Canon wide-format plotters

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  • niceville318
    Technician
    • Feb 2014
    • 43
    #1

    Canon wide-format plotters

    In 2022 our company added Canon to our lineup of manufacturers. Sales have recently looked into selling Canon wide-format printers, i don't know which models specifically. The Canon Rep said these were "bullet-proof", they hardly ever break. Its so infrequent some service companies don't charge for maintenance; they recoup their costs in selling paper and ink.

    I have a hard time believing these statements, being a skeptical, lowly technician. Can anyone back up or shed some light on this topic?

    Overall, what is your experience? Relatively easy to maintain? Is or is not maintenance friendly? high learning curve?

    thanks in advance
    Tags: back, canon, selling, shed, wide-format
    • blackcat4866
      Master Of The Obvious

      Site Contributor
      10,000+ Posts
      • Jul 2007
      • 22927
      #2
      Re: Canon wide-format plotters

      When you use genuine ink, they can be low maintenance, especially if your customer runs adequate volume. The two biggest issues with iPF's is aftermarket ink and low print volume.

      Like most ink based devices, the harder you run it, the better it runs. If you do less than 6 square feet per week, the heads will harden up, regardless.

      There have been individual machines that were genuine money pits. Those machines got swapped with a used device with similar specifications ... usually once we passed the replacement cost. =^..^=
      If you'd like a serious answer to your request:
      1) demonstrate that you've read the manual
      2) demonstrate that you made some attempt to fix it.
      3) if you're going to ask about jams include the jam code.
      4) if you're going to ask about an error code include the error code.
      5) You are the person onsite. Only you can make observations.

      blackcat: Master Of The Obvious =^..^=

        Comment

        • ElZero
          Technician

          Site Contributor
          • Sep 2021
          • 24
          #3
          Re: Canon wide-format plotters

          Originally posted by niceville318
          In 2022 our company added Canon to our lineup of manufacturers. Sales have recently looked into selling Canon wide-format printers, i don't know which models specifically. The Canon Rep said these were "bullet-proof", they hardly ever break. Its so infrequent some service companies don't charge for maintenance; they recoup their costs in selling paper and ink.

          I have a hard time believing these statements, being a skeptical, lowly technician. Can anyone back up or shed some light on this topic?

          Overall, what is your experience? Relatively easy to maintain? Is or is not maintenance friendly? high learning curve?

          thanks in advance
          We don't have any maintenance contracts, we only sell the machines, our customers run them for 7 or 8 years without any problems. We replace the print head regularly, nothing else. When serious problems arise we usually sell a new machine as it is plausible to the customer that after 8 it is not worth repairing.

            Comment

            • onlyinnewfoundland
              Trusted Tech

              100+ Posts
              • Apr 2013
              • 235
              #4
              Re: Canon wide-format plotters

              Originally posted by niceville318
              In 2022 our company added Canon to our lineup of manufacturers. Sales have recently looked into selling Canon wide-format printers, i don't know which models specifically. The Canon Rep said these were "bullet-proof", they hardly ever break. Its so infrequent some service companies don't charge for maintenance; they recoup their costs in selling paper and ink.

              I have a hard time believing these statements, being a skeptical, lowly technician. Can anyone back up or shed some light on this topic?

              Overall, what is your experience? Relatively easy to maintain? Is or is not maintenance friendly? high learning curve?

              thanks in advance
              I have worked on the iPF line for 12 years.

              I can tell you that if they are used regularly, and use OEM supplies then, yes, they can be very low maintenance and work good. Luckily for you, since you are just considering adding them to your service base, the newer models TM/TX/PRO series that I work on are very low maintenance. I have had virtually no calls on them, only known issues like a mod or two. I will let you know upfront that Canon had a bad run not many years ago with machines being destroyed from bad printheads. Firmware could stop some of the damage. It looks like those days are behind us, but it is a good idea to be prudent in updating firmware whenever you are around the machines. They can be updated by the customer at the device screen these days.

              They are good units overall, and we have had good success with them.

              Good luck.

                Comment

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