Inkjet Printhead Cleaning Method

[Grandad35]

I would be very careful when mixing bleach with anything. For example, it is well known that mixing bleach and ammonia will produce chlorine gas!

Boiling the water will kill bacteria, but it will not remove the salts that are in the water (which I believe to be the main reason why distilled water is specified for this application). Distilled water is cheap and is available at most grocery stores (it is used in irons to prevent the channels from clogging with the salt residue that remains after tap water boils off in the iron).

Even though you are only adding one drop, I wouldn't add hydrochloric acid to anything that was going to be used on a delicate device (my skin, print heads, etc.).

 

[websnail]

Having been directed to this thread I was wondering, if, as an Epson printer user, I would need to dismantle the print head in order to clean it?

I've seen a few sporadic posts around that indicate that using a little Windex (ie: ammonia based cleaner) on the pad the head rests on, would have the same result.

I fully understand that removing the head would be a must for a completely clogged head but for regular maintenance would the pad approach be sufficient?

 

[fotofreek]

Websnail - Arthur Entlich, who helps people with Epson problems on a printer newsgroup, will send you his epson print head cleaning manual at no charge by email. Email him at e-printerhelp@mvps.org, describe your problem and printer model, and request his print head cleaning manual. DO NOT remove the print head. Under most circumstances it can be cleaned quite well using his suggestions.

 

[fotofreek]

e-printerhelp@mvps.org is the email address for Arthur Entlich - unfortunately it hit a line break on my previous post.

 

[websnail]

Thanks for that... I've emailed him and will await this guide with interest

Cheers

 

[Correzpond]

1) Take 5-6 sheets of toilet paper, let it sit on a dish, and spray ammonia-based glass cleaner (azax, etc).
2) Let the printhead sit on the wet toilet paper and let some azax drops on the ink pickup discs (the metallic filters).
3) Push the printhead gently and watch the paper at it absorbs ink from the printhead.
4) Turn the printhead upside down to remove ink and azax from the ink pickup
5) Throw away the wet toilet paper and repeat steps 1-3
6) Make a few additional push-pulls of the printhead. Watch as ink or cleaner appears on the ink pickup discs.

With a dry sheet of toilet paper, clean up the printhead contacts and the areas around the pickup discs.

Don't let the printhead dry; insert it in the head carriage, insert your cartridges and run a cleaning cycle.

I just ran across this post in a google search, and I wanted to thank you so much for this information. I tried this on my S9000 which was banding due to being clogged and it worked PERFECTLY. Now I don't have to run out and get a new print head or printer.

Thanks!

Paul

Also tried this procedure successfully using Windex (Australian formulation) on a print head that was causing very subtle banding in prints (not detectable in 'Nozzle Checks') on my Pixma ip8500.

There is another reference to the 'magic of ammonia' in cleaning print heads at http://www.outofinkandtoner.com.au/articles/article37.htm

For information I use MIS Inks and the Kodak ICC profile for the ip8500 from http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/member/photoPrinters/iP8500.jhtml which works very well (especially for skin tones) with all the papers I have tried (Canon, DSE) from Photoshop ('Let Photoshop Determine Colors') with the Magenta dialled down -5 in the Canon Printer Driver custom settings.

 

[Nifty]

Correzpond, welcome to the forum and thanks for posting your experience. We too often find people signing up for the forum, posting "I've got a clog" and then never hearing from them again. Glad to hear that Panos's system worked for another person.

So, to make sure I understand correctly... you were receiving banding, but couldn't see it in any of your nozzle checks? Was it light banding or dark banding? The reason I ask is because I've had both... I've had times when some of the banding lines are lighter then the rest of the print, but recently I've had some banding where the lines (specifically in my black) are darker than the rest of the print. I haven't done any troubleshooting yet, but thought I'd ask.

 

[Correzpond]

I think I would have to say 'light' banding, as in intensely saturated colours (e.g. Red) the bands are somewhat lighter than the majority coverage.

However I have been wondering recently if some banding (not noticeable to the naked eye, but evident under a magnifying glass or in a scanned 600dpi magnification) in flat / saturated / darker colour areas) is inevitable with ip8500, as I can see some in most prints if I look hard enough (& even prints printed after cleaning the printer head; although never usually as pronounced as before reseating or cleaning of the print head).

From experience I know that banding can also be caused by very close contact between the print head & paper (i.e. I have seen some examples lessened by setting 'Prevent Paper Abrasion' in the Pixma custom settings or reseating the print head) and suspect that banding may be often due to a fine imbalance between the printer head & paper which cannot be totally controlled or compensated by user adjustments.

I would be interested if other ip8500 owners see this issue with banding under similar conditions, or if it may be more of an idiosyncrasy of my machine.

 

[Grandad35]

Correzpond,

You didn't say whether you ran a print head alignment procedure after you removed/replaced the print head. A mis-aligned print head can cause many strange problems.

 

[Correzpond]

Thanks for the comment, & yes I always align the print head after reseating / removing it.