I have an Epson 600 Stylus Colour printer which hasn't been used in
awhile. I think the heads are blocked. Rather than going out and buying
some expensive cartriges I injected Isopropanol alcohol into the cartriges
hoping to act as a cleaning solvent. How do I get this thing to print a
test page when it is not hooked up to a computer?
You can't.
Is there a more effective
way to clean the heads or am I just looking up a horses butt?
Thanks.
I'm not sure, as I've never done that.
Turn the printer on, press and hold the highest (insert page) button
until the heads move left. Pull the power cord out before the heads
return to the right. Move the print head manually all the way to the
left. To the far right, you'll see a sponge where the heads park when
not printing. It will probably look black or dark blue. Soak this
with window cleaner - one that has ammonia in it. DON'T press down -
it can unclip the thing and you may not be able to work out how to get
it to lock back in. Move the print head all the way right, until it
clicks/locks into place. Leave for 24 hours. Do the same again and
leave for another 24 hours. Now put a new genuine epson cartridges in
and try to print - anything there? If so, do a couple of head cleans
(no more) in the printer properties, and try again - working fully?
If not, do the window cleaner again for another 24 hours... etc.
You get the idea. Don't do multiple head cleans (in the software) as
it's just flushing ink out the jets that are unblocked.
You can also fold up a tissue, soak it in window cleaner and lay in
under the print head and move the head back and forth over it. This
is good if it's smudging too. Don't be timid - I've done this
forcefully many times, and it's not made it any worse than epson's own
pathetic service technician did.
Allan.
