Need to clean inkjet heads on Epson 740

[wylbur37]

I have an Epson 740 inkjet printer.

After not using it for a while, I discovered that the inkjet nozzles
were apparently clogged to the point where the "head cleaning routine"
was of limited usefulness.
The printouts show signs of missing lines and "bleeding fibers"
indicating the presence of accumulated residue around the nozzles.

I'd like to be able to free the print head carriage assembly
so that I can wipe the front of the nozzles and clean them,
but I can't find the right screws to remove.

The Epson website has various manuals to download but they don't seem
to have the one that I need. Their Product Information Guide on setup
and testing (sc740_pg.pdf) mentions (on page 15,
under Related Documentation) the "TM-SC467 Epson Stylus Color
440/640/740 Service Manual", but that publication is apparently
nowhere to be found on their website.

Can someone either
(a) explain how to remove the print head assembly so the nozzles can be
cleaned or
(b) mention a website where the necessary documentation is available
for download or
(c) if you have the document, send me a copy via email as an attachment.


Thanks for your help.

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

I have an Epson 740 inkjet printer.

After not using it for a while, I discovered that the inkjet nozzles
were apparently clogged to the point where the "head cleaning routine"
was of limited usefulness.
The printouts show signs of missing lines and "bleeding fibers"
indicating the presence of accumulated residue around the nozzles.

I'd like to be able to free the print head carriage assembly
so that I can wipe the front of the nozzles and clean them,
but I can't find the right screws to remove.

The Epson website has various manuals to download but they don't seem
to have the one that I need. Their Product Information Guide on setup
and testing (sc740_pg.pdf) mentions (on page 15,
under Related Documentation) the "TM-SC467 Epson Stylus Color
440/640/740 Service Manual", but that publication is apparently
nowhere to be found on their website.

Can someone either
(a) explain how to remove the print head assembly so the nozzles can be
cleaned or
(b) mention a website where the necessary documentation is available
for download or
(c) if you have the document, send me a copy via email as an

attachment.

The Epson inkjet printer is a field replaceable item. You throw away
the printer and replace it with another at the same or less price of a
set of ink cartridges for it. If you're smart, you'll get a printer
that has the nozzles built into the cartridge, such as the HP deskjet,
or similar.

I'm really serious about this. At work, the teachers go on vacation in
the summer, and when they come back in the fall, the Epsons are all that
way. So we just tell them, the Epson is not a district standard
printer, so we don't support it - sorry. If you get a new one, the
district standard is HP.

 

[Mike Harrison]

I have an Epson 740 inkjet printer.

After not using it for a while, I discovered that the inkjet nozzles
were apparently clogged to the point where the "head cleaning routine"
was of limited usefulness.
The printouts show signs of missing lines and "bleeding fibers"
indicating the presence of accumulated residue around the nozzles.

Here's a post from a while go - a friend of mine has tried it successfully :

The symptom is missing horizontal lines
through text or graphics -- or no print at
all. This occurs when the water based inks
dry at the print heads in amounts that the
head cleaning routine cannot dislodge.

The newer Epson Stylus Color series print
heads are particularly affected.

It can happen whether you refill your inkjet
cartridges or not.

One contributing factor is turning off the
printer from a power bar. This prevents a
complete shutdown and docking of the heads
at their docking stations. You will notice
some activity even after turning the printer
off by its switch, as it continues to take a
trickle charge.

To unclog the heads:

- Run 3 cleaning cycles from the Epson
Utility

- Turn off printer, and restart in Test
Print mode

- When cartridges/ print heads are at
extreme left of carriage, quickly spray 3
shots of Windex or Ammonia onto docking
station(s) affected, and turn off printer
for 5 minutes

- Repeat process as needed until perfect
test prints are restored - usually 2
procedures

We've saved 14 printers this way.

