printer problem

Willbo · 6 May 2006 at 22:48

hey again everyone. last couple of times ive tried printing with my r300 on cd's the colours have come out more blue than anything.

the image im trying to print is a yellowy/orange shade, yet it comes out a mixture of blues.
the epson monitor says all my cartridges are more than half full and ive even put the cartridges in recently without using them much so i know theyre not empty. any ideas to what is causing this? is my printer on its way out or has a setting been changed i dont know about.....

ajm · 7 May 2006 at 10:08

Try taking out the cartridges and put them back in again this sometimes does the trick,

McNutter · 7 May 2006 at 11:21

Do a nozzle check (it's like a test print). That will tell you if all the nozzles for each colour firing correctly. Also use ICM in the colour management.

Tomsk · 7 May 2006 at 12:19

Willbo said:
hey again everyone. last couple of times ive tried printing with my r300 on cd's the colours have come out more blue than anything.

the image im trying to print is a yellowy/orange shade, yet it comes out a mixture of blues.
the epson monitor says all my cartridges are more than half full and ive even put the cartridges in recently without using them much so i know theyre not empty. any ideas to what is causing this? is my printer on its way out or has a setting been changed i dont know about.....

Key words highlighted.
The print heads are probably blocked. All the Epsons I've had experience with have suffered from blocked heads, especially if they're not used frequently.

Do as McNutter suggested, then dump the Epson and buy a Canon (or wait until HP bring out a printer that prints on CDs)

Willbo · 7 May 2006 at 14:38

what kind of prices are the cartridges for canon printers though? i've only stuck with epson because of getting replica cartridges for couple of quid.

if i was to change, is there a decent canon you could recommended which is either all in one including cd printing, or a standard printer with cd printing?

okimanoob · 7 May 2006 at 14:48

Willbo said:
hey again everyone. last couple of times ive tried printing with my r300 on cd's the colours have come out more blue than anything.

the image im trying to print is a yellowy/orange shade, yet it comes out a mixture of blues.
the epson monitor says all my cartridges are more than half full and ive even put the cartridges in recently without using them much so i know theyre not empty. any ideas to what is causing this? is my printer on its way out or has a setting been changed i dont know about.....

I usually find that running Head Cleaning about 6-8 times in a row followed by Nozzle Head check corrects this on my R300.

McNutter · 7 May 2006 at 15:09

Forget about replica carts, go the whole hog and get a Continuous Ink System. You'll save a fortune if you use your printer heavily. They cost around £45 delivered with 100ml (10x carts worth) of ink in each colour. After that runs out, just buy bottles of ink which are cheap as chips. Here's mine:

ajm · 7 May 2006 at 16:56

I usually find that running Head Cleaning about 6-8 times in a row

You would have no ink left in those cartridges as they use ink each time it is done (Ink charging).

Willbo · 8 May 2006 at 00:29

well i've tried nozzle checks, cleaning....everything....and the nozzle check pattern has since got more breaks and gaps in. so i dont know what is wrong.

turned on icm and tried other settings and the only ink printing is like a blue.

but since reinstalling that cartridges this morning, the epson monitor is now telling me (12 hours later) that the yellow and magenta ink is low. would this be the cause?

McNutter · 8 May 2006 at 09:52

Instead of head cleaning try giving the printer a thorough workout. Save a picture from the net, open it with Photoshop, blow it up so it covers a full A4 page and print it. If that doesn't clear the heads nowt will and that uses less ink than head cleaning.

Also you might find this website and this utility helpful.

pcknight · 8 May 2006 at 10:18

This happened to me when i used to have an Epson. In the end i had to buy a new Printer. Got a superb Canon ip4200 now!

Willbo · 8 May 2006 at 22:47

yea i've tried printing off the image for the cd on a full page sheet of a4 instead and it still came out all blue. it might just be that the yellow ink is low, its cheap enough. so will try ordering one i think and find out from there. not sure which printer to go for next though as the epson all in one with cd printing is what id love but just to expensive.

Energize · 8 May 2006 at 23:34

McNutter said:
Forget about replica carts, go the whole hog and get a Continuous Ink System. You'll save a fortune if you use your printer heavily. They cost around £45 delivered with 100ml (10x carts worth) of ink in each colour. After that runs out, just buy bottles of ink which are cheap as chips. Here's mine:

How do they work though when the cartridges use a chip on them?

McNutter · 9 May 2006 at 09:28

Energize said:
How do they work though when the cartridges use a chip on them?

The chips in the carts automatically reset themselves to 95% full when they get down to 5% so the printer always thinks there is plenty of ink.