How to remove PRO-1 printhead ?

Nick Marques

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Hi all,
I got a Pro-1 way back in 2016 and really haven't used it. I may have printed a dozen or so photos but then it has just sat. I was pretty much never going to pay full price for a set of ink, and when I searched back then I had a hard time finding any refill resources, and so I think I just didn't use it. Fast forward to today and the original set of factory cartridges that came with it are still in the printer.
I managed to clean the printhead a bit, and I'm hoping if I do this a few times a day for the next week, it will fix itself up?
I just ordered a set of ink and chips from Precision Colors. and am prepared to modify this OEM set to accommodate the chips.
Regarding the refill process, should I suck out any remaining ink in the tanks before filling up with new ink? Or, is the residual amount of ink left OK to mix with the refill ink?
Also, at what point do I give up on cleaning and purchase a new printhead. Can someone send me the replacement instructions?
Thanks!

BTW - I'm new to this printer's maintenance, but not new to Canon printers. I've had lots of them.. The Pro-1 was replacing a Pro9000 that is still sitting in my office. Is it worth keeping it or trying to resurrect it?
 

Yeenya

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Hello to all,
I bought two PRO-1 for very low price may be 2 years ago and let them sleep in garage. At the beginning of this week, I did try to wake one of them up. It had original Canon ink cartriges in it. I did print the check page and run cleaning. Test patterns looked OK, I did print one A4 photography, but found out there is no black at all. I had to buy new MBK as the cleaning emptied it. I did run another cleaning and later on deep cleaning on black group. Printed out another A4, still without black, the other colors went OK. I did create a document with large letters, created black section and let it print in BW mode. Nothing was printed out at all on paper.

I went to garage and brought the second printer home, inserted cartriges, printed test page, run one cleaning cycle and printed out a photo on A4. All seems OK. At least one printer is OK. :celebrate

Question at the end. Do you think, there is a chance to get the second printer as well fully working, make the black work? Or I shall keep it just as "spare part" source? I as well have full set of 12 non-Canon in cartriges I can use if needed. I think, the previous owner used only original Canon cartriges in it as well. Would printhead cleaning help? I mean, to remove the printhead, clean it and put back?

Thank you for all advices/options/suggestions what to (you would) do with the second printer.
 

The Hat

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BTW - I'm new to this printer's maintenance, but not new to Canon printers. I've had lots of them..
@Nick Marques, you have lots of things going on at the one time, so just to start from the beginning, can you post the latest nozzle check, so we can see the state of current play with your printer.
Just to be clear, this is not like any other Canon printer so ignorance can be a big asset.. ;)
 

stratman

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I bought two PRO-1 for very low price may be 2 years ago and let them sleep in garage. At the beginning of this week, I did try to wake one of them up. It had original Canon ink cartriges in it.
Do you mean that both printers were new in the box, or was one used with the cartridges already installed in the printer?
 

The Hat

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Question at the end. Do you think, there is a chance to get the second printer as well fully working, make the black work? Or I shall keep it just as "spare part"
@Yeenya, to start with, you should never run any test prints on the printer till you can first get a perfect nozzle check, and only run normal cleaning cycles, no deep cleans, that just wastes ink.

From what you have described with your first printer, it’s likely that the print head is beyond saving, conducting test prints with an uncomplete nozzle check will damage the print head and the more test prints you do the further damage is caused. (Only Checks are acceptable)

The Pro 1 print head was never meant to be removed by the owner, and can only be cleaned properly by the machine itself internally, so no amount of external cleaning can do it any better, any or all cleaning cycles on the printer will waste huge amounts of ink and that ink has to go somewhere.

The best thing you can do with the non-functioning printer is to dump it because there are no usable parts inside that can be used for another printer, except the cartridges, you need deep pockets to supply this printer with ink.

P.S. you can if you wish run a cleaning cycle on the first printer every 12 hours in an effort to ascertain whether the black on the head is damaged or just clogged up, but this will waste all the inks in the cartridges, and fill the waste cartridge..
 

Yeenya

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@stratman - Both were bought as second hand, both were previously used. The working one had nearly empty inks, the broken black had all cartriges with ink and I got some Canon papers and one CO new cartrige with it.

@The Hat - Thank you for response. I read all posts in this thread, I understand that cleaning printhead probably does not help. I did post two files where one is from working printer and the second one from "broken black" one. I did not know how the check print looks like in real. I have comparism now and see, that the left "heading" for each ink shall be black not having another color. Honestly speaking, beside this, I do not see any difference. This was reason, I assumed, printer is OK and I can try to print real photo on A4 photo paper.
 

Attachments

  • BrokenBlack.pdf
    1.8 MB · Views: 419
  • WorkingOne.pdf
    1.8 MB · Views: 434

stratman

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The WorkingOne nozzle print looks good to me. Enjoy this printer! :thumbsup

The "BrokenBlack" nozzle check obviously shows issues with PBK and Yellow. :(

There may also be an issue with Red that may just be scanning and/or image compression artifact and not an actual problem with the print. Same may be said of PC and MBK (identically placed parallel thin white lines beginning about the left side, the top one about 1/2 way down from the top of the swath).

The forum's Delphi Oracle, Moderator The Hat, knows the Pro-1. If your bank account can stand it, give his recommendation a try. Otherwise, consider using BrokeBlack for target practice or take it base jumping sans parachute.


 
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