Second dead Canon printhead in a year?

[Jacques E. Bouchard]

I have a Canon MP730 multifunction printer that's gone through two
printheads in one year. Both printheads died in the same fashion: first
long white (blank) strips appear on the page, then it stops printing
altogether. No black, no color, nothing. Cleaning (through the control
panel and manually) does nothing to help.

The first printhead was replaced under warranty, but this time it's going
to cost me a minimum of $40 on ebay. I bought this printer because I wanted
to have separate tanks that were easy to refill, but if I have to replace
the head every year or so the savings aren't so great.

I print more than the average user, especially photos, but the printer
doesn't get the kind of use it might get in a small office. Is this kind of
wear to be expected from moderate to heavy use?

I owned a Canon S800 before this one and the print head also died in the
same fashion. I'm beginning to think that I should stay away from Canon
altogether.

And lastly, which company makes great durable inkjet printers?


jaybee

 

[zakezuke]

I have a Canon MP730 multifunction printer that's gone through two
printheads in one year. Both printheads died in the same fashion: first
long white (blank) strips appear on the page, then it stops printing
altogether. No black, no color, nothing. Cleaning (through the control
panel and manually) does nothing to help.

The first printhead was replaced under warranty, but this time it's going
to cost me a minimum of $40 on ebay. I bought this printer because I wanted
to have separate tanks that were easy to refill, but if I have to replace
the head every year or so the savings aren't so great.

I print more than the average user, especially photos, but the printer
doesn't get the kind of use it might get in a small office. Is this kind of
wear to be expected from moderate to heavy use?

I owned a Canon S800 before this one and the print head also died in the
same fashion. I'm beginning to think that I should stay away from Canon
altogether.

I'm currently at a loss as to exactly what causes the printheads to
fail other than the fact that they are basicly lightbulbs and do have a
limited life. The black on my ip3000 and mp760 started to band roughly
at the same time, though the mp760 was very much worse. I suspect it
was lack of use of the black, the mp760 was used almost exclusivly for
photos and CDs, where the ip3000 was used with aftermarket.

In the case of the ip3000, I think it was a combo of lack of use (three
weeks) and the deep clean cycles that blew out it's gaskets. My use
was on the heavy side, about 6 oz of magenta and pigment black, roughly
equal to 13 cartridge changes of magenta. The offical life of the
printhead is there and abouts of 10 cartridge changes based on my math
and canon numbers from their service manual. Canon is replacing both
printheads free of charge.

Though the expensive of the printhead is no small potatoes... assuming
10 cartridge changes and 4 tanks, that's an extra $2.00/tank. Others
aproximate they have experenced 20 changes. There are more agressive
cleaning techniques that one can employ that might help resolve the
issue, you can find this info on http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/

I have yet to work out a system to keep the printhead in service for
the longest period of time. Color auto cleaning kicks in if you don't
use your printer between 120 to 336 hrs... black kicks in 24hrs to
60hrs. Regular use "seems" to be the key, where weeks of downtime, as
in totally off leads to clogs. I personaly am going to look into
cleaning solutions, in cleanign cartridges, rather than depending on
the deep clean to knock out the nozzles.

And lastly, which company makes great durable inkjet printers?

Though obvously Canons have heads with a limited life, it's not a bad
deal. But if you like you can explore options from HP. They do offer
the new hp PS 8250 while not what i'd buy for a general purpose printer
isn't anything to sneeze at. They do offer head on the cartridge type
which in all fairness to canon waste less ink though cost a pretty
penny to replace. Theres epson but my experence has been they clog
more often than canon.

 

[measekite]

I have a Canon MP730 multifunction printer that's gone through two
printheads in one year. Both printheads died in the same fashion: first
long white (blank) strips appear on the page, then it stops printing
altogether. No black, no color, nothing. Cleaning (through the control
panel and manually) does nothing to help.

The first printhead was replaced under warranty, but this time it's going
to cost me a minimum of $40 on ebay. I bought this printer because I wanted
to have separate tanks that were easy to refill, but if I have to replace
the head every year or so the savings aren't so great.

attention attention attention

this is more proof and another example of what i am saying. maybe very
heavy users can get away with saving a little before the head clogs but
most users are like this. in addition the quality is poorer and you
never know what you are buying because the relabelers will not tell you.

next time you should stick with canon prefilled carts. with you
moderate printload you will not spend that much more, will get better
longer lasting results and not have to worry about replacing your print
head.

but the church members will disregard this and try to cover it up.

I print more than the average user, especially photos, but the printer
doesn't get the kind of use it might get in a small office. Is this kind of
wear to be expected from moderate to heavy use?

this is probably not heavy enough use to mitigate the clogging problems
due to generic ink bought from the relaberlers.

