Canon i9900 and Canon PIXMA Pro9000 info needed.

[Manuchau]

I need some help and opinions from the experts here. My always - trustworthy i9900 might be on the way out. I had a bad paper jam last night which I cannot clear. Not only that, every print lately has long black lines on the bottom of every print, and I do not have the technical savvy or tools to take it apart and reassemble it.

So, I have a dilemma. Is it worthwhile spending a small fortune by fixing up an older but expensive printer and shipping it to a Canon repair depot? The cost of shipping and repairs would most likely be very expensive, possibly more than buying a new Pro9000. I didn't want to buy one since it uses the CLI-8 inks instead of the less expensive BCI-6s.

Are there really good CIS systems and inks which would make owning the Canon PIXMA Pro9000 worthwhile? Up until now, I only have used Genuine Canon cartridges in my i9900. Is it more worthwhile to buy the new printer anyway and just refill with good-quality inks?
Usually I decide these things quickly, but having never had a CIS system, I need some info.

Thanks

 

[Grandad35]

Manuchau,

Since you have only used OEM carts in your i9900, why would you refill or use a CIS on a Pro9000? Wouldn't the same reasoning for using OEM ink in the i9900 apply to the new printer?

If you were refilling or using a CIS on the i9900, I would probably try to fix it, but IMHO it's not worth the effort when using OEM carts. The Pro 9000 uses chipped carts, but are they a big cost adder over OEM BCI-6 carts?

Even a defective i9900 has a decent value on ebay.

 

[Manuchau]

That is sound advice as usual. Grandad 35, but I live in a very small town (400 people) and I do a lot of photo printing for several other small local towns. I certainly would have to raise prices if switching to the cli-8 carts because they are several dollars (each) more expensive than the bci-6s and that will add up. People around here do not have a lot of money, so I would rather not have to charge more. I will if that becomes my best option, but if anyone here has a CIS system that works very well with Canon 8-colour printers, I would like to hear from them.

 

[embguy]

You can sell the empty Canon OEM CLI-8 cartridges on eBay to offset the added cost. It is over C$1.3 each. Search eBay with "cli-8 empty"

 

[Grandad35]

Since you are selling the prints, would the decreased fade resistance of non-OEM inks be a problem?

If the answer is no, you could also fix the i9900 and refill (you must have quite a few empty OEM carts by now).

If the answer is yes, you must also use OEM carts and live with the cost.

IMHO, if you have to print using OEM inks to get the desired longevity, consider having all of your "printing" done by someone like Costco or one of the numerous online companies who "print" using a traditional chemical process and mail the prints to you. If you can tolerate a few days to get the prints, you will never be able to compete with their costs while using OEM ink.

 

[rehardwick]

Manuchau,

Here are some thoughts from my perspective.

1 Keep in mind that the printing head in your i9900 is the same one that is used in the ip8500 and the Pro9000 printers and they are selling on ebay for $88.50.

2 I have an i9900 and it is worth trying to get it to function again. It has a very straight through paper path which is very good. Unless something is seriously damaged, you may only need to clean things up with facial tissues, q-tips and lots of rubbing alcohol. The first thing you need to do is pull out the print head and run hot water through the head to flush out the ink (from both directions). Even taking some heavy bond paper and wetting it down with alcohol, and printing blank pages will remove lots of deposited ink. After the cleaning process, put everything back together and you may be happily surprised with the results.

3 If that fails, then you are stuck with having to buy a Pro9000, as repair costs will be too high to justify the expense. The important thing is that more than one suppliers are selling resettable chips (yes, just turning off the printer does an automatic reset) that can either mounted on cartridges or in the printer. You can then choose between using third party cartridges (that interchange with the Canon cartridges) that are un-chipped. Or, you could refill your own cartridges with premium ink available from the same suppliers and from my experience, after the cost of the chips is taken into account, filling a cartridge will cost about $1 per refill.

I hope that provides some encouragement.

 

[Manuchau]

It does indeed.

After many hours I have been able to clear a very hard-packed paper jam, and I have been able to get rid of most of the black lines,,although I may have to clean it a few more times. The first test print was wonderful as per usual.

This has been a spectacular printer over the years, and it is almost a shame that there does not appear to be any archival inks for it. Longevity is not a huge issue with me right now. When I do print photos for locals, they are told of this fact. I myself have several walls full of images printed with the i9900 (behind glass), and it is hard to tell if any of them have faded much through the years. This is what people see when they come into my home-based business and is often the reason why I am asked to do photo blowups for them.

Still, I am in discussions with Mikling of Precision Colours about inks and archival printing. He is incredibly knowledgeable about these things and I'm going to use his recommendations.

Thanks to all those who contributed to this thread.

 

[pharmacist]

Manuchau,

You know I'm experimenting with pigment inks and to find the optimal setting between printer and paper to obtain archival prints with the Canon i9950 (EU-version of the i9900 with CD-tray).

 

[Manuchau]

Pharmacist, I will keep a closer eye on your postings as this is something that will be important and of interest to many people.

Thank you