Cleaning inkjet print heads

[haggard]

What's the best way to get a dirty ink jet printing properly again? I
have a couple of inkjets (HP, Cannon and Epson) that have gotten
clogged up after sitting around unused for an extended time and I
can't get them to print properly anymore. I've replaced the ink
cartridges (a $250 expense for the HP 1200 and its 8 cartridges!) and
run the print head clean utilities, but none of the printers have come
clean. Is there some way to bring my printers back up to snuff?
===
Richard Lewis Haggard

 

[Jan Alter]

What's the best way to get a dirty ink jet printing properly again? I
have a couple of inkjets (HP, Cannon and Epson) that have gotten
clogged up after sitting around unused for an extended time and I
can't get them to print properly anymore. I've replaced the ink
cartridges (a $250 expense for the HP 1200 and its 8 cartridges!) and
run the print head clean utilities, but none of the printers have come
clean. Is there some way to bring my printers back up to snuff?
===
Richard Lewis Haggard

What model Epson are you asking?

 

[Al Bundy]

What model Epson are you asking?

--
Jan Alter
(e-mail address removed)
or
(e-mail address removed)12.pa.us

If you let the printers set for so long, evidently you don't use a
printer very regularly. Google for cleaning techniques on specific
models. My advice is to select your best printer and go with that so
it will get some work. I imagine that would be the 1200 since you
purchased cartridges already. Run the nozzle check to see which colors
are clogged. Let's say you have little or no magenta. Go to MS Word or
something and make a solid block of red and keep printing it until the
magenta clears up. Sometimes it takes a big block and repetition. This
has worked for me in many cases and saves dumping the good ink in the
cleaning cycle.

 

[ato_zee]

If you let the printers set for so long, evidently you don't use a
printer very regularly.

If I'm not using my printer I run a nozzle check about once
a month. Epson's seem to do a lot of faffing around if
they haven't been used for a while, purging and head
cleaning I assume, which probably wastes a bit of ink,
but I haven't had any clogs.

AFAIR the manual suggests that the printer keeps
track of how long its been idle (clock ticks) and
starts up accordingly. I think I saw a battery in
it when I had it in bits.

EEPROM locations 78-7BH are listed as power
off time in 10 minute units, there are also
fired dot counters for each of the colours in ng
(nano grams), vacuuming time counter, so I
guess it can look after itself if I use it
occasionally, but not if I left it on a south
facing window ledge for a year.

 

[Gary Tait]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @y80g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:

What's the best way to get a dirty ink jet printing properly again? I
have a couple of inkjets (HP, Cannon and Epson) that have gotten
clogged up after sitting around unused for an extended time and I
can't get them to print properly anymore. I've replaced the ink
cartridges (a $250 expense for the HP 1200 and its 8 cartridges!) and
run the print head clean utilities, but none of the printers have come
clean. Is there some way to bring my printers back up to snuff?
===
Richard Lewis Haggard

I steam them, by holding them to the spout of a boiling tea kettle, and
have an absorbent paper towel to swab up the ink. If you can, with separate
heads, let them soak in ammonia based window cleanser.

 

[bob burke]

Hi,
In the past, I have used the following procedure on an Epson Sytlus Color
800 printer.

First, I filled an old empty colour cartridge with Windex (using a syringe
as you would if re inking it), ( this printer has all three colours in the
one cartridge). I put this cartridge into the printer and ran 8 or 9
cleaning cycles on the Colour cartridge only. If having problems with Black,
do the same with a black cartridge.

Then, using MS Excel, I prepared full pages of Red, Blue, Yellow and Black.

Next I kept printing these pages, until they were printing as almost clear.

I had to refill the cartridge with Windex a second time before I was
satisfied. Note: if the blockage is particularly stubborn, you could
leave the Windex in the printer system for an hour or so between cleaning
cycles, but I would be reluctant to leave it there for an extended period.

So far, this has fixed the problem in my printer and I would expect it would
work on most printers.

On my Canon BJC 80 printer, which is only used for a few months each year,
and which has removable print heads, when this procedure did not work, I
suceeded in clearing a stuborn blockage by holding the heads under running
water till they were clear enough to use the above procedure,

Regards
Bob Burke

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Each of these printer brands use greatly or somewhat differing
technologies to get the ink to paper.

The HP 1200 and most relatively current Canon printers both use
semi-permanent thermal inkjet heads. The Epson use piezo actuated
heads. Also, the types of ink may be different. Some may be pigment
and others dye.

As I recall, the HP 1200 used both replaceable heads and cartridges as
separate entities. If you replaced both heads and cartridges, for each
color (I seem to recall the 1200 being a four color model) then the
printer should be working as far as the ink delivery goes, and something
else is not working properly if you are not getting ink to the paper.

The Canon depends upon the model. Older ones had the cartridge
incorporate the head, so in that case, replacement of the cartridge
should supply you with a new head and cartridge, and again that's the
whole ink delivery system. Newer ones use separate head and ink cartridge.

Epsons all use permanent heads, but the ink types can vary considerably.

Replacing the ink cartridge may well not be enough to get the heads
clear. I can provide you with a cleaning manual I have written for
Epsons with suggestions on how to get them going again. It is free of
charge. Just email me at the address shown below.

People have adapted the information in that manual to use for Canon and
other printers. Many inks are similar in formulation and the cleaning
fluids I suggest seem to work with a majority (although not all) inks,
and I also provide a method of testing the inks and cleaners outside the
printer within the manual.

For the manual, email me at:

e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org

(at) = @
(dot) = .

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Sometimes printing out areas of colors will unblock a clogged set of
nozzles and sometimes it won't. Sometimes using a clear on the head
works better. Either way, if you have a Magenta head clog, as the
poster below mentions, you may wish to print out large areas of MAGENTA
color, not red. The red color is made up of both yellow and magenta ink
and will therefore use both up, which seems like a great waste of yellow
ink, if that head is already functioning well.

Art

 

[Gel]

Look here:

http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/inkjetstuff11.html

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Just to clarify my typo.

Sometimes using a clear on the head works better.

Was supposed to read:

Sometimes using a cleaning fluid on the head works better.


Art