Officejet T45

[Ancientuser]

I have an Officejet T 45, a workhorse for many moons. Recently, it developed a disease. The black ink catridge, after printing a couple of pages develops crud on th ebottom and th eprint, as you know smudges! Oh!! It does that even with brand new cartridges! I tried cleaning, aligning, and all that goes with it, but no use. Any help?

I appreciate it very much. (Don't want the printer that serviced so well to throw away!)

Regards,
Ancientuser

 

[Matt8450]

This sounds like one of two common problems or a combination of both.

First fibers get stuck to the ink spray and stick to the bottom of the your print carriage and the carriage(the thing your cartridge snaps into). If the smudges look like hairy streaks in the black ink, that's the problem.

The second problem involves ink and fibers that accumulate on the cleaning station. (The parts your cartridge sits on when it's not printing). The good news is the dried ink can be cleaned with plain water, the bad news, it will stain your fingers for days and won't come off anything that's not glass or metal.

It's best to work in a safe area, on news paper, and wear latex or vinyl gloves if you don't want inky fingers. The ink is non-toxic it just stains like crazy. All you need is Q-tips and paper towels and some water. Windex or glass cleaner works well too but avoid getting anything but water on the bottom of your cartridge.

The first thing is you must get the cartridge to come out where you can get to it. Turn the unit on and open the lid like you were going to replace the cartridge. When the carriage unlocks and moves to the center, just unplug the power. Now you can remove the cartrige. Hold the bottom up to a light and wipe any hairs you see sticking to it off with a wet q-tip. Do this as many times as it takes to get every last hair off. Next take a wet q-tip and scrub the under side of the carriage. You may not see it well, just keep puting q-tips down there until they come out clean. The ONLY way this does not work is if you miss some fibers, so keep trying.

Next look in the printer cavity where the print head normally sits. you'll see some black parts, if they seem inky or hairy clean them off, again this can take some persistance.

There are usually some ink aborbing pads a good service person would replace but since most good service people are out of the consumer buisness it's become a do it your self job. Good Luck