Bill P

I have ordered a new printer to replace my Epson 3880, which suffers from several clogs in the printhead. What to do? I've run many cleaning cycles, but the progress is glacial. As I'm awaiting for yet another nozzle check page to print, I''m thinking, why couldn't someone make nozzle cleaning cartridges? I don't know what the solvent the pigment is suspended in, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were water. Could I fill an old cart with distilled water and run a dozen cleaning cycles?

Better yer, why couldn't Epson or a third party ink manufacturer make cleaning carts? I would assume that there must be something really dangerous about this idea or someone would have done it already, but we all know what your sixth grade teacher said happens when you assume.

Anyone with technical knowledge about printer insides that can comment on this?

dannac Loc: 60 miles SW of New Orleans

Well you have a new one ordered ...
why not try it on the old one and let us know how it turns out.

kbk

TAke off the print head and pot it in soapy water in a ultrasonic cleaner. The ultrasonic vibrations should dislodge any debris like dried ink.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

Well, Gene gave you a link to a commercial product.

About a dozen years ago when I was still working full-time I had a couple college labs with many similar Epson and Canon printers. I used to make my own cleaning cartridges. I would save empty cartridges and turn them into cleaning cartridges. I used a syringe and good old film cleaner that we had in the lab -- worked great and never seemed to do any damage to the printers.

Joe

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Well, it does work. At least on a 4880.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Eventually, the print head itself wears out, and replacing the part costs probably 2x what a new printer does. Do yourself a favor, get a Canon Pixma Pro-100.

Bill P

If I was rich I would have an ultrasonic cleaner. If I had one I haven't the faintest clue how to get to the printhead.

N4646W

One quick way, is to slide the print head out of its park position at least half way out on the print platen. Unplug the printer, wait a few minutes, then press the power on switch. If the print head does not move you are safe to proceed. If it does move back towards the park position but does not park, slide it back to where you started, and press the power on switch again. If no movement, you are safe to proceed with the following. Fold a paper towel in half, saturate the fold with a non foaming window cleaner that has ammonia. Slide the print head out of the way so that you can place the folded edge on the printing portion of the platen, and then carefully slide the print head over the folded paper towel. Since you have done multiple cleanings this may take a couple of hours to set in this position. Close the lid so that the towel does not dry out, as this will make your clogs worse. Keep checking the towel every so often by sliding the print head off, to make sure it is not dry. You should see inks on the towel when you slide the head off of it. If not, double the fold thickness and repeat until you see ink. Do not force the print head over the paper towel. Once you have done this,(seeing ink on the towel) and let it set for an hour or two, making sure the towel is wet, replace the soiled towel with a fresh towel soaked in cleaner again, for another hour or two. After this is done, assuming you now have ink flowing onto the towel, dry and clean the print platen, fold a dry towel to the same thickness and slide the print head over it to remove any ink that is on the head it self, until you get a clean towel. While this is being done, inspect the parking tray for the print head. You should see a small O ring around the perimeter, and using Q tips with window cleaner, clean it. Don't try to clean the screen within with the Q tip. If you have a syringe, you can saturate both the park screen and the cleaning screens by saturating them with window cleaner. Once everything is cleaned, plug the print power cord back in, turn on the power, let the printer cycle, do a quick clean. This should make sure there is no air bubbles in the lines, and now try a print pattern check. For my Epson printers it works 90% of the time, then it's time for a power clean.

Yes, empty cartridges filled with warm water and a few drops of windex is another way to do this. But, and this is the tricky part, you have to first remove the ink lines from the print head and make sure they are absolutely clean. If not, this method will break up the sediment in the lines and force it into the dampners and print head. Then it's good by print head. If you use this method, I suggest that you remove the disposal tray, remove its grid, remove the felt absorption pads, refill it with some old rags, put the grid back on, and go to it. This is the method I have adopted for the old printers I have adopted. So far, out of the seven 9000 series printers, I have had to replace only one print head. Took me two months of soaking and flushing to get it cleaned, so now I have a spare.

Ron

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

I have the 3880 also among others, and at times would sit a bit longer between printing projects than I like. Have had a few clogged heads which is common. Luckily a couple head cleanings it cleared the nozzles. So now I keep a small stack of good ole copy paper in the printers and once every day or so I print out a word doc, test print or the like. Haven't had a clog in over a year. I do the same with my HP 36" printers but with less frequency due to the cost of inks. BTW, I've heard there are batch files floating around the internet that will run printers for you on a schedule. Yes you need to keep the printers powered up 24/7

OlinBost Loc: Marietta, Ga.

Replacement print heads cost almost as much as a new printer. There are kits to clean printer heads on Amazon.

DaveC Loc: Illinois

I bought a head cleaning kit for my Epson printer. I got it either on Amazon or at B&H.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

I’ve had two Epson printers but the clogged printer head problem brought both to an early grave. I now have the Canon Pixma Pro 100

Brian S. Loc: Oak Park, MI

The Easiest and Best way to keep an Epson printer printing like it just came out of the box is to print an 8.5" x 11" (or larger) full color spectrum test print EVERY single week of the year, without fail. Here is a source for some excellent images to print, (every week).

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=2156&bih=1277&ei=VBwCXv7aKIH0tAa1z42AAw&q=color+printer+full+spectrum+test+pages&oq=color+printer+full+spectrum+test+pages&gs_l=img.3...2171.56501..57529...6.0..0.70.2313.42......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......0j0i131j0i8i30.ReE4opsIYjM&ved=0ahUKEwj-1Kumu87mAhUBOs0KHbVnAzAQ4dUDCAU&uact=5#imgrc=hZb3RJyhafSGhM:

I have three Epson printers, an XP-960, a Sure Color P600 and a Sure Color P800 and this method is keeping them running.

I would also suggest keeping the printer(s) covered and have as close as possible to a 50% humidity level. Also they should always be turned off when not being used so the print head can park over the built in capping device to prevent drying of the head.

Here is the best head cleaner I have found available anywhere, it's a little expensive but well worth it.
https://shop.inkjetmall.com/PiezoFlush-Solution-220ml.html

This product works well with the folded paper towel under the print head sitting in the center of the platen method.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

My
Epson 880 died when the cartridge parking pad became too saturated. No way to clean it and thus no way to clean the jets. Now I always print a 5x7 on plain paper in draft mode to keep the jets clean. Uses much less ink then a cleaning cycle. Epsons are noted for getting clogged if not used frequently.