's a great resource for anything inkjet related and I'm hoping someone can help with recommendations for a decent AIO printer as I've no idea where to start.

The dilemma is that my usage is very light, perhaps a few pages a month, very occasionally a few pages a week. Hence, any inkjet printer I've had has always ended up clogging. My first inkjet printer was an Epson 460 that clogged up 2 months after the warranty expired. After burning through several cleaning cycles, it eventually started showing signs of life and I managed to sell it on.

My second and current inkjet printer is a Brother DCP 117C AIO that has four separate ink tanks. I've had this for 3 years and it's worked perfectly until recently when it stopped printing magenta. I've done several cleaning cycles and several more power purges via the maintenance menu all to no avail. I can see the magenta ink tank isn't going down either so I guess the print head is clogged for this particular colour only (all the other colours print fine). Since the Brother uses tubes to pipe the ink to the printhead, I can't use an empty cartridge with printhead cleaner since the tubes are still full of ink that no amount of syringing will remove. Furthermore, there's no direct access to the printhead and getting to it is a real pain so I've decided to just replace the printer.

What I'm looking for is a cheap, very compact AIO inkjet printer for documents and business graphics that either allows easy replacement or access to the printhead for manual cleaning or has the printheads on the cartridge so that replacing the cartridge solves the clogged printhead problem. I don't need photo quality and am not bothered about speed or extras like memory card slots. Additionally, because I don't do much printing, I'd want something that uses cartridges which don't expire after 6 months. The Brother DCP 117C I currently have is good in this respect as it just uses ink tanks with no chips to expire the contents.

I'd prefer Canon, HP or Brother and am not concerned about using OEM or refill carts since I tend to get original's cheap. I've been looking at the Brother DCP 135C (GBP 40) and HP F2280 (GBP 30) as possible replacements and would like to get a Canon as I understand the printhead is easy to clean or replace but all the Canon AIO models I've seen have a huge footprint and won't fit on the desk! Am unsure as to the benefits of having separate colour cartridges vs. a single colour cartridge so any advice on this would be great.

The other alternative is to just go for a colour laser AIO like the Samsung CLX 2160 that has a small footprint, costs around GBP 130 and would probably last as long as the printer itself. My first printer was a Panasonic mono laser that lasted me 10 years on a single drum with 2 toners!

I'd be very grateful for any help/advice/suggestions as to the best replacement, many thanks in advance for any replies.

Regards,

Mr K

 

[Smile]

If you can refill your cartridges then inject 1 or 3ml 10% ammonia (that you can buy in local pharmacy) into the problem (magenta) cartridge and do some cleaning cycles. Leave over night etc. It should remove your clog. You do not need to dismantle the printer or print head etc.

The volume of ammonia you need to inject depends on your cartridge capacity. If it’s up to 13ml inject up to 3ml.

Remember printing purge pages can cause nozzles to burn while cleaning cycles just suck ink form print head and there is less risk involved to damage the print nozzles.

 

[Mr K]

Hi Smile,

Thanks for the reply, I've tried this already, because the tubes are full of ink, there's nowhere for the ammonia solution to go. I've tried removing the existing ink in the tubes using a syringe but the tubes are long and I can't get it all out. The Brother relies on gravity and the force of the cleaning cycle to push the ink through but because the tubes are already full, I guess it's not working.

I've kinda resigned myself to getting it replaced

Regards,

Mr K

 

[Smile]

Hi Smile,

Thanks for the reply, I've tried this already, because the tubes are full of ink, there's nowhere for the ammonia solution to go. I've tried removing the existing ink in the tubes using a syringe but the tubes are long and I can't get it all out. The Brother relies on gravity and the force of the cleaning cycle to push the ink through but because the tubes are already full, I guess it's not working.

I've kinda resigned myself to getting it replaced

Regards,

Mr K

Well I don't believe you can't get ammonia into cartridges. What are they 100% full? I taught that you could suck some ink using syringe and replace it with ammonia.

If magenta is blocked very bad you could try to inject some into Cyan and Yellow that way the solution would be sucked by printer from Cyan and Yellow and the print head pad would be saturated with it. It could help to dissolve the clog.

