imagePROGRAF iPF785 Blurry lines/Font

[kheld]

I'm printing some engineering drawings and many of my lines/text are blurry, almost like they are printing a second time overtime of themselves. I've tried printing from both AutoCAD itself and from a PDF (the PDF looks fine on screen). I've tried printing other drawings and am finding the same issue that wasn't there before. On the printer side of things, I've tried the following:

• Replaced Ink
• Ran "Clean Printhead A" and "Clean Printhead B"
• Nozzle clean and Nozzle check
• Alignment check
• The print head height is set to Automatic
• The correct type of paper is selected

Any thoughts on why we are having this issue? It always seems to be the same areas of the drawing that are blurry, even on multiple prints.

[LinePro]

Thank you for posting this.  We are currently having the same issue with our ipf785.  We print survey plans, often including color, the color lines still look fine but anything in black/matte black is printing just as you described above.  I have tried all of the same steps you have tried above to correct, and I have also replaced the printhead, with no luck as of yet finding a solution.  I hope someone can figure this out.

[kheld]

So... strangely enough, after trying all of these things while on the phone with Canon Tech Support, it still wasn't working. Then I tried one more time after restarting the whole system and, POOF! it was largely back to normal. Sorry I can't give you an answer as to what fixed it.

[JohnBeard]

It sounds like a frustrating issue! Have you checked if the printhead needs manual realignment? Sometimes, even with automatic settings, small misalignments can persist. Also, consider updating or reinstalling the printer driver, as corrupted drivers can cause print issues. By the way, after troubleshooting, I recommend unwinding with a quick game like Snow Rider 3D—it’s an awesome stress reliever! Hope you get your prints sharp again soon!

[KyleKerr]

It sounds like you're experiencing a frustrating printing issue! I've been there too, and sometimes the problem can be more complicated than it seems. While troubleshooting your printer settings is important, you might also want to consider exporting your drawings to a different format or checking for software updates in AutoCAD. By the way, if you're interested in enhancing your skills in a fun way, I've found the Basketball Stars platform to be a great resource for honing teamwork and strategy skills. It's a nice break from technical work!

[ShannonHarr]

My printer's gone rogue, a rebellious artist gone blurry! Sounds like a printer possessed, doesn't it? Ever feel like your tech is deliberately sabotaging you? This reminds me of a time when my own printer started spitting out garbled documents. Then it turned out that the USB cable was faulty! I was getting all kinds of weird printing errors and oh the frustration when playing Slither io. Changed the cable, problem solved.

[JudeDyer]

That's a frustrating printing problem! It sounds like you've covered all the basic troubleshooting steps. Have you tried updating the printer driver recently? Sometimes a driver issue can cause unexpected glitches. Speaking of unexpected things, I've been oddly hooked on the Suika Game lately - a totally different kind of problem-solving! It's surprisingly addictive and a fun way to de-stress after dealing with tech frustrations like yours. Maybe give it a shot on your phone sometime? Good luck getting your printer sorted!

[harka]

Sounds very familiar. I worked at a print shop and we saw this exact issue on large-format printers all the time. Nine times out of ten it wasn’t the file at all it was bi-directional printing or carriage calibration drifting. The “double print” look usually meant the head was slightly out of sync when printing left-to-right vs right-to-left.

What usually fixed it for us:

Turning bi-directional printing OFF (even temporarily, just to test)

Re-running print head alignment manually, not automatic

Power cycling the printer after alignment (surprisingly important)

Checking for paper feed slippage even a tiny advance error would cause blur in the same areas every time

We’d have customers convinced AutoCAD or PDFs were broken, but the giveaway was exactly what you’re seeing: same areas blurry across multiple prints. Almost always hardware calibration, not software. It was fixed after we called the tech store we brought item from and they helped us understand the issue.