Fix for Nozzle Blockage On Epson Printer

[Bob Burke]

Hi,
I have a 1997 or 1998 vintage Epson Stylus Color 800 printer, which has over
the past few months started to show "Banding" on colour prints.

I had not been using colour printing much and Nozzle checks showed some
blockages that no amount of "Head Cleaning" would clear. (The black nozzle
check was perfect) I am otherwise very happy with the printer but had
decided to replace it because of the above problem. However as this
decision left me with nothing to loose, I decided to try desperate measures.

First, I filled an old empty colour cartridge with Windex (using a syringe
as you would if re inking it). I put this cartridge into the printer and ran
8 or 9 cleaning cycles on the Colour cartridge only.

Next, I made up a test sheet, using Excell, I selected a page sized range of
cells and used the "Colour Fill" facility to fill the page with Yellow, I
did the same for red and blue.

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.

Then I removed the cleaning cartridge, replaced it with a new one and did
the usual Nozzle Cleaning a number of times to flush Windex out of the
system.

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


Bob
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[Tony1that matters]

Hi,
First, I filled an old empty colour cartridge with Windex (using a syringe
as you would if re inking it). I put this cartridge into the printer and ran
8 or 9 cleaning cycles on the Colour cartridge only.

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.


Bob
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This for your interest has been the recommended way of clearing, not just
those stubborn apparent blockages but most Epson banding and ink starvation
problems. It was put up on my website over 2 years ago. The JetTec ink
refill kits known as Jetset have included a free cartridge flush and head
cleaner for the past year to make this an easy operation. Windex or
Windolene varies a bit between countries - so a dilute household ammonia is
also one solution.
With the later chippy Epson cartridges it is necessary to invest in a chip
reset device and then merrily print windy pages until the ink fades. The
real secret is that you are cleaning from within and forcing deposits out. A
blotting tissue helps to polish off the printhead.
One of the apparent problems with the 800 and 850 is that the reset routine
when the ink pads are apparently full doesn't always work on all of the
printers. But a five year old printer is probably pushing expectations a bit
far.
Tony
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