UKC

Anyone know how to manually clean printer heads - i.e. without using ink

Got an Epsom Stylus SW515w - pretty cheap to buy, but no so cheap to run due to the cost ofthe cartridges. Thought this would be ok as we don't print much, but because of that the heads dry up....

Obviously the simple solution is to throw it away and buy a new one, but I hate doing that

In reply to Chris the Tall: I have managed to clear and clean blocked jets by putting a dilute warm water and detergent mix into some old ink cartridges, using a syringe, then running the head cleaning utility.

I first did this after enquiring about servicing my Epson. I was told it would cost me £80 for new jets. It would have been cheaper just to buy a new printer.

Cheers
Andy

In reply to Chris the Tall:

White spirit, or does that damage them?

In reply to Chris the Tall: You can buy head cleaning tanks, which you fit in place of the standard ink tanks and then set it printing for a while. We also use Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) to swab the head with. We've had mixed success with both methods. The 'Cartridge World' type place down the road has a steam cleaning device which they use to unblock some heads.

In reply to Chris the Tall:
Epson styluses (styli?) have always suffered from this problem. Beautiful print quality but the heads clog up repeatedly. I ditched mine as it was costing an arm and a leg in wasted ink. I think it's something to do with how they generate the ink jet - it makes the drops smaller (hence nice pront quality) but leads to clogging.

In reply to Chris the Tall:
Hi Chris
I have considerable experience of cleaning my Epson 1290s. I don't know your particular model but I have found the following links of help.

http://www.piezography.com/support/printhead_cleaning_tips.htm

http://www.mwords.co.uk/catalog/info-articles-printer-maintenance-c-15_128....

First of all use genuine Epson inks - you need to be careful here, we bought some "genuine" ones from Amazon that were actually convincing fakes. Printing regularly does help for the reasons you state. Avoiding running excessive cleaning cycles helps also. Cleaning the waste ink pad helps. And we used the "damp cloth under the print head" trick described in the articles, amazing how much dried ink that shifts, but you do run the risk of blocking a nozzle.
What symptoms exactly are you experiencing? Blocked nozzles? Colour casts? Colour stripes?

Cheers

Paul

In reply to Paul Evans:
Thanks for the advice and links - will try over the weekend and see if any of it helps

If not I might try some percussive maintenance

In reply to Paul Evans:
Good stuff there Paul.
I have to say as some one who has used Epson for a number of years (and has now gone over to HP) that Epson are great if you use them regularly. If you only print occasionally then they do clog up. As I found out once I ceased the need to print stuff out often. You can clean them but it gat to be a right royal pain to have to clean the heads EVERYTIME! I wanted to print something out.
The HP I now use worked fine for over a year without a problem and only printing out once a week. Then it started to lose print quality. We tried the clean the cartridges in hot water trick, which worked up to a point. Then the wife dismantled it cleaned everything and emptied the reservoir (full of old ink) bunged in a genuine cartridge and all is fine now.

Point is I can't think of a printer that doesn't have its own particular problems in this respect.