IP4500-missing Cyan nozzle check

[leo8088]

There will be a risk of leaving the printer on all the time. Power surge can damage your printer. Leaving the printer on makes no difference in that the print head is parked anyway as it is with the power turned off. Unless you anticipate to use the printer from time to time there is really no advantage of leaving the printer on all day long.

Sorry, George. I seem to run into different opinions from yours sometimes. Your advices have been great to this community. This is just a different point of view from me. Hope you don't mind.

 

[embguy]

After a certain amount of time without any activity, Canon printer will go into sleep mode or idle mode which consume only a few watts for power. I pay 8 cents per KWh. It costs me 8 cents to leave my printer idle for 100 hours.

Canon printer will do a cleaning cycle when the power is turn on. If you leave the printer turns on, it may do a cleaning cycle before you next print job depending on how long between the print jobs.

I always plug my electronic devices on a surge protected power bar.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Sorry, George. I seem to run into different opinions from yours sometimes. Your advices have been great to this community. This is just a different point of view from me. Hope you don't mind.

That's why I prefaced my advice with "In my opinion". I appreciate your sensitivity but I hope I'm not intimidating people into thinking they cannot exress contrary viewpoints to mine.

Of course, it would be good to do a long term test and take it out of the realm of opinion. Take two identical printers, leave one turned on but never used for, say, six months and leave the other one off for six months. Then do a nozzle check and other printouts on each one and see if there is any difference.

 

[quantum]

I have the same problem as InkJet Guru but it's my BK line that is completely missing from the print check. All other lines are fine. Cleaning and deep cleaning made no difference. You say:

"Here's what I would do, put a drop of Windex on the screen for the cyan and dye black nozzles and also put some Windex on the larger purge pad. "

I'm new to this. What "screen" and what "purge pad" are you talking about?

Thanks for helping.

 

[ghwellsjr]

When you remove an ink cartridge, you will see a small round "port" that is covered with a very fine mesh screen on the print head that allows the ink to flow into the print head but won't let any debris in. The purge pads are off to the right where the print head parks. They are a little difficult to see but if you use a flashlight, you can see two of them, the one on the left is for the large black pigment ink cartridge and the one on the right is for the smaller dye ink cartridges.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Of course, it would be good to do a long term test and take it out of the realm of opinion. Take two identical printers, leave one turned on but never used for, say, six months and leave the other one off for six months. Then do a nozzle check and other printouts on each one and see if there is any difference.

Recently, I have purchased several used MP780 printers. Some of these had been powered down for several months prior to being put on the market. Every one of these had problems with the pigment black ink nozzles and some of them had problems with the dye ink nozzles. In several cases, there was absolutely no printout from the pigment black nozzles. So at least that half of the test has been performed, it is not a good idea to power down your printer for a long period of time.

 

[nche11]

Printers that are not frequently used are likely to get print head clogs than the ones that are used every day. You just need to print something once a day and the printer will never get a clog. I once had two identical i950s. There were great photo printers. I wanted to keep one near mint condition so I used one of the two mostly. The one that's used or nearly abused never dies. The one that was nearly unused got a clog that I had no knowledge how to deal with. I sent it to charity. I imagine someone probably picked it up for a few bucks from there and probably got a new print head for it. Don't baby your printer. Just use it. The more you use the longer it will live. I don't know if keeping the power on will make any difference. Currently my ip4300 sits right next to me. It does absolutely nothing (not a single noise I can hear) all day long with the power on. It probably won't do a thing even stays on for 6 months. The print head will be parked all the time so what's the difference between keeping the power on and off?

 

[quantum]

When you remove an ink cartridge, you will see a small round "port" that is covered with a very fine mesh screen on the print head that allows the ink to flow into the print head but won't let any debris in. The purge pads are off to the right where the print head parks. They are a little difficult to see but if you use a flashlight, you can see two of them, the one on the left is for the large black pigment ink cartridge and the one on the right is for the smaller dye ink cartridges.

It worked! Thanks much!

I would also like to know more about fill-the-cartridge-yourself, "German method", etc. I usually just buy cartridges from Tonerpals, through Amazon, set of 5 for $17.09 including shipping:

5-Pack Non-OEM Ink w/ Chip for Canon PGI-5BK CLI-8

Can I do better?

 

[ghwellsjr]

Your set of cartridges costs about the same as one OEM cartridge so you are saving a lot. If you take your empties to Staples, you can get a $3 credit (max ten per month) for them making your final cost less than 50 cents per cartridge. You can't do better than that as far as price goes. So if you are happy and satisfied with the quality of the compatible cartridges, then you should stick with them. EDIT: Staples is lowering their credit to $2 starting next month, July 2010.

If you do decide to refill with the German method, I would strongly urge you to only refill Canon OEM cartridges. You can find instructions at:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/the-german-durchstich-refill-method.php

You should also get a chip resetter for around $25.

 

[silenec]

Hi, I think I have the same problem with my ip4500, can anyone help me with this?

Nozzle check:
(scan, photoshopped so you can see it better, inverted)