The reality of clogged nozzles

I have used an s9000 for just about a year and a half, all but about 2 weeks of that with inkjetgoodies ink, and no problems whatsoever. I have printed over 2000 prints, but could not guess how much over.

Mikeslc said:

Carlos said:

.....and how often do you print?

CR

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Member said:

Is it safe to say that all inkjet nozzles will clog beyond repair
sooner or later?

Too many times I read about someone getting a new print head from
the manufacturer. Too many times I read about print head nozzles
clogging. Are the clean nozzle owners not speaking up or do they
not exist?

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I used to have an older Epson, and I was tired of all the clogged heads EVERY time I went to print.

I bought a Canon i850 just over a year ago.

In the last 4 months or so I've turned it on maybe 3 times to print a letter (text only).

Over the Christmas break, a friend wanted some pics printed for his family, so I tweaked and cropped 20 or so pics, turned on the i850 and printed them

No clogs, no fuss, no horsing around, just great pints! I hadn't printed anything for 4 months, and when I needed it, NO CLOGS!!

The Canon i850 was the best thing I ever bought!!

Thats not to say that EVERY i850 will be problem free, but it seems to me, the Canon users who are having the MOST problems are the ones who continually do print head cleaning and print head checks even tho the printer works fine.

IMHO, if the printer is printing fine, LEAVE IT ALONE, stop cleaning the print heads, it doesn't NEED it!!

Anyway, I wouldn't HAVE any other printer, Epson or Canon, more expensive or not, even if you gave it to me. My i850 prints spectacular prints, AND is worry and fuss free, what more can I ask for

• Ivan

Hi All

I can't believe I'm the odd one out in that nearly every canon printer I've had has shown banding in areas of plain colour. I've just recieved a i9100 to replace my 9000. In the 2 weeks i've had the 9100, I've not had a decent print from it and I look whistfully at the old 9000. I still have it although it should go back to canon if I keep the 9100.
The problem is the 9000 does not have hald as much banding as the 9100.

Get this, I opened the 9100, put oem ink in and got banding from the get go! I must say it id diminishing but as I'm doing night firework shots; it may be the type of pic I'm printing that is hiding the banding and Ill notice it doing 'daylight' shots.

There was abit more to this, when I got it, Iput the 'old' nearlt full oem ink carts from the 9000 into the 9100! Why open another set of carts when I had 6 nearlt full one already open. I got banding as I said above..

Fed up with this from a brand spanking new machine, I putthe six 'new' carts that came with the printer in. No joy, banding still.

I can't believe I'm the only person who has read this post experienceing banding from canon printers. When you all say'I've had no problems' do you look for banding? are you aware of it? It just strikes me that I always se it while others appear not to.

and just for the record, I've not had any head clog (or not as I've noticed, I've always had good nozzle check patterns) So while you may suffer clogs, I suffer banding....

I wish I new why this 9100 gave banded prints, I know its probably ink/cart related but cannot see how! as it had a set of brand new ink in after the first 'part used' ones.

Any ideas anyone? I've had 6 months of this and done & read a lot on banding so don't say about head alignments and other basic stuff

Happy new year all
The griff

If you have really good eyesight, you might be seeing the Canon microbanding that's due to their dithering algorithm, shown here in an extreme enlargement from an S900 print in photo-i:



--
Tricia
Minolta Dimage D7(UG), Epson 2200, PS7, Qimage

In the brief period that I owned an i950 (same print head and ink as the i9100) we noticed that it ALWAYS had banding on one or two prints immeditaely folowing a head cleaning, so we got in the habit of printing a couple of full color prints on cheap paper after each cleaning. Subsequent prints showed no banding - until the next time the i950 did an auto cleaning.
Canon was no help in clearing up this mystery.

Sam

My Epson 2200 very rarely clogs. I hardly use it too. One time it went for months without use. Just a few bars from the Nozzle check were clogged and one cleaning took care of it.

Ken.

Jim Dawson said:

clogs every time if I don't use it for a week. I have wasted
several cartridges unclogging it. I found a utility that will let
me clean the black or color cartridges separately and that has
helped minimize the waste somewhat.

I have considered getting a wide format Canon because, at least,
you can replace the heads, but it won't do long panoramic prints.

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--
http://www.pbase.com/ken_5

Jim Dawson said:

clogs every time if I don't use it for a week. I have wasted
several cartridges unclogging it. I found a utility that will let
me clean the black or color cartridges separately and that has
helped minimize the waste somewhat.

I have considered getting a wide format Canon because, at least,
you can replace the heads, but it won't do long panoramic prints.