I owned a Canon S800 before this one and the print head also died in the
same fashion. I'm beginning to think that I should stay away from Canon
altogether.

canon is great. my ip4000 is over 18 months old and i never did even a
cleaning cycle. i use only canon ink and am a light user by comparison
and never had a problem.

And lastly, which company makes great durable inkjet printers?

canon is the best

 

[Martin]

I'm currently at a loss as to exactly what causes the printheads to
fail other than the fact that they are basicly lightbulbs and do have a
limited life. The black on my ip3000 and mp760 started to band roughly
at the same time, though the mp760 was very much worse. I suspect it
was lack of use of the black, the mp760 was used almost exclusivly for
photos and CDs, where the ip3000 was used with aftermarket.

In the case of the ip3000, I think it was a combo of lack of use (three
weeks) and the deep clean cycles that blew out it's gaskets. My use
was on the heavy side, about 6 oz of magenta and pigment black, roughly
equal to 13 cartridge changes of magenta. The offical life of the
printhead is there and abouts of 10 cartridge changes based on my math
and canon numbers from their service manual. Canon is replacing both
printheads free of charge.

Though the expensive of the printhead is no small potatoes... assuming
10 cartridge changes and 4 tanks, that's an extra $2.00/tank. Others
aproximate they have experenced 20 changes. There are more agressive
cleaning techniques that one can employ that might help resolve the
issue, you can find this info on http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/

Having learned the hard way on this I can highly recommend the resources
on that forum re: cleaning. I also recommend that you practice your
cleaning techniques on your fubar'd printhead before you try it on a
newer one. That way you make your mistakes (I used up two printheads
this way *cough*) and learn from them.

I have yet to work out a system to keep the printhead in service for
the longest period of time. Color auto cleaning kicks in if you don't
use your printer between 120 to 336 hrs... black kicks in 24hrs to
60hrs. Regular use "seems" to be the key, where weeks of downtime, as
in totally off leads to clogs. I personaly am going to look into
cleaning solutions, in cleanign cartridges, rather than depending on
the deep clean to knock out the nozzles.

Yeah, I'd agree with that.. I'm in the process of creating a set of
cleaning carts myself for the same reason.. Experience and the nifty
forum information seems to indicate that it's smarter to try a single
cleaning cycle and if that fails badly pop in a cleaning cart to sit
overnight before running another cleaning cycle.. repeat as required.

Certainly it would seem that swapping out cartridges for cleaning carts
when you know the printer is going to be left unattended for long
periods would be a good plan... I guess experimentation is the key here.

Though obvously Canons have heads with a limited life, it's not a bad
deal. But if you like you can explore options from HP. They do offer
the new hp PS 8250 while not what i'd buy for a general purpose printer
isn't anything to sneeze at. They do offer head on the cartridge type
which in all fairness to canon waste less ink though cost a pretty
penny to replace. Theres epson but my experence has been they clog
more often than canon.

Yep... gotta agree there... Had no end of problems with Epsons
especially as it gets hotter, while the canons have been marginally
better.. Pigment inks do seem to be the prime culprit though..

As to HP printers, I recently found out that there's chips for the newer
type that use the reservoir and seperate printhead so that may be my
next target for CIS testing.. Oh boy!

 

[Hendo]

I have a Canon MP730 multifunction printer that's gone through two
printheads in one year. Both printheads died in the same fashion: first
long white (blank) strips appear on the page, then it stops printing
altogether. No black, no color, nothing. Cleaning (through the control
panel and manually) does nothing to help.

How many ink cartridges or refills did you use before the printheads
failed?

The first printhead was replaced under warranty, but this time it's going
to cost me a minimum of $40 on ebay. I bought this printer because I wanted
to have separate tanks that were easy to refill, but if I have to replace
the head every year or so the savings aren't so great.

Who do you buy your refill ink from? Canons are very easy to refill,
and if you use good refill ink you should not have any problems.

I print more than the average user, especially photos, but the printer
doesn't get the kind of use it might get in a small office. Is this kind of
wear to be expected from moderate to heavy use?

Most small offices use HP.

I owned a Canon S800 before this one and the print head also died in the
same fashion. I'm beginning to think that I should stay away from Canon
altogether.

If you had the problems with your Canon S800, such as replacing 2
printheads in 1 year, why would you buy another Canon?

And lastly, which company makes great durable inkjet printers?

Without question the most durable overall inkjet printers are HP's. The
HP 9xx series is a excellent example. The HP 9xx series is not great
for photo's, but it's a workhorse for text and spot colour.

