Any way to test imagePROGRAF iPF6400 before $1k initial ink purchase?

[julius_s]

Hello! I purchased an imagePROGRAF iPF6400 printer from another artist in town, who assured me that the printer functions wonderfully. It is indeed in great shape as far as appearances go, it powers on and seems to work properly in that regard. It indicates however that all of the inks are empty, and I was wondering if there is any way to test the print head prior to purchasing all of the ink tanks, which costs about $1,000. I'm coming from a PRO9500, so the PROGRAF seriies is quite a departure for me and I'm unclear if I have any options other than to purchase an entire $1k set of inks and possibly be stuck with them if the printer isn't functional. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks,

Julius

[shadowsports]

This is a pitfall of buying used.  If the seller is not 100% willing to stand behind the unit...  you shouldn't buy it.  

[julius_s]

I hear you. It was $100 and so I jumped at the chance without appreciating the ink costs. I was just wondering if folks might have any advice now that I've made the purchase, but would of course understand if the only real way to test is to buy the inks.

Julius

[jrhoffman75]

Doesn’t $100 seem like an unrealistically low price for a supposedly functional item that costs over $2000 new.

[julius_s]

We have a good artist community here in Tucson. I got my perfectly functional Pro 9500 for $0 four years ago - it sold for about $1k new. When artists who are well off in this town move to new equipment or outgrow their current setups, they frequently keep it within the community and sell things for almost nothing, if not give them as gifts. So while I can see your point, I don't think the person I got this from sold it in bad faith. It's just been sitting around for a while and I had to transport it fully-assembled in the back of an El Camino down dirt roads, so I was looking for a way to test prior to the ink purchase.

Julius

[jrhoffman75]

The real question then is how to move the printer safely. 

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/546483/Canon-Imageprograf-Ipf6400.html?page=66

[julius_s]

Yes, I read that first, did prepmove and moved the printer to the best of my ability with the resources available to me at the time. I'm asking if there's any way to test the printhead before spending $1k on inks. 

Julius

[julius_s]

Or even just some way to test only the black ink cartridge without the other cartridges loaded - I will be using this almost exclusively for digital enlargements of 4x5 negatives. While it's nice to find the optimal blocking color for an ink set, photo black also works just fine for most purposes when printing large negatives on acetate.

Julius

[jrhoffman75 · Accepted solution]

I would suspect not, since the only role of the print head is to deposit ink, and at least for some printers, printing without ink can burn out the head.

You should probably contact Canon directly.

[julius_s]

Gotcha, thanks for your help

Julius