A large piece of strong clear plastic

[smurfchops]

To put under my printer, approx 10" x 20" as the printer leaks from both ends. Where can I get some ??

[oldbillbuck]

Googled your request and found "theplasticman.co.uk" should cost about £.50 for a sheet of 3mm perspex 250mmx500mm

[oldbillbuck]

That should be £3.50

[ethandron]

what about a lid from a plastic box from a cheapo shop?

[thejudderman]

If its leaking surely a new printer will be cheaper..... that ink aint cheap!!

[AlBags]

What about a tea tray?

[Wak]

Is this printer a Canon model?
If it is then the ink pad (used to absorb the ink used in cartridge cleaning processes) is full and needs to be removed and cleaned

[smurfchops]

A Canon Ixus 2200 from memory, too lazy to walk upstairs to the bedroom. How do I do that Wak ?

[Wak]

Hi Smurfchops, My printer was an old Canon 1000 (I think!) and it involved undoing all visible screws, etc, and then prizing off any of the panels held on with internal clips.
It can be a fiddly job but the ink pad lies in/on the floor of the printer.
My pad was about 1/2" thick and 4" x 9".
Just a case of washing it out and drying it well, then re-assembly.
My printer started flashing a light in a sequence which informed you that the ink pad was full and after the dismantling and cleaning I had to go to the Canon web site in order to get the sequence of button pushing to reset the printer.
At that time, there was also a site called "fix your own printer" which you could try and GOOGLE for.
Canon Printers will have changed since I did the above but it should give you some idea of what you are up against.
An alternative to all the above would be to remove the ink cartridges and then
stand the printer on one side so that all the excess ink in the ink pad could run out into a prepared tray of sorts. Leave it to empty on it's side for 24 hours and then stand the printer normally on a thick sheet of cardboard or similar until it eventually dries out.
I would also suggest that you do not run the cleaning facility too much as it uses a hell of a lot of ink. (as you've probably found out!)
If you find by printing, that one particular colour in the cartridge is blocked and causing lines in the print or image then stand the cartridge in a 1/4" of hot water (not boiling) in a saucer until the water cools and then dab the print head on a damp paper tissue to test for that colour.
You could also just print either a half or full page of capital letter Ms in that particular colour until it prints without leaving the line or streak.
Just running/printing a certain colour avoids using all the inks in the cleaning process.
I have also refilled all my cartridges since 1990 so refilling the near-empty colour is no problem and saves a hell of a lot of money.

Refilling 2 cartridges = £0.70 + 1/2 hour.
Buying 2 new extra volume cartridges = £35.00 or over

Best of luck with your printer and I hope this is of some help to you.

[Mosaic]

Why not look for a large tea tray in a pound shop?

[old-wos-is-name]

my canon had the same problem, it started flashing error messages and would not work. I e-mailed canon, they said the ink pad was full, and I needed to buy a new printer, as the pad was meant to last the life of the printer, so dump it.
I googled the problem, found the pad after removing the back of the printer, dried it out with some tissues, got the reset code, and now all working fine, have been refilling the jets for 3 years, no problem.

[smurfchops]

Thanks everyone. I dont get any warning lights and its still working fine, I just get bluey green fingers every time I try to lift it, its not exactly leaking as such - not yet. I found a sheet of plastic in a local hardware shop so problem solved (for now). When it gets to the point where it really leaks I think I'll just get a new one, they are so cheap now. Thanks again !