How to store an IP4500 printhead and carts?

[pingo]

What would be the best way of storing a printer that is going to be used only for spare parts?

I would like to preserve the printhead and the carts as a backup for my second IP4500 and would like to know how?
How should I rinse the printhead so it doesn't get clogged by the ink drying out and should I simply purge the carts?
Are there any other parts of the printer that should be taken care of before putting the device on a shelf in my garage?

Thanks for all your answers in advance.

Regards, pingo

 

[ghwellsjr]

The cartridges can be safely stored for a fairly long time, a year or so, simply by removing them from the printer and taping the outlet port. Or you could use the orange covers that came with the cartridges and hold them on with a rubber band wrapped tightly around the cartridges. You do not want to cover the air vent on the top of the cartridge. It is designed to handle the daily ambient air pressure variations without drying out the sponge unit. If you have used the German method to refill your cartridges, it is very important to cover the refill hole with tape, something that I recommend doing whenever you refill anyway.

Your print head is a different matter. If your printer was an older model that had chipless cartridges, the answer would be easy--remove the cartridges and do deep head cleanings until a nozzle check prints nothing. This is to get the ink out of the print head. But since your printer will not allow you to do that, we have to think of another way.

One other way is to purge and dry a set of cartridges and use them to do the head cleanings and nozzle checks until nothing prints.

A second way is to run warm--not hot--water from your tap through the inlet ports on the print head and out the nozzles, then turn the print head over and run the water onto the nozzles and out the inlet ports. Keep doing this until no more ink comes out. It can take a long time. When you're all done, you should fill the inlet ports with Windex or other window cleaner, just to get the tap water out of the print head, and then blot it on paper towels.

A third way is to fill your purged cartridges with Windex and use them to deep clean the print head.