 

[Davy]

My ip5000 is giving stirling service and it's roughly about twelv
months old and no sign of print head trouble yet

Bear in mind the ink also acts as a coolent for the nozzles, wonder i
it could do with the brand of ink.. can't see it but wonder all th
same

What chances of the printer being un-used a fair while and then goin
straight to a print job.... would it not be better to do a deep clea
if this was the case...

If the print head was so unreliable there would have been mor
complaints to date, I trust the replacement came in a sealed packet

And to add I have yet to do a manual nozzle clean......

Dav

 

[Jacques E. Bouchard]

How many ink cartridges or refills did you use before the printheads
failed?

Maybe a dozen refills? It's hard to keep track of, but altogether I've
gone through at least 8 oz of black ink in 2 years.

Who do you buy your refill ink from? Canons are very easy to refill,
and if you use good refill ink you should not have any problems.

I get my ink from re-inks.com, which got good reviews.

If you had the problems with your Canon S800, such as replacing 2
printheads in 1 year, why would you buy another Canon?

That's not what I said. I replaced the printhead once on the S600 (got
the model number wrong) during the 2 1/2 years that I owned the printer.
I figured it was a fluke, and I liked the print quality and ink tank
design.



jaybee

 

[Taliesyn]

Maybe a dozen refills? It's hard to keep track of, but altogether I've
gone through at least 8 oz of black ink in 2 years.




I get my ink from re-inks.com, which got good reviews.

I've used these inks, they're fine. 8 oz is quite a bit of ink - almost
a lifetime in OEM cartridge terms. The troll measekite won't use 8 oz in
TWO lifetimes. Ignore him. Your printhead failure is due to natural
burnout or simply a bum printhead (or two). I had one go in less than
two months. Replaced it and the new one is still working 16 months later
with the same ink! So we know it's not the ink. Get a new head on eBay
(around $55 US, or something, and keep printing).

-Taliesyn

 

[Jacques E. Bouchard]

I've used these inks, they're fine. 8 oz is quite a bit of ink - almost
a lifetime in OEM cartridge terms. The troll measekite won't use 8 oz in
TWO lifetimes. Ignore him. Your printhead failure is due to natural
burnout or simply a bum printhead (or two). I had one go in less than
two months. Replaced it and the new one is still working 16 months later
with the same ink! So we know it's not the ink. Get a new head on eBay
(around $55 US, or something, and keep printing).

I've taken both printheads apart (the original one and the replacement) and
cleaned them out thoroughly following the instructions on another web site.
Now I have two printheads that print colour perfectly, but no black
whatsoever.

Weird.


jaybee

 

[Taliesyn]

@corp.supernews.com:




I've taken both printheads apart (the original one and the replacement) and
cleaned them out thoroughly following the instructions on another web site.
Now I have two printheads that print colour perfectly, but no black
whatsoever.

Weird.

My sister had something weird like that. Her black had many missing
segments in the nozzle check. We tried lots of cleanings, including
printhead removal and cleaning (twice). To no avail. So we ordered a new
printhead ($56 US). The new one didn't work either, with several
cleanings. Fortunately, I had a spare fully working i850 printer (same
as hers) in my basement (with no printhead). She put her new printhead
in my old i850 and it worked perfectly right after the first prime. So
then we looked at each other and came to the same conclusion: maybe
there was nothing wrong with her original printhead, but something wrong
with the printer (pump/feed?). Either way, we junked the printer. But it
was too late to try her cleaned original printhead at the time as we had
already dirtied the new one. We kept the cleaned first printhead a spare
for the future.

-Taliesyn

 

[measekite]

it is the use of no name unbranded generic ink purchased from a
relabeler that did not disclose what you bought but you are too proud to
admit it.

Having learned the hard way on this I can highly recommend the
resources on that forum re: cleaning. I also recommend that you
practice your cleaning techniques on your fubar'd printhead before you
try it on a newer one. That way you make your mistakes (I used up two
printheads this way *cough*) and learn from them.

i have not problem. i use oem ink. that should say something

Yeah, I'd agree with that.. I'm in the process of creating a set of
cleaning carts myself for the same reason.. Experience and the nifty
forum

the nifty forum is an aftermarket cult with many relabelers as members

 

[zakezuke]

Measekite said: Snipped per request

This is proof that heavy users can get way with? I'm all for a
critical evaluation of the various products, but really. A printhead
will run $60 to $80 on a typical ip3000/4000. Ink will run you $40 to
$50 a set for oem on a typical ip3000/4000 vs $5 to $12.50 a set for
bulk aftermarket. So if a given user prints for a year on aftermarket,
they saved so much that a replacement head is trivial if required, and
no real assurance that OEM would do a better job.

