PIXMA PRO-10 Head Clog

[LargoUsagi]

Hey all, been reading here for the past 3 days on ways to unclog my pro-10's head, had great luck with all but 2 of the channels, R/PBK they are clogged up solid and do not seem to want to relent. The unit sat powered on with full tanks for 2 years of non use, I think forgot to power it back on after power loss and the thing got pretty gummed up, I had the assumption if it was on the mains power, even in standby it would do clean cycles.

The unit spent 2 days submerged in isopropyl alcohol and I used a pipette to gently flush the head until no pigmentation was coming off.

I am not certain on where to go next outside of purchasing a new print head. Any suggestions for what could be done, more soaking? or just buy a new head.

If I go the purchase a new head route I see a lot of refurb/used heads from china on e-bay but I question their ability to arrive intact or actually work as well as the head that came with my printer, any experience in purchasing a new head or a good source for a replacement part would also be appreciated.

Also may as well throw out there if I intend on not using the printer for a long period of time is there a storage process that is recommended, I came up with dead links to here on ways for canon printers.

 

[The Hat]

I am not certain on where to go next outside of purchasing a new print head. Any suggestions for what could be done, more soaking? or just buy a new head.

Hi and welcome, to start with leaving the printer on 24/7 doesn’t do anything for your pocket or the printer, and no it won’t do cleaning or maintenance when left turned on in definitely, that’s a fallacy. (Best turned off by power button )

You should always let the printer do the head cleaning where possible, but if you insist on doing the job yourself then you let it soak in 5 mm of washing up liquid and water, any deeper means the head should be thoroughly dried before re-inserting back into the printer.

The best way for us to tell how damaged your print head, is to post your last nozzle check for us to examine, but if you have attempted to do any test prints before a clear nozzle print is achieved then the head maybe damaged and can’t be saved.

Purchasing a new head is easy, just look for any official Canon agents to get one, and not use any EBay sites, there is no such thing as a free lunch so all these heads advertised are refurbished and not new and definitely won’t work 100%..

Now if you’re not going to use the printer for quite some time then DON’T install the new print head, leave it till you ready to print once again, or better still don’t buy a new head and just sell the printer because it’s obvious you don’t need it..

 

[LargoUsagi]

I attempted to do a very small print, a blu ray disc cover, realized that it was probably clogged, told it to do a cleaning cycle and then a test print, first one is everything clogged, the most recent one is as also shown with the 2 channels still blocked.

 

[The Hat]

I attempted to do a very small print, a blu ray disc cover, realized that it was probably clogged,

To wake up a printer that’s been in hibernation, it take a little time to get her ready to print once again, first is to run the Quality Maintenance and a head cleaning cycle, then repeat those two steps, followed by a nozzle print check, not forgetting to check the ink levels in the carts.

Depending on your nozzle print output, repeat the same process again and then print another nozzle check, by now the print head should have been cleared of any clogs, but if not try flooding the purge unit with window cleaner, then try another nozzle check..

Now there is no reason why your printer shouldn’t be in perfect working order, but you must insure the nozzle print is 100% before you proceed, and if so your free to print any test print you like…

It would seem your print head has over heated in the Red and PB blocks and are beyond saving, so you can now decide whether you sell the printer or buy a new head.. Sorry..

Question:- were you using OEM inks.. ?

 

[LargoUsagi]

This printer has never seen anything but OEM inks.

How much printing would be required to have burnt out those nozzles because it has seen 2 prints that where very quick, 10-15 seconds, plain paper quality quick ones, no continuous duty, no long 13x19 max quality prints,

just the CD cover, nozzle check, clean, nozzle check clean, deep clean, nozzle check, nozzle check,
~4 hours of a soak in iso, drying, nozzle check (got all but the 2 red and photo black back after this) but they where streaking,
small test print, 4x6ish favoring the colors that where streaking a bit, nozzle check, and then we got to a state similar to the picture I shared this morning, seeing those clogged I saw some stuff here about ink can clear a clog sitting so I shifted to waiting a few hours between and did more nozzle checks no real change, the other colors continued to improve, R/PBK didn't lay a drop. So to the overnight soak, During all of this I replaced carts as the where marked low/empty by the printer with new carts that I had from last time I was using the printer actively, ~2 years old as well, but a new 10 cartridge set never opened.

