imagePROGRAF PRO-300: blurry edges

[sfphoto]

I bought a used Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300. I know, it was probably a mistake to buy a used printer, but I tried anyway.
Initially, everything looked fine, but then I noticed that the edges on the left and right of the photographs were blurry, not uniformly, but in a wavy pattern. I made my own test pattern and printed it to get a better idea of what was going on. It turns out that fine lines become double lines towards both edges (in any color). Interestingly, this is independent of the paper size, always at the edges, no matter how wide the paper is. Maybe there are some vibrations or so as the print head turns around at the edges. It looks like a ghost image overlayed at the edge, and its extent changes in a sinusoidal fashion along the edge. I have tried all built in tests and everything looks perfect (in the middle of the paper where all tests are done anyway). I am attaching a scan of one of these printouts on which I have marked the problematic areas in red.
Do you have any idea what may be the cause of the problem and how I could fix it? Thanks a million!

 

[palombian]

I do not own the PRO-300 but the PRO-10 and try to think with you.

Since you suspect the printhead path, did you compare test prints in standard versus high quality settings (the latter I suppose does 2 passes) ?

Happy Newyear.

 

[Epatcola]

I know nothing about this particular printer. My guess would be the head is loose on the rods or rails or whatever carries it. Tension from the belt is causing the head to twist on a vertical axis producing the vertical offset of some dots dependant on how far the nozzle is from the twisting axis. Tension from the belt reverses around the page edges.

It may also be twisting on a horizontal axis and changing the nozzle to paper gap which could account for the horizontal offset of some dots.

Not sure why it seems to be changing from one side to the other as you go down the page.

If the printer has a unidirectional print mode I suspect it will look a lot better.

 

[The Hat]

Do you have any idea what may be the cause of the problem and how I could fix it?

Try cleaning the timing strip and then do another test print and compare..

 

[Smile]

I wonder how many pages printed on it?
The problem seems to be carriage or liner rail defect, when printhead stops to change motion due to slack it makes double image. Seems you better sell this cheap as repair can be very expensive and result is not guaranteed. If you can get second printer cheap like with printhead defect etc. Then you could take mechanics from it.

 

[sfphoto]

I do not own the PRO-300 but the PRO-10 and try to think with you.

Since you suspect the printhead path, did you compare test prints in standard versus high quality settings (the latter I suppose does 2 passes) ?

Happy Newyear.

Hi palombian
Thanks! I do not see any difference between standard and high-quality settings.

 

[sfphoto]

I know nothing about this particular printer. My guess would be the head is loose on the rods or rails or whatever carries it. Tension from the belt is causing the head to twist on a vertical axis producing the vertical offset of some dots dependant on how far the nozzle is from the twisting axis. Tension from the belt reverses around the page edges.

It may also be twisting on a horizontal axis and changing the nozzle to paper gap which could account for the horizontal offset of some dots.

Not sure why it seems to be changing from one side to the other as you go down the page.

If the printer has a unidirectional print mode I suspect it will look a lot better.

Dear Epatcola

Thank you very much for your helpful reply. I had similar thoughts: it seems as if something is loose towards the end of the print zone. Is there any way to remove the print head and inspect it? Tighten some screws or rods?
I turned on the unidirectional print mode, and the blurry edge went away on the left side but got worse on the right side! The blurry zone is now twice as wide on the right (ca. 3cm on A4). It does not make my prints any better, but it may help to diagnose what the problem is... Thanks for the suggestion.

Best
Jan

 

[sfphoto]

Try cleaning the timing strip and then do another test print and compare..

Hi The Hat
Thanks. No change.

 

[sfphoto]

I wonder how many pages printed on it?
The problem seems to be carriage or liner rail defect, when printhead stops to change motion due to slack it makes double image. Seems you better sell this cheap as repair can be very expensive and result is not guaranteed. If you can get second printer cheap like with printhead defect etc. Then you could take mechanics from it.

Hi Smile
The printer is ca. 2000 pages old (it said on some test page).

 

[palombian]

I wonder how many pages printed on it?
The problem seems to be carriage or liner rail defect, when printhead stops to change motion due to slack it makes double image. Seems you better sell this cheap as repair can be very expensive and result is not guaranteed. If you can get second printer cheap like with printhead defect etc. Then you could take mechanics from it.

This printer has a steel rail as the Canon consumer printers, but should it wear that fast ?

PS: you could try to grease it (I remember applying some on the round bars of my PRO-9500).