Do I need my head(s) realigned?

[David Eckels]

In the continuing saga of the Canon ipf8400, and with the help of Ross Hardie (InkJetCarts.com), I rescued my print heads as determined by a Service Mode nozzle check and a series of Type B cleanings. While prints are much improved, they are not yet perfect. My first step was to create a profile using iStudio (pic 1), which at first glance seemed fine, but the colors in LR were still off. Upon closer inspection, fine streaks could be seen in some of the patches (pic 2), very probably throwing off the profile. Changing LR to letting the printer manage the color print, I could still discern subtle streaks that I tried to capture in pic 3. At this, I began to wonder whether my print feed adjustment was off, but I don't know what the result should look like (pic 4).

Are these results consistent with the need to realign the print heads? If so, how do I do that?

[mearussi]

Just deselect bidirectional/high speed printing to see if that offers any improvement. If not then you don't have a head alignment issue.

[David Eckels]

Well, I may have (hope, fingers crossed) solved the problem, thanks to advice from Ross Hardie at InkjetCarts.com. I noticed that the streaks in pic 3 top (first printed) dissipated towards the bottom of the print. So I printed a six images today, including test images from Andrew Rodney and the streaks were gone. It's as if something (a bubble of something else?) was working its way through the lines after extensive testing and cleaning. So, after spending about the price of a new printer (!) in ink, paper, and print heads, I seem to be good to go without an old printer to dispose of!
What I learned:

• Run weekly nozzle checks in Service Mode
  
• If patterns are not perfect, do the Type B Head Cleaning up to 3 or 4 times to see if the problem resolves
• Only then replace a print head

Now on to solving my profile issues.