My MP970 has just said goodbye

[mikling]

Today I say farewell to my MP970 who has served me well for a while. The times we spent together rewarded me with beautiful photos, fast text printing, awesome slide scanning and quiet operation. But alas the time has come for the 970. It must join other printers in the land of the recycler.
I bid farewell to it.

This MP970 was recovered from the printer pound where I acquired printers that were discarded by previous retail establishments or service centers where the owners found that it was not worth their while to make them function. So having two I took a chance and acquired them hoping that it would allow reconstruction of one. I succeeded and rescued one of them from the land of the recycler. I loved that AIO as it showed fine performance.

Today I acquired the dreaded U051 and U052. Defective printhead right at the startup. No amount of cleaning contacts, start sequences or anything would change that message. It looks terminal.

Well possessing a nice high performance scanner I wanted to keep the unit running so I then enquired into the Canon Technical support.

Here's the official line by Canon Canada Technical support. I explained that the printer was out of warranty but that it was hardly used. The technical support then explained to me that the average lifetime of the printhead is only 9 to 18 months. Well I don't agree with that but that is their opinion according to the information they have. Of course they would not tell of how to purge and flush heads etc. They also emphasized that the printhead was a consumable.

Next they then explained that I could obtain a replacement head from one of their official dealers. Curious to know how much a head for my 970 would cost as if it was nominal I would resuscitate it I then called. The cost for a replacement head was $263 CAD. It is possible that a circuit within the 970 killed the head or the head died from infant failure of the electronics inside. The risk of just putting a new head in to see is simply too great and I don't think anyone should risk putting a known good head in. So the 970 must be put down.

Well I guess you now know why I have to bid farewell to my MP970.

Fortunately all my slides have been scanned but unfortunately I sold off my Epson Photo scanner earlier because the slide unit on the 970 was much more convenient and gave similar results.

 

[embguy]

Time to watch your local Kijiji or Craigslist for a replacement MP970.

When the print head is gone, the newer printer does not let you use the other functions.

The old Canon i-Series printers are great. It lets you use your printer with only the black cartridge installed. When the color nozzles are bad, you can still use it as B/W printer!!!

 

[jackson]

They also emphasized that the printhead was a consumable.

Hah!
An empty cart is a consumable.
What kind of $263 consumable is a coin flip as to whether it works or not?
I don't doubt that for one minute that when a printer comes in for service, the first thing done is to put a ten dollar print head in and see if it works - if it destroys the head - no problem, the problem has been diagnosed - it aint the printhead and they ash can the printer and you get a refurb - i.e. a printer with a new head.

 

[websnail]

Stupid question Mike but have you considered trying Canon USA and seeing if they give you a better offer?.. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have to pay that stupid amount from them unless things really have changed a lot.

 

[mikling]

Actually I have so many printers that my checking the price was simply out of curiosity as a normal customer would do to see what 90-95% of the population would experience. As you can tell, not good.

I have so many printers in storage that I would literally be a picture in the printaholic hall of fame if at least a distinuguished member. As for scanning, after I scanned my slides, my need for a good scanner has all but disappeared so I am comfortable with a mainstream AIO scanner now. It's a bit of a shame since I kept the extra scanning bed from the other unit as a spare. If it had been less than $50 for a printhead I might have considered it but remember it is possible that the control electronics is frying the head. It died on powerup, as it was working perfectly before weeks ago. Anything more and to myself it's not worth it as I have 3 AIOS already.

So off it goes this weekend when the recycling depot is open and it will make space for more projects in the future. I can better spend some more time tuning my B&W inksets that I am formulating. This is an extremely exciting and very tricky thing to do. I'm 95-98% there. Due to my poor documentation I lost my recipe that had nailed it. A lesson that in the excitement of R&D, documentation of what was done is key. There's a reason why few sellers have glossy B&W inksets available. It's a lot of work and it is not easy to make a good neutral one. If you think it is just diluting black, you've got a nasty surprise.

 

[websnail]

I have so many printers in storage that I would literally be a picture in the printaholic hall of fame if at least a distinuguished member.

Well you're among good company although my wife is making inroads to reduce my own stockpile

As for scanning, after I scanned my slides, my need for a good scanner has all but disappeared so I am comfortable with a mainstream AIO scanner now. It's a bit of a shame since I kept the extra scanning bed from the other unit as a spare. If it had been less than $50 for a printhead I might have considered it but remember it is possible that the control electronics is frying the head. It died on powerup, as it was working perfectly before weeks ago. Anything more and to myself it's not worth it as I have 3 AIOS already.

Good point... I had forgotten about that side of things, despite posting about it on a different thread.. but yeah, it's not worth the joy of discovering the boards are fried the hard way :/

I can better spend some more time tuning my B&W inksets that I am formulating. This is an extremely exciting and very tricky thing to do. I'm 95-98% there. Due to my poor documentation I lost my recipe that had nailed it. A lesson that in the excitement of R&D, documentation of what was done is key. There's a reason why few sellers have glossy B&W inksets available. It's a lot of work and it is not easy to make a good neutral one. If you think it is just diluting black, you've got a nasty surprise.

LOL... I'll let you play with that lot quite happily thanks It's not like I haven't enough to do already...

Definitely feel your pain on the lost recipe though... It's yet another example of "backup, backup, and backup!"...

 

[leo8088]

Canon printers do last longer than what the Canon tech said. Much longer than that in my own experience in using my ip4300. I bought it in 2005 and have had absolutely great success in using it almost everyday and refilling it a couple of times a month. Several boxes (5000 sheets per box) of paper has been through it and it still works like a new printer.

 

[d1hamby]

leo8088, that sounds a lot like my story until I put pigment ink in my S820. I did flush it out and get it to work again. Now I have two print heads for it though.

 

[leo8088]

What happened to this thread? My post is gone? There were 15 posts in this thread but now there are only 8. One of my post is gone. Is there a censorship scheme going on on this forum? I can't have different opinion against an ink vendor/seller? I have tried and I thought I was very reasonable. My post is removed!!! I can't believe this. This is not the first time. And every time it was when I had argument with mikling. Please explain. Is Chinese style censorship apllied here on an American forum. I can't believe it....

 

[moderator]

This is a well-moderated forum. Members are welcome to express their opinions for or against vendors and sellers, but arguments with other members are not allowed. Unfortunately, other posts in this thread that did not violate the rules were also deleted so please keep it friendly. Rule #2 explains it all.