Funkii Munkii

I have had a Canon i865 for nearly 6 years now and in that time it's probably been the most reliable printer I have ever had, certainly outlived any other printer I have owned !

But as of yesterday it no longers prints Black (Both black inks are full as I only replaced them a few weeks ago), I went through the usual routine of cleaning nozzles realigning etc etc, checked all the settings, I even removed the Cartridge, cleaning the nubs and the print head, the Black print head was filthy and caked in discarded ink, it was gleaming by the time I had finished but to no avail still no black print.

I'm thinking the print head is knackered, am I right ??



If that is the case I will need a new printer, as I dont see the point in spending £65 on a print head for such an old printer, it would be used for normal letter and photo printing.
I think 6 years is a good run for any printer and would stick with Canon as it beats the HP's and Epson I had before it, any suggestions ? I'm thinking Canon Pixma IP4850 or do I just buy an HP 2050 for £30 and bin it in 12-18 months when no doubt it will die and carry on in this vain ?

Any confirmation of my fears and advice suggestions on a replacement (if required)

Cheers

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I'm with Dave.

When my last Canon went, (print head), I chucked it and bought a new one, (IP4600), cost £80 with £25 cashback.

The new ones only come with "test inks" now though, and when I tried to buy some PROPER inks, I was told, "they haven't released those yet". You couldn't make it up, could you? Couldn't even buy no-name ones.

Funkii Munkii

Cheers Dave
I have been googling this afternoon, to be fair not many issues coming up for that printer, although there was one on print heads dying from some obscure US site.

Play.com are doing the IP4850 for £73 and a co I have never heard of "Shima Uma" are doing it for £65 + extra black ink and usb cable, tempted to try the latter for the free ink but like I say never heard of them so puts me off a little.

I think my i865 came with test inks all those years ago Alcazar, but you cant grumble for the price of the printer.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

The majenta packed in on my Canon i965. Tried cleaning and flushing it through with heated deionised water with no success. Was a superb printer too

New head was £65

I bought a Pixma MP970 for £130 (https://www.scoobynet.com/computer-r...s-quality.html)


I gave the i965 to the bloke who workd in the office next door - he aked me where he could buy a cheap printer to print letters that was cheap on ink. The black still worked ok, so I grabbed my old printer and said "have this, the ink is only £8 a cartridge, its fine for black and white, just the colour is knackered". He was as happy as Larry

I've since found out that running the ink tanks low (as in no visible liquid ink, but damp sponge thing), or allowing the head to block causes the print head to overheat and damage the associated nozzles for that particular colour(s). That'll tech me for ignreing the "ink out" warnings and squeezing every last drop out of each cartridge.

Coffin Dodger

My Epson has lost a couple of the colours from the print head, and it's the ones with the Tesco own brand cartridges in that have gone

I have seen somewhere that you can buy head cleaning cartridges, guess they have some sort of solvent in them or something, anyway might give those a whirl?

Funkii Munkii

Ali B, you're not the only one wringing the last drop out of those babies

It's so bloomin expensive we all want our monies worth !, thanks for the link I'll have a read of that.

I fannied about with a manual realignment last night, when doing the head clean in maintenance an error message appears still advising to manually re align, strange thing is the black prints on that test page....

I cant grumble that printer has been superb for 6 years and considering it has spent two 8 week periods sailing to the other side of the world and back and survived the crush damage we incurred on the way back I have certainly had my monies worth.

Done my homework on Shima Uma. appears to be a reputable business according to a few websites so i'll give it one more evening of messing about if I have no joy I'll go for the IP4850 with a free usb cable and a free full size black ink, at £65 + free delivery it is a bit of a steal even if it doesn't have the test inks, alternatively they do it for £115 with a full 6 pack of Canon inks inc Greyscale + the usb.

The new official ink's are a little fancy being as they are chipped , giving you access to the Canon "Creative Park" Art and Creativity site, I like that idea and a clever way of keeping your customers buying original ink.

Thanks for the input fella's

oobyJu

iTrader: (2)

cannon v poor support these days (no Win7 drivers for old printers at all! ) avoid IMO,
had same epson R200 for years still great and can get cheap ink too!
http://www.web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&gid=27
the expensive ink IS thicker and dries v fast but also clogs print heads because of this and head cleaning uses lots of ink so if you only use occasionally the cheaper stuff is better, just don't touch the photo for 2-3min. For text only go for the cheapest thing (with separate inks!) you can get cheap ink for, 3 colours (+blk) is fine for most things but need 5 for realistic flesh tones in photos.