~ Printing Tips Using Ink Cartridges ~

Tips:

To get prevent damage to printer heads and cartridges, Do Not print on near empty ink tanks as print head will get hot and burn out. Always replace the empty ink cartridges before printing. Try to use your printer twice a month to keep it in prime condition and to prevent printhead clogs.

 

Alignment:

When installing a new cartridge always try to perform a head alignment. Rarely anyone ever does this. The newly installed ink carriage might not sit exactly to the position of the last one and a few microns out of alignment can cause poor printing. Poor head alignment may give the appearance of smudged print, giving a double image or ghost like printout.You may not need to do a printhead alignment, but if the print does look smudge, this maybe the cause.
Printing Black and White:
When printing just black and white, use the software's printing advanced options to select to use only black ink. By Default they use color mode. Doing this will save a lot of your color ink when printing only black. If not, the software will use all the color cartridges to produce black text.

Paper:

Glossy photo paper is rated, they have a DPI (Dots per Inch) on them. The DPI matters in quality and can affect price. If printing photos, choose a photo paper which closest matches your DPI capabilities of your printer.

With current professional photo printers and photo paper technology, you now can achieve great photo printouts from your printer as good as developing them in a shop.

Cleaning:

Doing printhead cleans use a lot of ink. If necessary to do it many times, try doing it twice then giving the printhead a rest (5mins) then do a clean again. This will reduce the rish of the printhead being burn and worn our. Some, if not all Canon printers they prime themselves every time you start, reboot or switch the computer on/off. If you hardly use your printer you will find most of your ink will be lost just turning them on as a lot of ink is used to purge/clean/moist its printhead
 

For clogged/ leaked/old printers:

When performing a cartridge change, the printhead will align itself out of the enclosed area for cartridge change. There should be a rubber "pad" which will be visible, you should clean this pad from time to time.

With a dry paper towel or a lint-free cloth, very gently and carefully dab the pad down. Please take care not to break anything or cause the head to go back whilst your hand is in there. Please do this at your own risk. Please do not press hard and wipe sideways. Dab down gently and lift only.

Power:

Printer should be plugged in as it keeps the heads warm and ready to use. Turning them on via their switch actually primes them, so turn on and leave it on until you have finished for the day. Turning them on/off everytime you need to print will use up your ink rapidly!