Convert pro-100 to pro-10

[samsungtech]

The pro-100 and pro-10 seem to be the same printer housing, and even has the space for the extra ink cartridges. Would it be possible to get a pro-10 ink and print head and flash the firmware of the pro-100 unit to the pro-10?

Has anyone thought of this or tried it?

 

[The Hat]

No one has tried that yet but you can be the first guinea pig to try it out if you like, but here’s my dough’s on it first.

The two printer may look very similar i.e. there’re both Canons but that’s where the similarities end, you can’t use a different print head in these printers, nor can you use different cartridge chips, or firmware and last but not least.

It would be far cheaper to buy a Pro 10 and a Pro 100 printer separately that it would be to buy a spare set of cartridges and print head to do your experiments with, and far safer too.

Welcome to the forum..

 

[samsungtech]

I have a extra pro-100 and can pick up another for $40 if needed. I may consider flashing the firmware of the pro-10 to the pro-100 to see what would happen. I realize the Ink and print head are different.

 

[PeterBJ]

The cartridges used by the Pro 10, CLI-42 and Pro 100, PGI-72 are different, so even if a Pro 10 print head might fit in a Pro 100 print head carriage, PGI-72 cartridges might not.

The Pro 100 is an 8 cartridge printer and the Pro 10 is a 10 cartridge printer, and the CLI-42 cartridges have a prism for optical low ink level detection, where the PGI-72 have no prism AFAIK. To me this means the logic boards are different, and that a Pro 100 logic board cannot be turned into a Pro 10 logic board by flashing the firmware.

Furthermore I think a firmware for another printer cannot be flashed, as this could render a printer totally useless, if someone by mistake downloaded a wrong version of the firmware.

So even if most of the mechanical parts are the same for the two printers, I think the conversion of a Pro 100 to a Pro 10 by changing the firmware is not possible.

 

[The Hat]

All is not lost if you still wish to try your idea out on one of your Pro100’s.

You use a set of compatible CLI-8 cartridges, which would work better than the OEM 42’s would and fill them with pigment inks, but then you have to leave one of the colours out because the Pro 100 has only 8 cartridges. (No need for Glop cart)

If you do this then you’d want the watch your output like a hawk for any signs of ink starvation and stop the printing instantly to prevent any nozzle damage, so yes it can be done but a Pro 10 would do it far better easier and much more enjoyable with no risk.

One further thing to note here is if you decide it’s still worth a go, then don’t forget to shake the ink bottles before filling your cartridges and also remember to remove and shake each cartridge vigorously before commencing any printing, good luck with your experiment.
Happy Printing..

 

[PeterBJ]

I wonder why the OEM CLI-8 or CLI-42 cartridges are not suitable for pigment ink for photo printing? The pigment black cartridge PGI-5 is similar to the CLI-8/CLI-42 in design, only bigger, but the PGI-72 cartridges are very different in design, as they use a bladder to contain the ink instead of sponges and also have built in paddles to mix the ink at printer start up, to avoid problems caused by pigment sediment. So probably pigment inks for photo printing are very different from pigment black ink used for text print?

 

[The Hat]

I reckon you have hit the nail on the head, I never tried using my KMP pigment black in any of my Pro printers (To expensive) but I have tried the 9500 I.S. pigment ink in my PGI-5BK cart for my 4500 and it clogged up might fast.

I reckoned that these pigment inks that are used in the BCI-3eBK/ PGI-5BK carts are a simulated mix of dye and pigment ink that work better in sponge cartridges, but yet MICR iron oxide black ink works in sponge cartridge !

 

[palombian]

When I compare the print head of my MX7600 with the one described in "Anatomy of a Canon printhead", it looks like Canon adapted a standard print head to pigment ink for this printer.
It works very well, never clogged in 5 years (with their inks).

But I can imagine they changed the timing and volumes in the logic in function of the ink properties.
Plus adapted nozzle cleaning and added cartridge wiggle (to move the paddles).
It is for sure a very specialised job.

When I see the difficulties I encounter converting this printer from one pigment ink to another, I wish TS good luck with his project.

 

[pharmacist]

I tried a similar experiment with the canon i9950 printer a few years ago and it does work, but the used pigment ink does not adhere well on the paper, because it was for the hp b9180 printer (mikling provided me some sample inks for this adventurous experiment). The bci6 cartridges do feed well as far as my experiment goes. Try using canon ipf5100 compatible ink in it, but no Epson compatible k3 ink.