--
Image Control ~ Remanufactured and Generic
Toner Cartridges
Lasers/Fax/Copiers ~ Refill Kits for over
800 InkJets

1396 Kingston Rd. Toronto ON Canada M1N 1R3
(416) 694-7509 Fax 694-7929 ~ Member BBB &
CIPRA
Canadian Imaging Products Remanufacturers
Assn.
Free email help with toner problems ~
http://www.image-control.com

 

[Roger Hamlett]

Here's a post from a while go - a friend of mine has tried it successfully :

The symptom is missing horizontal lines
through text or graphics -- or no print at
all. This occurs when the water based inks
dry at the print heads in amounts that the
head cleaning routine cannot dislodge.

The newer Epson Stylus Color series print
heads are particularly affected.

It can happen whether you refill your inkjet
cartridges or not.

One contributing factor is turning off the
printer from a power bar. This prevents a
complete shutdown and docking of the heads
at their docking stations. You will notice
some activity even after turning the printer
off by its switch, as it continues to take a
trickle charge.

To unclog the heads:

- Run 3 cleaning cycles from the Epson
Utility

- Turn off printer, and restart in Test
Print mode

- When cartridges/ print heads are at
extreme left of carriage, quickly spray 3
shots of Windex or Ammonia onto docking
station(s) affected, and turn off printer
for 5 minutes

- Repeat process as needed until perfect
test prints are restored - usually 2
procedures

We've saved 14 printers this way.

I was going to post the Ammonia suggestion. It worked for me, and the
printer concerned, was still working two years latter when I sold it.
It is very effective indeed.
It is worth realising that the removing the head won't really help, since
the blockage is inside the nozzles, and not something external that can be
wiped away. The cleaning sponges at the docking end of the carriage, come
directly into contact with the heads, and cleaner on here works, without
risking destroying the alignment of the system.
It is worth also saying, that the Epson heads are far less prone to this,
than the HP cartridges, and when you have been through 30+ HP cartidges at
£20 or more a time, in each case replacing them before more than a quarter
of the ink is used, the Epson system does not seem bad. I have never
successfully got an HP cartridge to clean.

Best Wishes

 

[Tony]

I have an Epson 740 inkjet printer.

After not using it for a while, I discovered that the inkjet nozzles
were apparently clogged to the point where the "head cleaning routine"
was of limited usefulness.

A solvent for dye based inks is commonly used. Windex (Windolene UK) is a
window cleaning fluid which disperses encrusted or dried ink: Some of the
newer shower dispersant cleaners work equally well.
Firstly try a few drops on the docking sponge area which is where the heads
sit when parked.
Whipping out the mains plug in mid flight will expose this.
With a cotton bud introcude a few droplets on the piercing splines and the
sponge.
In real determined blockage cases - fill a spent cartridge with the solvent
(Household ammonia 10:1 works as well) and print a few windy pages . Letting
it sit overnight can also ease it further.
The so called cleaning cycle is really priming of ink through the feeder
tubes and seldom cleans.
Tony

 

[Tony]

--

I'm really serious about this. At work, the teachers go on vacation in
the summer, and when they come back in the fall, the Epsons are all that
way. So we just tell them, the Epson is not a district standard
printer, so we don't support it - sorry. If you get a new one, the
district standard is HP.

Which IMO just tells us quite a bit about the mentality of Teachers and
supply coordinators in charge of our children. The total cost of ownership
for an HP is usually twice that of Epson with lexmark leading by a whopping
margin. So Teachers don't even know about a little preventative maintenance.
Whip out the plug in mid-flight -prior to that looong vacation - spray in a
little Windex: some on the docking sponge and its done.
If you get really religious and cost conscious then a few spent cartridges
and a preventative print , again prior to vacation will keep them all
working just fine. That may not be within the teacher's remit or
intelligence but it works.
In any case vacation School buildings are normally used by parents and other
recreational classes during vacation times so why aren't they using the
printers ? Strikes me your costs could be halved and the tax payer's money
as well with a little thought and planning. Are you sure the motivation for
HP is cost.
Tony
Spit less spotlets - spotless inkjet prints...
http://www.inkylinkusa.com 30% more ink
http://www.aah-haa.com/affiliates.htm
And a nice little earner...

 

[Tony]

http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/kea0.html (Easy to use, no disassembly
required) - "Do not use alcohol or Windex, they will very likely ruin your
printer".

