Odd "italics" printing

[Manuchau]

Every once in a while while using a BCI-3 or CLI-8 cartridge, I will get text printing that looks like Italics, not normal print. Not every line does this, just an occasional line here and there on the page, which makes it even more confusing. I also get the odd (sometimes very odd) customers who will return a cartridge to me for the same reason...italic-looking text.

I have done several searches, but have not found this exact problem listed before. head cleanings to not make any difference.

Has this happened to anyone here, and how did they solve it? Is a cartridge flush required? Is this ever a timing strip problem? I just bought a large batch of remanufactured genuine Canon PGI-5 blacks from a company which just went out of business, and several of the PGI- s have been returned to me for exactly this reason, so I am quite sure it IS a cartridge problem. Is this a sign of an old cartridge which should be refilled a second time? Would that help at all? Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[lin]

Manuchau,

Not too sure the "italics" occurs for just the black when plain paper mode is selected or the "italics" occurs for those color text as well?

Since it's miniminal, it likely could be the Pigment black that is the cause. You could first clean PGI 5 or 3eBk printhead nozzles and refill the cartridge with black dye ink and purge them and print many purges pages until the nozzles are cleared. Remember to give some time in between during each purge. For example, don't purge 4 times at one go. Give them sometime to dissolves the clog.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Maybe you should post an image so that we can understand what an occasional line of italics looks like.

 

[Manuchau]

Good ideas... thank you both.

I have tossed away the offending cartridges, but the next time I come across this problem, I'll upload one

OK. here it is.... http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/uploads/302_ital_test_print_1.jpg

It's very hard to see as the pic has gotten smaller during the upload process. It is much easier to see when enlarged.
One more tidbit of information - when print quality set to High, the problem goes away. Does this mean the printhead is at fault? I flushed and cleaned it thoroughly, and it is still happening - I'd like to solve this puzzling problem

Thanks!

 

[ghwellsjr]

Sounds like you need an alignment, at least it's an easy enough thing to do.

The purpose of an alignment is to adjust the timing so that nozzles that are used when the print head is moving in one direction can deposit ink on the same location as the nozzles that are used in the other direction.

 

[Manuchau]

That was the first thing I did try, but it did not help, sad to say....

Thanks for the suggestion...any other ideas out there?

 

[lin]

Hi Manuchau,

I can tell you it's your PGI5 nozzles that is the cause. If you have use pigment ink on PGI-5BK, something it really need repeated cleaning to totally flush the pig5 nozzle clean.

When you set print quality to High at plain paper mode during printing, the problem does not appear so obviously is because at high setting, the printhead makes more passes during printing.

Have you try to print many purge pages (full page of black in plain paper setting) at high setting with dye black ink?

Try to go to service mode and print an extended nozzle checks. Scan at high resolution and Cropped out the pigment 5bk nozzle checks and upload the picture if possible.

 

[Manuchau]

Thank you, Lin...excellent suggestion. I did return the printer to the customer yesterday and told her to use the high quality/plain paper setting for a while and do the occasional head cleaning.
I only have used pigmented black for the PGI-5 refills - the colour dye inks are not a problem. They always have printed well.

If and when she returns the printer to me, I will do the scan and come back to this thread.

In the meantime, would you know why this only happens on a few lines per page? That is what I cannot understand.
Thanks to all for their contributions.