Canon G5050 - waste ink kit install [Feedback Pls]

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That can't be planned if they are not even aware of it.................

Platen pad replacement has been a think ever since the earliest days of borderless printing in larger format printers like the R1800 and R2400 so there's definitely plenty of opportunity for both planning and resources so respectfully, Epson themselves have no excuse. Service centre/tech franchises? Hmm, maybe lack of awareness is a think for specific models but still the support chain and/or information for their franchisees shouldn't be that weak.

- 'Achilles' - did they already have inkjet printers those days ?

LOL... well you never can tell

I was referring more to typical desktop printers in my last posting, and you are right that the issue is more complex with the larger printers - A3 and up , and most users are not even aware of this 'problem zone'.

I don't know how often customers contact you about the platen pad, the waste ink is taken care off in various Canon and Epson printers now in newer models with the maintenance box , the platen pad is probably more an issue with printers targeted for photo/borderless printing like the G550/650 or resp. Epson models.

Oh definitely it's going to only affect a much smaller number of printer owners, but even so, many of the printers that will be affected are going to be the R700/900, ET15000, etc... owners who have paid upwards of £600+ for their printer. We don't get many platen pad issues ourselves as the maintenance box units haven't really shown this issue in great numbers yet but when you get a call from someone in the same industry who's asking for help because of quotes like the example above you kinda get the feeling that this is something that's going to start as a trickle and then blow up rather badly in some OEM's face...

No idea about Canons here mind but for Epson, so far I see repeats of the same myopia that affected the roll out of Maintenance box printers in the XP15000, XP8500 realm... For one key 6-9 month period there was zero stock availability of replacement maintenance boxes because Epson just hadn't thought they'd be needed or something... It was a farce..

But again... getting off topic...

 

[The Hat]

But again... getting off topic...

With the launch of the Eco Tank printers, it was obvious what was going on with the print manufactures, these type of printers dump lots of ink into the waste ink pads, so there was a huge need to fit maintenance tanks to all these models. (To hide this issue)

Far from saving money these printers are only good short term, that is until they start to show signs of clogs (air in the tubes) from their lack of daily use, then they become a liability, and all the savings go out the window.

There is no such thing as a cheap inkjet printer, either way they get you with their expensive ink carts or the cost of the model up front, ( InkTanks) like individual carts going empty one at a time is a prime example, leading to the domino factor.

3rd party inks seem like the best alternative but they too can be costly, you don’t notice it at first because on the surface it‘s much cheaper, but then that makes you print more and more than you normally would. (The unmeasured extra cost of paper)

Free dinners and food banks are now popular, but not for inkjet printers, because if you print it costs, if you don’t print it still costs in waste ink, and most never know just how much ink is going to the waste ink pads.

As far as borderless prints are concerned, they too are a waste of time because of the mess they leave behind, the better alternative is to print with a border and trim afterwards, it’s by far the quickest and cleanest method..

The platen area needs occasional light cleaning along with the purge unit anyway, that’s part of responsible ownership..

The only savings I found was with the use of the Printer Potty, it’s a real eye opener for counting your waste ink, because you can see and measure every drop of ink that’s used up for cleaning, and this can then help avoid some of the unnecessary cleaning cycles..

Is a Potty worth fitting.. In my experience yes, but only if you print a lot, otherwise you don’t get much benefit from it, and even if you have a maintenance box installed, you can’t measure you waste ink with that unit..

P.S. fitting a Printer Potty gives you a better insight into the workings of the printer, if nothing else it’s an experience in itself..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

With the launch of the Eco Tank printers, it was obvious what was going on with the print manufactures, these type of printers dump lots of ink into the waste ink pads, so there was a huge need to fit maintenance tanks to all these models.

The Ecotank printers got launched in 2010 in Indonesia

https://corporate.epson/en/about/history/milestone-products/pdf/44_l100l200.pdf

https://corporate.epson/en/about/history/milestone-products/2010-10-l100l200.html

and a standard model (at that time) just got the ink tanks attached to the side, the ink supply via tubes got implemented, and a range of more models incl. combo units with a scanner got introduced in the years after, this was the first Epson generation - not using the 'Eco' wording at that time. There was effectively no change to the rest of the printer mechanics, and the waste ink pads were located in a box accessible from the rear and held in place with one screw, it was easy to replace the foam pads with folded kitchen paper. I was using, and I am at this time still a L805 - a 6 color A4 printer - a modified P50 photo printer, the print counter stays at 31 500 pages at this time, and WIC reads the waste ink counter at 56%, that's a pretty low value, I don't need to do any cleanings, the printer is active every day, and gets turned off daily via a power rail - so at least this printer does not 'dump lots of ink into the waste ink pads.'