Utter bollocks !

 

[Clarence]

I have an Epson 740 inkjet printer.

After not using it for a while, I discovered that the inkjet nozzles
were apparently clogged to the point where the "head cleaning routine"
was of limited usefulness.
The printouts show signs of missing lines and "bleeding fibers"
indicating the presence of accumulated residue around the nozzles.

I'd like to be able to free the print head carriage assembly
so that I can wipe the front of the nozzles and clean them,
but I can't find the right screws to remove.

The Epson website has various manuals to download but they don't seem
to have the one that I need. Their Product Information Guide on setup
and testing (sc740_pg.pdf) mentions (on page 15,
under Related Documentation) the "TM-SC467 Epson Stylus Color
440/640/740 Service Manual", but that publication is apparently
nowhere to be found on their website.

Can someone either
(a) explain how to remove the print head assembly so the nozzles can be
cleaned or
(b) mention a website where the necessary documentation is available
for download or
(c) if you have the document, send me a copy via email as an attachment.


Thanks for your help.

I found it is possible to clean the heads by filling an empty ink reservoir
with Alcohol and running the test print program many times. After 10 to 20
runs, it usually clears them out. Then put a reservoir with Epson approved ink
in and test. Repeat as needed. No guarantee. Depends on how badly it is
clogged!

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

I was going to post the Ammonia suggestion. It worked for me, and the
printer concerned, was still working two years latter when I sold it.
It is very effective indeed.
It is worth realising that the removing the head won't really help, since
the blockage is inside the nozzles, and not something external that can be
wiped away. The cleaning sponges at the docking end of the carriage, come
directly into contact with the heads, and cleaner on here works, without
risking destroying the alignment of the system.

Good point.

It is worth also saying, that the Epson heads are far less prone to this,
than the HP cartridges, and when you have been through 30+ HP cartidges at
£20 or more a time, in each case replacing them before more than a quarter
of the ink is used, the Epson system does not seem bad.

The HP cartridges may be expensive, but they don't clog up as often in
as Epsons in my experience, and when they do, all you have to do is
replace the cartridge, and not waste tons of time on trying to get it to
clean and work properly as the Epson requires. We've never had as
many problems or complaints with the HPs as we've had with the Epsons.

And I hear the Epson printer sitting there for several minutes doing
this "dance" they do, of so much activity and gyrations just to get a
single _page_ printed out.

I have never successfully got an HP cartridge to clean.

But you can remove the whole cartridge and set the business end on a
sheet of paper towel wetted with whatever you want to clean it with. Or
even put the heads in a shallow liquid, like in a lid from a jar or
bottle.

And if you're against tossing the printer cartridges and putting new
ones in, then youi might consider what some people do. They just buy a
whole new HP printer on sale for $70 or so, with cartridges, and give
the old one to a friend or the kids or whatever.

And save a lot of money by refilling the cartridges. Epson uses a chip
in heirs to thwart the refills so they can sell more cartridges. But
the pirates sell kits that have already bypassed those.

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

--
in message news:[email protected]...

Which IMO just tells us quite a bit about the mentality of Teachers and
supply coordinators in charge of our children. The total cost of ownership
for an HP is usually twice that of Epson with lexmark leading by a whopping
margin. So Teachers don't even know about a little preventative maintenance.
Whip out the plug in mid-flight -prior to that looong vacation - spray in a
little Windex: some on the docking sponge and its done.
If you get really religious and cost conscious then a few spent cartridges
and a preventative print , again prior to vacation will keep them all
working just fine. That may not be within the teacher's remit or
intelligence but it works.
In any case vacation School buildings are normally used by parents and other
recreational classes during vacation times so why aren't they using the
printers ? Strikes me your costs could be halved and the tax payer's money
as well with a little thought and planning. Are you sure the motivation for
HP is cost.

You're using your experiences to judge someone else's situation, which
is not a valid judgment. The full-time teachers have a 6 by 10 ft
'office' (more like cubbyhole) which is theirs to lock up all summer
long, contrary to your judgment.

