Printer problems.

[Matt Quinn]

Thanks for joining the conversation. The machine model is MG 5750. Good to know that black and white seems to be accepted on "official" documents.

You might find this video useful -

It's one a a series of printers which is often used for things like dye sublimation and printing with edible ink... this involves running 'non-standard' crud through them - the heads aren't cheap. I've got an iP7250 sitting here which dried up, and I've never got round to replacing the heads/cartridges. - People report mixed results with after market inks incidentally. Most will simply change the printer's gamut or have poor longevity (not an issue for most people/ purposes) but some of the very cheap/nasty inks do wreck heads.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

You might find this video useful -

It's one a a series of printers which is often used for things like dye sublimation and printing with edible ink... this involves running 'non-standard' crud through them - the heads aren't cheap. I've got an iP7250 sitting here which dried up, and I've never got round to replacing the heads/cartridges. - People report mixed results with after market inks incidentally. Most will simply change the printer's gamut or have poor longevity (not an issue for most people/ purposes) but some of the very cheap/nasty inks do wreck heads.

Thanks Matt. Doesn't look like it's a simple thing to do then. I've been running it on Cartridge People's premium own brand product - Maybe that's part of the problem?

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Thanks Matt. Doesn't look like it's a simple thing to do then. I've been running it on Cartridge People's premium own brand product - Maybe that's part of the problem?

Sorry, hadn't actually watched the video. Looks very simple to do? Is the new head expensive? If I do this is it pretty much guaranteed to sort the problem do you think?

 

[Matt Quinn]

Thanks Matt. Doesn't look like it's a simple thing to do then. I've been running it on Cartridge People's premium own brand product - Maybe that's part of the problem?

...It more or less just pulls out Jock; and can be replaced quite easily. That bloke has another video where he's washing the thing under the tap!

For general/everyday use, I doubt if the Cartridge People's product is any worse than OEM. - Mine was used for printing off some commercial presentations using OEM carts... it still blocked up. - And washing the heads made no difference; it needs a new set, which will get done once I acquire one of then 'round tuits'.

For most office/admin work we just use the mono printers; even went back to having headed notepaper printed up!

 

[Matt Quinn]

Sorry, hadn't actually watched the video. Looks very simple to do? Is the new head expensive? If I do this is it pretty much guaranteed to sort the problem do you think?

Last time I looked they were £75+ Which is one reason I didn't bother; we have bigger/better printers which print A4 just as happily.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

...It more or less just pulls out Jock; and can be replaced quite easily. That bloke has another video where he's washing the thing under the tap!

For general/everyday use, I doubt if the Cartridge People's product is any worse than OEM. - Mine was used for printing off some commercial presentations using OEM carts... it still blocked up. - And washing the heads made no difference; it needs a new set, which will get done once I acquire one of then 'round tuits'.

For most office/admin work we just use the mono printers; even went back to having headed notepaper printed up!

Thanks Matt, much appreciate your help. It looks so easy to remove it I think I'll just have to have a go at cleaning it. I think I saw an add for "cleaning fluid" probably contains a solvent of some sort. Think it's worth buying?

 

[Matt Quinn]

Thanks Matt, much appreciate your help. It looks so easy to remove it I think I'll just have to have a go at cleaning it. I think I saw an add for "cleaning fluid" probably contains a solvent of some sort. Think it's worth buying?

The main solvent used for this sort of thing is our old friend Isopropyl.. We use this for lots of things and get it in 1Litre bottles (5 or 10 at a time) from a company called hexeal: https://hexeal.co.uk/ - they also have an eBay presence which some folk will find more convenient. I think 5x1litre bottles is about £20... And (if you're going to buy that much) it's worth buying it in individual bottles (and keeping them sealed) as 5L will do you for ages; the stuff is hygroscopic. - You can also get it in much smaller amounts of course; it's just proportionately more expensive.

TBH cleaning these things is a bit of a black art... most 'cleaning fluids' seem to be just Isopropyl (IPA) with a tiny a bit of detergent. If you do by IPA try diluting it to about 70% (it's then 'rubbing alcohol) - our tap water (in central Scotland) is soft enough for the purpose. Viewers in Englandshire need to use distilled. You can run it through 'refillable' cartridges as if it were ink... but results are hit-and-miss. Sometimes you need the neat stuff though.

It's like any other machine Jock; you need to decide how much cash you want to chuck at it vs its purchase price... by the time you spend money on a new head or whatever; well is it worth it? The other thing to watch is that there are cheap (Chinese) heads on the market; some work, some don't, none are up to OEM standards so no good for critical photo printing; but probably OK otherwise. - There is a batch (often sold cheap) around which only works on the black side... usually the sellers are upfront about this; though you're often dealing with explanations in 'pidgin'.

I'd try just washing it first... you never know; might work and if it doesn't - what have you lost?

 

[portland_bill]

With inkjets, I've always used OEM inks.
For the Brother laser printers, the old one only ever had genuine toner and drums. With the current one, I did try a Cartridge People toner, very disappointing. Parts of the page missed, streaks, and ran out very quickly. I told them it was crap, they gave me a discount on the next genuine.

 

[bugsymike]

Thanks Matt. Doesn't look like it's a simple thing to do then. I've been running it on Cartridge People's premium own brand product - Maybe that's part of the problem?

