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Canon 490 Mechanical Alignment

This link is a photo of a test page printed by a Canon 490 after a pretty hefty paper jam. Horizontal printing is fine. The vertical lines are straight when printing in one direction, left or right. But the left pass lines don't line up with the right pass.

My first thought was that there was some play in the connection of the print head to whatever moves it back and forth. But everything seem tight. I went through the auto-alignment software steps, not expecting it to help, and I was right - no improvement.

I replaced the black ink cartridge. Had been refilling. Now, not only is the alignment problem still there, it's printing really poorly. Fuzzy and skipping lines. Just about ready to trash this one and replace.

Any ideas how this might be corrected?

Here the top part of a test sheet:

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pg

Thanks in advance!

Bob

Reply to
Guv Bob
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Did you do the print head alignment?

If, as you say, that failed, try adjusting it manually. See the blue colored "notes" in the above URL for the well hidden manual print head adjustment instructions.

Check that the tension on the rubber band that moves the print head it reasonably tight. It doesn't take much backlash in the head to cause problems.

Drip a few drops of oil on the head traveler mechanism to reduce friction. Move the head back and forth (with the power off) to see if there's any excessive friction.

There is also a cover on the head assembly over the scanner optics. Power off, look inside for debris or dust. Clean.

Note: I recycled a Canon MP495 (similar to an MP490) last month because it was a perpetual print quality nightmare. I could make it work, but it would screwup again after several hours of operation. Something was loose, but I never was able to find it.

Also, try searching here: for MP490 and see if someone else has had a similar problem.

I hate (most) inkjet printers. Good luck.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com 
Skype: JeffLiebermann     AE6KS    831-336-2558
Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Thanks, Jeff. I swapped to a laser printer for the time being. Will look at the 490 this weekend. You might know this also... I replaced a MP190 with the 490. 190 has been excellent. But it showed ink absorber full error. I tried resetting using various pushbutton, plug in/out procedures but still got the error.

I would like to replace or clean the absorber. Lots of opinions and pointers, but not what I need. I don't even know where the absorber is or whether to access it from top, side or bottom. I don't mind even cutting open a panel to get to it if necessary, but I don't want to open the top and then find out its accessible only from the bottom.

Long story I know. A decent exploded diagram or even a photo with someone pointing to the absorber would be great.

Reply to
Guv Bob

Ditto what Jeff posted. I've usually had to take the printer entirely apart to get the inkpad out---which is indeed at the bottom, underneath the rear paper tray in the innards of the device. I've never created a new pad, just washed the old one and let it dry.

--
NNTP on Emacs 24.3 from Windows 7
Reply to
Gernot Hassenpflug

Thanks, guys. I'll take a look at it this weekend if I can hide from the lovely wife long enough... I put the MP490 to the side for now and am using a Samslung laser. It's fine but it's just a printer - not a copier.

Anyone need slightly used printer collection?

Reply to
Guv Bob

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