Generic ink cartridge vs. manufacture

[Grandad35]

Doggman,

1. What does your nozzle check show?
2. Do you simply have a clogged head, or are there more serious problems that will cost more to fix than the printer is worth?
3. Have you looked on ebay to see how much it will cost to buy a new i860 printer? This might be less expensive than fixing your printer. Note that not all "new" printers on ebay include carts - you have to check this.
4. If you need a new printhead, it is often the case that Canon service centers sell them for less than even on-line sources.
5. What is involved in a "tuneup/checkout"? If they can't fix your problem for the $40, would you feel that it was money well spent? For example, if they diagnose and replace a faulty printhead you will have spent almost as much as a new i860 printer costs, and you won't get the benefit of the 5 new carts that come with a new printer.
6. How much do you print? How many carts/year do you buy?
7. You are paying over 50% of the cost of OEM ink for your ink. Have you looked at other prefilled carts that only cost about 20% of the cost of OEM carts? Have you considered refilling to save even more money and gain better control over the quality of your ink?
8. Have you calculated the savings of using your ink over OEM ink? How long does it take to save enough on the ink to pay for a new printer? If you only print occasionally, stay with the OEM inks.
9. Are you satisfied with the color of your prints? OEM ink should give more accurate colors unless you have implemented color management and purchased custom icc profiles.
10. What longevity do you require from your prints? How do you display them? There is evidence that OEM inks provide better longevity than many 3rd party inks.

 

[doggman]

Grandad:

Thank you for your reply.

I can get a new printhead for $42. I cannot find a printer for anything approaching that. There is part of me that says skip the tuneup and just get the printhead. I am worried that there is a pumping mechanism that could be the problem as well so I am a little gunshy about just tossing a new head in. There is an outside chance that they could recover the head and then I am ahead (no pun) of the game.

Do you really think that the OEM inks are more likely to clog the head?

What is your favorite ink?

Why is there a color issue with non OEM ink?

Is it a fact that the OEM ink fades less?

What is your favorite OEM ink?

thanks,

doggman

 

[Grandad35]

Doggman,

My first question in my previous response was "What does your nozzle check show?" It is necessary to find out what your problem is in order to see if there is an obvious cause. Do you have a scanner? If you do, scan a nozzle check and a problem image and post them (http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=36). If you can't post a scan, describe in detail what you see.

The most common problem is a clogged print head, but printing problems can also be caused by many other things, ranging from a misaligned print head, a bad printer cable, a bad main circuit board, dirty head position encoder ribbon, etc., etc. If the problem appears to be a clogged/failed print head, the most cost effective approach is to replace it for $42 before going for a tune-up. There is no "pumping mechanism" that supplies ink to the print head to worry about - just the carts and the print head. I assume that you have already tried multiple carts with no effect.

"OEM" stands for "Original Equipment Manufacturer" - Canon in this case. Canon carts are among the least likely carts to clog a print head. It is impossible to predict whether a given set of 3rd party (anyone other than the OEM) carts are more likely to clog the print head without actually testing them for an extended period. Do a search on this forum for "clogged" and see how many hits you get.

I refill to get better control over my ink consistency and quality and use Formulabs bulk ink.

Most 3rd party suppliers claim that their inks are a direct match for Canon ink, but I don't know of any supplier where this is actually the case. Plan on adjusting the color settings in the printer driver at a minimum. If you want to get accurate colors from 3rd party inks, the best solution is to purchase a custom printer profile for your printer/ink/paper combination. Why don't the colors match? Because getting a perfect color match to another ink set in all circumstances is an impossibly complex task unless you have the formulae for the other inks and don't have to worry about any patents. The (OEM) printer supplier measures the color response of their inks and then designs custom software for each printer model to get the optimum colors from their inks. Inks with any other color response will result in (at least slightly) different printed colors.

Several of us are in the middle of running a fading test, and the preliminary results are that the Canon inks give better longevity than any of the 3rd party inks that we have tested thus far. The best explanation that we have received to this point is that since the OEM inks sell for more, they can use more expensive components that have more fade resistance.

