[Daniel Koretz Participant Posts: 87]

Canon Printers

on: January 1, 2021 at 6:23 pm

I  posted earlier on this problem, https://photopxl.com/forums/topic/canon-xps-problem/, but I’m starting a new thread because the title of that thread turned out to be misleading. After working with a Canon tech weeks ago, he and incorrectly concluded that the problem I was confronting is a driver problem. I’ve since confirmed that this isn’t at its core a driver problem, although the choice of driver matters. I’ve also confirmed that the problem has nothing to do with a Windows update, as I borrowed a Mac and replicated the problem with that computer.

To recap the symptoms, after two years of flawless performance, the Prograf started producing distorted colors. The problem, as you can see from the attached scan of a test print, is that blues are not being laid down properly.

The immediate suspect would be a head clog, but numerous nozzle checks have all been perfect, and repeated head cleanings have had no effect.

The severity of the problem varies considerably from print to print. For reasons I can’t fathom, it’s generally much more severe when using the 16-bit (XPS) driver, which is what mislead me and the tech weeks ago. however, I’ve since encountered the problem with the standard 8-bit driver, although it’s much less striking.

Even leaving aside the driver issue, I find this puzzling. It seems as though the printer will pass enough cyans to produce perfect nozzle checks, which don’t need a lot of ink, but won’t consistently pass enough of one of the inks (I can’t tell which) to produce consistent blues in actual prints, which require much more ink. The banding shows that some passes of the head are better than others. Although the driver difference complicates matters, this suggests to me that there is some partial occlusion somewhere on the ink path. I wonder if perhaps some nozzles aren’t consistently heating enough.

I have been talking with and trading e-mails with Canon for going on 12 weeks with no resolution yet, although they have forwarded my emails and scans to an engineer.

Canon heads are user replaceable, but the head for this printer is so expensive that it makes little sense to replace the head rather than the printer, so I can’t test that as a possible explanation.

If anyone has any ideas about what might be happening or other things I can try, I’d appreciate any suggestions.

 

 

[Simon Simpson]

Re: Copy of Gaps in blues on a Prograf 1000

Reply #1 on: January 2, 2021 at 1:06 pm

I do not have your particular printer but I have had many years’ experience of Canon printers.

 

I have found the same as you that you can get perfect nozzle checks but still find that one of the inks is not laying down properly.  After trying all the cleaning routines I found that the only resolution was a new head.  It was worth the outlay.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by Simon Simpson.

[Author]

Posts