Canon Pixma Pro-10 -- Repair or replace

[EdC]

Life has gotten in the way of my making serious use of my Pro-10 printer for a while. Earning a living really interferes with taking photos! At any rate, I was planning on getting some photos prints made, and after several run throughs with cleaning and deep cleaning, several colors simply weren't coming through. At that point, I figured I would grit my teeth and just replace the entirety of the ink cartridges. Did that, and found out that the same four colors were not printing. Called Canon tech support, and went through a couple of step, but no joy. The same four colors are still not showing up.

The questions that come to mind at this point are:

1. Replace the print head? Extremely simple, but roughly $180 or so. No guarantee that this will work. Am considering a lengthy soak of the existing print head in alcohol or non-ammonia cleaner of some sort.
2. Grit my teeth further and buy a replacement Pro-10, which has a rebate program going now, roughly $250 or so. Even so, that would buy a LOT of film........
3. Alternative printer?

I'm not looking to print anything extremely large. The biggest I've ever gone was about 13x17 or so.

Am interested in some sort of feedback on this.

Thanks,

Ed

[morecfm]

With the print head over 40% of the cost of a new printer, I'd go with the new printer. The Pixma Pro 10 uses pigment ink which I understand is more prone to clogging than dye based inks with infrequent use thus I have the Pixma Pro 100 because I print infrequently.

[MikeH]

Also, here's a printer forum I found that has a good amount of knowledge:

https://www.printerknowledge.com

[EdC]

Thanks for the comments! What I've been doing is running extremely hot water through the print head, then soaked it for several days in isopropyl alcohol. Then more rinsing under hot water directly on the metal print head. The last two steps took a fair amount of brightly colored goop out of the head. I'm letting it dry out now, and will use an air compressor to make sure that all water is out of the various crevices. Will then reinstall, do a deep clean or two and give it a try. I'll keep everyone posted on how this works.

FWIW,

Ed

[shoshin]

Thanks for the comments! What I've been doing is running extremely hot water through the print head, then soaked it for several days in isopropyl alcohol. Then more rinsing under hot water directly on the metal print head. The last two steps took a fair amount of brightly colored goop out of the head. I'm letting it dry out now, and will use an air compressor to make sure that all water is out of the various crevices. Will then reinstall, do a deep clean or two and give it a try. I'll keep everyone posted on how this works.

FWIW,

Ed

Do not use normal water! Do not use an aircompressor. You will kill your printhead for sure!



Best workaround besides never turning your printer off and besides running additional cleaning cycles:

- if you notice clogging, do stop printing and cleaningcycles immediately (if not print head may die)

- soak the head for a few hours in distilled water, carefully move the printhead in the water until the water stops coloring. Always use distilled water, otherwise clogging can get worse (lime!). I killed my first printhead this way.

- use nozzle cleaner (printheadcleaner) after soaking, use a syringe to carefully inject the nozzle cleaner and let it soak a few hours.

- be sure that the electrical parts of the printhead dried completely before you reinstall it (if not printhead will die).

[EdC]

Life has taken a turn for the busy, but I didn't want to let this slide. It's incredible how stuff like work gets in the way of important things like photography!

First, in reply to our member from Bremen, I did use a water rinse with softened water, and very hot temperatures. There should be virtually no mineral content to the water used. I do not have any mineral buildup on any plumbing fixtures in the residence. I opted not to use the compressor prior to your post. The various cleaning cycles have not worked, and I am well aware of issues pertaining to shorting out anything electrical. Not a problem there. I do appreciate your commentary. Thanks!

I do have a question for all of you regarding print head cleaning solutions. I wasn't aware of these, so after Shoshin's comment, I did some checking, and there appears to be a number of competing products. Are there any recommendations? I would like to give that a try prior to making the final decision on keeping or replacing the print head versus the printer.

[EdC]

Replace the head and prevent a printer from going in the landfill. If you decide to dump it anyway, let me have it and I will see if I can repair it and put it our (University of Kentucky) art department photo room.

Greg, I sent you a private message on this.

Thanks,

Ed

[pendennis]

You're chasing bad money. Replace your Pixma 10 with the Pro 100. At B&H, you can buy it for $379. It comes with a $250 rebate, and your net cost comes to $127. It also includes some Canon paper.

Take your old printer to a recycler, and they'll tend to it.

[mdarnton]

My pro 100 clogged and since it had been virtually free, I opted for a new head. Then I tore down the old head to see what happened. The path from the cart to the jets is a long, winding, and thin maze. Mine was totally clogged from one end to the other. I'm surprised it works at all. I should have shot pix--it was ridiculous. Summary: cleaning from the outside is probably a waste of time unless the clog is very minor.

I just counted the cost of the new head as part of the deal. It's a great printer, otherwise.