Canon IP5200 printhead

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Canon IP5200 printhead
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I need help trying to correct a problem with a Canon IP5200 streaking on colours.

Printing any coloured image results in streaks/horizontal lines, regardless of print paper used.
Solid colour tests have the same results as photos and text.
I have run multiple deep head cleaning and print head alignments and test pages.
I have also cleaned the head assembly using distilled water in an overnight soak.
I continue to get streaks.
There is no sign of leakage inside the printer compartment.
I have changed the ink reservoirs and replaced them with brand new ones.
I have tried printing using a different computer and a different operating system, same problem persists.
I have even re-installed the latest available printer driver and set all settings back to their defaults.
No luck in removing the streaks.
Print tests used taken from http://www.systeminsight.co.uk/Canon_Printheads_TestPrints.htm.

See a scan of the results as a .jpg attachment.

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Re: Canon IP5200 printhead

Hello Gary,
if horizontal lines get "doublestriked" or are missing it must not allways be a problem of the printhead.

In the "consumer"section of printers such problems are rather more often resulting by misalignment or
"wearout" of transmissionparts of the papertransport.

In the former printers ( those built before 1990 )most of the parts have been manufactured by using steelparts.
At the end of the 80´s and beginning of the 90´sthe manufacturers started to make important parts by component plastic aiming for so called: "planed obsolescence" and saving money - targeting the printers to "wear out"
within maximum of 5 years of "avarage usage".

Later in the mid to end of the 90´s the engineers in that factories even added within the firmware
"hidden printing counters" counting the amount of printed pages and then issueing strange
"you must contact service" messages. Some Hackers provided hacks to the users to deal with such counters....

But the "wearout" of the plastic parts is a disadvantage you can´t handle by software.

The only way to deal with that is just to avoid buying such crap....
Specifically companies like Canon, Lexmark, Brother and Epson are known for this kind of "planed obsolesence".
Even cheap models from HP are known for rather fast "wearout".

Better transportsystems are only used in printermodels desinged for "heavy office use" and are much more expensive.

It´s highly recommended to search for / consult before next purchase several testresults published by independent
testing institutes......

sincerely speedyG

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Re: Canon IP5200 printhead

Thanks for the info speedyG.

I have barely used my Canon printer as it is for home use only. I probably have only used it once a week throughout its lifetime and it doesn't even have a scratch on it, such a shame.

I can still use it for printing monochrome images and letters, so it's useable for a while yet.

I just can't print colour photos or diagrams.

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Re: Canon IP5200 printhead

Hello SageOfSmeg,

Just a hint beyond the explenation above:

One factor that also affects the papertransport and therefor also printouts
is the so called paperweight ( i.e. thickness of the papersheet ):

in practical use it has verified that cheaper printers often handle
more heavy weight papers better than the very thin ones up to specific
limit that depends to manufacturer and model.

Paperweights given at lettersize differ from 50 Gramm to 90 Gramm at regular lettersize paper
and from 100 Gramm to 240 Gramm at Photopaper.
At regular printouts it often verifies that the cheap printers can´t handle
paperweight of 50 Gramm to 70 Gramm well - while 80 Gramm to 90 Gramm seems to be optimal choice
for regular printing.

While making printouts of pictures it often is recommended to try using lighter weight paper
( i.e. 100 Gramm to 150 Gramm maximum ) and using paper above 160 Gramm rather often drops
quality in results.

Also important is the difference at photopaper the viscosity of the surface. The surface should be able
to "swallow" the ink transferred to the surface and not preventing it from intrusion of the paper.

So best advice i can give, is to also try to make own survey on your own printer to discover
which kind of paper and weight of the sheets your printer can handle best.

Another factor is the difference specially at photoprinting the difference between
original ink and refilled cartridges.

In refill cartridges in general inksorts are used with more fluid than original ink and higher viscosity.
This has strong influence while printing in color mode, because mixing of colors then often is stronger
than with original ink ( which you would claim to be "crisp sharp" or "less crisp" ).

Also here i´d recommend to make some own experiments with catridges and different papers to discover the
manufacturer of that kind of paper your printer can handle with best performance.

speedyG

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Re: Canon IP5200 printhead

I found a setting (under WindowsXP) in printer Properties, Advanced tab relating to Spooling.
When I turned off spooling and used the "Print directly to printer" option, the colours printed almost exactly as they should do. I used 80 Gramm white paper.

Under Canon IP5200 Printing Preferences I also set the options "Vivid Photo" and "Image Optimizer" and used a High print quality level. I expect this will drain my ink tanks quicker but I can live with that.

For now, at least, the printer is useable for a while longer, although I haven't tried printing on thick photo-quality paper.

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