Canon Pixma IP 3000 - Banding

londonman81

Hi,

I've had a Canon PIXMA IP 3000 printer for six and a half years, during which it has performed reasonably reliably.

However, it has recently started 'banding' very notably, despite several attempts to clean the printer head with the 'deep clean' maintenance option.

I have also tried cleaning the printer head manually (https://www.applefritter.com/node/6486) but with no luck.

Before I throw away the printer and buy a new one (the head costs as much as a new printer), is there anything I can try to get it back in working order?

I'm loathed to throw away if at all avoidable.

Thanks!

thor

That link you posted has quite a few useful tips on cleaning. I have tried one or two myself on my canon ip4300 printhead but none have worked so far. I am not going to throw away my printer as the banding is only noticeable when I try and print out photos in which case I just get them done at Boots. Fixing the printhead would give me an immense feeling of satisfaction so giving up is not an option.

santer_2

For the OP

Is the banding as noticeable if you print a Word document on plain paper with the printer set to best photograph and the paper as premium glossy?

rrf494g

I buy canon printers (very infrequently, my current ip3000 is many years old) because they have the removeable print heads and take asda/tesco bulk inks with no problem. I do a lot of colour printing on glossy paper.

After quite a bit of internet research I found a site for printer-engineers in the USA that had the following method. I've used it for some years (perhaps once every 6months or so) to clean the heads when I get the banding.
1. I only ever use the "self deep clean" approach once, that often works - if it does not . . .
2. I remove the tanks and the print head.
3. I have a small tray that takes about 1/2 pint of pure water to reach about 1cm deep.
4. I add 3 drops (ONLY) of thin bleach to the water.
5. I stand the print head in the tray and watch the colours/black flood out into the water.
6. I use kitchen paper to dry/absorb fluid from the print head.
7. I repeat if loads of ink still flowing out.
8. I dry the print head then return it to the printer, then add the tanks.
9. I use a self-clean cycle.

works for me - hope you try it and find success. I saves a lot of frustration for me as I know it will do the job compared with endless self-clean cycles.
regards

thor

rrf494g wrote: »

saves a lot of frustration for me as I know it will do the job compared with endless self-clean cycles.

which also uses up quite a bit of ink as well.