How to remove PRO-1 printhead ?

[Artur5]

@The Hat said it all perfectly, so I have very little to add.

Anyway, super glossy paper isn’t the best friend of pigment inks, but maybe replacing that compatible CO cart. with a new Canon OEM CO will fix or alleviate considerably the bronzing problem.
For the time being, no need to purchase practically a whole new set of carts until you find out if the printhead is OK. The nozzle test shows minor banding on DGY and C that probably will be fixed following @the Hat’s instructions, but MBK looks more like electrical damage to me, although I hope is not.

 

[Anthonycano_2013]

Thank you @Artur5 @The Hat
Sorry to thank you so late, I appreciate you took the time to answer.
I will get the ink that is low and do the deepest cleaning on the system. I had already done some mild cleaning to test the nuzzles. Hope the MBK is fine.
Will keep you post
Again thanks

 

[The Hat]

I will get the ink that is low and do the deepest cleaning on the system.

My advice is to use only normal head cleans and not very often, (use patience) deep cleans are very wasteful of your ink and repeated deep cleans are harmful to the print head, so be warned.. Never run a system unless it is very necessary.. Keep in mind your waste ink cartridge..

 

[mid_modernist]

First time poster.

My Pro-1 has appeared to give up the ghost. 9 of the 12 nozzle checks print fine, but I've noticed that the PBK, GY and DGY appear to have a perfect horizontal 50/50 split of light and dark, which tells me that it's in big trouble. See attachment. Initially I had thought the pattern was so uniform that that was in fact the nozzle check pattern, but the blank sections are consistent with the poor results I'm seeing on the glossy papers. Matt papers seem OK, which I assume to mean that the MBK is working OK.

I've no idea how this happened although I did try off-brand inks a few months back (co-incidence?!). Mind you I bought this printer about 8 years ago so it's probably done it's duty.

If there's a DIY remedy, I'd like to try it out, but I've tried cleaning cycles and the same pattern repeats over and over. From the posts I've read here, a DIY job is not for the faint hearted (or also time poor in my case).

Guessing I should cut my losses and get a Pro-10s? It doesn't appear to have any drawbacks compared to the PRO-1. I sell maybe 20 prints a year which tells me the PRO-1 was definitely overkill. At the time of purchase I was doing a reasonable amount of paid work, but it's mostly hobby now.

 

[The Hat]

Guessing I should cut my losses and get a Pro-10s? It doesn't appear to have any drawbacks compared to the PRO-1.

Everything you say is true, the printer has had it, but you could purchase a head and a set of carts but the cost would be just about in and around the same price as getting a new Pro 10 or second hand one.

The Pro 10 is an easier printer to work with and with much the same quality output, plus refilling can be an added bonus also, and most of the inks from your Pro 1 can be used in the Pro 10, there is no downside in getting a Pro 10, only pluses..

Sorry for your loss…

 

[mid_modernist]

I’m racing through the various stages of grief, and it does seem a PRO-10s will be a worthy replacement. You mention how easy it is to fill the cartridges, so that’s a definite plus (Any ink recommendations?). Seems like it won’t suffer as much from being left idle either, which was a definite issue with the PRO-1 as being a family man makes it that bit harder to keep a printer humming.

Any insights any of you can share will be most welcome.

I’ll probably miss some of the additional detail provided by the Light and Dark Gray for the B/W prints, but truth be told it’s been a while since I made a few B/W prints, and inspected them close up.

Anyone want a PRO-1 with a busted print head?!

 

[AttilaG]

Hi All!

I was a happy user of a Pixma PRO-1 for almost 6 years - until recently. I have modified my cartridges years ago according to youtube videos (Thanks to Jtoolman) and was using ink from Precision colors and printed my pictures without problems.

But my printer started to leave black smudges on the printed paper - after disassembling I noticed some leakage inside the printer. I cleaned up everything and made a nozzle check but next time the printer gave me B200 error.
Also a couple of times I had 5110 error in the past, but those usually disappeared when I turned off/on the printer. Please give me some advice how to proceed!

Thanks in advance!

 

[The Hat]

I was a happy user of a Pixma PRO-1 for almost 6 years -

@AttilaG, You got on very well with your printer until you decided to disassemble it, now you know you can’t just do that with the Pro 1 printer, plus you may have ruined any chances you had of replacing the print head.

This is no ordinary Canon printer, it has AI with a live EPROM chip that records everything you do when using it, and objects strongly when you try to interfere with it on the inside.

Now depending on what you did to it, you may still be able to install a new print head, but that’s if you can find a print head and at a reasonable price, it’s not that easy or cheap.

So you can spend your money purchasing a new print head, but there are no guarantees that it will work again, plus it’s going to waste 50% of your current ink to complete the whole installation, then there is the waste ink cartridge to be considered ! !.

I noticed on your 3rd nozzle print that your firmware Version was printed there and that means you cannot reset the waste ink counter, so the printers life is limited, and you must send it to a service agent to have it serviced, O’ the cost..

It might be cheaper, better and longer lasting for you to get a Pro 10 new or second hand, at least that way you’ll know you’re going to have a printer that works for a long time into the future, plus the Pro 1 inks can be used without the need for new chips.

I’ll send you the instructions of how to change the print head, but you’ll will have to see if you can get one first, and if you decide its worth a chance, then come back and I’ll

PM you the details..

 

[AttilaG]

@Hat, hey thanks for the really quick answer!

The situation is a bit better because I downloaded from this forum your instructions how to disassemble the printer properly (paying attention not to disconnect the wires etc). I have bought a printer potty waste ink kit, which I plan to add to the printer also. The new print head is already on its way from France - I thought I'll need it anyway sooner or later. So I'm not giving it up easily.

But your advice on the Pro 10 is also worth to consider on the longer term as I print only a few pages every weeks and the PRO-1 consumes a lot of ink. It's expensive to maintain even with refilled ink and chips. I was wondering how this printer can be used in a more economical way, printing many pages at once and than turn it off for months or one page every few days and not turning it off at all.

Anyway I'll need your instructions how to replace the print head, the one I have is about the installation of printer potty ink kit.

 

[The Hat]

The new print head is already on its way from France - I thought I'll need it anyway sooner or later. So I'm not giving it up easily.

To start with, stop with the idea of installing a Printer Potty , as good as they are, because you can’t reset the waste ink counter on your machine and if you can’t do that then the Printer Potty becomes irrelevant, but it can help enormously in knowing how to keep your waste ink to a minimum..

It’s good you’re going ahead getting a new print head, but be aware it may not work because the printer may not have liked what you did inside it earlier.

The Pro 1 is an very expensive printer to run no matter which way you use it, and there’s no economical way either, remember just as you think you’ve found a way, it will do the very opposite, the printer does what it want to do and you the owner has no say in the matter.

The printer loves to use lots of ink cleaning, and you benefit from that by getting the most beautiful prints from it every time, and if bronzing is an issue on gloss paper then switch to OEM Optimiser.

The best way to use the printer is to turn it on when you have quite a number of prints to do and when finished turn it off again, leaving it on can cause it to give you a B200 error, because most times it can be a spiteful bitch… PM on the way…