Also you could try to take a syringe and use distilled water + ammonia solution, heat it up (using microwave for a few seconds) and place some drops on head parking pad, then move the print head by hand into parking position. Wait 5-10 minutes and repeat the cleaning cycles with prepared cartridges with above method. It should remove the clog eventually. It always takes patience.

Also heat only water test temperature with a finger, then suck it into syringe, then suck ammonia. If you try to heat solution inside syringe you will get a huge mess.

 

[IGExpandingPanda]

Hi Smile,

Thanks for the reply, I've tried this already, because the tubes are full of ink, there's nowhere for the ammonia solution to go. I've tried removing the existing ink in the tubes using a syringe but the tubes are long and I can't get it all out. The Brother relies on gravity and the force of the cleaning cycle to push the ink through but because the tubes are already full, I guess it's not working.

I've kinda resigned myself to getting it replaced

Regards,

Mr K

Brother DCP 117C

It's very likely that the Brother DCP 117C is using a micropiezo printhead. It's BROTHER-LK1866001 or BH-3. As I recall it may have been on of those models where the printhead costs more than the printer. This may sound silly, but imagine they price their printers at below the cost to manufacture them. There were other models that the printer sold for $100 and the printhead sold for $250.

I don't know for a fact, but if it's similar to Epson then there would be a waste pad where the head sits, where you can spray with a mix of Windolene and alcohol.

Micropiezo - as you noted depends on gravity and vibrating crystals to print. Cleaning cycles involve a pump sucking on the head. Prone to clogging but can often be resolved with an ammonia based window cleaner and alcohol.
Thermal - More common but prone to burn out. The norm for printhead on the cart, and most HPs, Canons, Kodaks, and others. Most printers this can be replaced, but there are some exceptions.

------------------------------
Cost per page
Brother DCP 135C - 25ml black 14 (11), 12ml color.
Yield LC970BK = 350 pages or 0.04/page (.03)

HP F2280 - hp21 black (17)hp22 tricolor
Yield HP21xl 475 pages (0.035/page)
Yield HP22xl 415 pages

Canon PGI-5 26ml black 9.
Yield PGI-5 500-525 pages (0.018 - 0.017)
------------------------------

Your sub budget printer is going to cost more to operate than a regular model.

------------------------------------
*mx300 17.3" (W) x 18.4" (D) x 6.9" (H)
mp520 14.9" (W) x 17.9"(D) x 6.8" (H) 99
mp530 18.5" (W) x 18.4 (D) x 10.4 (H)
mp610 17.7" (W) x 15.3"(D) x 7.4" (H) 89.77
HP F2280 18.2" (W) x 15.2"(D) x 6.8"(H)
Brother DCP 117C 14.7" (W) x 13.6"(D) x 5.3" (H)


* this takes thimble class cartridges costing about the same as other sub-budget printers
------------------------------------
Sorry I only had that list in inches

3000 pages @ 1.8p/page = 54
3000 pages @ 3p/page = 90
3000 pages @ 3.5p/page = 105
Savings 36 per 3000 pages black @ 5% coverage to
Savings 51 per 3000 pages black @ 5% coverage to

The mp520 doesn't sport CD printing and prints in lower resolution color than other current generation models. The mp530/610 are higher resolution, support CD printing.

 

[Mr K]

Hi Smile,

Thanks for the reply, I've tried this already, because the tubes are full of ink, there's nowhere for the ammonia solution to go. I've tried removing the existing ink in the tubes using a syringe but the tubes are long and I can't get it all out. The Brother relies on gravity and the force of the cleaning cycle to push the ink through but because the tubes are already full, I guess it's not working.

I've kinda resigned myself to getting it replaced

Regards,

Mr K

Well I don't believe you can't get ammonia into cartridges. What are they 100% full? I taught that you could suck some ink using syringe and replace it with ammonia.

If magenta is blocked very bad you could try to inject some into Cyan and Yellow that way the solution would be sucked by printer from Cyan and Yellow and the print head pad would be saturated with it. It could help to dissolve the clog.