The head when I soaked it again I noticed the black and red lines where not really dissolving, with a spray from a pipette it got those moving a bit so I over the course a day and a half would let it sit, watch a few episodes work etc, agitate the head with the fluid on those channels more red/black would come out rinse repeat until the head appeared the same as the rest of the channels.

Part of me believes there may be a clog inside still, this is because on all of the other channels if I placed the pipette up to the port where the ink cart would sit and starting spraying it would cause iso to make it all the way through and put droplets on the print head on the other side.

$280.16 for a new print head directly from canon for a printer that is phenomenal. I called them this morning and assume it will be around ~300 shipped, far better than buying a new 10s or pro 1000. I have 2 pixma pro 100's and 1 that has never been opened up that I figured I could use for parts if I ever needed it or to run non OEM inks if I ever started printing at levels that I felt that was necessary. It turns out that wasn't a real concern.

Some times learning experience can be expensive, that is fine, I have plenty of things I can print on a regular basis with the printers, I just was not aware of the need to keep the ink flowing until this last week of trying to revive this printer. Just one of my photo libraries goes back 12 years, 1.7TB and over 100k files with ~50k unique images many of them that have been put on display or published in print media, I have things I can just schedule out and print over time to keep the machine working well, my out of pocket cost on the machine was covered from that library alone.

 

[The Hat]

~4 hours of a soak in iso, drying, nozzle check (got all but the 2 red and photo black back after this) but they where streaking,

I did explain above that cleaning the head outside of this printer is unnecessary, because you can do more harm than good, and I also said that the two colour blocks (Red/Black) are damaged way beyond saving, so no amount of cleaning or soaking will bring them back..

A new head is expensive but that’s the only thing that’s going to make the printer work again, so if you decide to buy a new head, please remember to do a nozzle print first before you do any serious printing.. It can save you an awful lot of grief later..

A Canon print head needs a constant flow of ink in the nozzles at all times, it prevents the nozzles from overheating and burning out, so by printing a nozzle check first that will tell you if it is safe to continue to make your normal prints..

P.S. Also please remember to shake a new cart for a couple of seconds before use..

 

[LargoUsagi]

A new head was ordered after your previous post, as I said, expensive learning experience, now I know, if I could get it to function again its more of a lets see what I can do with it, not like I can make it worse, its already broken. I will ensure going forward that a nozzle check occurs at least once a month, and that I do projects with this printer more spread out instead of large batches.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Redbrickman]

I don't have the Pro 10 but I do a Nozzle check on my Pro 9000 MK2 every week. I suggest you do the same weekly as it uses little ink and is the best way to keep the nozzles working OK. If you have windows you can set up an automated print weekly. It can be done on Mac too but the process is more difficult and as I found it was hit and miss I simply made an entry in my electronic diary to do the print every Friday. Once that pops up I go to the printer and do a nozzle test print.

 

[The Hat]

Once that pops up I go to the printer and do a nozzle test print.

@Redbrickman likes to keep a clear head on things…

 

[husaskin]

Hey all, been reading here for the past 3 days on ways to unclog my pro-10's head, had great luck with all but 2 of the channels, R/PBK they are clogged up solid and do not seem to want to relent. The unit sat powered on with full tanks for 2 years of non use, I think forgot to power it back on after power loss and the thing got pretty gummed up, I had the assumption if it was on the mains power, even in standby it would do clean cycles.

The unit spent 2 days submerged in isopropyl alcohol and I used a pipette to gently flush the head until no pigmentation was coming off.

I am not certain on where to go next outside of purchasing a new print head. Any suggestions for what could be done, more soaking? or just buy a new head.

If I go the purchase a new head route I see a lot of refurb/used heads from china on e-bay but I question their ability to arrive intact or actually work as well as the head that came with my printer, any experience in purchasing a new head or a good source for a replacement part would also be appreciated.

Also may as well throw out there if I intend on not using the printer for a long period of time is there a storage process that is recommended, I came up with dead links to here on ways for canon printers.

Don’t get a eBay one. I’ve been down that road. It didn’t work and luckily I got a refund.
I contacted Canon and end up buying a new print head. Worked straight away.

Yes I also would like to know how I can store long term.