Resolved Photo printer pages make wavy rows

Not too sure how to describe this---tomorrow I'll scan a result and upload it. A friend of mine has a color printer, when pics are printed, either on cheap copy paper or photo paper, there are rows where the ink comes out noticeably lighter, giving it a wavy look.

Does this mean we should have the printer run a self cleaning process? Or does it mean that the ink is low? IIRC the ink level was not near the bottom.

 

I've head that cleaning the print heads uses up a lot of ink, so I was wondering if there was something else to try.

But you think that is the best response to try first? I will see if the ink levels are low, but I did a short while ago and I think they are too high to cause this problem. If the ink levels are fine, you'd recommend the clean print heads option?

 

Evan Omo is right, it appears that cleaning might be needed, and yes you are correct, print head cleaning does use a lot of ink.
If you happen to use the printer regularly on a weekly basis then cleaning the heads is usually not required. But if the printer is very sparsely used then miniature ink droplets can dry up on the head and cause problems.
Some years back I had a situation like that and I removed all the ink cartridges and replaced them with plain ones quarter filled with Isopropyl and printed numerous full pages,did a reasonable job, but still needed to remove the head and clean with warm water before replacing the ink cartridges again.
Printer was never quite the same again, OK for general stuff but not quality photos. Today printing photos on your InkJet is far to expensive, around 40 to 60 cents per photo (using manufacturers ink) 10 cents in the shop.
Printers come very cheap these days, I buy all my inks on ebay $21.- for 2 sets of cartridges, never had problems with them, Warranty is Void, but for the prize of 1 set of factory ink for my canon I can buy a new printer.

 

OK I'll run the cleanup utility, and report back the results.

 

I agree with the others about cleaning. And yes, with inkjets, that uses ink - an inevitable characteristic of all inkjet printers.

I know that many users have had no problems using 3rd party ink, but I also know that many users (including me) have seen printing problems go away after replacing 3rd party cartridges with genuine ones.

The problem with 3rd party ink is a total lack of consistency. Ink is actually some pretty high-tech stuff. And HP, Epson, Brother and the others make their inks using specific and patented formulas with very tight controls for consistency batch after batch.

The 3rd party makers have to reverse engineer and make their own formulas (without violating any patents). That is an expensive process, especially considering how many different printer makers and printers (and all-in-ones) there are out there. So all the different 3rd party ink makers have their own formulas. This means if you buy your ink from Office Depot this time, Sam's next, BestBuy after that, you likely will be using different formulas each time. And who knows how their suppliers maintain consistency of those formulas batch after batch?

I bought my HP 7525 a few years ago from Sam's and bought some Sam's 3rd party ink for it. It worked great for about a year then the printouts started looking lousy with streaks, off colors, and other issues. Cleaning and aligning the heads didn't help. I switched out the ink to genuine HP and all my problems went away. Yes, genuine ink is more expensive, but having to throw out the cheaper 3rd party ink cartridges that were nearly full was no bargain.

FTR, HP regularly has decent sales on their ink if you sign up and buy directly from them. And unlike Amazon, HP ships for free even if you buy only one cartridge at a time. I suspect the other printer makers have similar ink buying deals.

And remember too that inkjet ink has a relatively short shelf life - even if not opened. And if opened, the aging (and drying) process accelerates - especially if you don't print often. So even if the sale price is great, don’t buy more than you will use in the next year, or two at the most.

 

I have a HP Inkjet, used third party in cartridges that did cause trouble to such an extent that more or less forced to use HP XL cartridges but not through HP extortion price, but from a firm Cartridgepeople at reduced price. As Bill says better just to have one spare set, and on use ordering a new set.

 

We did the cleaning function, then the deep cleaning, and then also an inkhead splatter whatever feature that was offered in the menu to the printer software, and it did improve somewhat, but it is still there if you look for it. We'll see if we can live with it, or just buy oem ink.

Thanks for all the responses.

 

Just buy OEM ink. I have an Epson and an HP and only use the manufacturer's cartridges they both have free shipping. I have never used nor will I ever use any third party printer ink.

