Canon MP830 Refilled but smears and prints horribly. Any suggestions?

[RickD]

I refilled the OEM cartridges with a kit I have for my other printers. The usual method. Popped the little ball through the top and filled with syringe and plugged the hole.

Works intermittantly now. Sometimes I have to pop them out the cartridge and then click them back in to print clean. Other times that doesn't help. I do a lot of bulk printing. This is the only way to make it affordable. Does anyone know why it is printing so bad?

It just seems to print as if it is out of ink. Black and white is how I always have it set and it comes out streaked and rows of unprinted areas and faint.

All suggestions appreciated.

Thanks

 

[canonfodder]

I presume you must be printing with the PGI-5 pigment black ink.

How many times have you refilled the black cartridge?

What seal method are you using to close the ink fill hole?

When you have refilled the cartridge and sealed the fill hole, how much ink drips out of the exit port before it stops and before you have re-installed the cartridge in the printer?

Have you printed a nozzle check? If so, how did it look? Could you scan it and show us? You can upload picture files by clicking UPLOAD on the toolbar up above.

Your answers will help everyone understand what might be going on.

 

[RickD]

I have refilled it a couple times so far. I use a little rubber plug that comes with most refill kits. It fits tight. Very little drippage. No drips after plug is in place.


Here is the nozzle check.
I did reclick the cartridges into the print head. Soon as it starts to streak I print another nozzle check and show the difference.

 

[canonfodder]

I guess your rubber plug is working, but I do have a question about the removal of the original ball that sealed the hole. How did you remove it? Did you pull it out or punch it in? If you punched it in, did it go cleanly, or did it take a bit of the plastic surrounding the ball with it? I'm thinking of maybe a rough opening for the rubber plug.

We'll wait for the next nozzle check. Try to darken your scan some if you can. I beefed up your nozzle check upload a bit and can see one pigment black nozzle is not printing. That should not really be any answer to your problem, but you might try an ordinary clean cycle before it gets worse.




At your convenience, and with the PGI-5 cartridge out, take a flashlight and look very carefully at the rubber seal where the cartridge connects to the printhead. You would be looking for some form of damage or bad distortion. An air leak there can spoil things. A slight depression ring where the cartridge exit port sits is normal.