Canon Pixma IP5000 alignment problems

[zack23]

Hello all -

A while ago, I posted about a problem I was having with improper magenta printing with my IP 5000 printer. Eventually, I bought a new printhead which solved the problem (this was the second replacement head I have used; I had had the same magenta problem a year earlier and received a new printhead under warranty).

Everything was fine for two months or so, then a few days ago the printer started having alignment problems. This took two forms. Text printed with the pigment black 3eBK cartridge would develop random 'waviness' (several lines would be fine, then one line would look almost as if it was printed in italics). Additionally, text printed in color shows very noticeable color fringing - magenta on one side, cyan on the other. Oddly, if the text size is large enough, the side each color fringes on will reverse - for example, the top half of a line of large text will print with a cyan fringe on the right and a magenta fringe on the left, while the bottom half of that same line of text will be the opposite.

I've done multiple manual alignments, but they have not helped. I compared a current manual alignment printout with a printout which I saved from when I first installed the printhead. Two big changes can be seen: in Column G in the new printout I have to go to +5 in order to get a reasonably 'smooth' result (compared to 0 in the earlier printout), and all the boxes in Column I print with magenta and cyan fringing, while the same boxes in the earlier printout appear as clean black and white.

I've tried removing and reinstalling the printhead several times, which has made no difference. I also tried cleaning the encoder strip, as mentioned in a post elsewhere in this forum. This helped a little bit with the misalignment of the pigment black, but had no effect on the color fringing.

Does anyone have any ideas about what else I can do to solve this problem?

Thanks!

Zack

 

[drc023]

I ran into a similar problem some time ago on an iP4000 which was caused by a cartridge with a very slight leakage that allowed ink to pool at the nozzles. The extra ink deflected the ink being sprayed from the nozzles resulting in an italizied appearance on text. Vertical lines were very wavy. Try changing cartridges and see if that helps or if you're refilling, make sure the cartridges you're using don't have a slight air leak which can cause the flooding.

 

[zack23]

I ran into a similar problem some time ago on an iP4000 which was caused by a cartridge with a very slight leakage that allowed ink to pool at the nozzles. The extra ink deflected the ink being sprayed from the nozzles resulting in an italizied appearance on text. Vertical lines were very wavy. Try changing cartridges and see if that helps or if you're refilling, make sure the cartridges you're using don't have a slight air leak which can cause the flooding.

Thanks for the reply! Your suggestion seemed like it might be the answer, particularly after I pulled the printhead out and discovered that it was literally dripping cyan ink. The Cyan cartridge was a Hobbicolors cartridge, the kind with the screw in stopper for the ink tank. It turned out that the threads were a bit shot on the tank -- the screw was a snug fit but it could be tightened continuously without stopping, which might imply that it never fully sealed properly.

I cleaned up the printhead, installed a different cyan cartridge (not an OEM unfortunately, but another refill) and... no difference. The fringing problem was unchanged. I then tried replacing the magenta cartridge with an OEM Canon cart that I had, but again, no change.

I'm stumped. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Zack

 

[Smile]

I ran into a similar problem some time ago on an iP4000 which was caused by a cartridge with a very slight leakage that allowed ink to pool at the nozzles. The extra ink deflected the ink being sprayed from the nozzles resulting in an italizied appearance on text. Vertical lines were very wavy. Try changing cartridges and see if that helps or if you're refilling, make sure the cartridges you're using don't have a slight air leak which can cause the flooding.

Thanks for the reply! Your suggestion seemed like it might be the answer, particularly after I pulled the printhead out and discovered that it was literally dripping cyan ink. The Cyan cartridge was a Hobbicolors cartridge, the kind with the screw in stopper for the ink tank. It turned out that the threads were a bit shot on the tank -- the screw was a snug fit but it could be tightened continuously without stopping, which might imply that it never fully sealed properly.

I cleaned up the printhead, installed a different cyan cartridge (not an OEM unfortunately, but another refill) and... no difference. The fringing problem was unchanged. I then tried replacing the magenta cartridge with an OEM Canon cart that I had, but again, no change.

I'm stumped. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Zack

Try cleaning the printhead golden contacs with some plain paper or eraser.

 

[zack23]

Try cleaning the printhead golden contacs with some plain paper or eraser.

I just tried lightly cleaning the contacts with a pencil eraser, and, nope, it didn't make any difference.

One thing that is worth mentioning, however. When I pulled the printhead out of the printer, I noticed that there was a bit more ink pooled around the nozzles than I would normally have expected. It's nothing like what I found after using the (apparently) leaky cyan cart, at which time cyan ink literally dripped off the cartridge when I removed it. but a bit more ink than is normally the case.

Since I've replaced the cartridges and presumably they are not the culprit, is is possible that the pads which seal the printhead when it is parked may have become saturated with cyan ink from the leaky cart, and are now soaking the printhead nozzles with ink when the printhead is parked? And if so, is there any way to clean those pads?

Thanks,
Zack

 

[Smile]

Try cleaning the printhead golden contacs with some plain paper or eraser.

I just tried lightly cleaning the contacts with a pencil eraser, and, nope, it didn't make any difference.

One thing that is worth mentioning, however. When I pulled the printhead out of the printer, I noticed that there was a bit more ink pooled around the nozzles than I would normally have expected. It's nothing like what I found after using the (apparently) leaky cyan cart, at which time cyan ink literally dripped off the cartridge when I removed it. but a bit more ink than is normally the case.

Since I've replaced the cartridges and presumably they are not the culprit, is is possible that the pads which seal the printhead when it is parked may have become saturated with cyan ink from the leaky cart, and are now soaking the printhead nozzles with ink when the printhead is parked? And if so, is there any way to clean those pads?

Thanks,
Zack

Use some paper towel to clean the pads carefully put the paper on the pads where the head parks and hold for few seconds then repeat the procedure with another clean paper towel. It is not needed to clean it perfectly dry or anything like that.

Perform head cleaning procedure with you printer utilities. Hope it resolves your problem.

 

[Smile]

By the way it would be helpful if you could print the extended nozzle check and post it here on the forum perhaps someone will have more suggestions where to look for a promlem when they see it

Print on hi quality inkjet paper like coated or something like that do not use plain paper as I recently learned it tends to be misleading. See my post here http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2392