But there is another effect I have observed wtih various L... or Ecotank printers - the new waste ink boxes take less ink than the older waste ink pads can absorb - those in the back of the printer or underneath the print mechanism like the L1800 (A3) - I would guess it's about half of it. The situation is more complex and implementation varies over time and printer model type. A tank system printer would not need to do any cleaning actions which are typical on cartridge based printers after every cartridge exchange.

The use of 3rd party inks in such Ecotank printers is a separate subject, the ink base - solvent can have an impact that the user needs to trigger more manual cleaning actions, and the longevity performance issues have been discussed in great detail in this forum.

 

[websnail]

Hmm...

Thanks for the responses on these. Looking at your detailed replies I can see that my phrasing of my original question left a lot of leeway for interpretation so I need to redirect a little and refocus that question to be a bit more specific. Not to say the replies haven't been appreciated, because they have, it's just that I had a particular topic/question in mind that hasn't been touched on so much.

So, to rephrase...

For Epson Ecotank and even the cheaper Megatank Canon models there's undoubtedly a need for waste ink solutions even if they aren't necessarily commercial ones but my point was more specifically to the more expensive and far more technically involved Canon models where the printer needs considerably more detailed and careful disassembly to access the waste ink system and either redirect the waste ink externally or demonstrate waste pad replacement.

My main question here was... Is it worth putting in all that effort from an end-user POV... ie: Will people actually make use of such guides or does something like the G5050 video scare people to the hills and away?

The commercial question of viability is linked obviously but I really want to understand if it's worth the time and effort for me personally before I worry about the commercial return on investment.

Whad'ya think?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Will people actually make use of such guides or does something like the G5050 video scare people to the hills and away?

I'm not a Canon user but I would expect that some people will be happy to have a detailed guide available whereas some other users of such printers will complain about the complexity and will be scared away

 

[The Hat]

but my point was more specifically to the more expensive and far more technically involved Canon models where the printer needs considerably more detailed and careful disassembly to access the waste ink system and either redirect the waste ink externally or demonstrate waste pad replacement.

The way you went about showing all the ins and outs of the installation was exceptional, certainly scary for most but the level of detail you went into was really encouraging and make it more like fun than anything else. (Nothing to be afraid of)

I have taken a few brand new expensive printers apart in my time and would have relished having your level of expertise and know how to help me along, before I started..

The best part was how you isolated the printer first and had a good clear clean area to work in, and that make it look so much easier, when I was doing the same job on mine I was constantly falling over myself for space..

There are many printer owners who will make use of your video, I’m sure, because no matter how difficult it seems at first, this video will give them the encouragement to have a go at it themselves.

For serious users it’s well worth the effort, even if you don’t buy a Printer Potty and make one up yourself, but then that only makes the job half done, because the Potty kit has all the pieces you’ll ever need..

P.S. gratuity can be given later..

 

[websnail]

The best part was how you isolated the printer first and had a good clear clean area to work in, and that make it look so much easier, when I was doing the same job on mine I was constantly falling over myself for space..

Of course my space is organised and clean... I mean...

There are many printer owners who will make use of your video, I’m sure, because no matter how difficult it seems at first, this video will give them the encouragement to have a go at it themselves.

Thanks for the feedback... It does actually help... ironically we've only sold the one kit but it's early days. There can't be too many G5000 series printer owners who've hit the waste ink issue yet.

P.S. gratuity can be given later..

Cheque's in the post... (counting on post-brex*t delivery times that should clear in about 20 years?)

 

[beneix]

Far from saving money these printers are only good short term, that is until they start to show signs of clogs (air in the tubes) from their lack of daily use, then they become a liability, and all the savings go out the window.

This is my concern...having invested last year in a Canon G3501 Megatank because it seemed a sensible financial decision compared to continuing to purchase expensive cartridges. Now, with some experience, I am doubting the decision.

