Canon Pixma IP5000 and envelopes

[Mary Haggie]

Well at this time of year I play Santa and do some Santa letters
with a donation to a cancer charity.

For 6 years I have been happily printing Santa-type pictures on the
envelopes (C5) on my Epson.

Since last year I have acquired a Pixma IP5000 and have been grateful
for advice given to me on here re a printing problem so I am back again
with another problem!

Whereas my Epson (old Color900) would accept the Envelopes wide edge
first, the Canon will not. I fed them in short edge first, the flaps
came out all torn. I solved this by tucking them in and using removeable
tape to stick them down before I printed.

But in spite of cleaning/bottom plate cleaning etc every envelope comes
out with black smudges on top, sometimes underneath also.

I have given up and borrowed my Epson back from my husband after ruining
about a dozen envelopes

Surely a printer should be expected to print envelopes, or am I
expecting too much covering it with graphics?

Many thanks for any advice!

Best wishes

Mary

 

[ALBERT C. GOOD JR.]

Mary

A trick that worked for me when my Epson 640 wanted to eat envelopes, (#10
business sized) was to iron them flat.

This drives out the moisture, (good for humid situations) and defines the
edges.

Incidentally, paper can hold a lot of moisture and when it does it expands a
lot. When filled with moisture the paper expands. In the case of envelopes
the absorption appears to be uneven and cause the envelopes to curl and
warp.

Good luck with the printing.

Albert

 

[Mary Haggie]

Mary

A trick that worked for me when my Epson 640 wanted to eat envelopes, (#10
business sized) was to iron them flat.

This drives out the moisture, (good for humid situations) and defines the
edges.

Incidentally, paper can hold a lot of moisture and when it does it expands a
lot. When filled with moisture the paper expands. In the case of envelopes
the absorption appears to be uneven and cause the envelopes to curl and
warp.

Good luck with the printing.

Albert

Thanks so much I will definitely try that, I have an idea as since the
envelopes are double of course, when the front edge is gripped, it may
force air along inside and cause 'ballooning' which may cause the
smudging especially as I have taped the flaps and the air can't get out
that way.

Thanks again

best wishes

Mary

 

[Gary Tait]

Well at this time of year I play Santa and do some Santa letters
with a donation to a cancer charity.

For 6 years I have been happily printing Santa-type pictures on the
envelopes (C5) on my Epson.

Since last year I have acquired a Pixma IP5000 and have been grateful
for advice given to me on here re a printing problem so I am back again
with another problem!

Whereas my Epson (old Color900) would accept the Envelopes wide edge
first, the Canon will not. I fed them in short edge first, the flaps
came out all torn. I solved this by tucking them in and using removeable
tape to stick them down before I printed.

But in spite of cleaning/bottom plate cleaning etc every envelope comes
out with black smudges on top, sometimes underneath also.

I have given up and borrowed my Epson back from my husband after ruining
about a dozen envelopes

Surely a printer should be expected to print envelopes, or am I
expecting too much covering it with graphics?

Many thanks for any advice!

Best wishes

Mary

Don't tape them.

If only I could get envelopes to print in the proper aspect ration (using
OpenOffice).

 

[Burt]

Well at this time of year I play Santa and do some Santa letters
with a donation to a cancer charity.

For 6 years I have been happily printing Santa-type pictures on the
envelopes (C5) on my Epson.

Since last year I have acquired a Pixma IP5000 and have been grateful
for advice given to me on here re a printing problem so I am back again
with another problem!

Whereas my Epson (old Color900) would accept the Envelopes wide edge
first, the Canon will not. I fed them in short edge first, the flaps
came out all torn. I solved this by tucking them in and using removeable
tape to stick them down before I printed.

But in spite of cleaning/bottom plate cleaning etc every envelope comes
out with black smudges on top, sometimes underneath also.

I have given up and borrowed my Epson back from my husband after ruining
about a dozen envelopes

Surely a printer should be expected to print envelopes, or am I
expecting too much covering it with graphics?

Many thanks for any advice!

Best wishes

Mary

Two suggestions - 1) If you were using the bottom cassette, switch to the
top feed deck as the paper path is straighter. 2) On my Canon i960, the
printer software has, under preferences/maintenance/custom settings, a
setting for preventing paper abrasion. This setting appears to increase the
space between the paper and the printhead. See if that setting is available
on the ip5000.

 

[Mary Haggie]

Two suggestions - 1) If you were using the bottom cassette, switch to the
top feed deck as the paper path is straighter. 2) On my Canon i960, the
printer software has, under preferences/maintenance/custom settings, a
setting for preventing paper abrasion. This setting appears to increase the
space between the paper and the printhead. See if that setting is available
on the ip5000.

Yes I do have the setting for printer abrasion and will try it also, I
do use the top feeder. many thanks for the suggestions

best wishes

Mary

 

[Dan G]

If all else fails, read the manual. ;-)

Use only the top feeder. Place the envelopes in flap down, top to the left.
Select "envelope" in the media type, then select the appropriate size of
envelope on the second tab under page size. The printer driver will switch
to the "non-abrasion" setting as soon as you select "envelope" under media
type. You can stack 10-12 envelopes in the feeder at once, depending on
their thickness.

If you use MS Publisher, it will remember these printer settings for you, as
will some others.

 

[Mary Haggie]

If all else fails, read the manual. ;-)

Use only the top feeder. Place the envelopes in flap down, top to the left.
Select "envelope" in the media type, then select the appropriate size of
envelope on the second tab under page size. The printer driver will switch
to the "non-abrasion" setting as soon as you select "envelope" under media
type. You can stack 10-12 envelopes in the feeder at once, depending on
their thickness.

If you use MS Publisher, it will remember these printer settings for you, as
will some others.

Hi Dan

Yes I have been doing as you describe above, and I use MS Publisher, the
only thing was unless I'm mistaken I couldn't find a setting for my size
of envelope (large c5) so I used the custom option, and it prints fine
(except for tearing the flaps and smudging!)
thanks for your advice and when I get my next orders will try all the
suggestions.

best wishes

Mary