I have a canon bjc 4200 printer. Just recently it decided to stop printing for me. The paper still will go through, but now there is just a bunch of faint black squiggles. I bought new cartridge’s (2 color and 3 black) with no success. Now I’m pretty sure it’s the print head. My question is: Is there a cheep way to fix my print head? I’ve already spent more money on the ink then I would have liked. There’s got to be something I can do. Please help.
Maybe this is a bit obvious but have you cleaned the heads? Probably there will be diagnostic tools in the printer properties somewhere. I don’t have or know this printer but I expect something like this can be found.
That happened with my 4200 so I threw it out even after repeated cleanings. My impression with BJ printers is you only get a certain number of pages out of them. You can buy a newer model that uses those ink carts that you have. You can also try cleaning as the person above said. Price of new printers is around what the carts cost almost.
i have tried cleaning the heads meany times with no results. i’m trying not to spend that much money if i don’t have to. would it damage the head if i wiped it down with a paper towl to try to clean the ink off?
How to Clean Clogged Inkjet Printheads
http://www.weeno.com/art/0899/140.html
Gently douse the print heads in 70% or better purity isopropyl alcohol with an eye dropper or similar and run the head cleaning function from your Canon utility applet. Do this 2-3 times and see if function improves.
"Your printer is equipped with a print head cleaning function to ensure constant high quality printing.
If you are using Windows, you can execute print head cleanings from the Control sheet in the printer driver. Simply click on Clean Ink Head."
If you want to clean the print head from the operator panel read your manual as it has specific steps for doing this. If you cannot find your manual the 4200 manual is available as a pdf file on the web.
it worked! it took a while though. i took the cartridge out and with a dropper put a drop of isopropyl inside the head where the cartridge sits, then i took a paper towl and wiped the botom of the head where the ink would come out onto the paper. the paper towl would suck the isopropyl through and clean the head. i did this until the ink coming out was really week. after a few tests in the ol’ printer, it works like new. thanks to everyone (espeshuly astro).