Canon IPF 8400 ink cost printing on Pura Velvet Breathing Color and Lyve

[Sunshine7]

Hi all,

I'm still working together with Canon to get the ink usage on my IPF 8400 fixed since its still using an excessive amount of ink (we're talking empty cartridges while not being used much, with the print heads clear, no clogging, 7 cartridges going from 60% to 0% since Dec 19 2014 without using the printer, remaining cartridges 100% or 80% for now)

Since I can not calculate accurate ink usage myself, because of the ink usage issue, is there anyone that can let me know what the cost per square feet is printing on Breathing Colors Pura Velvet paper and their Lyve canvas?

Thanks!

[bill t.]

Figure about 1.2 ml per square foot, which is about 13.2 ml per square meter.  It depends on the media setting you are using and on your profiles.  If you're running a very heavy inkload the ink use might be a little higher.

I have never experienced anything like the ink disappearance you describe, over more than 3 years and 33 liters of ink.

You probably know that just after starting up the printer, the ink "bars" are not correct, they show much  more ink than is actually left in the cartridges after priming the ink system.  Then as you print they will suddenly go down very fast.  Once you go to the second cartridge on a color, the reporting is accurate but high quantized.  But that relatively fast decline is only seen when the machine is actually being used.

Under the "Accounting" tab of the imagePrograft status monitor which was installed on your system during setup, you can see a listing of recent print jobs including ink  and print area used.  The print area is the actual size of the media that passed through the printer, not the actual area printed which might be smaller.  Maybe looking at that info will shed some light on the problem.  Do you have any puddles of ink on the floor?  Is your maintenance tank nearly full?

[Sunshine7]

Thanks for the info.

No puddles, nozzle print pattern 100% ok in normal mode, and around 3 squares altogether missing in Service mode on left print head, which seems not what the problem is. Yes, Maintenance cartridge went from 40% to full with only 2sq feet available to print since Dec 19 to today. I think I can't reset the maintenance cartridge at this point, and am waiting for Canon support to either send me a new cartridge or for them to tell me to buy one myself instead. I've only printed 110 sq foot total and ink usage seems normal per print. By the way, the prints look gorgeous, no obvious faults here, but then I am a total beginner, and may not see what someone more experienced would see.

Here an example from the 'JobLog.txt':
Print Start Time: 2014/12/19 14:32  Print End Time: 2014/12/19 14:49  Print Time: 1003sec.
 Output Image Size: 24.00 x 25.00 inch  Media Type: Lyve  I/F: Network
 Paper Area Consumed: 4.2637 ft2  Paper Width: 24.00 inch  Paper Length: 25.58 inch
 Ink Consumed: PC:   0.187ml C:   0.128ml MBK:   0.211ml   Y:   0.341ml  M:   0.156ml PM:   0.413ml
                          R:   0.190ml G:   0.110ml   B:   0.137ml PGY:   0.347ml GY:   0.543ml BK:   0.063ml

I've been dealing with Canon for several months re this and I've had several calls with Canon support, calls have varied widely, from support staff claiming 'this is normal when the printer is not used' to 'this is definitely not normal ink usage' - but last week I accidentally called the wrong person back at Canon, and they are a top level management person, and they take this very seriously.

This was bought as a new printer, albeit a show/demo model but one that only we printed test prints on and was not used further, and which was bought with full rebate June this year, and I've only printed 110 sq foot on it total, it took a while to get the printer moved via a 'level one move' since we wanted to get the printer fixed first, but Canon recommended us moving the printer first before they would send someone out, and then after I moved the printer, they said I should not have moved the printer and left it at the dealer until it was fixed, and that I will need to pay to get it fixed, long story...

Canon after first saying they would send someone out on Dec 19, this after the dealer kept saying things were ok with the printer, and me finally giving up on the dealer, have now said there is no warranty left on the printer, and that the dealer or previous Canon support staff perhaps gave the wrong info. This to me is very strange, since in Canon policy, the $800 rebate I received on this printer is only given to new printers, which would then imply this is a new printer and therefore has a year warranty (which corresponds to what we were told, and this while the regional sales manager was present, who currently can not remember this and has not responded to our calls, and who seems in cahoots with the dealer). However, I'm 'just the customer', and the dealer is saying there is nothing wrong with the printer, the regional sales person is not returning our calls while he does speak with the dealer, and the dealer says it uses up this much ink since it is in 'sleep mode' and because we did one calibration and nozzle check in order to get Breathing Color to make us a custom profile. To most people this does not make sense, however, to get it resolved is something else. It does seem we now have the right people involved, and I am mostly confident Canon will take care of this at this point. Otherwise I will need to buy an Epson printer instead, and sell this one for 'parts only'.

I appreciate everyone else's experiences with this printer, since it proves this is not what normally happens.

[bill t.]

Well good luck.

FWIW If you've had seven empty cartridges that were in the machine when it was primed, that means you have about a liter of unaccounted-for ink.  That's more than will fit in a maintenance tank.  It must be somewhere.  Perhaps they changed out the maintenace tank at the showroom.  Do you recall the original level when you received the machine?

Keep a detailed, dated logbook of all your interactions with the people you talk to about this and occasionally send copies to the most highly placed people you can locate in the organization.  It will definitely help, paper trails are very threatening to those who might be inclined to dismiss you in verbal-only mode.

[Sunshine7]

Yes thanks, yes, they said they replaced the maintenance tank several times. Have been keeping notes etc. still hope it will get resolved.

[I.T. Supplies]

I read your post about the dealer and what they said about the printer using that much ink.  That is not true.  We've had the iPF8400 in our office for 9 months and didn't even have that type of ink usage in a short time frame.  We print almost everyday of the week (except most weekends) and the printer has gone thru a replacement PBK and MBK during that time we started using it.  The colors are just now slowly going down.  I'm not sure who you were talking to on the dealer end, but they are not correct and may not have that much experience with Canon models (sorry to say).  Canon printers will use less ink during cleanings and printing than Epson models from what I was told and from personal usage.  We also have the Epson 9890 and it's given more issues and uses more ink than the iPF8400 from our usage (and we've had both models for about the same time frame).

Sounds like that the printer may have a defective board or sensor which may be the reason why it's not reading levels properly; but I'm not a tech and it's from reading your statement of the problem(s).  If you do have continued issues trying to get it figured out, let me know and I can forward it to our Canon reps to better assist you with a solution.

I couldn't assist you much with the information for Breathing Color products since we don't deal with their inventory (house brand products), but the ink usage will be close to other brands products.  What another user mentioned is correct on how much ink is usually used, but it is hard to really determine sq/ft based on the media, settings used and what your printing.  Awesome part of Canon is that they have this feature installed on all large format printers called "Accounting Software" which will print all of that information on the print(s) that you requested info on...ink usage, square footage printed, etc.