Some printed text and lines are sharp, some are misaligned - not fixed by manual print head alignment (Canon)

0

Here's a sample image of a printout of a spreadsheet from my Canon Pixma MG7150 printer:

enter image description here

Some lines of text are acceptable (e.g., Chalkhill Blue, Purple Emperor) whereas other lines are completely misaligned (Large Skipper, Brimstone). The horizontal grid lines are fine but the vertical ones are misaligned.

  1. Is this issue caused by print head misalignment?
  2. Does anyone know how to fix this so that the text and lines are sharp?

I tried aligning the print heads both automatically and manually but neither seemed to make a difference to the print quality. The ink head nozzles don't appear to be clogged even though I'm using non-Canon ink cartridges.

snark

Posted 2019-08-25T11:36:22.697

Reputation: 193

(1) Is this Windows 10? (2) Did you in Printer properties > Maintenance try "Print Head Alignment"? – harrymc – 2019-08-25T11:57:17.473

Yes to both questions. – snark – 2019-08-26T16:57:36.807

Did you install the latest software?

– harrymc – 2019-08-26T17:07:19.390

Yes - that's the one I'm using. – snark – 2019-08-26T17:13:55.877

1

You might try to take out the printer head and clean it (I used just hot water - link). If that doesn't help, a Canon repair-shop might do better, but buying a new printer might be a better idea.

– harrymc – 2019-08-26T17:20:18.960

Thanks. BTW The same document prints out similarly from ubuntu 18.04; in fact it actually looks more legible when printed from ubuntu. Thanks for the link; that process looks pretty involved. I see now a new printer costs much the same as a genuine printhead - sigh. – snark – 2019-08-26T17:30:54.953

I'm not sure it would help, but in the link look only at the part above the separating line. – harrymc – 2019-08-26T18:11:15.693

Thanks for clarifying. If another printhead alignment doesn't work I might give that a go. – snark – 2019-08-27T17:29:26.057

Answers

1

Try another alignment process. If that does not solve the problem, then the print heads may be damaged. I have had print heads wear out showing the same symptom as above.

Using non-Canon ink may have contributed to the problem.

John

Posted 2019-08-25T11:36:22.697

Reputation: 5 395

A second manual alignment of the print head has slightly improved the quality of the output, but it's still pretty poor. So I might try @harrymc 's suggestion of washing it as well, before going to the trouble of buying another print head or even a new printer... – snark – 2019-08-28T19:31:54.633

It the second manual alignment did not help that much (been there myself), a new printer may now be in order. I found replacement print head to be expensive – John – 2019-08-28T19:56:35.400

Thanks. Yes, I've since noticed that a genuine Canon print head costs the same as a new printer! I'll try to tolerate the issue for now. But if it gets unbearable I'll try @harrymc's suggestion of washing it, as I'll have nothing to lose by then. If that fails it's buy a new print head, or even a new printer, as you say. Maybe using non-Canon ink was a false economy. – snark – 2019-08-29T17:17:10.817

Asked: 2019-08-25T11:36:22.697

Viewed: 111 times

Active: 2019-08-25T11:41:14.670