stopping auto cleaning cycle on printer

[Davey]

First issue I notice on new printer is it drinks the ink, I mean drinks! I have only printed around 10 sheets since I got it and the magenta is dead nearly (visibly too after looking at the cart). The yellow an cyan dropped by 1 fifth in a single a6 print (on standard setting)! Worked out the thing cleans excessively, even between individual print jobs. The ink is lost in cleaning it seems and not so much used in printing. The ink is £20 for 3 colour pack from canon and dye black £8 and pigment black a little more from canon. They are the cheapest for the ink it seems (official, the unofficial are not much cheaper and I dont trust quality of none official ink).

I can live with high official ink prices and even smaller size cart, and even heavy ink use for printing which reviews stated as good. In all fairness it is a great printer results wise and is fair ink usage printing wise but hundred times more used on cleaning kind of cancels that bit out hehehehe. What I can't live with is excessive cleaning every time I turn on, send new job to it and so on. Is there an unofficial driver to stop this that someone knows of? I'm using official driver and settings are all ok (unless I'm missing something).

I must say if it's going to use inks like that on needless cleaning I'm just gonna bin it since it will effectively cost me £30 in ink alone to print a handful of pics. Printing wise it's great though and I still like it, seems the auto cleaning cycle thing is a bit of a dirty trick from canon though and not a single review mentioned it, many made out it was much better ink wise as they are cheaper than predecessors ink (by about 20p and 30% smaller too hehehehe, like I say that's alright, it's the cleaning cycles that aren't).

[Bm7b5]

I haven't purchased a printer lately, but it used to be that the MFG's were using intro cartridges in new printers, with just enough ink to print 1/2 a post card before needing to order a regular fullsized cartridge.

Of course, that has been a few years, so......

[Davey]

the carts were visibly full before loading and since having it and searching around some more it seems common issue. The only bad points I read before bought were things like uses smaller ink tank, or uses newer harder to find in stores ink tank. I onlyfound the cleaning cycle issue by searching knowing others must have experienced it too but not found much on it.

I really mean 9ml cart has dropped by around 7 ml just after few weeks and that seems to be on cleaning cycles. It dropped even when wasn't printing (during power on / off) over the past 2 weeks by dramatic amount, I didn't print anything so naturally didn't check ink (and didn't suspect it would clean that much or use that much in cleaning).

[Colin Southern]

Well - if it's any consolation, I run an Epson 7800 which takes 8x 220 ml carts at NZD $230 Each (+ Tax) ...

... and if the printer isn't used for around a day it'll do a cleaning cycles next print which uses exactly 20ml ink (which would be about the amout required to do a 22" x 88" print!

Possibly one way around it is to print something the size of a postage stamp each day if yours is doing the same thing. Keep in mind also that if the printer has individual lines (like mine) then initially a lot of ink is used priming the lines.

[Davey]

Yeah I thought about printing something really small but it seems to run cleaning cycle every power on regardless, and also between printjobs sometimes. It's only 5 ink but at £20 odd for 3 colours, and around £8 to £11 for the 2 blacks it's not ideal. I'm about a quarter down on cyan and 50% on yellow and about 1 fifth magenta left after around 10 prints (max) which is definately way way under the published rating. Still a fair amount of black though.

I'm a little sceptical after looking around as to why so many clenaing cycles and the new smaller cart size (9ml compared to the previous versions 13ml, most reviews don't mention it and some said it uses the same size). Not a single review mentions the constant excessive cleaning cycles but after looking it seems a fair amount of other people have this problem. I'm thinking it's a ploy to get people to buy more inks. I don't mind using official ink as don't go through that much (and colour accuracy etc) but if I get less than 20 sheets from a new set of cartridges that seems more than a little low to me

There isn't any compatible canon inks either I can use as cheaper alternative (although quality wise and print head blocking up wise I prob wouldn't trust it) because the very few cli-521 compatibles are not much cheaper than official unless I refill myself, and in that case there doesn't seem to be any reports on resetting chips for the new carts either. Guess it's just one of those live and learn things. Seems the ip4500 is much better on ink (double the rating but hard to find an in stock supplier hence got this one) and doesn't drink it in constant cleaning cycles either. A bit on the shady side but not as bad as it could be (the printer was only £80).

[Colin Southern]

Yeah I thought about printing something really small but it seems to run cleaning cycle every power on regardless

Not sure if this will help, but I leave my Epson 7800 on 24x7 with no ill effects. Unfortunately, the cost of ink carts is the one constant "killer" for low-end printers.

