MP990 refurbished installed

[lowepg]

mrelmo
Does the heavy ink usage really matter that much if youre intending to use bulk inks anyway.

that's exactly what my take is on the issue now. I now laugh at the extra maintenance cycle knowing that I have destroyed canons sinister "razor-blade" profit strategy by refilling my own carts!

Now the last laugh may be on me when the waste ink overflows- but I'm hoping for a solution from the gurus here before that happens!

 

[inkadinkado]

Oh Dear. Not what I wanted to hear. Sounds like another hill to climb in a learning curve. Is it worth the time to learn how to bypass the pads and divert the waste ink somewhere else?

 

[stratman]

Is it worth the time to learn how to bypass the pads and divert the waste ink somewhere else?

IMO, no, at least not until someone comes up with a simplified workaround or you are mechanically inclined and properly incentivized. Replacing waste ink pads in Canons is not for the faint-hearted.

The good news is, depending on your printing habits, you may have several years before you come to this fork in the road.

 

[inkadinkado]

Stratman
Thanks for your thorough answer. Sounds like one of those brainteaser puzzles that you think is impossible to work, but by plugging away, voila. It's conquered. Someone will figure this out. I have all the faith in the world in these forum members. They are s-o-o-o-o smart.

 

[websnail]

As luck would have it, this issue is something being discussed for the Canon line of printers.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6715&p=1

If you want to know about Epsons though this is a good intro to the whole messy business.

 

[lowepg]

Websnail - you seem particulary versed in this area....

Besides limiting maintenance cycles- are there other things that can be done to limit the waste ink? For example- does borderless printing add significantly to the waste?

 

[inkadinkado]

Installed my MP990 refurb recently and I'm just about to run out of ink and will get to do a refill. But, I have a problem with the printhead already. Canon is sending me a new printhead to replace mine. Thank gosh I had an extra black cartridge to put in the machine so the tech could determine if it was a cart or printhead problem. He determined it was the printhead and is sending me a new one. I was experiencing black bands (not really heavy ones, but noticeable none the less) a little under an inch wide running across my black and white prints. Color seemed to be OK. But, the black and whites were getting the banding. By replacing the small black cart with another one we learned it wasn't the cart because the problem continued. I hope I can clean this printhead and make it function properly again.

The tech said that the small black cart was for photos and the larger black cart was for text. And, it was the photos that were messing up. Everything else was OK.
He also said that this machine cleaned itself at a number of intervals; when you turn it on, when you insert a new cart, and even after a few hours of just being on. Boy, they know how to get you for ink that's for sure. Thank gosh I'm a refiller. And, I'm sure the waste tank will fill way sooner than one would want. I've owned many HP's and NONE cleaned like this.

Also, someone said that if you print on the "plain paper" selection and put matte photo paper in the machine it will print from the large black cartridge (for text) rather than the small one for photos. That should lengthen the time between refills I would think, no? It could effect the quality of the output, but not sure here.

My question is: is there a way to trick the machine to not do so many cleanings?

I would love to hear anyone's ideas on this subject.

 

[stratman]

My question is: is there a way to trick the machine to not do so many cleanings?

No, there are no "tricks". You could try leaving the printer on and see if that helps.

The other thing is not worry about it and print to your heart's content - that's what I do.

 

[inkadinkado]

Thanks Stratman:
I will leave my printer on, print mostly on the fast setting (except for prints of artwork I do for clients and the art books that I'm writing), and will use the plain paper setting while using matte photo paper (it the print quality remains good). I have had the printer on all day and I haven't noticed it doing any out of the blue cleanings, so I think this will help. I also ordered some carts from Ebay and can't wait to get hold of those to flush and make ready to refill as soon as my refill supplies arrive.

 

[websnail]

Websnail - you seem particulary versed in this area....

Besides limiting maintenance cycles- are there other things that can be done to limit the waste ink? For example- does borderless printing add significantly to the waste?

To be honest the rules have changed in the last couple of years and I'm less well versed than I'd like to be but the old rules seem to apply..

1. Print regularly to keep the printer "exercised"
2. Leave the printer switched on (more so with Epsons IIRC)
3. Borderless printing will add to the waste but how much is directly proportional to your print volumes..
4. As a rule of thumb you'll waste more in priming/cartridge-replacement and cleaning cycles than anything else
5. Epsons waste more ink in cleaning/priming/etc... than Canons

Overall point 1. seems to work the best but beyond that ensure things like environmental variables...
[eg: such as placement of the printer (not near radiators, heaters, air conditioning units) or general humidity, heat ]
...don't create more clogging, resulting in greater need to run cleaning cycles...

I'd be interested to hear if others have any input on this, especially with regard to the newer printer models...