As for cost, well, you have to weigh in the other factors such as the
time it takes for the staff such as our helpdesk staff to do whatever
has to be done to get the teacher a page properly printed out. If we
had to go over with a bottle of windex and do as you suggested, it would
cost us at least a whole additional person full-time, because there are
hundreds of printers out there. And if you think that it's possible to
get a teacher to do that cleaning job, you haven't been in this
situation. Those teachers get paid a lot more than we do. And they get
off the whole summer, too.

Suffice it to say that if the teachers can talk their department head
into buying a 2 thousand dollar HP color laser printer and supplying it
with a new set of toner cartridges every few months at a cost of several
hundred dollars each, they can easily afford a few ink cartridges. And
new Epson printers, when the old ones get clogged up. We have a whole
warehouse of PCs and monitors, hundreds of them, setting there waiting
to be scrapped, and that's just a year's accumulation. What's the cost
of a few printers in the grand scheme of things? Nothing, especially
when compared to labor costs. The teachers won't deal with these
details, that's why they have us helpdesk peons. I was the first elec
tech the district hired, now 2 dozen years later we have dozens of
techs, just to deal with these user issues, and each tech gets paid the
cost of a couple cartridges a day. So why not throw inkjet printers at
the problem if it will save having to hire another tech. We used go
over and undo and reinstall the printer after the Lusers screwed around
with the printer setup, until we got wise and took away all users' local
administrator priveleges. Now they can't goof it up quite as bad and it
saves a lot of the techs' time. We have nicknames for certain
departments where there are those Lusers that have a propensity for
screwing things up. The techs call one dept "HM2", meaning High
Maintenance #2. They're not the worst; that title's reserved for HM1.
)

Believe me, I'm all for giving each user his own printer, that way I
wouldn't have to pull new cat5 cable to the big networked HP printer
they buy for the department. But they don't and I do, so that's called
Job Security. And the cost of a printer or even a PC is nothing
compared to the amount of labor and downtime wasted by a wave of virus
infections such as klez. Now, I can't even send someone a .ZIP file
because the email system rips it out and tells the recipient that it's
possibly a virus. But you have to look at the good side. All those
..ZIPs that don't get thru are no longer printed out, so it saves on ink,
paper and printers. ;-)

 

[James Sweet]

attachment.

The Epson inkjet printer is a field replaceable item. You throw away
the printer and replace it with another at the same or less price of a
set of ink cartridges for it. If you're smart, you'll get a printer
that has the nozzles built into the cartridge, such as the HP deskjet,
or similar.

I'm really serious about this. At work, the teachers go on vacation in
the summer, and when they come back in the fall, the Epsons are all that
way. So we just tell them, the Epson is not a district standard
printer, so we don't support it - sorry. If you get a new one, the
district standard is HP.

I had an old Epson Stylus II that never dried up, even after months of not
using it. Later I had a newer Epson and was dissapointed to find it would
dry out after only a couple weeks of not printing.

 

[Tony]

You're using your experiences to judge someone else's situation, which
is not a valid judgment. The full-time teachers have a 6 by 10 ft
'office' (more like cubbyhole) which is theirs to lock up all summer
long, contrary to your judgment.

As for cost, well, you have to weigh in the other factors such as the
time it takes for the staff such as our helpdesk staff to do whatever
has to be done to get the teacher a page properly printed out. If we
had to go over with a bottle of windex and do as you suggested, it would
cost us at least a whole additional person full-time, because there are
hundreds of printers out there. And if you think that it's possible to
get a teacher to do that cleaning job, you haven't been in this
situation. Those teachers get paid a lot more than we do. And they get
off the whole summer, too.

Suffice it to say that if the teachers can talk their department head
into buying a 2 thousand dollar HP color laser printer and supplying it
with a new set of toner cartridges every few months at a cost of several
hundred dollars each, they can easily afford a few ink cartridges. And
new Epson printers, when the old ones get clogged up. We have a whole
warehouse of PCs and monitors, hundreds of them, setting there waiting
to be scrapped, and that's just a year's accumulation. What's the cost
of a few printers in the grand scheme of things? Nothing, especially
when compared to labor costs.

