Canon ipf9000 is hardwired to require an expensive service call! beware!

[ssgphoto]

While attempting to move my canon ipf9000 I discovered a hugely disturbing problem with the canon controls...and customer support. Since I was going to have to move the printer up a flight of stairs I needed to drain the ink which is what is called a level three move. The full  status report indicated OK for all parts. After speaking with Canon several times to prepare I was advised to have extra maintenance tanks on hand. Which I did. Once the truck arrived, the printer would not let me execute the ink drain. The only message was a cryptic “consumables need to be replaced. ” An additional call to Canon revealed that because the printer is three years old (I don’t think there are 9000s any younger why wasn’t this discussed earlier), I will have to have a service call and cannot drain the ink “in case other parts are old.” Well, the just in case service requires, among other non-ink related things, replacing 2 fans!  Essentially, control of the ink draining function gets disabled after a period of time  except via a service tech who must do a $1300 plus call in order to move a printer barely worth 3 grand (with ink). As a Canon and Epson user, this experience does not sweeten me on Canon at all. Not being able to command an ink drain and worse, a user cannot find out the true status of a machine without a service call is not acceptable to a professional user. To add insult to injury -after being on the phone with canon large format pro support for 40 minutes, the tech asked me if my printer was plugged in!
If anyone has any suggestions for moving Id appreciate it! but I believe Canon has limited my options to either having to move the printer full (unacceptable) or pony up for dubious maintenance .

[JohnHeerema]

Well, it seems that you have nothing much to lose at this point (except maybe some cleaning bills if things go bad) - are you  completely sure that you really need to drain the ink out of the thing?

The only thing that I imagine causing problems during a move up some stairs, is the possiblity of the ink cartridges sloshing ink through any (hypothetical) air vents when you tip the printer. I really don't know a thing about your printer, but my 9900 doesn't seem to have any obvious vulnerabilities like that (but then, I haven't tried this myself).

What if you replaced the ink carts with the empty ones you might have kept against just such a time as thiis, and maybe put absorbant sheets anywhere else you can figure that might leak ink, and try some controlled tipping of the printer to see if Bad Things happen? If you can tip the printer as much as you figure the move will entail, maybe you can just go for it!

[MHMG]

Hopefully, the link below should take you to a photo that illustrates another possible solution to your problem.

http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/images/1999_0816_MX2700-11(rw).jpg

I had an Iris 3047 that just wasn't going to make it up three narrow flights of stairs to a print studio on the third floor of an old building.  A carpenter pulled a window casing, and a lift was rented. A big job yes, but not going to cost you as much as a $1300 dollar service call. Such an approach may help you keep your printer level throughout the move, in which case, I suspect you really won't need to drain the inks.

cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

[ssgphoto]

I have heard that because the inks are kept in reservoirs as well that inks can spill contaminate other channels and also effect the electronics. Of course I have mostly heard this from Canon, but its not likely I'd be able to see it until it was too late.

The crane is a brilliant idea, but the printer is unfortunately in a Basement and needs to go up a flight to get out, I think digging a tunnel will be more expensive : (