 

Everyone is blaming the ink! It is possible that the printer in question is developing a fault. Our 1st. HP printer repeatedly printed garbage and it was the memory bank failing. We were using genuine HP cartridges at the time and I had carried out all the cleaning and alignment processes to no avail. So be prepared to renew your printer as servicing costs are exorbitant and generally exceed the price of new sale price printers. I would uninstall the HP printer software and do a fresh install of the latest HP software from HP on line. That will help eliminate corrupt software possibility. And I use 3rd. party inks as they are Eco friendly and have only one ongoing problem - the nag from HP that I'm using a 'pirate cartridge' (they're refilled genuine HP cartridges!!!) HP DO NOT like you refilling their cartridges as they make more money selling new ones. Make sure you clean the contacts thoroughly on the cartridges. Lint free material and small quantity of isopropyl alcohol (available at Pharmacists/Chemists in small quantities) and DO not touch those surfaces with your fingers, as oils/fats/greases will contaminate the contacts causing faults.

 

Everyone to their own, I guess whatever your experiences are.
For me, my experience with 3rd party ink that I have been buying from the same dealer on ebay for the last 6 years or so has been good. I have a Canon printer scanner MG6360 that I have had for around 3 years and never used anything else after the original inks run out. This printer takes 5 cartridges originals are around $20.- each my ebay I buy twin set 10 tanks for $24.- The Printer cost is around $200.- after 2 sets of 3rd party inks I have saved the money to buy a new printer scanner if I had to.
I would only buy genuine if I was to do photo printing.
For what its worth my Daughter has one of my old Canons Pixma 3800 some 15 years old and has never seen genuine after the originals run out. Its still going strong.
But yes I do agree with retired learner it could be the printer and not Ink related.
hawk22

 

As I noted above, if you sign up with the HP Store, the frequently have great sales that even compete with Amazon (at least here in the US).

I agree, as I did from the beginning, that it could be the printer too. But there is really nothing users can do to verify that other than make sure you run the necessary cleaning and alignment tasks on the printer. And those tasks don't clear the problem, the next option is to try new cartridges. And I am suggesting at that point, if using 3rd party, try genuine.

I will also say this - when it comes to printing devices these days, you often get what you pay for. It is no guarantee of course, but I have found if buy a cheap printer, you get a cheap (disposable?) printer. If you invest in a better printer, chances are it will last for several years. At least that is my experience.

 

From what I hear around printing folks, there is quite a difference in the printers acceptance to 3rd party cartridges, and from what I know HP is very sensitive to them, a close friend of mine has also HP and we used to go together to computer swap meets to buy stuff including ink and his experience has not been good, I tried to talk him out of buying a new HP when his old one got ruined by leaking 3rd party cartridges. Tried to convert him to Canon, since I am rapt with them, but he thinks they are to slow and noisy, I just turn my hearing aides down, and make a cup of coffee.
hawk22

 

Hi Bill and Bill, When you can buy a HP MFC inkjet printer for half price ($49.00NZD) and the new HP cartridges cost $78.00NZD you use the printer with refilled Cartridge World ink units and throw the printer away when major problems come in. We all make our own decisions and from bad experience with a Canon (print head failed and would have cost $140.00 plus labour @ $85.00p/h) a new machine at the time was $150.00. Epson that stopped working when the preset Service falls due (page printed count) and that again was quoted at $85.00 plus parts, I tend to buy the discounted units and throw them out when big problems start.
My experience with HP over the last 4 years is that they do an excellent job and I just put up with the 'nag'. I have found that memory corruption can occur in the printers which causes "garbage print quality" and earlier HP's could be Reset/cleared by pressing the Start and Page feed buttons simultaneously for about 3 to 5 seconds then releasing them together.
I "Googled" and found an "Ex" Epson service tech who provided the code clearance to enable the Epson to by-pass the service period which reset the counter and allowed the printer to carry on.
We don't get the HP "Specials" on cartridges in NZ so their HP offers don't cut it here at all.