That was firstly exhausting and then enthralling to comprehend...
I write and like horror stories about the human pysche: would you like to
contact me and play name-em-and-shame-em, anonomously of course. No wonder
the Western World is despised for its waste mountain.
Tony.

 

[Roger Hamlett]

Good point.


The HP cartridges may be expensive, but they don't clog up as often in
as Epsons in my experience, and when they do, all you have to do is
replace the cartridge, and not waste tons of time on trying to get it to
clean and work properly as the Epson requires. We've never had as
many problems or complaints with the HPs as we've had with the Epsons.

Interesting. The exact opposite of me. We have over 300 printer in the
company I work for. The running costs for HP equivalent models, worked out
over double that of the Epsons, with a hige number of 'early replacement'
cartridges. We have had just two Epson's develop clogged nozzles, and both
cleared.

And I hear the Epson printer sitting there for several minutes doing
this "dance" they do, of so much activity and gyrations just to get a
single _page_ printed out.

I only hear cleaning cycles, if the printer has been switched off, or left
idle for a couple of days. Normally responses are instantaneous. The HP
units also do a clean if left idle.

But you can remove the whole cartridge and set the business end on a
sheet of paper towel wetted with whatever you want to clean it with. Or
even put the heads in a shallow liquid, like in a lid from a jar or
bottle.

Yes, and then the cartridge no longer gives the fine ink dots it used to.
The quality degrades massively. The same is true after most refills...

And if you're against tossing the printer cartridges and putting new
ones in, then youi might consider what some people do. They just buy a
whole new HP printer on sale for $70 or so, with cartridges, and give
the old one to a friend or the kids or whatever.

And save a lot of money by refilling the cartridges. Epson uses a chip
in heirs to thwart the refills so they can sell more cartridges. But
the pirates sell kits that have already bypassed those.

I suspect that this explains a lot. The two machines that did develop
clogged nozzles, turned out to have both been fitted with a 'refilled'
cartridge, by one person...


Best Wishes

 

[puss]

I have an Epson 740 inkjet printer.

After not using it for a while, I discovered that the inkjet nozzles
were apparently clogged to the point where the "head cleaning routine"
was of limited usefulness.
The printouts show signs of missing lines and "bleeding fibers"
indicating the presence of accumulated residue around the nozzles.

I'd like to be able to free the print head carriage assembly
so that I can wipe the front of the nozzles and clean them,
but I can't find the right screws to remove.

The Epson website has various manuals to download but they don't seem
to have the one that I need. Their Product Information Guide on setup
and testing (sc740_pg.pdf) mentions (on page 15,
under Related Documentation) the "TM-SC467 Epson Stylus Color
440/640/740 Service Manual", but that publication is apparently
nowhere to be found on their website.

Can someone either
(a) explain how to remove the print head assembly so the nozzles can be
cleaned or
(b) mention a website where the necessary documentation is available
for download or
(c) if you have the document, send me a copy via email as an attachment.


Thanks for your help.

I have a site that shows you how to do it, not to hard but you must also clean
up the parking station as that get paper dust and hair on it and dried ink,
that must be done so that the print head it covered and has a good vacuum..

I did mine by using this article, and the 740 works great afterwards..

I use a stuff called Spray and Wipe, 2mm in a flat tray, left the print here
face down in it for say one hour, then did it again, also move the head a
little up and down in the liquid, the liquid does not cover the head just the
face of it.

Then did it again with clean water, then dried it off with clean tissue

Yes here is the URL..

http://www.inkjetart.com/tips/cleaning/Image01.html

Please do make shore that the print head is place back correctly as the angle
of the head is important, the service manual refers to a test problem to set
the head up, but its also set by locking a screw, this does not get touched
when removing the hard.

 

[puss]

attachment.

The Epson inkjet printer is a field replaceable item. You throw away
the printer and replace it with another at the same or less price of a
set of ink cartridges for it. If you're smart, you'll get a printer
that has the nozzles built into the cartridge, such as the HP deskjet,
or similar.

