Stylus Photo 1400. To clear out of ink error, which cartridges to replace?

[Hogwild]

Hi again. Sorry for the long gap, but I've been swamped with other things.

I replaced C, PM, Y K with older, but genuine never-used Epson cartridges.
The printer is printing, but quality is not good. In particular, the black is not good, and that's one of the cartridges I replaced. I did three nozzle cleanings via the driver, but it's still the same.

I want to do some nozzle cleanings with chemicals, but it's been a long time since I did one, and that was on another printer. I don't want to spend ton of money on commercial cleaning fluid, as it's pricey, and I only intend to clean the heads on this one printer, once... just enough to demo the printer properly so I can sell it. The Windex with ammonia formulation is no longer available where I am. So, what common chemicals are recommended nowadays for cleaning?

Also, there seems to be some difference of opinion about the best method to clean heads/nozzles. Some tell you to push cleaning fluid into the nozzles and others say that's not as safe as pulling ink up into they syringe, which they claim avoids damage. What do you recommend?

 

[bplaman]

Hello.
If you use ORIGINAL (native) EPSON inks, then try the “capillary effect” method.
To do this, do a STANDARD head cleaning, but do not print a nozzle test right away, but leave the printer like that for one day.After a day, print out the nozzle test. Everything should be OK.
I did this after 83 days of downtime in the switched-off state of two printers: Epson 1500W and K301. Two such cleanings were needed. The nozzle test for both printers was OK after this.

 

[Hogwild]

Hello.
If you use ORIGINAL (native) EPSON inks, then try the “capillary effect” method.
To do this, do a STANDARD head cleaning, but do not print a nozzle test right away, but leave the printer like that for one day.After a day, print out the nozzle test. Everything should be OK.
I did this after 83 days of downtime in the switched-off state of two printers: Epson 1500W and K301. Two such cleanings were needed. The nozzle test for both printers was OK after this.

Thanks. I'll try it.

If for some reason, it doesn't work, what gauge silicone tubing do I need to buy to attach a syringe to the holes in the print head?

I've printed almost nothing since I installed 4 or 6 new cartridges. And...I just ran out of ink in the other two cartridges. Ugh! IS it just me, or does thing use ink like candy? Is it the cleaning cycles that use so much ink?

 

[Hogwild]

I bought a printer cleaning kit, and for now, I'm using 97% alcohol. With the first ink point, the alcohol went through very easily.

However, with two of the other ink points, the alcohol is not moving at all. I've very slowly put a lot of pressure on the syringe, and there's still no alcohol moving, and I feel entirely resistance. I tried doing a back and forth pumping action for 5 or 6 minutes each. Some junk came out, but they're both still not moving.

What do you do in this kind of situation?

 

[PeterBJ]

I think that 97% alcohol, isopropyl alcohol or denatured ethanol is not a good printhead cleaner. The concentrated alcohol acts as a desiccant which can make the clogs harder to dissolve. See this post and this.

 

[Hogwild]

Thanks. That is a very long thread, so I'm not going to read all of it right now.

- First, let me say that I haven't been able to find propylene glycol except in large (expensive) bottles. I'm already way over budget on this thing, so I don't want to spend much more.

- When you wrote in that thread about putting paper towel soaked in formula under the printhead, is that considered a replacement/substitute for injecting it through the inkpoints, or is that just to clean the bottom?

- And were you talking about removing the printhead first, or just leaving it in the printer while you let the solution soak underneath? I'm anxious about doing the first, as my hands are unsteady, it looks tricky, and I've broken things before.

In this Stylus Colour 1400, if I ever decided to clean out a cartridge and fill it with cleaning solution, would I have to do it with 6 cartridges (does it detect the colour chip and insist I use the "correct" cartridge), or can I just use one cartridge for al the points?

 

[PeterBJ]

I only linked to the post with the recipe of a cleaning fluid. I didn't write it, pharmacist did.

I bought propylene glycol from an online shop selling e-cigarets and materials for mixing vaping liquids. If you cannot find propylene glycol at an acceptable price, the 3% propylene glycol can be replaced by 2% glycerol. See this thread.

I don't know very much about Epson printers, but if I were to repair one I would start by reading posts by pharmacist and Ink stained Fingers. I think they are both the forum Epson experts.

As I read pharmacist's post, I think he does not remove the printhead but slides the printhead over the soaked paper. I would give that method a try. I think the printhead can be moved from side to side if you disconnect the mains without first turning the printer off. This way the printhead is not parked and locked.

I have seen reports on the forum about Epson printheads ruined by de-lamination caused by forcing cleaning liquid through them.

 

[Hogwild]

I only linked to the post with the recipe of a cleaning fluid. I didn't write it, pharmacist did.

I bought propylene glycol from an online shop selling e-cigarets and materials for mixing vaping liquids. If you cannot find propylene glycol at an acceptable price, the 3% propylene glycol can be replaced by 2% glycerol. See this thread.

I wasn't sure about quality/purity. Maybe I'll gamble and just buy a cheaper bottle.

Putting fluid on a paper towel under the print head was the first thing I tried. A whole lot of fluid came out on, but that still didn't clear the two bad ink clogs.

Hopefully I didn't destroy my print head. However, this is not my daily use printer. It's just an extra one I came across.

 

[Hogwild]

Okay, I used the Pharmacists formula of polyethlyene glycol, alcohol and distilled water. I injected it into the ink points and inserted a paper towel saturated with it under the head. It took out a lot of dried ink from the ink points and under the printhead.

This time, the formula went right through the ink points, within a few seconds, and with almost zero pressure exerted. This will be my standard cleaning formula from now on.

However, I'm still getting next to zero black and very little yellow output. What's the best thing to do? Note that this is basically the same as what I was getting before I cleaned everything.

I don't want to run another nozzle clean in the driver if possible, as it seems to use almost 1/4 tank to do it.


Suggestions?