Handy little video, I often use a small ultrasonic cleaner, that I used originally for repairing diesel injectors. What would you recommend in that tank for cleaning print heads, after the injectors have been cleaned out of course?

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

The main solvent used for this sort of thing is our old friend Isopropyl..

Thanks Matt. I think that's what my youngest boy uses for panel prep before applying vinyl signs - He's a sign writer and vehicle wrapper. I'll check it out and get some from him, he won't miss the amount I'll need as he buys it a lot.

 

[Matt Quinn]

Handy little video, I often use a small ultrasonic cleaner, that I used originally for repairing diesel injectors. What would you recommend in that tank for cleaning print heads, after the injectors have been cleaned out of course?

Personally I'd probably stick to water and IPA; with possibly the very tiniest (as in dip a needle in some washing up liquid, let the drip fall off the end; and then wash the residue off in a litre of your proposed cleaning solution) amount of detergent. Some people include Ammonia in their mix - this comes from the old school graphics people who would use it to clean airbrushes.

There are many caveats though. Not all printer heads are that easily removed; most aren't in fact... Some heads won't withstand immersion and/or ultrasonics. Most things you put through an inkjet are water based or sit in an alcohol solvent and that's what yo use to dissolve them; but you do rather need to know what it is you're flushing out. The nozzles in inkjet printers can make diesel injectors look like exhaust pipes.

Basically... try a 70% IPA mix perhaps with a little ammonia, run through a refillable cartridge first. Don't go down the road of sticking things like toluene, acetone or naptha (lighter fluid) through them (or immersing them in such things). - But basically; on a printer with easily removable heads like the Canon, the easiest/best solution is probably just to change the head and possibly clean up the surrounding mechanism.

 

[Matt Quinn]

Thanks Matt. I think that's what my youngest boy uses for panel prep before applying vinyl signs - He's a sign writer and vehicle wrapper. I'll check it out and get some from him, he won't miss the amount I'll need as he buys it a lot.

If he has a wide bed roll printer for vinyl; he may well be in a FAR better position to help and advise. Although the inks used in those processes are more complex - the big wide bed printers are basically just large inkjets. Very often the same core machine can be built up and configured in various ways to do anything from fine art 'Giclée' to high speed printing of laminated stickers.

Some of the 'heavyweight' cleaning solutions used for the solvent inks would do damage to a home printer so care is needed; but there are milder concoctions used in that industry which might be of use to you. - Yes; signwriters do use IPA too (my late father dabbled in vinyl signs when went semi-retired) - usually to clean glass and other surfaces before application.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

If he has a wide bed roll printer for vinyl; he may well be in a FAR better position to help and advise. Although the inks used in those processes are more complex - the big wide bed printers are basically just large inkjets. Very often the same core machine can be built up and configured in various ways to do anything from fine art 'Giclée' to high speed printing of laminated stickers.

Some of the 'heavyweight' cleaning solutions used for the solvent inks would do damage to a home printer so care is needed; but there are milder concoctions used in that industry which might be of use to you. - Yes; signwriters do use IPA too (my late father dabbled in vinyl signs when went semi-retired) - usually to clean glass and other surfaces before application.

Thanks Matt, I'll have a conversation with him. He doesn't do his own digital prints but gets a friend's company to do them then he fits to the job. He does have a large digital cutter which he cuts shapes - letters etc - on from different colours of vinyl sheet which he later builds up to make composite images for vans, shop fronts, etc.

Yup, I know he certainly wipes down vans with the cleaner to get a clean surface for the vinyl to adhere to.

 

[Matt Quinn]

Thanks Matt, I'll have a conversation with him. He doesn't do his own digital prints but gets a friend's company to do them then he fits to the job. He does have a large digital cutter which he cuts shapes - letters etc - on from different colours of vinyl sheet which he later builds up to make composite images for vans, shop fronts, etc.

Yup, I know he certainly wipes down vans with the cleaner to get a clean surface for the vinyl to adhere to.

Yup... familiar enough with that sort of thing; my father had a cutter; that was 'sold' to him as an easy business to get into - which it's obviously not! Theoretically that's how he was supposed to be doing it. ...Slight matter of no training or experience in graphic design or marketing (and a reluctance to listen to anyone who did); only a superficial knowledge of computer imaging (and an even stronger reluctance to listen to anyone who knew about that!) - no experience in the printing or shopfitting industry, only a passing knowledge of vehicles etc... etc.. etc.. He once put white reflectives on the back of somebody's van despite my telling him it was illegal (a short part of my chequered past was spent in the Police) - and the guy got huckled for it!

...The cleaner you son uses for wiping down vans may be something more sophisticated than IPA (might not be! I don't really know!) - I've a feeling that as paint systems have evolved, so have the adhesives and cleaners used to stick things to them. - I suspect though he may well have some; or perhaps his printer friend can advise.

 

[vexorg]

You can flush and clean inkjets.
We don't use ours much now, so means a lot of cleaning to clear the streaky prints.

Then ink for epson is expensive now. The last black snd colour pack we got was in the damaged packet section in Tesco and was £20. Currys has the same pack at £85 a few weeks ago.

I took a chance and bought a second hand hp colour laserjet for £90 off eBay. Works perfectly and toner levels were full!

Toner power is dry so tends to last for a long time.