Epson C60 - Ink dried up 2

[cybermal]

Hi all

I have an Epson C60 printer. The black ink carridge ran out several months ago and i never replaced it until today.

I have ran the head cleaning program several times and the black ink is not coming through on the test page even though the ink quantity is going down. Also i am getting gaps in the colour on the test page.

Is there any way of manually cleaning the print heads myself?

Mally

 

[hotfusion]

Sometimes the obvious can be overlooked......
Have you removed the sticky tape from the top of the cartridge?

Regards, Andy.
**************************************
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/index.htm

 

[cybermal]

Hi there

I removed it from the cartridge and it came off ok.

 

[edfair]

There seems to be some violation of the laws of the universe here. You're cleaning and the quantity is decreasing, but nothing is going onto the paper.
Could this be invisible ink? In which case the head is probably clean.

Seriously, you can do some dissolving of the ink, but you would need to do a cleaning afterwards to get the ink flowing normally and the solvent ejected.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[cybermal]

Good Answer! He he

I've cleaned it about 7 times now and the ink is still decreasing. I've tried printing in black only in high quality mode and the ink is still decreasing but nothing on the paper.

How do i do dissolving of the ink. I presume i need one of the ink re-fill packs and inject it straight down the head (the spike which goes in to the cartridge). If not what will i need to do.

Does this regularly occur with printers that are not used often.

Thanks

Mally

 

[edfair]

Before you worry about the cleaning you need to worry about where the ink is going. Most of the stuff I work with would have piddled a puddle on the floor by now.

You can dissolve dried up ink with water or cooking oil, depending on which type of ink it is. 2 or 3 drops of whichever on a piece of saran wrap then support the cartridge with the holes in the solvent. Dry with a paper towel before you try to use it again.

Is this a new cartridge or did you try to do a refill?

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[cybermal]

It's a new cartridge, but not an epson one

 

[tf1]

Epson Ink Cartridges are chipped so that they report they are empty before they are completely empty so that they never run dry (not for making more money contrary to most users like to believe). This stops the delicate heads from drying out. Unfortunately, you have left this for so long the heads have dried out and it is almost impossible to unclog them again.

When our customer's have done this, we usually try several cleaning cycles and if that doesn't unclog the heads we throw the printers away (unless they are under warranty). Extreme efforts to unclog them rarely succeed and the customers won't pay for the wasted time. So we don't waste time.

For longevity, use your Espon inkjet regularly, change the cartridges when prompted and keep the printer in a moderate environment (not in the heat of the sun or adjacent to a radiator, for example).


Regards: tf1

 

[wolluf]

'Does this regularly occur with printers that are not used often.'

Yes! (if inkjet)

Good luck with the cleaning - hopefully Ed's tips will help.

 

[tf1]

Our experience would suggest that users who have a very sunny office or who like to keep it very hot AND only use their printer once a fortnight are most likely to suffer from this problem.

We usually explain to them the problem and persuade them that the best solution is to share one of the networked printers in an ajacent office. This is often acceptable unless the user needs to print confidential documents.

Regards: tf1

 

[jurgen36]

If the print head is removable take it out, boil some water, and submerge the first centimeter or so in the hot water. Leave it for 45 minutes. Take the head out and dry it. It should work again like new. Regards

Jurgen

 

[cybermal]

Thanks Jurgen36

I had a look at the printer head and found i could take it to apart. I put the first cm in some hot water like you said.

Dried it and put it back together and it worked fine.

Mally

 

[vidman3117]

I have an Epson C84 where the Magenta, Black are clogged, did 7 print head cleanings, called Epson Tech support..They said service. I looked in to see if I could take out the print head and try your technique, yet, looks quite complicated. Has anyone taken out their print head on this machine? Is this clogging a problem with this printer? I have had it about 1 1/2 year with one or two minor clogs, which were fixed with cleaning. Any other suggestions to clear the clog? Also, in one forum, they said toss the printer and buy a new one rather than repair, or replace the print head.???
Regards,
Vidman