Only other thing I can suggest is to save your print jobs and batch them once a week.

[Davey]

I thought about just turning on every now and then to print batches but the text printing for email etc is kind of handy too so wasn't convinced it would work. However leaving on seems like a good idea, guesing that IS the idea with it since it must assume it's been off for long period. No prob to leave on I'll just switch my plugs around. It's currently in socket I use for battery and phone chargers hence I turn on off but I can change the socket to another one with a bit of moving stuff so it's on 24/7.

Makes more sense to leave on I suppose, looking at it I don't now why I didn't do that anyway since my comp is always plugged in, along with sound system and lamp. Ideally I'd like to be able to choose not to run cleaning every startup and just run manually when it was needed when noticed a problem. Yeah I figured cheaper printers means more expensive ink, load wise for this one it's not an issue (hence not considered ciss even if could do it officially) and if I was churning out prints I'd use a much cheaper ink system (either laser due to dirt cheap toner or at the very least high end inkjet that used high capacity good but cheap ink). Still shocking exactly how much it uses though on essentially nothing!

[Colin Southern]

Just a thought here ...

When you turn off the printer, are you doing it at the printer, or at the wall? If you don't do it at the printer then it's very possible that the printer may be left with the nozzels uncovered (or the printer may THINK this has happened) and initiate a "power clean" to clear off any ink that may have dried on the nozzles.

[john w revie]

Davey

I gave up printing at home as it costs too much
You should look into the possibility of using some of the higher end print companies
One that I found gave good service was Loxley this is a link http://www.loxleycolour.com/default.aspx?sid=1
If you decide to go down that route there are numerous printers that you could use most will supply a free test print.
john

[Colin Southern]

I gave up printing at home as it costs too much

One can save money, but it's something you have to commit to right from the start - and it also depends a lot on what sizes you're printing.

In NZD (about 1/2 the value of the USD) it used to cost around $1 for me to print a 6 x 4, whereas the photolabs were doing it for around 83c (and some a lot cheaper) - but - for larger prints (eg 12 x 18) I could print my own for around a quarter the cost of what photolabs were charging.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I sprung for an Epson 7800 (takes up to 24" media) (ie 24" max in short dimension, with the long dimension being as long as you like). What started out as a desire to be able to print my own work more cheaply (and have control over the process) has turned in to a major new direction for my company (especially with canvas prints); wouldn't have it any other way now - but I do believe that one has to commit to a specialist printer to gain these advantages (like the Epson 4800) - these lower-end units with the tiny tanks are just too darned expensive to run.

[Davey]

Hi all. @ Colin yeah of at the printer not the wall. I know it's performing cleaning cycle at every power on because canon said hehehehe, I emailed them and the reply was


"The amount of ink being used does seem excessive, however, I must advise you that your printer will perform a clean every time it is turned on and off and will use ink for this process, this could be where you are experiencing your problem. I know you are using genuine canon ink but you need to ensure that you are using the correct paper weights as recommended and that the correct paper is selected in the printer properties when printing. There may be a fault with the ink cartridge, I suggest you go back to your retailer and explain your issue, your product is only two weeks old and I would recommend you contact them first. If they can be of no assistance then please get back to us."

I do use correct paper weights and it's not the carts because it's all of them and various online forums confirm the ip4600 (many owners of it) being dreadful for this reason and about canon going downhill in this regard and about reviews glossing over these points o directly contradicting them (my experience). Seems excessive to clean constant including between prints. I've decided as last resort I'm going to try decent 3rd party in and disable the ink monitor (yeah viods warranty but I'm literally gonna bin the printer so it's not issue). I've ordred hobbicolor ink from states as that comes recommended by many and I'll just inject the carts and keep them topped up. If runs low and print heads burn out so be it.

There is one issue and that's canon lets you diable the ink monitors on the new chip printers but some notice they behave erratically shortly after, sometimes printing sometimes not. There is a group reseraching it at moment including on canon oem ink, if they find the printer is doing something in this case they may start antitrust case against canon (well deserved if true). Must say it's not big deal because small amount of money lost but still I doubt I'd bother buying a new canon printer again (although the old ones apparently seem great).

[Davey]

Ah thanks for the printing links. For bulk stuff like large volumes of publicity I use RCS ( www.rcs.plc.uk ) as they are cheap and good price (major discount to charities too). The printer is just for my own personal use and the kind of stuff I want to print is small (a4 max) and not very often so getting done professionaly probably isn't worth it, in fact half the thing is convinience, if I needed to send away to get it done I doubt I'd bother for 80% of the things I want to print.