If the use of OEM ink does extend the life of the print head, a fact
you have yet to prove, it doesn't make sence economically when the
offical head life is 10 cartridge changes. Now if you wanted your
printer to continue printing, and cost was not an issue, then perhaps
OEM would be a good choice. And for print life, i've not seen a test
yet that sugests that any aftermarket ink offers longer print life than
OEM. Not saying it's not possible, but simply i've not seen such a
test yet.

 

[measekite]

Jacques E. Bouchard wrote:



How many ink cartridges or refills did you use before the printheads
failed?




Who do you buy your refill ink from? Canons are very easy to refill,
and if you use good refill ink you should not have any problems.

it really does not make a difference who his relabeler is since they do
not disclose what they are selling or who the mfg/formulator of the ink
is. thererfore you can get the same junk from a multitude of relabelers
and not know it.

Most small offices use HP.

if there is correct and i do not know i would say that they use the
models with integrated printheads in the carts and us the deskjet or
office jet models that are not photo printers. HP appears to do a
somewhat better job on business documents where limited paper handling
is ok. it does not do a good job on envelopes or odd size papers and
heavy papers.

If you had the problems with your Canon S800, such as replacing 2
printheads in 1 year, why would you buy another Canon?

maybe he now will use canon ink and have no problems

Without question the most durable overall inkjet printers are HP's. The
HP 9xx series is a excellent example. The HP 9xx series is not great
for photo's, but it's a workhorse for text and spot colour.

i will go along with that. i have one but it i use the canon for
envelopes and other items where i need better paper handling. the hp9xx
has the best draft mode.

 

[measekite]

My ip5000 is giving stirling service and it's roughly about twelve
months old and no sign of print head trouble yet.

and you do claim to use canon oem ink.

Bear in mind the ink also acts as a coolent for the nozzles, wonder if
it could do with the brand of ink.. can't see it but wonder all the
same.

What chances of the printer being un-used a fair while and then going
straight to a print job.... would it not be better to do a deep clean
if this was the case...?

If the print head was so unreliable there would have been more
complaints to date,

most of the problems are due to generic ink

 

[measekite]

Maybe a dozen refills? It's hard to keep track of, but altogether I've
gone through at least 8 oz of black ink in 2 years.




I get my ink from re-inks.com, which got good reviews.

you have to watch out for reviews on generic ink since there are many
plants and others who use their cultish opinions to mislead people. the
only reviews on generic ink i could find was from pcworld and they said
to stay away from them. they also said the use of generic ink will clog
your printhead over time.

 

[measekite]

snip too long

. I had one go in less than
two months.

snip

like i said some will not want to admit the truth. if you read this ng
over a period of time you will find very few people who have had
problems with printing who use oem factory recommened ink. there were a
few from epson who had the c series but not the r series.

most of the problems you will find are from those who used generic ink.

 

[Taliesyn]

snip too long

I can creatively snip too.

-Taliesyn

 

[zakezuke]

I've taken both printheads apart (the original one and the replacement) and
cleaned them out thoroughly following the instructions on another web site.
Now I have two printheads that print colour perfectly, but no black
whatsoever.

Weird.

The offical lifetime of the head can be measured in terms of about 10
cartridge changes.

18,000 pages
Black 1,500 character pattern 7,200 pages
Color A4, 7.5% duty per color pattern 5,400 pages
A4, photo, borderless printing 300 pages
4 x 6, photo, borderless printing 3,600 pages
Postcard, photo, borderless printing 1,500 pages

The 1,500 character patern is about 1/3 less than 5% yeild. Whle
others have experenced greater than 10 changes, i've heard as high as
20, doing the math works out to about 10 cartridge changes.

The problem is knowing whether you have a clog or burnout.

 

[Hendo]

Measekite, you need a life...BAD. I viewed your profile...5476 messages
in 1 year...OH MY GOD. Talk about TYPE-ARRHEA. More than 15 messages a
day...everyday...Just on Google!!! WOW!!!! DUDE YOU NEED A
LIFE...BBBBBBAAAAADDDDDD.

 

[Burt]

Measekite, you need a life...BAD. I viewed your profile...5476 messages
in 1 year...OH MY GOD. Talk about TYPE-ARRHEA. More than 15 messages a
day...everyday...Just on Google!!! WOW!!!! DUDE YOU NEED A
LIFE...BBBBBBAAAAADDDDDD.

I couldn't agree more! You will notice, however, that, unhindered by the
thought process, MK most often posts uninformative, biased,
misinformational, or cruel one liners in response to a legitimate question
from someone seeking help. Stupid one liners take much less time than a
well thought-out and informative post to help someone. He obviously just
likes to keep "stirring the pot."