Worth buying a printhead or not?

[Clueless]

Hello all,

New to this forum I thought I'd ask for help here with my several photo printers.

I have the following, bought used: Canon Pro 9000, i9900 and ip6600d. They were running when I bought them, and all three had printhead failure the next day (the dreaded 5 orange flashes) . Feels like I'm cursed or something.

I see that printheads off ebay cost a fortune and are not guaranteed to work.

Is there any way to "revive" these? Two of them had perfect nozzle checks before going, and the Pro 9000 died in between 2 photos with no sign of struggle. It even "came back" one day later and printed one more page, then died permanently.

Could the "no printhead" error happen because of the parking station? Or any other body-related reason, something that could be fixed? I love getting my hands dirty!

Any help much appreciated as the dead printer bodies are piling up under the bed and my wife is getting antsy...

 

[The Hat]

Any help much appreciated as the dead printer bodies are piling up under the bed and my wife is getting antsy...

There is no easy way to put this but, please your wife and dump the printers before you get divorced, there are no more print heads for these models available, so invest in a Pro 100 instead, there are good discounts to be had across the border in the US…

 

[stratman]

all three had printhead failure the next day

Please clarify. Do you mean all three printers failed the very first time you tried them at home?

 

[Clueless]

Please clarify. Do you mean all three printers failed the very first time you tried them at home?

The Pro 9000 had a perfect nozzle check the first time I tried it (incredible right?). Used it for about 2 days, never touched the head as I didn't need to. Died in between printing 2 photos (5 orange flashes). Then, turned it off and on and printed one more photo before it settled on the 5 orange permanently. Why would it die so suddenly?

The i9900 had a very poor nozzle check, did some cleaning cycles (a mistake now after reading this forum). All the colours came out great after some cycles, except one. Left the printer powered on overnight (green), in the morning it was flashing 5 orange. Took the printhead out and put it in my Pro 9000 above, to my surprise it did not flash any more. All colours still looking great except one. Left it in a bit of distilled water with a drop of soap over night. In the morning, 5 flashes. This was the head of the i9900 attempting to use it in the Pro 9000. Admittedly this head was a bit of a dud, and the i9900 body reported around 1,600 pages printed.

Now I have 2 heads & 2 bodies, tried swapping them but they are both reporting 'missing printhead'. Cleaned out the contacts on both with alcohol & cotton swab, as well as on the head carriage. Not sure what else to do... I have tons of CLI-8 carts / ink and I really like the chipless i9900.

The ip6600d, similar story. Streaky nozzle check, did cleaning cycles on it (before having read this forum!). Kept at it for a couple days. At this point it was still working, but with streaks. Then I used a dropper to put a few drops of water in each colour and this seemed to end it. When I put it back in, missing printhead.

I know I made a bunch of mistakes with the i9900, not knowing how destructive the cleaning cycles can be. But, is there anything at all I can try to bring them back to life?

 

[Clueless]

There is no easy way to put this but, please your wife and dump the printers before you get divorced, there are no more print heads for these models available, so invest in a Pro 100 instead, there are good discounts to be had across the border in the US…

Thanks, I am strongly considering getting rid of all my cli-8 system. I wanted to spend $80 on a 'refurb' one on Ebay, but what if it stops working in another couple days? Gah

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I am strongly considering getting rid of all my cli-8 system.

I think that's a good decision, get a new printer which supports refill. One of the typical failure modes of a Canon printhead is wear, wear of the heating element which creates the heat pulses to create the ink bubbles, it is a a small track of a resistive metal film which is protected by a plastic coating , and this plastic coating is exposed to millions of termperature cycles for the bubble creation and to the ink solvent which stands for a limited number - x millions - of ink shots - per nozzle.

 

[Clueless]

I think that's a good decision, get a new printer which supports refill.

Ive been beating the crap out of my 2 G series printers, buried a g2200 at like 7,000 pages and still using a g3000. They seem to work great with aftermarket inks but the lack of true black is a problem for some photos.

My only working 13" printer is a IX6520 which I heard is refill friendly.

Would it be worth buying a used Pro-100 or should it be new?

 

[rodbam]

My two printers are coming to the end of their lives, a pro9000 my wife is using even though one colour has some lines on the nozzle check & my pro9500 which is still going great because my knight in shining armour The Hat sent me a replacement head but after this head goes it's for the bin.
It seems hard to throw away printers which still look good a.

 

[stratman]

is there anything at all I can try to bring them back to life?

Based on what you've said - no, at least not for very long. Sometimes powering off the printer, with or without cleaning electrical contacts on the print head or cartridges, can temporarily "reset" the issue and the printer will work again for a limited time. Ultimately, nothing you do will prevent permanent malfunction. It is just a matter of time.

While rare, there is a chance that an electrically faulty print head can electrically damage the logic assay board and vice versa.

Installing an electronically faulty print head into a different printer may damage the logic assay board of that printer.

Installing a good print head into a printer with an electronically faulty logic assay board may damage the new print head.

It is very odd that 3 different printers failed in a row, all with their own presenting problems from the start, with little usage by you. Very suspicious.

You say the printers worked for the person who sold them to you. Maybe they were already malfunctioning but had not permanently passed on to the great printer shop in the sky. If so then you deserve your money back.

Maybe there was some kind of issue during transportation that seriously jarred the printers and you lost a contact tracing or part along the way. Maybe there was an electrical surge in your home.

Whatever happened, you now need a new printer. Only buy a used printer if you not only see it in action but also get a nozzle check on the spot. Note how many pages the printer has printed. Note the external and internal conditions of the printer. If possible, get a guarantee concerning DOA if the printer flames out after you set it up. If the printer isn't set up and they do not want to show you it working then walk away unless it is for ridiculously cheap or free and you don't mind another giant brick in your home.

Caveat emptor!