When I still had a cartridge-based Canon inkjet, the ink would dry out from infrequent use and I'd have to frequently perform clean and/or deep clean, dumping much of the ink in the absorbers and thus decimating the page numbers per cartridge.

Now with the Megatank the infrequent use seems to instead cause regular issues of air in tubes. Until I realised this, I was performing cleans and deep cleans. Eventually, even this did not help so I went on a hunt for solutions...cleaning the head, etc. I noticed the air in the tubes and took to using a syringe to pull back the ink all the way to the heads. That fixes the issue and avoids dumping further ink into the ink absorbers, but if it has to be repeated every time the printer has been out of use for a week, I am not sure I want to keep it up.

Two questions:
1. Is a nozzle check print every day (or every other day) likely to cause enough movement in the ink to prevent this issue (air in tubes) from occurring?
2. Are Epson printers less prone to this issue (problems caused by infrequent use)?

 

[websnail]

...but if it has to be repeated every time the printer has been out of use for a week, I am not sure I want to keep it up.

Two questions:
1. Is a nozzle check print every day (or every other day) likely to cause enough movement in the ink to prevent this issue (air in tubes) from occurring?
2. Are Epson printers less prone to this issue (problems caused by infrequent use)?

The thing with the air ingestion is that if air is getting in it's because there's an air leak somewhere between the printhead and the reservoir ink outlet. It's incredibly unlikely that the issue is being caused by an air leak at the reservoir end and Occam's razor being a thing my bet is that the interface between the printhead and the ink receiver is the major cause of 90% of these issues.

My problem is that I can't recreate this issue. I did receive a G2501 a ways back that had the problem but I foolishly didn't think to record what I did when I first received the thing. From memory I just opened it up, saw air in the tubing and then re-seated the printheads, checked the receiver heads were clear of any crud/dust and the like and then clicked everything firmly into place. From that point on the printer worked without issue.

Anyway, this is a long winded way of saying:

1. No, I don't think it'll be enough. Until you can resolve the air leak that's allowing ink to drain back towards the reservoirs it's going to continue to do it and eventually the air in the printhead will stress the printhead until it fails.

2. Depends on the model. The cheaper Ecotanks work fine but they won't win any prizes for speed or quality. So long as you're not trying to use your printer for Dye-Sublimation printing you should find the printer will just work but you do need to remember to keep using it regularly and factor in that after about 2 years you want to be thinking about changing out your ink for new stock so you don't start suffering from algae or other biologicals using your ink as a snack and grow blobs to clog your nozzles.

My first port of call though would be to get some Q-tips (cotton buds) or similar with some cleaning solution and some isopropyl alcohol (save the latter for the end) and clear the top of your printheads thoroughly to remove any lint, ink or other crud that might be on there. They repeat the process for the ink outlets that live in the printhead carriage lids. Once done, a final swab with the isopropyl, let it evaporate off for a minute and then reinstall the printheads making sure to press the lids down firmly and press down the sprung loaded clips that seem to live above them.

Hopefully the above will remove whatever is creating your air leak and you'll be able to do one last ink charge/prime and it'll stick this time.

 

[beneix]

The thing with the air ingestion is that if air is getting in it's because there's an air leak somewhere between the printhead and the reservoir ink outlet. It's incredibly unlikely that the issue is being caused by an air leak at the reservoir end and Occam's razor being a thing my bet is that the interface between the printhead and the ink receiver is the major cause of 90% of these issues.

Thanks. I agree, I think the air comes in at the printhead end. In fact, as soon as you open the printhead holder so that the contact between the supply tubes and the top of the printheads is broken, air quickly goes in and the ink retreats back towards the reservoirs.

My first port of call though would be to get some Q-tips (cotton buds) or similar with some cleaning solution and some isopropyl alcohol (save the latter for the end) and clear the top of your printheads thoroughly to remove any lint, ink or other crud that might be on there. They repeat the process for the ink outlets that live in the printhead carriage lids. Once done, a final swab with the isopropyl, let it evaporate off for a minute and then reinstall the printheads making sure to press the lids down firmly and press down the sprung loaded clips that seem to live above them.

I'll give that a go. Before touching the printhead holder, I will clamp down the tubes to minimise air ingress.