Also you could try to take a syringe and use distilled water + ammonia solution, heat it up (using microwave for a few seconds) and place some drops on head parking pad, then move the print head by hand into parking position. Wait 5-10 minutes and repeat the cleaning cycles with prepared cartridges with above method. It should remove the clog eventually. It always takes patience.

Also heat only water test temperature with a finger, then suck it into syringe, then suck ammonia. If you try to heat solution inside syringe you will get a huge mess.

Thanks for the reply, what I mean is that I have filled the cartridges with ammonia just fine, the problem is that the tubes leading from the cartridge to the print head are full of ink and despite using a syringe to remove as much as possible, I can't get it all out. The tubes are quite long and snake about the printer so there's no way of forcing the ammonia down the tubes either. I've already tried putting ammonia into the other cartridges that do print as per your suggestion to saturate the printhead but this didn't work either.

As for the parking head, I took the printer apart and managed to get to the printhead but couldn't find a way of removing it or moving it to get to the parking heads. Perhaps I could just switch the printer on and print something so the head moves from the parking place and then cut the power so the pad is exposed?

 

[Mr K]

Hi Smile,

Thanks for the reply, I've tried this already, because the tubes are full of ink, there's nowhere for the ammonia solution to go. I've tried removing the existing ink in the tubes using a syringe but the tubes are long and I can't get it all out. The Brother relies on gravity and the force of the cleaning cycle to push the ink through but because the tubes are already full, I guess it's not working.

I've kinda resigned myself to getting it replaced

Regards,

Mr K

Brother DCP 117C

It's very likely that the Brother DCP 117C is using a micropiezo printhead. It's BROTHER-LK1866001 or BH-3. As I recall it may have been on of those models where the printhead costs more than the printer. This may sound silly, but imagine they price their printers at below the cost to manufacture them. There were other models that the printer sold for $100 and the printhead sold for $250.

I don't know for a fact, but if it's similar to Epson then there would be a waste pad where the head sits, where you can spray with a mix of Windolene and alcohol.

Micropiezo - as you noted depends on gravity and vibrating crystals to print. Cleaning cycles involve a pump sucking on the head. Prone to clogging but can often be resolved with an ammonia based window cleaner and alcohol.
Thermal - More common but prone to burn out. The norm for printhead on the cart, and most HPs, Canons, Kodaks, and others. Most printers this can be replaced, but there are some exceptions.

------------------------------
Cost per page
Brother DCP 135C - 25ml black 14 (11), 12ml color.
Yield LC970BK = 350 pages or 0.04/page (.03)

HP F2280 - hp21 black (17)hp22 tricolor
Yield HP21xl 475 pages (0.035/page)
Yield HP22xl 415 pages

Canon PGI-5 26ml black 9.
Yield PGI-5 500-525 pages (0.018 - 0.017)
------------------------------

Your sub budget printer is going to cost more to operate than a regular model.

------------------------------------
*mx300 17.3" (W) x 18.4" (D) x 6.9" (H)
mp520 14.9" (W) x 17.9"(D) x 6.8" (H) 99
mp530 18.5" (W) x 18.4 (D) x 10.4 (H)
mp610 17.7" (W) x 15.3"(D) x 7.4" (H) 89.77
HP F2280 18.2" (W) x 15.2"(D) x 6.8"(H)
Brother DCP 117C 14.7" (W) x 13.6"(D) x 5.3" (H)


* this takes thimble class cartridges costing about the same as other sub-budget printers
------------------------------------
Sorry I only had that list in inches

3000 pages @ 1.8p/page = 54
3000 pages @ 3p/page = 90
3000 pages @ 3.5p/page = 105
Savings 36 per 3000 pages black @ 5% coverage to
Savings 51 per 3000 pages black @ 5% coverage to

The mp520 doesn't sport CD printing and prints in lower resolution color than other current generation models. The mp530/610 are higher resolution, support CD printing.