UTTER BOLLOCKS YOU KNOW F ALL.

 

[puss]

I have an Epson 740 inkjet printer.

After not using it for a while, I discovered that the inkjet nozzles
were apparently clogged to the point where the "head cleaning routine"
was of limited usefulness.
The printouts show signs of missing lines and "bleeding fibers"
indicating the presence of accumulated residue around the nozzles.

I'd like to be able to free the print head carriage assembly
so that I can wipe the front of the nozzles and clean them,
but I can't find the right screws to remove.

The Epson website has various manuals to download but they don't seem
to have the one that I need. Their Product Information Guide on setup
and testing (sc740_pg.pdf) mentions (on page 15,
under Related Documentation) the "TM-SC467 Epson Stylus Color
440/640/740 Service Manual", but that publication is apparently
nowhere to be found on their website.

Can someone either
(a) explain how to remove the print head assembly so the nozzles can be
cleaned or
(b) mention a website where the necessary documentation is available
for download or
(c) if you have the document, send me a copy via email as an attachment.


Thanks for your help.

I have a site that shows you how to do it, not to hard but you must also clean
up the parking station as that get paper dust and hair on it and dried ink,
that must be done so that the print head it covered and has a good vacuum..

I did mine by using this article, and the 740 works great afterwards..

I use a stuff called Spray and Wipe, 2mm in a flat tray, left the print here
face down in it for say one hour, then did it again, also move the head a
little up and down in the liquid, the liquid does not cover the head just the
face of it.

Then did it again with clean water, then dried it off with clean tissue

Yes here is the URL..

http://www.inkjetart.com/tips/cleaning/Image01.html

Please do make shore that the print head is place back correctly as the angle
of the head is important, the service manual refers to a test problem to set
the head up, but its also set by locking a screw, this does not get touched
when removing the hard.


Some info on Ajax Spray n Wipe, a Amonia/detergent based all purpose cleaner


http://new.thecleanmachine.co.uk/products/products418.aspx

Ajax, Colgate-Palmolive


Also use buy a local Printer repair shop, and used by them on Epson printers

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

in message news:[email protected]...

That was firstly exhausting and then enthralling to comprehend...
I write and like horror stories about the human pysche: would you like to
contact me and play name-em-and-shame-em, anonomously of course. No wonder
the Western World is despised for its waste mountain.
Tony.
--

No, I wouldn't want to, because you wouldn't pay me 28 bucks an hour to
do so. Besides, we full-time employees don't work on the printers, we
have a vendor send a field tech over for one day a week, and we pay them
a bundle of money just for that. I'm sure we wouldn't want to pay them
to have him here more just to clean print heads. We've scrapped a whole
lot of laserjets because the cost to repair is more than the printers
are worth, so we just buy a new one.

And if you think this is expensive, you should see the bills for the
Xerox monster they have out in the publications center. It looks like
this, but I think it's an earlier model.
http://www.xerox.com/go/xrx/equipment/product_details.jsp?Xcntry=USA&Xla
ng=en_US&prodID=DT6180&cat=Product+Taxonomy%2fProduction+Systems%2fDocuT
ech

 

[NSM]

....
| UTTER BOLLOCKS YOU KNOW F ALL.
....

Plonk!

 

[NSM]

| Interesting. The exact opposite of me. We have over 300 printer in the
| company I work for. The running costs for HP equivalent models, worked out
| over double that of the Epsons, with a hige number of 'early replacement'
| cartridges. We have had just two Epson's develop clogged nozzles, and both
| cleared.

Allegedly the price for inkjet ink works out to be several times the price
of the finest French Champagne.

N

 

[Clarence]

| Interesting. The exact opposite of me. We have over 300 printer in the
| company I work for. The running costs for HP equivalent models, worked out
| over double that of the Epsons, with a hige number of 'early replacement'
| cartridges. We have had just two Epson's develop clogged nozzles, and both
| cleared.

Allegedly the price for inkjet ink works out to be several times the price
of the finest French Champagne.

N

By the quart it is about the same as that Cheap booze.
California bubbly tastes better anyway!