Unclogging stubborn Epson CX5200 printhead

[Doc]

My Epson Cleaning Manual goes into quite a bit of detail about how to do
these tests, and I suggest anyone interested just request a copy via email..

Art

e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org

Hi Arthur. I sent a previous request, go no response, I just sent
another via yahoo mail.

Thanks

 

[clifto]

Although I have only tested Epson inks formulations, I have been told by
others who have tried both 3rd party and other brands of inks that the
same basic mix works on the majority of water based inkjet printer inks.

What strikes me most about this whole complicated process is how easy it
is to remove the water-based inkjet ink from paper by getting it wet.

 

[James Sweet]

What strikes me most about this whole complicated process is how easy it
is to remove the water-based inkjet ink from paper by getting it wet.

After fighting with color inkjets for years and throwing away hundreds of
dollars on cartridges that only gave me a few pages before clogging up
across numerous brands of printers, I finally gave up and got a color laser,
and I've never looked back. The photo output is not as good as a modern
inkjet but for everything I print it's fantastic. If you don't print a lot
of photos I highly recommend looking into one. Some even do photos pretty
well.

 

[msg]

James Sweet wrote:

After fighting with color inkjets for years and throwing away hundreds of
dollars on cartridges that only gave me a few pages before clogging up
across numerous brands of printers, I finally gave up and got a color laser,
and I've never looked back. The photo output is not as good as a modern
inkjet but for everything I print it's fantastic.

<snip>

I like dye sub photo printers; shelf life is much longer for consumables
in or out of the printer, the prints are nearly archival and the self-
laminating media is even more rugged.

Regards,

Michael

 

[clifto]

After fighting with color inkjets for years and throwing away hundreds of
dollars on cartridges that only gave me a few pages before clogging up
across numerous brands of printers, I finally gave up and got a color laser,
and I've never looked back. The photo output is not as good as a modern
inkjet but for everything I print it's fantastic. If you don't print a lot
of photos I highly recommend looking into one. Some even do photos pretty
well.

Thanks for the notes. I finally got a B&W laser and was thinking about a
color unit. I've never actually had clogging problems with inkjets yet,
at least nothing I couldn't fix easily, but the cost was eating me out
of house and home.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I was off line a few days. It went out as soon as I returned. If you
still haven't received it, please email again.

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Well, that depends. When I say waterbased, I indeed mean the inks are
waterbased. That doesn't mean they aren't waterproof when they dry, or
get locked into certain paper formulations.

The pigment inks used by Epson, for instance (Durabrite and Ultrachrome)
are waterproof once they dry. They use non-water soluble pigments
suspended in a water based liquid which uses water soluble acrylic
resins. Once dry, the pigment is held to the paper surface via the
resin, which becomes waterproof when dry.

The alcohol and ammonia dissolve the resin again even after drying.

Some dye inks also can become water proof upon drying or at least water
resistant, so again other solvent or wetting agents help.

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Do keep in mind the actual costs of consumables with color laser
printers is doing photo-coverage prints. Unless you can refill the
toner cartridges, they can become more costly than inkjet prints, now
that the business model in use for laser printers is similar to that of
inkjet models, where the consumables are more costly than the printer,
and the cartridges coming with the printer are "starter" type, often
containing 25-33% of a full cartridge.

Art