Canon ip6000d printing is very light

[ghwellsjr]

My refilled cartridges are filled with Inktec ink and I'm going to try them out in one of my iP6000D printers tonight before I send them out tomorrow.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Jbclem, how are those refilled cartridges working out for you? Did they clear up your problem or do we have to look elsewhere?

 

[jbclem]

I received the ink cartridges, installed them, ran a head clean. The results were good and bad. 4 of the colors definitely improved on the nozzle check sampler. But one of the colors disappeared (cyan) and didn't show any color on the sampler. The black was about the same as before, possibly worse. Another difference, the nozzle check lists (on the left side) the id number for each color (6BK, 6C, 6M, etc...). In my original tests these number printed in light black even though the black sample (on the right) showed only a few light black patches. That always puzzled me, these id numbers were printing better than the test prints. Anyway, this time the id numbers showed up as red/orange colors, no black mixed in that I could tell.

When I try a test print(printer test page) in grayscale, the text prints in a darkish red color, not faint black as it did in the original test prints (with the chinese ink cartridges). If this darkish red color was black, the quality of the print would be acceptable.

Also, I tried the Service Mode Operation Proceedure test that you send instructions on. I'm not sure which test I got...following the instructions, after the final 1 time Resume/Cancel press nothing happens until I hit the Power button. I tried this 3-4 times and couldn't get anything until I hit the Power button. Then I got a page with a heading on the left side, in cyan, "ip6000D(LTR)" without the quotes, and a page full of columns of very light dots. So that probably wasn't the Service Test Print, but some other test. I'll keep trying to figure that out and get the right test.

But regardless, it looks like there is little or no black printing and also no cyan. What do you think? Is this a printhead problem?

One other thing. I contacted the guy who sold me this printer (on eBay), and he said he put it in storage last August, and it was working fine then. He bought another printer and when he decided to sell this one, didn't bother to check it again. So it had been unused for about 5 months when I received it. Would this be enough to really clog up some of the printhead nozzles...and are there any cleaning tricks I can try (soak it in hot water, etc...).

What would you suggest next?

John

 

[mikling]

This could be a printhead or a bad controller board. Two things to consider, a dedicated photo printer has a higher likelihood of printing more photos than one than a normal CMYKK one for the BCI-6 era (Photos are a much tougher load than printing text) . The BCI-6 based printers exhibit weird printhead issues when the heads are going bad. The printheads/electronics from that era do not appear to stand up as well as well as the following generation CLI-8 ones.( I could be proven wrong over time) Finally, if you look at some experiences from users who've gone through something similar, including myself, there exists the possibility that a bad controller board can toast a new replacement printhead. So while the unchipped Canon printers are nice, as they age. ( remember Canon considers printheads as consumables so they do have an expected lifetime, though highly variable due to the varying printing loads and conditions) they might exhibit some "undesirable" traits as they get older. Unfortunately if it's a controller board issue, and you install a printhead, the new printhead could be damaged. If you install a new controller board, it simply isn't worth it, and getting a used one also presents a risk.

Judging by the sales kicking around these days, I'd say acquire a newer printer and be done with it. Just recently I saw an iP3600 for $40 and today there is Epson Artisan 50 for $40 as well. Both are excellent printers with their own merits. Neither trumps the other as they are not directly comparable.

 

[ghwellsjr]

First off, let me warn you that you should not print anything except nozzle checks or extended nozzled checks until you get all the nozzles working or you run the risk of permanently burning out some nozzles.

In the first part of the instructions I sent you, there is a process to put the printer in service mode. Then you press the Resume/Cancel button a specified number of times as defined in the table. You want to press it once to get to the Service Test Print which contains the extended nozzle check. Then you should hit the power button once. At this point, it should print out a bunch of stuff including the extended nozzle check like the samples I sent you. It sounds like you are doing the right thing. I'm just confused why you point out that nothing happens until you hit the power button when the instructions tell you to do that.

Don't worry about how the text headings are printed. All you care about are the nozzle checks and extended nozzle checks. Do a head cleaning followed by a nozzle check. Don't remove the print head from the printer until we have given up on getting the printer to clean the print head by itself.

 

[leo8088]

Correct ink flow is critical to Canon printers. Too much will result in ink leaking out of nozzles and ink contamination. Too little will ends up with severely clogged print head. Keep printing with clogged print head leads to final death of the print head. The majority of problems reported in this forum are either of the two.

 

[jbclem]

Well, I've done the service nozzle test twice and it shows the same results as the regular nozzle tests: four colors seem to be working, the CYAN is not working at all, the BLACK is barely working but not enough to make the pattern in the service test, just some light black areas showing that a little ink is getting through.

I've done some more cleanings, more regular nozzle tests...nothing is changing at this point. I'm doing nothing but the nozzle tests, no other printing.

John

 

[ghwellsjr]

Looks like you need a new print head. I would contact your seller and explain the situation and see if he is willing to help pay for a new print head.

 

[jbclem]

A few days ago you mentioned removing the printhead ("Don't remove the print head from the printer until we have given up on getting the printer to clean the print head by itself".). What about that, are there ways to try to clean this ip6000d printhead by removing it? I've been searching for that and found mention of other models where printheads are removed and soaked, and even taken apart. But haven't seen anything specific to the ip6000d yet.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Basically they are all the same. I wouldn't take the print head apart unless you want to learn what went wrong.

I'm leary of trying to fix a print head by taking it out of the printer. I have damaged three heads that way and two printers. Other people seem to have better luck. Since you really don't know if your printer is already damaged, you may have nothing lose but on the other hand you may be wasting your time. If some of the cyan nozzles were working, I would hold out hope to get more of them working by cleaning the print head outside the printer. However, you may learn something about unclogging some of the other colors and black.

One of the techniques I used to clean a head was to attach some tubing and a syringe to push and pull Windex through it which I believe worked but since I didn't think I got any liquid on the electronics, I just blow dried the print head and put it back in the printer and it burned out the print head and the printer. Someone else took apart their print head after having a similar experience and found that there was some electronics that could get wet somehow after doing this. I should have done what I recommend others to do which is leave the print head in a warm spot for two days before putting it back in the printer.

Your best bet is to take the printer to an authorized Canon repair center and let them deal with it on the condition that if they can't fix it at a reasonable cost, you don't have to pay for it.

I have had several experiences buying printers on eBay that were essentially junk and I no longer will do that unless the seller is willing to take it back if it is defective. It's amazing the stories people will tell about how their printers worked the last time they tried it. I want to see a printer and test it before I buy it.