Many thanks for the hugely useful info IGExpandingPanda, it's much appreciated

Regarding size, the width is the issue more than anything else and looking at your list, the Canon MP520 is the only one that will fit so I will certainly check this model out. Would you know if the printhead on the MP520 is easy to clean and/or replace? I think any AIO I get with a thermal printhead is liable to clog long before it would burn out as I don't print much.

Regards,

Mr K

 

[Mr K]

Just looked at the Canon MP520, the width is 445mm (17.5") according to the spec on the Canon website which means it won't fit

 

[IGExpandingPanda]

Many thanks for the hugely useful info IGExpandingPanda, it's much appreciated

Regarding size, the width is the issue more than anything else and looking at your list, the Canon MP520 is the only one that will fit so I will certainly check this model out. Would you know if the printhead on the MP520 is easy to clean and/or replace? I think any AIO I get with a thermal printhead is liable to clog long before it would burn out as I don't print much.

Regards,

Mr K

Firstly you should double check the sizes as my data is going by the website.


Second, I think you were confused by my post. I'm aware that your brother head is tube fed. If it were an Epson you would put the solution on the waste pad station, where the head parks. Alternative solutions would be using a paper towel soaked in ammonia based window cleaner (Windowlene) and alcohol. This way the cleaning solution is right where the head clog is, right on the head. You "could" buy another head, but that will cost you as much as a replacement printer. Under ideal circumstances the clog should be something that can be resolved.

All Canons not in the sub-budget class, as in ones that take more than two ink tanks, have a detachable head. It doesn't come attached with the printer and is literally a drop in unit. Unit is dropped in and a hinge keeps in it place. Easy to remove if needed. I double checked the website and the printhead is listed as a separate unit.

The mp520 isn't my favorite model. It's a close cousin to the older ip3000, and the older i850 in terms of print engine. Only 4 tanks, no extra dye black, and lower resolution. But it happens to be the most narrow model I know of, and if it's anything like the old ip3000 it's actually very decent for photos. Since it lack a dye black, printing dark images on matte paper will end up soggy unless you specify "plain paper".

[double check the size]
mp520 14.9" (W) x 17.9"(D) x x 6.8" (H)
mp520 445mm x 378mm x 172mm

I'm going by data on the canon website, and the Europe page lists the width at 445mm, and the US site lists the width as 14.9" (378.46).

Obviously someone is incorrect.

[HP]
Photosmart C6380 144.00
Dimensions 17.79 x 15.97 x 8.17 in
I've not met this printer, but it's following the same design as Canon with simple cartridges and a drop in head. The US model comes with 5 "small" ink tanks which are about 1/3 the size as the full sized "large" cartridges.
HP 364xl 800p 16 or 2p/page

This is not as cheap as the canon models I listed, however it's likely to be on par with new Canons which use smaller cartridges.

Canon 520BK (19 ml) 8.10 350 pages or 2.3p/page
The mp520 in contrast takes a 26ml 525page tank.

[another canon]
MP620
Dimension (W x D x H) 14.5" x 17.7" x 6.9"
Dimension (W x D x H) 450 x 368 x 176mm
*note Canon Europe and Canon USA can't agree on the dimensions
Canon 520BK (19 ml) 8.10 350 pages or 2.3p/page

It'll cost more per page, which is frustrating, but has WIfi on board.

No CD printing.
The small 1pl nozzles.

 

[Mr K]

I've just popped out to the nearest PC shop and the MP520 is indeed 445mm in width. I'll see if I can squeeze this in on the desk at home, the DCP 117C fitted perfectly with only a few cm spare on either side. Not bothered about print quality or dye based inks and it's only ever used for business on ordinary plain paper and not photo's.

Might also take the Brother apart again and see if I can reach the printheads. I'm assuming the printhead is the culprit here and that there's no blockage in the tube otherwise I think it'll be a lost cause.

One other thing I wanted to ask is do all printers clean their heads in the same way? I read somewhere that only Brother uses ink to keep the printhead wet by forcing ink through the nozzles whereas Canon and HP have a mechanism that just wipes the printhead clean.

Once again, many thanks for all the replies.