Canon i960 - Banding and Hatch

[phillfri]

I'm at a loss here. I am getting banding [ ---- ], hatching [ #### ] and very light colors whenever I run a nozzel check. The printer is printing all colors, but no amount of cleaning seems to address these issues. I would add that I just installed a new printhead on this machine and the carts are Canon OEM. I note that if I remove a cart after printing something, the tops of the nozzels look almost dry. No 'bubble' of ink there.

I've read about the banding solutions, but the hatching is something I can't seem to find anything about. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I also have an i950 issue, but I'll start a separate thread on that one.

 

[fotofreek]

are you sure that you took the tape off of the air vent at the end of the cartridges over the sponge area? Why did you have to install a new print head? What were the symptoms that led you to believe that the old print head was defective?

 

[phillfri]

Thanks for the response. To answer your questions, we have 3 Canon printers; first was the i950, then an upgrade to an i9900, and then an i960. We've had issues with the print heads on both the i9900 and the i950. The i9900 printhead was replced by Canon under warranty, and the new one is working okay - albeit it seems to clog up pretty easy. The i950 printer was out of warranty when its printhead (or maybe the printer) went bad.

The i950 would only print 3 nozzels, no matter how much cleaning I did on the printhead and sponges. And the 3 nozzels it would print were on the right side of the printhead. Absolutely nothing would come out of the 3 nozzels on the left side of the printhead. I finally broke down and bought a new printhead for the i950 (found one for $80.00). Same problem with the new printhead in the i950. So, having a sunk investment in the printhead aready, I went onto ebay and tried to find a used i950 or i960 - since they both use the same printhead. I bought an i960 for $38 plus shipping (got it cheap because the seller was having printhead problems). The new printhead works in the i960, but I'm getting these banding and hatching problems. (The old printhead from the i950 does not work in the i960 - still only prints 3 nozzels).

That's where I stand at the moment. I'm thinking I'll try cleaning the new printhead (it sat for awhile while I was waiting for the i960 to arrive) and the printhead that came with the i960. The printhead that came with the i960 is also displaying banding and hatching problems (which causes me some concern).

Anyway, that's my story. I love the prints our Canons turn out. They are quite suitable for the pictures we take with out Nikon 8700. And I really don't want to move on to the new Canons that use carts with limiting chips built into them.

 

[fotofreek]

Since both print heads, including a new one, display the same banding pattern in the i960 it appears that the problem is in the printer. Possibly an elctronic glitch or bad contact. My first i960 worked great for about a year and a half after which I started getting banding and color shifts that cleaning and cartridge changes wouldn't fix. I had a spare i960 that works perfectly, so I switched print heads. Turned out that the older printer banded with the new print head and the new printer banded with the old print head! Both old printer and its printhead appear to have problems. I still have it sitting on the shelf and will try to revive it when I want to spend several hours on it.

I've made it a practice to purchase Canon printers at the end of a product run when they are closing them out to introduce new models. My second i960 and two ip5000's cost $100 each new. I've purchased a "spare" and put in on the shelf when the price for a new closeout model is right. When you consider that the ip5000 came with five OEM carts, that plus a new printhead would cost more. My feeling is that, unless you have an investement in an i9900 or comparably priced printer, you are usually better off to move on to a new printer - of course after trying appropriate measures to clear clogs, etc.