MG6250 inks - Can any other Canon use them?

[UKsnapper]

Hi, was recently given the above printer with a lot of spare ink cartridges.
The printer has 'died' - Canon support say tis Ink Reservoir full and needless to say there are costs attached to sending it in for repair....so....:_
Think I need to treat myself to a new printer.....and ideally make use of the now spare inks
If not available will advertise them as free for anyone interested locally.....and look to buy a new Canon ....possibly TS8250 - I need quality photo prints

Any/all help/advice most welcome and thanks !

 

[PeterBJ]

Why not try to unlock the printer before giving up on it? The printer is of the PGI-525/CLI-526 cartridge generation, so the ink absorber counter can be resat and the printer unlocked. See this post and on and this thread

You will also need a service tool, I recommend version 3400 which will work with all Windows versions from XP and on and both 32 and 64 bit. A download that is safe is found on this Russian site. Click the link in the post by "Sir Sava" at the top of the page to download. The reason I don't link to a Google translation of the page is that downloads from that site don't work from a Google translation.

The service tools only works with with Windows, you cannot use MacOS or Linux. You also need a USB connection, wired or wireless network connection cannot be used.

After having unlocked the printer, It would be a good idea to clean or change the absorbers. The type number for the absorbers is Canon QY5-0347-000 if you want to search the web, but I think they are nowhere to be found. The old absorbers can be cleaned using lots of warm, not hot water. The use of good rubber or PVC gloves is recommended.

A service manual would be useful for help in disassembling the printer, but it is nowhere to be found. I think the printer is mechanically similar to the MG8120 for which a service manual and parts catalog in one file can be downloaded here. The download is safe. The service mabual has some disassembly instructions and the parts catalog has an assembly drawing showing the position of the ink absorbers.

Some say you can get away with resetting the absorber counter just once without changing or cleaning the absorbers, others say that you risk a nasty ink spill, as the resetting the counter doesn't make the old ink magically disappear. It might be a good idea to place the printer in a shallow tray to contain possibly leaked ink.

Good luck with the project.

 

[UKsnapper]

PeterBJ - many thanks for your excellent and thorough reply and I did actually scout around a little re trying to unlock it.
Major downside is that I am on Mac not Windows.......apart form the complexity and ultimately uncertainty of the process.......but tis much appreciated