Mechanical sounds before printing (Pixma Pro 100)

[cohen_ufl_edu]

I have a new Pixma Pro 100 and the quality of the prints on many differrent paper types is excellent. However, before printing the printer makes a number of mechanical sounds for 15 to 30 seconds even when I print several images within a few minutes to perhaps 30 min. It sounds like the rollers are trying to engage the paper and the printhead transport is being moved back and forth. It is as if it were trying to engage the paper and can't quite grasp it, but the paper is properly seated.  I print at least daily and have an app that will print a test pattern if the printer is idle more than 50 hrs. The printer is connected by Wi-FI, always on, connected to a UPS, and the auto power settings are set to disable. My concern is that it is purging ink when this is not called for.

Is this normal? If so, what is this pre printing tap dance about? Is ink being prurged and if so, why?

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

A behavior similar to what you describe has been mentioned before.  The printer will "charge" the printhead occassionaly to ensure there are no clogs and that ink is flowing correctly.  What many suggest is disabling "low power state" or sleep.

This setting is found in the system try, right-click. 

I am not sure if this will help with your issue since we cannot determine what "mechanical" noise your printer is making.

Normal ink charging sound, or something else? 

[cohen_ufl_edu · Accepted solution]

Here is why I was concerneed about ink wastage not being prevented. My printer is set to not go into a sleep state (auto power mode is cancelled). The printer will auto-clean/purge/charge/unclog the printhead if the printer is not used for short periods exceeding 59 hrs<greater intervals<unplugging from wall. My approach is to turn off sleep mode, never trun off the printer, use a UPS, and print at least every other day. Under those circumstances the printer should never need to wate ink by recharding/cleaning the printhead.

As it happens, I think the prolonged mechanical sounds like rollers trying to engage the paper occurred because the front half of the rear door mechanism (that keeps the paper stack flat) was not fully closed and the rollers kep trying to reingage the paper. I had also opened and perhaps not fully closed the manual paper path door. Once I made sure all of the movable parts in the doors were in the proper position, it only took 5 seconds to begin printing. 

However, it does seem to be figiting after each print is completed for about 10 seconds.

[jrhoffman75]

If you are connected via WiFi printer will not go to sleep, independent of the Auto Power Off setting. That is because if printer is asleep it can't detect an incoming WiFi signal.

I have read that the printer periodically wipes the paper path to remove ink.

[cohen_ufl_edu]

Nice to know the printer is keeping the rollers path clean. Perhaps that is what it is doing.