How to send a printer, how to ship a printer, what is the best way?

[inca]

Shouldn't this question be a sticky?

I have a Canon Pixma IP6000D I need to send someone in the mail.
I do not have the original box. I do not intend to ship the 6 ink cartridges. I looked on this site and Canons site for guidance on this but couldn't locate instructions on how to pack it for shipment.

Main concerns:

1 Packing it so it doesnt break in shipment
2 Securing the print head or other components so they dont get damaged in transit
3 Taking steps, if any, to keep the print heads from drying out - again, I won't be including the 6 ink cartridges and plan to remove them before shipping.

 

[l_d_allan]

inca,
I had a related quesiton, except taking a printer on-location . Got some good advice from several very experienced forum members.

For the following, "consider the source", as I haven't actually shipped a printer. Also, I haven't yet implemented the provided forum advice by taking the printer on-location. Others may very well correct some flawed advice, and then we'll both learn (I'll re-edit the post after-the-fact as appropriate). Also, I would be inclined to think that shipping a used printer is not all that good of an idea, and I'd only do it as a last resort. YMMV.

* Are you selling the printer "as is" to someone who is not necessariliy expecting the printer to work well? To a friend who has an expectation that the printer work well? Selling to someone who expects the printer to work well? Those are factors to consider.

* My speculation is that if you are shipping the printer ... not cheap and a hassle to do correctly ... then the printer now works well, and the buyer/friend/whoever has an expectation that the printer arriives in good working condition.

* Make a nozzle check to send along to document that it prints well when shipped.

* If the nozzle check is flawed, then you've got other problems.

* Maybe also a Kodak-like test print on inexpensive photo paper to send along? Maybe also an alignment print-out?

* Maybe complete sheets of single bright, saturated colors corresponding to the ink colors? The printer RIP won't necessarily use pure colors to print the corresponding color, but I would think it would use a lot of that ink. Your printer has PC and PM, so that gets complicated. I think I'd make complete sheets of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black on plain paper to send along.

* Since you aren't sending the carts, that reduces some potential problems. You want as little weight in the print-head as possible to reduce stresses on the carriage, if the print-head is shipped in-place in the carriage.

* Figure on the printer box being dropped during shipment, and pack accordingly.

* Hmmmmm .... what about ink from the waste-pads making a mess if the printer box wasn't right-side up throughout shipping? I wouldn't count on the printer shipping box staying right-side up. Do you have an idea of whether the waste-pads are saturated from a lot of use, or still pretty empty?

* An issue is that the inlet filters on the print-head will be exposed for several days, and could dry out. My impression is that it is a bad practice to have carts off the print-head for several days, with dried ink a real possibility.

* If you've got plenty of spare carts, I think I'd ship with almost empty, purged carts with just a little distilled water in the carts. Those would be placed in the print-head to keep the nozzle inlet filter damp.

* The printer could show up with ink dried within the nozzle inlet filters (where the cart outlet port mates with the print-head) or the nozzles themselves. If your local water supply is good, you might consider running warm tap water through the print-head both ways to flush, finishing with distilled water. But if the nozzle check is good, I don't think I would do that.

* If you do rinse the print-head, maybe let dry for a day or so before shipping? But it's ok for the nozzle inlet filters to be damp during shipment? I suppose the print-head electronics will have had a chance to dry out during shipment?

* I'd wrap the print-head separately in some paper towels, and put it in a ziplock within the shipping box in the printer chassis, but maybe not in the printer carriage. If you hadn't flushed the ink out of the inlet nozzle filters, I'd be inclined to put a damp paper towel around the print-head to keep the filters damp.

I've got a Canon 9000-2 with CLI-8 carts, which is different than your iP6000D which I believe has BCI-6 carts. If I HAD to ship the 9000-2 ...
* I've now got a complete set of 8 cleaning-carts for my 9000-2 dye printer.
* I've also got plenty of virgin, empty CLI-8 carts for it.
* I'd install the complete set of cleaning carts
* Run several deep cleaning cycles and nozzle checks between
* Remove the cleaning carts
* Wrap the print-head in several dry paper towels, as there shouldn't be ink to dry within the nozzle inlet filters
* Place in ziplock bag inside printer chassis
* Worry about waste-pads leaking inside printer chassis ... ???

If the person was anticipating doing refilling, I might include a set of prepped, purged carts with 1 ml of distilled water in each cart, installed in the print-head.
* The print-head would be wrapped in dry paper towels and put in a ziplock back.
* The ziplocked print-head would definitely stay out of the print-head carriage during shipment.

 

[ghwellsjr]

A couple months ago, I shipped a Canon MP780 printer from Southern California to Alaska. I shipped it in the original box it came in (always the best way) and I included some refilled OEM cartridges embedded in various rectangular holes in the top of the formed styrofoam packing. All three of the larger BCI-3eBK cartridges arrived with their locking handles broken off. The package must have suffered some high g-forces to have caused that kind of damage. Fortunately the printer and print head arrived safely. I always do enough deep cleanings to flush all the ink out of a print head which I remove from the printer before shipping.

Some other suggestions:

Never use styrofoam "pop corn" or other small bits of styrofoam, even if inclosed in plastic baggies. They will find their way into the internals of the printer and will pick up static electricity making it very difficult to remove.

As I mentioned above, remove the cartridges and print head from the printer. One of the printers that I bought on eBay had the print head locking mechanism and something else broken on arrival making the printer useless. Fortunately, Paypal re-imbursed me all my costs (or was it the Post Office?).

I really recommend buying used printers locally so that you can examine them before committing to buy and where you don't have to worry about shipping.

 

[l_d_allan]

I really recommend buying used printers locally so that you can examine them before committing to buy and where you don't have to worry about shipping.

Agree!

I recall the 9000-2 arrived very well packed, covered with a plastic bag, and I believe there were supports and tape to remove. Kind of like prepping a new clothes washer for service. I consider printers to be among the more fragile mechanical / electrical devices we use, with LOTS that can go wrong.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Lynn, did you buy your printer new or used?

 

[ink_junkie]

Back to the subject of shipping, always remember to allow for a minimum of two inches of void around whatever object you are shipping. When shipping something fragile/valuable, I always ship using the box in a box method. The inner box fits the object you are shipping as tight as possible, this preferably would be the original packaging. If you do not have the original packaging, cut down a box to be just large enough for the printer to fit and then fill all open spaces with bubble wrap. Then you need another box with the aforementioned 2" void on all six sides. I like to use those Styrofoam peanuts for this. Place approx 2" in the bottom, then center the inner box and fill all the remaining spaces.

 

[l_d_allan]

Lynn, did you buy your printer new or used?

Pro 9000-2 was new, part of the rebate offer when I got a Canon DSLR body last summer (essentially free after rebate).

iP4500 was purchased used, locally.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Did you have the 9000-2 long enough for the warranty to expire? I'm just wondering how long the print head lasted.

 

[l_d_allan]

The printer would have arrived about June, 2010, so it is still in warranty (whew). I didn't even open it up to do any prints until late October, 2010 for the original "Fall Festival" / Halloween event at our church. Didn't do much printing after that until Feb, 2011 when I found this forum.

Print-head seems to be working well now, after multiple out-of-printer cleanings. Might have erratic electrical problems however. Hard to say.

Two rinse cleanings with print-head out of the printer got it working last week with perfect nozzle check. However, it had a flawed nozzle check a day later after only a few prints. Very frustrating. Several deep cleanings of the print driver using cleaning carts with windex+alcohol+distilled-water cleared that up to a perfect nozzle check.

 

[ghwellsjr]

So, you have concluded that the print head did not suffer an early death?