Pixma iP 6600D - intermittent colour

[Guest]

[yourownfree]

I have a thought, thats all i have.
Only thing comes to mind is clean the purge assy, make sure the head height is ok and not dragging on the paper, make sure the index tape is clean while you are at it. If nothing helps sounds like the driver portion of the board that powers the head jets, but then again that's just a guess since i really dont work on them. $40 ? doesn't seem bad,
since a service call where i live is minimum $100, usually about $160 for copiers and large format and around $100 for small stuff for labor.
How much is a new one? $40

[Oze]

Have you tried physically cleaning the printheads?
Warm water and a soft damp cloth.
It does sound like the purge unit.
The printer IS in the replacement model list...so yes...it'll cost more to fix than to replace.

[lastchance]

[Oze]

I thought,from your original post,that you were a tech of some description?
Do you know what the purge unit does in an ink printer?
Not being negative...I'd rather see an end user dabbling with a printer than a copier.
Myself...I'm a Canon trained copier/printer tech and I HATE swapping out purge units/ink pads so my recommendation would be to cut your losses and buy a new printer.

[lastchance]

Hi Oze,

No, no training! Just a wish to get my printer sorted if I can. I had almost reached your conclusion anyway.

Does 2 years and 10 months seem a little short life for a $510 printer? It didn't get used heavily or for long print jobs. Do you think the non-original chip-swap catridges I was using are to blame or just simple mechanical failure of the printer?

Any recommendations for a replacement?

Cheers

lastchance

[Oze]

The less that you use the printer the better the chance of the printhead drying out.
The IP9000 series would be a good replacement.
Full A3 duplex...printing on DVD....but like all decent printers the cost of genuine tanks is almost ransom.
And yes....the non-gen tanks may have contributed to the issue.
Try to stick to Calidad tanks if you MUST use non-gen.

[lastchance]

Canon Pixma iP6600D - intermittent ink

...OK. Thanks again. I'll look into the 9000s and also see if there's a Canon agent locally that could give me a price on looking at my 6600D and checking the purge unit (it sucks the ink out of the tanks doesn't it?)

Cheers,

lastchance.

[yourownfree]

does it have a three year warranty?

[lastchance]

I'll check. It will take me a day or so. Any warranty may be negated by the fact that I have used non-original cartridges, which I think the printer 'remembers'!

[Oze]

A few years ago Canon was taken to court in a class action and lost the case.
It was to do with Canon not honoring warranty due to non original inks.
Canon WILL repair machines under warranty despite the use of no gen inks...but what they do is place a bright yellow sticker on the machine which states that further warranty work may be negated by the continued use of non genuine inks.
So in short...Canon will honor the warranty the first time...but not twice.
Canon factory warranty is 12 months...anything extra is the extended warranty from the retailer.

[lastchance]

...thanks for the information on warranties. Very useful to know! I don't recall paying for an extended warranty but I'll check it out.