Digital BW, The Print

Hello Larry,

I feel your pain.  I had a Canon IPF5100 printer for 5 years and went through a very similar circumstance.  After swapping the heads, etc. and going through several diagnostic steps with Canon tech support, I was faced with the same decision you are now considering.

In the end, I decided to recycle the printer and purchase a new one; it it will help you, I will outline my reasons as they may be applicable to your situation:

1) As much as I loved the printer and the output it created, I had to realize that at 5 years, this may not be the last problem I would have and I could be in a state of continually throwing good money after bad.  The warranty that Canon would give you for the $1,000 service call would only apply to the issue that they fixed, not the entire printer.  I considered this to be some real on-going financial exposure.

2) After two heads (at $500 each) and another $1k, you could be buying a new printer with better technology.  Because the high-end printer market is limited, the manufacturers have a constant stream of incentives to purchase their new modes.  I was able to purchase a new Epson 4900 with rebates, etc. for only a couple of hundred dollars more that the heads/service call cost�..and have a new platform that will last me for another 5 years.  The prints are slightly better as well -though this was not the prime reason to switch.

3) I was able to sell the heads on Ebay at a reduced price that was good for me and the purchaser - I provided printer alignment checks and sealed the heads properly. I only had a couple of weeks' use on them.  You would need to check with Canon on the restrictions of using a head once it has been installed in your printer (left/right placement, model #, etc.)..I was also able to sell my unopened cartridges and printer stand�.


bottom line for me; these are complex devices still in their early stages of evolution.  You plan for the fact that the system could and will degrade - switching costs could be less than you think.

By the way, I used the bauhaus RIP for several years and it is an excellent product - I produced the best B&W output that software on the Canon Printer..

I wish you luck..


George


On Jun 7, 2013, at 10:20 PM, Larry <photo692002@...> wrote:

> Has anyone had a Canon IPF6300/8300 or similar with a banding problem they could not resolve? 
> 
> Our IPF6300 started banding about 6 months ago, we changed a head and it worked fine for a couple hundred prints over about 2 months, then it started banding again in the darker tones on both color and B&W prints. The banding is difficult to see and the printer always does a good nozzle print.
> 
> Canon Techs suggested changing the newer head again, which they supplied because it was still in parts warranty. It didnt help so they suggested replacing the second head which also did not help. Now after buying two heads and several hundred dollars in ink through numerous cleaning cycles and tests they say we need to schedule a $1000 service call. 
> 
> Before doing that however, I see a couple of possible faults. 
> 
> Canon told us it is not possible to print only one pure color at a time to determine which head or ink lines may be at fault as I initially thought that bubbles in lines may be causing some trouble. I now think that the circuit board components responsible for squirting ink through a particular set of holes may be defective and therefore looks like a head defect or perhaps the one of the feed mechanisms are binding or not keeping in sync with the ink squirting.
> 
> We have tried different settings, drivers etc and nothing helps so if anyone here has had a similar experience I would like to hear about it.
> 
> Larry
> 

George Pappas
george@...





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]