Printing Problem with Epson C46

urban_fox

I need some advice please! My Epson C46 doesn't print well at all. I keep getting horizontal lines all down both sides and they seem to only concentrate along the edges. I've only been using genuine cartridges. To me, it looks like it's the black cart that is playing up. I've tried going into maintenance and cleaning the head on several occasions. It's not made any difference except eat alot of the ink.

Mummy_Jo

We had a similar problem with an Epson printer a few years ago - and it was just over a year old at the time. We were told at the time that you really need to use Epson printers every day to ensure that the print heads are kept free. At the time we used to print about once a week. Eventually we dumped it and replaced it with a HP one which we have had for over two years now without any problems. With HP you get the print heads in the cartridge not in the printer which is why the cartridges are cheaper in the first place. Therefore each time you insert a new cartridge you are getting new print heads. We never buy from the high street though. We find 7dayshop.com quite cheap for replacements.

One thing that we were told to try was damping a small piece of sponge and putting it on the print heads for a few minutes to see if we could soak up any excess ink. We did this a few times and did get quite a lot of ink on the sponge but the lines were still there albeit a little fainter.

Hope this helps and good luck with sorting it out.
P.S. we would never buy Epson again because of this problem. We know so many people who have had similar problems.

alictait

I swear by epson printers !!!!

I have used them for years and only ever had problems once. The printers are relatively cheap and the compatible cartridges are ridiculously priced. I can go weeks without printing and it still works fine. My current printer is an epson stylus photo 900 and is now about 3 years old. The photo quality printing is outstanding and I have only ever used compatible cartridges after exhausting the originals. The compatibles are about £2 each for decent quality ones, (you can get cheaper)

With my older epson printer I had a similar problem to what you describe and the recommended action from epson was to compete several head cleaning cycles to try and free up any clogged jets. They said that this could take up to 15 passes !!!!!. Eventually I bought a cleaning cartridge from choice stationary which I dont think actually helped much - but again it was only about £3.50 and worth trying before buying a new printer.

So if you do have to buy a new printer eventually - go for epson again - but use the compatibles once you have exhausted your initial cartridges and the printer will pay for itself in consumables.