Blue-ish color tint - Pro-100 and PC inks

[martincregg]

Yes, compare with the nozzle check posted by mikling in post #3 in this thread. How light or dark and saturated the colour stripes are depends on the scanner and settings, but compare C, PC, M and PM. To me they all appear to have the same colour strength or what you would prefer to call it. This is how it should be. Your more saturated PC suggests contamination with C. I suggest to empty the PC cartridge and flush and dry it and fill it again with PC ink.

Thank you @PeterBJ. I will try this.

 

[martincregg]

Update on what I did and the results: I flushed the PhotoCyan Cart with water, windex and then more water. Got it as clean as I possibly could. Filled it with PhotoCyan ink (checked and double-checked I had this correct ). Happy to report that the blue-ish tint has been illuminated. Here's the before and after of the jpg from @mikling. Much better!

Thanks everyone for the help.

 

[jtoolman]

Update on what I did and the results: I flushed the PhotoCyan Cart with water, windex and then more water. Got it as clean as I possibly could. Filled it with PhotoCyan ink (checked and double-checked I had this correct ). Happy to report that the blue-ish tint has been illuminated. Here's the before and after of the jpg from @mikling. Much better!

Thanks everyone for the help.

Just a hint.
Always do a preliminary flush with Windex and not water.
Then follow with plain water.

Joe

 

[PeterBJ]

It is good that the printer is now OK again, but there might have been another or one more cause of the blue cast.

If you look at the "Before Correction" test print you notice some cross contamination. Cyan is greenish, meaning contaminated by yellow, magenta looks to me to be contaminated by cyan and possibly yellow, and yellow is greenish meaning contaminated by cyan. Black/Grey seems to be contaminated by both cyan and yellow, compare with the neutral grey in the "After Correction" test print. This to me indicates leakage from one or both cyan cartridges and the yellow cartridge.

Leaking cartridges can cause cross contamination, and leaking can be caused by overfilling a cartridge or a cartridge not properly sealed after a top fill or a purge from the fill hole.

Leaking cartridges can kill the print head. I once lost a print head in a Pixma iP4200 due to a bad and leaking 3'rd party cartridge. The cartridge leaked and the ink on the foil on the underside of the print head crept under the foil and created a short circuit that took out some of the yellow nozzles.

So how do you refill and purge these cartridges? and how do you seal them?

 

[mikling]

It is good that the printer is now OK again, but there might have been another or one more cause of the blue cast.

If you look at the "Before Correction" test print you notice some cross contamination. Cyan is greenish, meaning contaminated by yellow, magenta looks to me to be contaminated by cyan and possibly yellow, and yellow is greenish meaning contaminated by cyan. Black/Grey seems to be contaminated by both cyan and yellow, compare with the neutral grey in the "After Correction" test print. This to me indicates leakage from one or both cyan cartridges and the yellow cartridge.

Leaking cartridges can cause cross contamination, and leaking can be caused by overfilling a cartridge or a cartridge not properly sealed after a top fill or a purge from the fill hole.

Leaking cartridges can kill the print head. I once lost a print head in a Pixma iP4200 due to a bad and leaking 3'rd party cartridge. The cartridge leaked and the ink on the foil on the underside of the print head crept under the foil and created a short circuit that took out some of the yellow nozzles.

So how do you refill and purge these cartridges? and how do you seal them?

The slight varying shades is sometimes tricky to decipher because it can also be caused by media setting changes, where the media response is different and thus the printer adjusts the color by the ICM or ICC specified in the driver, whether it be custom or the Canon one. So for example using plain paper on a photo paper setting will give different results as using plain paper or plain paper settings.

The most important thing to do is to print a simple nozzle check on paper that is consistent and regularly used as well as the gradient pattern and STORE them away with the printer settings written on it. Any time, any color changes occur, pull them out and print them again with the IDENTICAL media and settings and compare ( Assuming the same inks are used). This method will allow diagnosis of what the problem is. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE PHOTOGRAPHS for diagnosis. The complexity of the varying shades in an image will highly mask the issue and can lead to incorrect conclusions.

Very often, you get someone saying the printer is not printing properly, what is wrong....? Like saying Doc, I am not feeling well. What is wrong with me. Or my car is not working properly tell me what is wrong....by email. No description, nor images. etc.
A very reasonable request for help indeed.

 

[martincregg]

It is good that the printer is now OK again, but there might have been another or one more cause of the blue cast.

If you look at the "Before Correction" test print you notice some cross contamination. Cyan is greenish, meaning contaminated by yellow, magenta looks to me to be contaminated by cyan and possibly yellow, and yellow is greenish meaning contaminated by cyan. Black/Grey seems to be contaminated by both cyan and yellow, compare with the neutral grey in the "After Correction" test print. This to me indicates leakage from one or both cyan cartridges and the yellow cartridge.

Leaking cartridges can cause cross contamination, and leaking can be caused by overfilling a cartridge or a cartridge not properly sealed after a top fill or a purge from the fill hole.

Leaking cartridges can kill the print head. I once lost a print head in a Pixma iP4200 due to a bad and leaking 3'rd party cartridge. The cartridge leaked and the ink on the foil on the underside of the print head crept under the foil and created a short circuit that took out some of the yellow nozzles.

So how do you refill and purge these cartridges? and how do you seal them?

Interesting that you mention a cartridge may be leaking. I did notice magenta ink on part of the carriage. I assumed that this had happened when last refilled that cart but had not noticed it. I think I will cut back on the amount I fill them next time. Will probably go to 75%.

For refilling and purging I use the methods that @jtoolman demonstrates on his videos.

I'm sure I am not doing this 100% perfectly yet... otherwise I wouldn't be having these issues . That said, I'm learning a ton and will get there soon enough. I love the learning process almost as much as finishing up with a beautifully printed image... of which I have produced several.

Onwards and upwards...

Thanks everyone for the help.

 

[Collin]

All,
In the attached picture, can you advise with which one is PC and which is C? I think I swapped my cyan bottles. Is "Cyan" supposed to be the dark blue, and "Photo Cyan" should be the lighter blue?

I found this thread while trying to figure out why I was having the exact same issue as @martincregg, with over saturated blues. My two bottles of cyan lost their original labels and I think i may have mixed them up when i relabeled them myself. The magenta bottles are still have the original labels, so I did a cotton swab test on photo paper. The PM is lighter than the M. My test shows that my bottle labeled PC is darker than the bottle labeled C.

Thanks!
Collin

 

[jtoolman]

Your PC and C are switched.
The darker swab is C and lighter one is PC just like on your Magenta swabs.
You will have to flush, dry, and refill your carts with the correct versions.
You could always swap the chips and change their positions on the printer.
But you clearly flipped the colors and that is why you are getting the EXTRA Cyan Boost to the print.
Remember the Photo versions of Magenta and Cyan are much lighter in density.

Joe

 

[Collin]

Thanks Joe! Flushed them last night. Drying them out now. Honestly, finding a syringe (locally) that would work is the hardest part, haha.

 

[jtoolman]

Like others here suggest, in order to prevent this type of mixup, only lay out ONE cart and ONE bottle of ink on your "Refilling Table" and look at them both over and over until your 100% sure you have the correct combination of ink and cart color. Believe me I know TOO well about this.
The hardest thing is admitting you did it. I know!
Joe