Canon won't give me another one and I refuse to pay $15 just to get a chip off a new ink cartridge! I am seriously hating this printer.

The second time I used it the heads were totally clogged. I bought the cleaner cartriges and of course they don't work with that printer ($50ish). Then I bought the steamer ($50) I used up a ton of ink trying to clean the heads so I had to buy a whole new set of ink. The chip in the cyan doesn't work for some reason. I tried it in two different tanks and it just flashes. Now I have to sink more money into the thing just to get a chip? I am SO hating this printer!!

Just had to vent about the money pit called Canon Pixma IP 4500!

-Krissy

Krissy,

I went through 3-4 Canon printers and none of them were very good. The images always were ok, but not great. The ink does seem to dry in the print head and you are constantly fighting with them to print something right. I purchased an Epson a couple of years ago, it is great. I can refill the tanks when they need to be, you will have to invest in a "resetter" that I purchased from KopyKake. It lines up with the chip on the outside of each ink tank and blinks green when it's ready to use. If you go to my web site and look under party cakes, you'll see how clean the pictures come out. The other problem I had with the last Canon was trying to print black & white images. After they were placed on the cake, you held your breath hoping they didn't tint green.

Good Luck,
Bev

i bought my new ip3500. Friends at work said the ratings were better than the epson. But I guess for office printing because they didn't take into account that we would be popping off the chips well the first attempt I busted a chip. So I went to buy a $15 chip. Used it and had it for one week. One week later print head is clogged. I am going to buy the steamer to see if it unclogs. but that's $50 so either I get a new printer or spend $50 for the steamer that I wouldn't use other than the print head.

I don't have one of these, but another lady in our cake club does... She said to boil some water in your tea pot It's just steam... Then put the ink cartridges in a baggie between uses, and suck the air out... Worth a try instead of $50.00...

Good luck!
Pat

i just bought a kodak printer and i have had no problems with it plus the onk is like between 9-15 dollars so not a money pit

I have to agree with the OP. I absolutely hate my canon printer. I used it once and the head clogs every time. I take it out after each use and put it in a ziplock bag and it still clogs.

I recently purchased an Epson at Target for 29.00. Getting edible ink for it and I will see how well it will do. At least if it doesn't work, 29.00 isn't going to break the bank like the Canon has.

I have to agree about the Canon printers - they are a piece of junk. I have the IP3500 and have had nothing but problems. This weekend I had to replace some ink tanks and took the chip off the old tanks and placed on the new tanks and it hasn't worked since. The red light on two of the tanks flash red and the printer flashes orange! I'm not sure how to proceed.

I have an epson all in one and I love it. It sits for months at a time and has never clogged on me. I also purchased refillable cartridges (new) on ebay so I don't have to mess with a chip resetter.

uggg, well then I'll have to look out for sales for an epson because one week of sitting shouldn't have to clog it. I don't bake cakes much but when I have my husband's bday and I'm spending over an hour trying to unclog the printer buying one that doesn't clog is worth it.

I don't know about using up all your ink in cleaning the print heads. At the bakery where I work I was told by the tech service (of a very large cake supply co.), to take the ink cartridges out of the bracket. Remove the bracket with the print heads completely from the unit and run under hot hot water for at least 5 minutes. Use the sprayer on the sink if you have one. Be sure to get through the little sponges. Then clean the metal points with alcohol and replace back in the unit. We have to do this monthly. If we don't our color starts to go funky. Good Luck.

instead of trying to clean the print head... just buy a new one..

after spending more money on ink and cleaning cartridges and a steamer.. I ended up just buying a new print head from cannon directly..

the ink, steamer, and cleaning cartridges cost me over 100 bucks..

the print head was under 40 including shipping..

my printer is the cannon IP6000d

good luck..

I was wondering wich epson all in on printer to get

thebarley,
I was thinking about putting it under water. I have small humidifier that lets out good puff of steam. I was going to see if that works.
Barb