Canon i990 & i9950 printers

Page 2.

Setting up

Canon has always supplied the print head as a user installable item. This implies that should you need to replace it, then this is going to be an easy DIY job, rather than having to package up everything and take it to a service centre. Having said that, I have been using Canon printers for a number of years and have never had the need to replace any print head. Canon's view on this is that the print head should last for life (the printers life, not yours). Notice in the print head pictures, that the i990 head is exactly the same as the i9950, but the first space has been blanked off with a dummy cartridge. I haven't been able to remove this. The pictures below and throughout this review will feature the i990 on the left and the i9950 on the right unless otherwise stated.

i990 pictures	i9950 pictures
Notice 1st compartment is blanked off	Same head with all eight compartments

Turn on the power to bring the print head cradle into the centre, next fit the print head itself. Once you have removed the orange protective cover you should not attempt to refit it again - you may damage the nozzles. Now you can fit the individual ink tanks. Fitting the inks is straightforward, as per usual with Canon ink tanks you have to exercise a degree of caution when you remove the orange clips, being careful not to squeeze the sides of the tank.

Turn on the power - the big button on the front	Print cradle moves into centre
The print head contacts	5,376 print nozzles - have you counted them yet
Fit the print head into cradle	The two new inks, Red and Green - where is the Blue?
Fit the inks into the correct slots	Spill catchers - before the inks have been fitted
i990 full ink set	i9950 full ink set

The heads and inks on both printers were fitted in a matter of minutes without any problems. Each ink compartment is colour coded so you shouldn't make any mistakes. I didn't try the inks in the wrong compartments, I'm sure the printers would still work but the colours would be all over the place - ideal if your submitting pictures to Tate Modern. Interestingly, the ink tanks are the same as on previous models, i.e. the BCI series, which fit the 8200 onwards, the only new additions are Red and Green, I don't quite see how the new inks can be called ChromaPLUS, to me this would imply a totally new set of inks as with UltraChrome. Why not go the whole distance and include a Blue? As always I remain open minded and look forward to seeing the proof of the pudding later in the review. I noticed that there was a small amount of ink in the sponge under the print head, this was there before I had fitted the inks, I'm sure each unit must be tested before being packaged. With the inks fitted the front cover was closed and the heads moved back to the side, both printers were near silent.

The next task is to install the print drivers and connect up to the computer.