- Thread starter
- #11
3 hours ago I tried to print a few more full color borderless A4 covers and magenta clogged again. After a head cleaning and a nozzle check the magenta stripes were printed in faint color.
It was time for some serious cleaning. I followed Grandad's instructions on the post linked above but I also used the improvisation of the unknown poster by Rob (I didn't glue the circuit board back on the 4 prongs, but rather attached the board on the prongs and let the printhead carriage locking lever do the rest).
Magenta took AGES to clean! Something was definitely blocking it which caused ink buildup and drying for who know how many weeks or months. After cleaning it with running water I put everything back in place and run a deep cleaning. I only got the pigmented black stripe so I reopened the head (much easier now) and noticed that I hadn't pushed the rubber gasket on the flow channels firmly. After more pressure the gasket looked well in its place and indeed, this time the printhead went through all colors.
It seems that a very few nozzles are not working but that's probably due to my careless handling, wiping with tissue -- might have left some tissue dust and pushing the printhead while the circuit board was still in place bended the flat cable.
It doesn't matter. My new printhead will arrive shortly, my printer has went through more than 50000 pages and my printhead was already in a bad shape due to compressed air cleaning (see above). More importantly, a few nozzles is not a problem for the documents I am printing right now (but it will be a problem when I want to print photos, hence the need for a new printhead).
All in all, Grandad's advice is sound: if you are about to throw away your printhead try cleaning it on the inside. You have nothing to lose and (if you are more careful than me) everything to gain.
It was time for some serious cleaning. I followed Grandad's instructions on the post linked above but I also used the improvisation of the unknown poster by Rob (I didn't glue the circuit board back on the 4 prongs, but rather attached the board on the prongs and let the printhead carriage locking lever do the rest).
Magenta took AGES to clean! Something was definitely blocking it which caused ink buildup and drying for who know how many weeks or months. After cleaning it with running water I put everything back in place and run a deep cleaning. I only got the pigmented black stripe so I reopened the head (much easier now) and noticed that I hadn't pushed the rubber gasket on the flow channels firmly. After more pressure the gasket looked well in its place and indeed, this time the printhead went through all colors.
It seems that a very few nozzles are not working but that's probably due to my careless handling, wiping with tissue -- might have left some tissue dust and pushing the printhead while the circuit board was still in place bended the flat cable.
It doesn't matter. My new printhead will arrive shortly, my printer has went through more than 50000 pages and my printhead was already in a bad shape due to compressed air cleaning (see above). More importantly, a few nozzles is not a problem for the documents I am printing right now (but it will be a problem when I want to print photos, hence the need for a new printhead).
All in all, Grandad's advice is sound: if you are about to throw away your printhead try cleaning it on the inside. You have nothing to lose and (if you are more careful than me) everything to gain.
