Need Printer Help Please!
sjhpubs
Registered Users Posts: 31 Big grins
Hi Everyone.
I need some fast help.
I have a Canon i9900 Photo printer. I have had it for several years and it has been wonderful. Really black blacks and great colors. Canon ink and paper is expensive compared to Epson, I know, but at the time this was one of the best rated printers around. It prints up to 13" wide and I do a lot of 13" x 19" printing.
Anyway, last night, as I was preparing for a photo exhibit reception, it stopped working. I print all my work, including note cards and postcards, along with prints to sell framed and unframed, myself. So this printer has done a tremendous amount of work for me.
The issue is that the "ink overflow absorber" is full. When the print head self-cleans, a small amount of ink overflows into this tank, somewhere inside the printer, and that is not full so the printer will not print anymore.
The Canon site says that this should not be done at home--that it's a messy and complicated process, and that it needs to be serviced. And Canon is not open again for tech support until Tuesday!
So two questions:
Does anyone know anything about cleaning the overflow absorber, and if I need a new printer, which one do you recommend?
Thank you for your help in advance,
Sandy
I need some fast help.
I have a Canon i9900 Photo printer. I have had it for several years and it has been wonderful. Really black blacks and great colors. Canon ink and paper is expensive compared to Epson, I know, but at the time this was one of the best rated printers around. It prints up to 13" wide and I do a lot of 13" x 19" printing.
Anyway, last night, as I was preparing for a photo exhibit reception, it stopped working. I print all my work, including note cards and postcards, along with prints to sell framed and unframed, myself. So this printer has done a tremendous amount of work for me.
The issue is that the "ink overflow absorber" is full. When the print head self-cleans, a small amount of ink overflows into this tank, somewhere inside the printer, and that is not full so the printer will not print anymore.
The Canon site says that this should not be done at home--that it's a messy and complicated process, and that it needs to be serviced. And Canon is not open again for tech support until Tuesday!
So two questions:
Does anyone know anything about cleaning the overflow absorber, and if I need a new printer, which one do you recommend?
Thank you for your help in advance,
Sandy
sjhpubs
PortViews
Fine Photographic Prints & Notecards with Local Color
portviews.smugmug.com
0
Comments
Here is what I would do..............you may not want to follow my advice on this
If you really need the printer working and it's dead in the water, I would get all the info I could about this ink overflow absorber and take the printer apart. While it probably will me messy, I can't believe any maintenance procedure could be beyond mortal beings.
The worse that happens is you can't fix it, but hey.......it ain't working now.
As for a future printer I would recommend looking at the smaller wide format (17") pigmented ink printers. Cannon, Epson, and HP all have excellent choices.
First if your selling your work dye based ink does not have the archive rating that pigmented ink does, (as an example 10 years versus 100 years) and if your doing a lot of prints at 13 X 19 the larger printers are way more cost effective. Plus you will have a lot more paper choices.
Sam
Thank you, Sam. I actually have done some investigation on the web and found a link to someone who has done this repair himself. I may try it. And I found a replacement part on ebay for about $16. May be worth investing in this for now.
But you are right--the new inks and papers are an attractive point in favor of getting a new printer, even if I fix and keep this older one for backup. It's just that the price differential for the newer ones, as well as the cost of the ink, particularly the Canon, is a factor as well.
What printer do you use and are you happy with it?
Thanks again,
Sandy
I have a Canon ipf5000. I use a variety of papers depending on image and the look I want to convey. I use Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 304 quite a bit. The fine art papers give you a look that's hard to describe and is definitely different than the normal rage of gloss, pearl, semi-gloss photo papers.
The cost to fill a large format printer is substantial, but you don't fill it nearly as often as you do with the small desk top printers.
I also have the i9900 and it costs me a LOT more to print with it. I rarely use it anymore.
If you do enough printing of larger images the savings in ink will pay for the printer.
Sam
Sandy
I rate the ipf5000 way above the i9900!!!!
It's in a different universe.........................
It has 12 ink cartridges of 130 ml each compared to the i9900 with 13 ml per cartridge.
The ipf5000 has two blacks and two grays allowing you print a true black and white image.
I can print an image 17" wide by 50' long if I were crazy enough to print one that long.
I have a nice 16" X 32" landscape in a 24" X 40" frame on the wall in front of me and it looks pretty good.
My next printer will be 24" wide.
Sam
They have solved any number of problems for me over the years. Even though I am a very low volume compared to you (and many others) I have refilled Canon printers for many years but still have a way of messing up and then consulting this site.
Jane B.
PS This thread http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3251 may help.
So the other printer I am considering is the Pixma Pro 9500 Mark II. Do you know anything about that one from first-hand experience?
Thanks again,
Sandy
Thank you Jane. I will check these links out. I did order a replacement ink overflow absorber on ebay for $15 and found a site where they explained how to replace it. So, even if I buy a new printer, I would keep this one as a backup. It's really been a workhorse for me. I have printed thousands of prints on this printer. And until now, I have not felt the need to get a new one, although there is always the new frontier fo being able to print larger.
Thanks again,
Sandy
My old office, (I Just moved out last week) was 10' X 10" and I was able to fit everything in. I had the ipf5000 printer sitting on a 24' deep counter that sitting on top of three 2 draw filling cabinets. I also have a i9900, and for INTERNET stuff an i850.
If you are printing thousands of prints you really need to figure out how to fit a large format printer into your work space.
Plus the pigmented ink is considered archival and will remain bright and vivid for a very long time.
I would be very nervous about selling images printed with dye based inks.
I guarantee my prints for as long as I live. I would like to guarantee them for longer, but haven't figured out how to do that yet.
The i9500 could be a good choice. It uses the same pigmented ink as the large format printers. It has 10 ink cartridges as opposed to 12 in the larger printers lacking one shade of gray, and a blue cartridge.
I couldn't find out the size of the ink cartridges but they are pretty small and I think you will blow through them at a good clip. The total cost to refill is $145.00.
One of the key benefits to the larger printer in addition to roll paper and larger prints is the cost of printing. It's much more frugal with the ink over and above the fact that larger 130 ml cartridges cost less per ml than the small ones.
Sam
Also, have you seen prints from the pro9500? How do they compare with the ones from your printer? The part about the cost of ink makes sense. Running my i9900 is very expensive.
I will keep figuring this out. Did you ever do a comparison with Epson printers?
Thanks again,
Sandy
The printer is 40" Wide and 16" high with the roll mechanism attached and the cover flipped up.
The depth is 27" without the cassette installed, 31" with cassette attached and the paper catch try slid in, and 39" with the catch try fully extended. All you need is a counter 16" to accommodate the printers feet. Of course it will over hang a 16" counter.
As for comparing the available 17" wide roll printers...................that is a formidable task. The offering from Canon, Epson, and HP are all fantastic!
Some even have gloss optimizers.
Prints from an i9500 would be very close to the IPF5000. The key difference would be B&W prints and the cost of ink.
Sam