Jim

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I have an Epson 1270 I have had siince they first came out and it has never clogged! And I sometimes didn't print for up to 2 weeks. We got another computer so I got a Canon i960 about 2 mos ago and it has not clogged so far. I only print colors a few times a week.
--
Judy Howle
F717
My photos, digital photo links and info
http://myweb.cableone.net/howle/page/digital_photography.htm

Tricia said:

If you have really good eyesight, you might be seeing the Canon
microbanding that's due to their dithering algorithm, shown here in
an extreme enlargement from an S900 print in photo-i:



--
Tricia
Minolta Dimage D7(UG), Epson 2200, PS7, Qimage

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Hi Tricia

A big thasnks for putting this pic on here; yes, the banding over the eye on the skin is what I object to and is not on some pic while on others. The same settings used both times.

The banding above the eye is different to the halftoning 'banding' isn't it. The latter is hardly visible though you can barely see it.

No the halftoning or dithering doesn't bother me, it's the more noticable 'banding' in areas of plain colour.

I know it's down to ink supply but ......

Thanks
The griff

I've stayed out of this thread because your interest seemed to be between HP and Canon. However, just for the record, I've had several Epsons with no clogging or other problems on any of them...I always keep the next-oldest one when I buy a new one and give the older one away. Right now I have a Photo Stylus 800 waiting for me to take it down to the senior center because I'm using my 870 for web/receipt,etc. printing while I use the 2200 mostly for photos. The 800 has been gathering dust for too long and needs a new home because my husband got a HiTi and doesn't use it now, either.

Because of the fact that none of my Epson printheads have given me any problems at all, I shied away from the Canons with replaceable printheads; I figured, correctly, I guess, that the bubble-jet heads wear out relatively quickly compared to Epson heads and have to be replaced, while the Epson heads are made to last a lot longer under heavy use.

I will say that had I ever bought an Epson that clogged during the warranty period, I would have had the printer replaced because I would assume the printhead was defective.

--
Tricia
Minolta Dimage D7(UG), Epson 2200, PS7, Qimage

Fellow printers,

Thanks for all your responses.

It looks like I have some clogging to look forward to. I'm going to check on the i960 today.

I've always had HP's and no problems. I print very rarely. I was dissappointed that a stripped down HP7960 was not released. I can't use the card reader/display because I shoot RAW and go thru the PC to print.

Wish me luck....CR

Banana Chips™ said:

...and no clogging for more than 6 months now. i only use Canon
inks (i never used third-party inks). i think that makes a lot of
difference.

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and no problems or clogs... but like the other user I only use canon inks... do use a variety of papers though
Heather

I only use Epson OEM inks. I don't know what else to do.

Jim

Judy Howle said:

Jim Dawson said:

clogs every time if I don't use it for a week. I have wasted
several cartridges unclogging it. I found a utility that will let
me clean the black or color cartridges separately and that has
helped minimize the waste somewhat.

I have considered getting a wide format Canon because, at least,
you can replace the heads, but it won't do long panoramic prints.

Jim

Click to expand...

I have an Epson 1270 I have had siince they first came out and it
has never clogged! And I sometimes didn't print for up to 2 weeks.
We got another computer so I got a Canon i960 about 2 mos ago and
it has not clogged so far. I only print colors a few times a week.
--
Judy Howle
F717
My photos, digital photo links and info
http://myweb.cableone.net/howle/page/digital_photography.htm

Click to expand...

--
Canon 1D, Pentax Optio 555, and G-III QL (yes - film)

I have a 780 and a 1280. Both will clog. Here's how to fix it quickly:

Remove the cartridge from the printer. Wrap the heads in a tissue. Bang the cartridge heads against a hard surface several times. If it doesn't work, try again.

It works for me.

Tricia said:

I've stayed out of this thread because your interest seemed to be
between HP and Canon. However, just for the record, I've had
several Epsons with no clogging or other problems on any of
them...I always keep the next-oldest one when I buy a new one and
give the older one away. Right now I have a Photo Stylus 800
waiting for me to take it down to the senior center because I'm
using my 870 for web/receipt,etc. printing while I use the 2200
mostly for photos. The 800 has been gathering dust for too long and
needs a new home because my husband got a HiTi and doesn't use it
now, either.

Because of the fact that none of my Epson printheads have given me
any problems at all, I shied away from the Canons with replaceable
printheads; I figured, correctly, I guess, that the bubble-jet
heads wear out relatively quickly compared to Epson heads and have
to be replaced, while the Epson heads are made to last a lot longer
under heavy use.

I will say that had I ever bought an Epson that clogged during the
warranty period, I would have had the printer replaced because I
would assume the printhead was defective.

--
Tricia
Minolta Dimage D7(UG), Epson 2200, PS7, Qimage

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Different nozzles, different ink lineup....i950 has the 2pcl nozzles, i9100..4pcl...output very similar, but very different details in engineering...rumor has it that Canon wasn't comfortable with the 2pcl's propensity for clogging during the @4-5minute cycle of a full size A3+ print...Canon engineering, like many other Japanese purveyors, seems to be a "mystery wrapped in an enigma" !! Why diddle around with 2pcl at all, since it obviously leads to increased clogging, and miniscule if any improvement in output??...