 

[BlasterQ]

Well, this is the first time I've heard about a 'Carrot Ink' brand, and well, for me, it would take a lot of considering and research before I try that one.
I suggest you use the inks that have good reviews. Since 'Carrot Ink' is never mentioned in this forum, I guess it is safe to say that I would not recommend that ink, at least, until we get good info from it from other sources.
With regards to your printer, I think getting a new printhead is advisable, but only after you're sure you've tried everything to revive the old printhead.
Good luck.

 

[fotofreek]

If I remember correctly, the first article that Consumers magazine did on aftermarket ink products, in which they reported that these products were of lesser quality than OEM, included Carrot inks in their evaluation together with several others. None of the inks mentioned by name in that article are the ones that have been reported as good products on this forum. It would be interesting to see them do a good evaluation of the inks that our participants use successfully. Although Consumers is a highly trusted researching organization, I don't know if they would touch an issue such as this one that would possibly hurt the entire OEM ink industry, should these inks be shown to be an excellent value considering the extremely high price of the OEM products. On the other hand, they have been quite vocal in supporting the use of generic drugs as a reasonable cost savings measure over the use of equivalent brand named meds.

 

[doggman]

Dear Grandad:

I do not have a scanner. I just printed a nozzle check and this is what I see starting at the top:

Nice 3eBLK with grid intact
Very faint streaked cyan band---it had continuous stringers of white
Very faint something....can just make out a bar but cannot tell what color
Solid middle density magenta bar
Solid lighter magenta bar
Solid light yellow bar
6BK solid grey bar

A medim solid gray; B cyan rectangle looks like a bunch of square dots i.e. is not solid; C magneta almost solid...hints of white; D cyan light square dots in a rectange E light magenta solid with a hint of white specs on the top perimter; F medium grey with light verticle stringer of white; G medium grey with subtle grid of white lines; H nothing; O alternating vertical bars of rey and magenta; J nothing; K nothing; L light magenta with faint vertical white stringers; M bold streak of black and firey orange/red; N the same as M

Tried a 3 day soak in deanatured alcohol; tried warm DI water; MANY deep cleanings.

thanks,

doggman

 

[doggman]

Grandad:

I had one more question. I seem to remember the Canon guy telling me that there was some sort of a vacuum pump or assist on drawing the ink through the system that he says that he checks. Does this sound right on my i860?

Is there a way for me to deal with that?

thanks,

gill

Ink wise.....what would be your guess for cartridged ink that is proven to be a low risk for clogging on the Canon printhead?

 

[Grandad35]

Doggman,

Since you have already done many deep cleaning cycles, you should have noticed a large drop in the ink levels. If the vacuum pump isn't working, you won't be using any ink during these cycles - if it is working, you will use a lot of ink.

Evaluating test prints is why I keep a printout of the diagnostic prints from my printer when it is working properly - it makes it easier to tell what is normal and if something is missing.

It sounds like the cyan is the problem. Have you tried another cyan cart? A clogged head/cart tends to give streaks or completely missing color, while a regular pattern of missing color tends to indicate either poor contact with one or more of the electrical contacts on the back of the print head, a defective print head or a problem with the main electronics board. Make sure that you didn't get any water behind the circuit board on the back of the print head by blowing low pressure compressed air into the space between the circuit board and the print head, then gently clean the contacts with a soft rubber eraser.

I don't use prefilled carts, so I can't comment on a reliable brand. Perhaps others will give their opinions.

 

[inkexpert]

Hello, I also would recommend using the remanufactured cartridges for lacking in quality. I would recommend refilling your cartridges at a retail store with the right equipment. That way you will get the best quality because your cartridge is fresh. Remanufactured cartridges lack quality because they basically refill old cartridges.

Make sure you refill it with the right equipment because by refilling with a $15 refill kit will ruin you printer.

 

[hpnetserver]

No, it will not ruin the printer. It's more likely the cartridge that may be ruined.