Safe way to store a Canon printer?

[l_d_allan]

In a previous thread

The safe way to store a printer is to do deep cleaning cycles until there is no ink left in the print head. With the older unchipped cartridges, this is very easy to do. With the new cartridges, you have to make some empty cartridges just for this purpose.

Sounds worthwhile, but I wanted to check so I am clear how this would apply to a printer like an iP4500 that used CLI-8/PGI-5 chipped carts. My impression from the above is that I would use empty carts, but use the resetter so the printer will proceed because it thinks they are full. Then I would do one or more deep cleaning cycles to remove residual ink in the print-head?

And by "empty", I think you mean dry, fully purged carts with no residual ink in the reservoir and especially foam/sponge side. These would be "even emptier" than a cart that the printer detects as Empty. My experience is that a cart detected by the printer to be Empty can still have a fair amount of ink in it. You'd want it empty enough that the outlet filter is dry, or at most barely damp. It might be a cart that has been wicked semi-dry using the paper towel method.

Correct?

Could and should I do nozzle checks after deep cleaning cycles to confirm the print-head is empty of ink? Does the nozzle check use a small enough amount of ink so as to not cause problems of "printing" without ink?

As an alternative to using a resetter, could I leave the carts un-reset, but over-ride the print-driver complaining about empty carts? I think this can be done by pressing the over-ride button on the printer (the one that typically flashes yellow, at least on the two printers I have with no LCD so no user interface).

 

[ghwellsjr]

In response to your first question, yes, everything is correct as you expanded and clarified my brief comments, thanks for that.

I do two deep cleaning cycles to start with followed by a nozzle check and then a nozzle check after each additional deep cleaning if there is any trace of ink on the page. Nozzle checks are designed to be safe for clogged nozzles. Cleanings also fire the nozzles in addition to the purge pump sucking on the bottom of the print head but again, I have to assume that the print head can tolerate that level of action. I have never had any problem with burning out nozzles during cleanings and nozzle checks and I've never heard of any report of such a problem.

I have never let my printers run with unreset cartridges so I really don't know what the ramifications of that might be.

 

[Tom Hock]

You might want to review this posting also. http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6491