Where to buy Canon large format printer Print-Heads?

[John Henry]

 While looking for the best price on Canon iPF5100 and W7200 printer, Print-Heads. I found a company based in India, called
SignGrafika.com. The company list the Canon PF-03 print head for $153.00 and Canon BC-1400 print head for $280.00
  PF-03 print head is for the Canon iPF5100 and other Canon printers. BC-1400 print head is a dye ink print head, that works in  older Canon W7200, W7250 dye ink and other older Canon large format dye ink printers.
  Has anyone heard of SignGrafika.com, or ordered anything from SignGrafika.com? I found a USA PO Box address and phone number listing for SignGrafika.com. 710 Johnston Street PO Box Sinking Ppring, PA 19608 USA. Phone: 1(610)678-8630 I called the phone number, got voice-mail, have not received a call back. Any information about SignGrafika.com, would be helpful. As I desperately need new print heads for two Canon iPF5100 and one Canon W7200 printers. I drove 260 miles round trip to pick up the last Canon iPF5100 in hopes that I could use it for parts to fix the iPF5100 I already owned. Unfortunately, both printers need the same part. Which is the left print head. The iPF5100 printer I already owned was working until a few months ago. the one good thing about both printers, is they were both cheap. The 1st one I bought from a person. Who buys electronics from colleges. When they upgrade. The 2nd one was given to me. the 1st one came with full set of inks. The 2nd one came with two full sets of inks. Four rolls 17" X 100' Canon and Epson matte photo paper, one 17" roll of canvas, and three packages of 13" X19" (Super Size B) Luster paper. Hope that puts into context my reasoning to find/buy print-heads for the Canon iPF5100 printers. As for the Canon W7200, 36" format size printer. I have owned it since 2011, it was working until four months ago. It came with ONYX 6 RIP software. I upgraded to ONYX 7 (biggest mistake of my photo career) Upgrading to ONYX 7, got me a free upgrade to ONYX 10 I never got the hang of using the ONYX software. Even though I had phone support for a year. It is just not a software for a single photographer studio. Buyer beware! Anyway, that's my story, and I am sticking to it. Please contact me, with any information about SignGrafika.com.   

[mearussi]

Amazon has a lot of them listed. They may not be at the price you're wanting but at least Amazon offers a refund if you're not satisfied.

https://www.amazon.com/Canon-Print-Head-Printer-2251B001AA/dp/B000OYC3ZM/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Canon+PF-03&qid=1565186155&s=gateway&sr=8-2

[John Henry]

  Yes, I know about the ones listed on Amazon, Tiger Supplies, eBay and other places. All of them are sold at twice the price, or more than what SignGrafika.com print heads are listed for. I need information on  SignGrafika.com. Need to be sure the company is legit. 

[enduser]

https://signs101.com/threads/anyone-purchase-from-signgrafika-com.126729/

[I.T. Supplies]

You want to read ALL details via Amazon.
Their Free Return details:

Return this item for free-
Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition and get a full refund: no shipping charges

So, it also depends on the seller of the product even though Amazon stocks it.  If you want to be safe, get thru a reseller (like us), or a company that can better help you.  Once you get the printhead and it's not working, you can contact Canon since it's under a 1-year warranty once you put it into the printer. 

I would recommend verifying all details/reviews from companies outside the US as they "may" re-manufacturer parts at a cheaper price or you're paying more on shipping and/or customs.  Most places online (in the US) will show about the same price and resellers should be pretty close to the same since we get the product directly from the manufacturer.  Amazon stocks per themselves or from other sellers, but there may be certain details that you must read as they may not take it back if it's opened/used per the details I mentioned from their Return option above.

Since Amazon isn't an authorized reseller and just sells (or ships from sellers), they can probably offer a lower price

Sometimes cheaper isn't always better, but I understand that budget may be low at times.  I did read on their site that they get direct from the manufacturer.  This can't be that low as the distributors we get the same product from gets hundreds of these products and it's not that low.  I'd be curious on how they can really offer it that low upfront and how accurate the information is.  They can "state" it's OEM, but may be inaccurate too just to sell it at a very reasonable price.

enduser's link sort of proves a point on what I was saying from the check out process requirement; even though they offered PayPal and only take Wire Transfer.

[Dan Wells]

I would be almost 100% sure that a printhead shipping from India for half price or less is either a (probably legal, although Canon may not like it and it may or may not work) remanufactured head, a legal copy (they somehow got around whatever patents Canon holds on the head). or an illegal clone. It's very unlikely that someone has a source of genuine, brand-new Canon heads that they can make a profit selling for half or less what IT Supplies, Shades of Paper, B&H, etc. sell them for.

 India has historically had both significant ability to manufacture technology products and a weak system of copyright and patent law in which cloners can thrive. If someone's going to manufacture fake Canon printheads, they aren't going to come out of Japan or New Zealand or some other country with a legal system where cloners end up in court, and they're not going to come out of Greenland or some other country with limited technology manufacturing. 

If you're trying to resurrect an old printer you'd otherwise junk, and you don't care about maximum output quality, a remanufactured head might be a possibility. If the head is an illegal clone, it might get seized by Customs coming into the country (I'd be surprised if you'd get into any more trouble than that). Either a remanufactured head or a clone would void any warranty the printer might have, so don't try this on a Pro-6000!

I'd never put anything but a real Canon printhead bought from a Canon dealer in my year and a half old Pro-2000; but would I be so picky with a free 10-year old printer? I probably wouldn't pay $400-$500 for one of two printheads for an old iPF-5100, because the printer is likely to spit the other head relatively soon, possibly even while installing the first head (they've been known to do that). A new Pro-1000 (which lacks the roll-feed capability) is around $1000 after rebates, while a new Pro-2000 (24", roll fed) is a little over $2000 depending on deals or rebates.

Would I experiment with a head in the hundred-dollar range? Probably only if I saw it as an experiment, and I wouldn't be too disappointed if it never came, or wrecked the printer, or the colors were never quite right again.

[enduser]

This is a story, not a recommendation either way.  We use Aliexpress. We've bought SLR and other cameras and Canon iPF heads through them and never had a dud.

[John Henry]

Thanks to everyone for your responses. I learned a lot. Think I am not willing to be the 1st to buy from the India company. Am not really sure I can justify spending $400.00 to $700.00 for new print-heads to print a few 16X? prints. I found a local print shop, that wants to sell an Epson Stylus Pro 7600 for $400.00 It is in perfect working order, and I think, comes with set of inks. If i go that route, just have to figure out out to trash the Canon iPF5000 printers. Turns out large format printers. Are not that easy to dispose of. Local waste companies do not take them as regular trash/waste. Large format digital printers are considered toxic waste. The things they do not tell you!

[mearussi]

Thanks to everyone for your responses. I learned a lot. Think I am not willing to be the 1st to buy from the India company. Am not really sure I can justify spending $400.00 to $700.00 for new print-heads to print a few 16X? prints. I found a local print shop, that wants to sell an Epson Stylus Pro 7600 for $400.00 It is in perfect working order, and I think, comes with set of inks. If i go that route, just have to figure out out to trash the Canon iPF5000 printers. Turns out large format printers. Are not that easy to dispose of. Local waste companies do not take them as regular trash/waste. Large format digital printers are considered toxic waste. The things they do not tell you!

Advertise it on Craigslist or Facebook merchant as "free to good home." There are usually a few people willing to pick it up.
Also make sure the 7600 can produce a perfect nozzle check before buying. The old x600 series heads don't clog easily, but they still can clog if not used in a while.