storage of an used canon printhead

[aaronthink]

I have a ip4500, the printer is out of service but the printhead is new. the thing is that I have bought another second-hand ip4500 and i want to use the printhead from the other printer (because I bought it new). But it is suposed that the new printer will come with a well-working print head. so the thing is that i wanna store one of those printheads to use it if the other gets clogged or breaks down.

What do you thing it would be the best way to store a used printhead??

I thought about washing it down the tap, to clean all the rests of ink and after distiled water, and after to let it dry, and store it like that. What do you think? give me your opinion or your experience, please.

many thanks!

 

[ghwellsjr]

My experience is with printers that use the unchipped BCI type cartridges. When I want to store a print head, I remove all the cartridges and do two deep head cleanings followed by a nozzle check. If anything prints, I do another deep head cleaning and repeat until nothing prints. I think it is important to remove as much ink as possible from the print head before storing it. I have never had a problem using a print head that has been stored after being cleaned like this.

The Canon printers that have chips in their cartridges will not let you do deep head cleanings (or anything else) if any cartridge is missing. So what I would do is purge and dry a set of cartridges to use for this purpose.

However, if you don't want to devote a set of cartridges for this purpose, your idea will probably work--just be aware that it will take a very long time of washing before you get all the ink out of the print head.

 

[stratman]

Running warm or cool tap water over the top inlet screens and bottom exit ports is easy. Just line up what you want to flush under the running tap water and let it be for a minute or two, moving either the printhead or the water flow to a new area as needed.

When you run water on the bottom of the printhead for a few seconds and then turn the printhead rightside up, you will note water beading on top of the inlet screens. This demonstrates water flowing backwards through the printhead (good) and you will get an idea when the ink is flushed out when the beading water is no longer colored. Also, the inlet screens will become silver or mostly silver, at least on my MP830 printheads.

Using your mouth, or some other device, to blowing water through the bottom exit ports up to the inlet screens (the opposite flow of ink normally) will also give you an idea when the ink has been flushed out - no colored water exiting.

I find an extra set of Canon cartridges with water or a "cleaning" concoction (search for Pharmacist's cleaning solution) is the easiest and cleanest method of purging a printhead for storage. You can always use the cleaning cartridges with ink again knowing they have had a good purging themselves.

I would seal the purged/cleaned printhead in a ziplock baggy or airtight container. Not sure if you need to provide humidity/moisture to the container, since I have stored a prinhead in a ziplock bag for months without adding moisture and it worked identically as before storage. Do keep it from direct sunlight and temperature extremes as a general precaution.

According to Canon Tech Support a couple years back, their factory new sealed printheads have a general shelf life of about 2-3 years. Not sure why, but that's what the man said.

 

[Tom Hock]

I use my shop vacuum to do the same thing the printer purge unit does sucks fluid through the print head, but without loading up the waste ink pads. I hold the outlet (nozzle) side of the print head at the inlet hose of the vacuum, which creates a low pressure area. I can hold the hose end and print head with one hand. With my other hand I drip Windex on each print head inlet screen (maybe a few cc for each screen using a syringe. If the print head is clean and unobstructed the Windex will be sucked right through in a few seconds. If any of the nozzles are blocked it is easy to see by the way the Windex sits on the inlet screen. If I'm going to store the print head I also end up putting a few cc of alcohol through each inlet to flush out the Windex. If any fluid, other than alcohol, remains in any part of the print head it might cause mold or some other growth in the fine nozzles.