My wishlist for Canon is that they spend more Yen developing more stable inks, rather than trying to wow us with droplet size !!..Once you get down around 4 pcl, using 6 inks, you've pretty much reached the unaided eye resolution limitations, and can produce details that compare favorably with all but the finest grain large format film images...More than sufficient for ordinary mortals !!!....Frank

I have consumed @110 carts in my Canon printers...At Canon prices:$1320...using aftermarket inks...less than $225....
I have bought 11 100pks of Ilford galerie smooth 8.5X11" totalling $280.50
The equivalent Canon paper would have cost @ $990.00
Total savings...$ 1803.50....
You can buy a lot of printheads or even whole printers for $1800 bucks!!!!!

If you only print sparingly, OEM supplies may seem rational, but if you burn a lot of stuff like I do, there's no question which way to go...frank

you can always go for the 7660, it can do 6 color printing and you can add the 59 cart for grayscale... the only thing it cant to is use the gray cart for color printing as on the 7960. Give it a look when you're at the store.... I've seen them for below 149 on sale.

Carlos said:

Fellow printers,

Thanks for all your responses.

It looks like I have some clogging to look forward to. I'm going
to check on the i960 today.

I've always had HP's and no problems. I print very rarely. I was
dissappointed that a stripped down HP7960 was not released. I
can't use the card reader/display because I shoot RAW and go thru
the PC to print.

Wish me luck....CR

Click to expand...

I have the i850 and love it.

I had some banding at first. I have switched to using "High Gloss Photo Film" paper setting. I had heard on this forum that it will drop less ink, and some papers are better at absorbing more ink than others. It solved my problem. FYI, I use Ilford Galerie (Sam's version), and I have not tried canon's paper.

I agree with you Frank. I'm printing over 400 4x6's right now and have a lot of 5x7's and 8.5x11's ahead of me as I'm padrino for a quince anos am giving them the pic's on disk and printing a ton of them. I use Inkjetgoodies and OD paper (I just had 2-100 packs cut down to 600 4x6's at kinko's) and the cost to me is about a nickel for each 4x6 including ink and paper. I've not had any clogs at all in a year and a half, all but 2 weeks with inkjetgoodies, on my s9000 and have saved enough to buy a closet full of printheads (or printers). I had previously printed easily well over 2000 prints and these, all sizes, will probably have me going well over 2500. I would rather shoot myself in the foot than go oem.

lFrank Trotti said:

I have consumed @110 carts in my Canon printers...At Canon
prices:$1320...using aftermarket inks...less than $225....
I have bought 11 100pks of Ilford galerie smooth 8.5X11" totalling
$280.50
The equivalent Canon paper would have cost @ $990.00
Total savings...$ 1803.50....
You can buy a lot of printheads or even whole printers for $1800
bucks!!!!!
If you only print sparingly, OEM supplies may seem rational, but if
you burn a lot of stuff like I do, there's no question which way to
go...frank

Click to expand...

Frank Trotti said:

My wishlist for Canon is that they spend more Yen developing more
stable inks, rather than trying to wow us with droplet size
!!..Once you get down around 4 pcl, using 6 inks, you've pretty
much reached the unaided eye resolution limitations, and can
produce details that compare favorably with all but the finest
grain large format film images...More than sufficient for ordinary
mortals !!!

Click to expand...

I agree with you here! I could also add that if the canons are so fast that some users have ink supply prioblems; well why don't they slow them down a touch?

I'd rather wait an extra couple of minutes if I was sure to get a first class print. If this is the case, I'd wait a long time really.

Except, it isn't and canons pump out prints that suffer from all sorts of defects like banding, etc.

The griff

add my Epson 1270 with only OEM inks. It always has some nozzles clogged if I don't use it at least weekly.

Jim

Mehdie said:

One solution may be to have a bi-weekly maintenance schedule at
which point a test print is made. The test could be skipped in the
event the printer may have already been in used.

I think it's also important to think about the root causes of
clogs. As a poster mentioned, the small size of nozzles impact
this. But there is not much you and I could do about the design.
Another root cause has to be the ink. It may be worth to keep tabs
on which brands are prone to clogging. After all, it is the ink
that acts as the glue agent. Its viscosity, consistency, etc must
be factors!
-----------------------

Carlos said:

As you can see, lots of clogging stories and a very few
non-clogging stories. We live in a society that is finicky about
the products we buy. Why do we put up with clogged heads? Isn't
this a major issue? Why don't they at least include an extra head
in the box!!?? Is it not inconvenient to have to call and wait to
have a new one delivered?

I realize these are very delicate and precise instruments (and it
will only get worse as the drop sizes get smaller).

Sorry for the venting. Have a good weekend.

CR

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--
Canon 1D, Pentax Optio 555, and G-III QL (yes - film)