If it didn't drink ink on cleaning it would be ok, still it's new so maybe new firmware and drivers will be written who knows. I tried finding an ip4500 the previous printer which is better (by canons admission) in all respects except weight. It has twice the estimated load as mine, faster, quieter, 12ml common ink (my 521 are hard to find and 9ml) but it's a little heavier. You can't find the 4500 anywhere now though.

[Colin Southern]

If all else fails, consider upgrading to one of these ...

http://www.memjet.com/popup_16.html

[Davey]

haha I just looked at that from the other thread. Even if I could get one of those I wouldn't trust myself with it. Not long before huge speed prints of my bottom start appearing pasted to billboards. I think leaving it on coupled with the home refill ink will do it. I'll probably use canon oem ink still as well if I notice colour difference but for general stuff the rating on the stuff I ordered seems good.

The hobbicolors cost me £12 for 3 x 30ml bottles (of cmy) with postage from the usa, I ordered last night. Has pan sealing heads and syringe too. Thought was worth trying as that ink comes highly recommended from a few large volume home printers (people who print, I cannot communicate with machines just yet). Several mention it's not far under canon oem specs wise with regard to colour, viscosity etc. The only major thing people noted is it's not archive quality and although has UV agents etc in it the stuff has lower light stability around a thrid of canons I think which is no problem. Bit more expensive than standard 3rd party ink but not much and I never trusted 3rd party inks ever as don't know their composition and found colours vary too much (which is better than blocking up print heads and trashing them, especially on fixed head printers).

If it doesn't work think I'll try and get an older canon, I'm sure a ip4500 will turn up sooner or later. If not a firmware to stop the cleaning cycles unless needed will turn up possibly. Like I mentioned the leaving it on sorts the biggest problem which was drinking the ink.

[Colin Southern]

The hobbicolors cost me £12 for 3 x 30ml bottles (of cmy) with postage from the usa, I ordered last night.

I stick with Epson inks (the ink isn't a major part of the overall cost), but when I was contenplating changing I had a bit of a look around the market and Lyson inks poped up a few times (www.lyson.com).

... if that helps.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Davey,

Yes this is a shame, my ip4300 doesn't do it.

In respect of turning it 'off', I only do so with the switch on the printer, and then only on the odd occasion it doesn't auto-power down as it should a few mins after printing.

I don't unplug it, it's powercord is live 24/7* and wonder if that makes any difference?
* not very eco-friendly, sorry

Just a thought,

[Davey]

Yeah it does it even when switch off at printer, apparently this is new to the chipped series. The 3600 and 4600 seem the biggest criminals and many former canon lovers are slating them due to the questionable continuous cleaning cycles, cart shrinking and needless changes in chip technology. The whole conspiracyist approach usually doesn't appeal to me but I must admit it seems a little questionable and there are some valid points in there.

The stuff about them mopping up cracked and unprotected (as far as 3rd party refill goes) systems seems a bit far but it is prettymuch overnight after new 4600 released and no-where has 4500 and below anymore. I think this is more to do with coincidence but maybe not. They are a business and businesses do stuff like that, but it's always a shame when one of the exceptions starts to play such games too. If indeed this is true they should learn from the likes of microsoft that not only will a antitrust case cost them financially but will skim off a lot of their customer base.

[gopalji]

gopalji, How to Disable cleaning cycles in Canon printers,
Step 1, Switch on the printer and open the cover,so that the cartridges come to the center position.Now pull out
Power power plug,printer is off, cartridges in center.
Step 2, Now open top cover so that you can see the place where the cartridges rest on two pads,
Step 3, Take out the screws witch hold the pads, carefully pullout the pads, You will find two tubes, going to the pads,
Step 4,Detach those two tubes from underneath the pads and keep them folded so that they don't obstruct anything
Step 5,put the pads back in the normal position and don't forget the thin spring under the pads.
Step 6,put the cover back and switch on the printer.

the printer will work just like before but now the sucking mechanism cannot suck any more ink.
I tried this modification and its working successfully.Ignore low ink warning, press resume button if necessary,If u want more instructions contact me.

[thatguyfromvienna]

That's why I have my pictures printed.
That Frontier printer makes much better prints than any desktop printer ever will, I pay less than 4€ for 45x30cm (much less for smaller prints) and I don't have to worry about the ridiculously high ink prices.

[Mark von Kanel]

Hi, i leave my canon switched on all the time , its fine on ink that way but suck it big time if i switch it on and off i also use ink express refillable carts with lyson ink and have no probs at all

http://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/