Canon iPF 8400 Ink Splatters and Banding

[William Walker]

Hi

1)  Every now and then I get two or three ink-splatters - twice with red ink, once with black ink most recently... That's the one problem...
2)  I made two different prints, one right after the other and the first one was perfect and the second one showed distinct vertical "banding". Identical paper, identical printer settings. That's the second problem! See attached picture.

I would be grateful if anyone could shed some light on these two problems.

Many thanks

William.

[I.T. Supplies]

This issue could be that one of the heads may be starting to go.  If you've already done nozzle checks and test prints to make sure the nozzles are firing properly, it may be getting to that time.  Having the same print come out exactly as one of the prints without any issues is possible though.  Maybe check with Canon support to verify and they may have you print out information to verify the reason.  If there is a code that one head is good and the other is very close to needing replacing, Canon will let you know.  Unless there is something else (like a good nozzle clean) that may help fix the issue or it could be that certain colors are getting very low and not enough ink is being pushed through to keep it from banding after the first print.  What media and settings are you using?

[William Walker]

  What media and settings are you using?

Many thanks for your reply...there are no error codes, my inks are all above 50%

The prints were made on Canson Photo Rag 310gsm. I print through the Canon Print Plug-in and the settings were: Accuracy - 300dpi; Print Mode - Standard; High Graduation - 8-bit. (The first print was perfect, the second one - a different file - had the banding.)

I then reprinted the exact same file at; Accuracy - 600dpi; Print Mode - Highest; High Graduation - 16-bit and there was a marked improvement...if you looked really hard there were very slight signs of similar banding. Bear in mind that I use the first settings most of the time without any problems....

To be safe from now on, I will simply use the "best" settings....

I use a cheap matte paper to make prints for my wife and the banding is pretty-much standard every time I use it, so I put it down to the quality of the paper...?

Regards

William