Quick alternative to cleaning carts?

[Fenrir Enterprises]

I can't seem to get the black on my dyebased 1400 unclogged after not using it for about 8 months (yeah, my fault). Figures the pigment 1400 that wasn't used for a year fired right up with no issues. I tried gently pushing cleaning fluid in with a syringe/rubber tubing and let it sit for 2 hours but that just made it run clear until I ran another cleaning cycle. I've been printing swatches and running nozzle checks for 3 days and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. I'm thinking putting the rubber hose/syringe on it but without the plunger, so the liquid just sits on (and hopefully slowly drains into) the printhead overnight? I've been trying not to run too many cleaning cycles, I hate having to waste the ink when all the other colors are running fine. I guess if I can't fix it by Mon I'll have to order a blank cartridge to swap the chip onto. I don't want to make an entire cleaning set when I could be putting that towards the R2000 + refill kit (waiting to see if the demo model price drops again, if it's still there I'll get it if not it wasn't meant to be).

Ten years of doing this and I still don't have a foolproof method of fixing it >_<

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I'm not a friend of cleaning cartridges in that case. You can disengage the printhead - pulling the power cord shortly after power up - and move it freely into any position. Place a folded piece of kitchen paper into the track of the printhead, soak it with window cleaner, move the printhead over it and let it soak there for some time. Put as well some water onto the cleaning pad which will be pumped away with the next pump cycle, that should clean the tube to the waste pad. And you can use a syringe - 10ml or so, attach a short piece of tube which fits over the ink take up rod in the printhead carriage, fill the syringe half with a cleaner, and start sucking/pushing about a ml or 2 in and out from the prinhead ink channel of the particular color you are cleaning. Start with sucking before you push back the cleaner. The kitchen paper underneath the printhead will collect the ink/cleaner mix which will come out of the nozzles - hopefully.

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

Thanks, I'll try this. I had the plug where I couldn't get to it so I was trying to find a quick and easy solution to remodeling the room but I need to do this the right way. I bought propylene glycol to make cleaning solution with and of course I know it's buried in storage somewhere, but I'm going to use The Hat's 10 ammonia / 20 alcohol / 70 distilled water formula.

I hate these stupid printers. They work so well when they work but then they drive me nuts when they don't! Of course this time was mostly my fault.

 

[The Hat]

I hate these stupid printers. They work so well when they work but then they drive me nuts when they don't! Of course this time was mostly my fault.

It usually always is my friend..

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

No luck so far. It's the same nozzle pattern after every attempt at cleaning. I hope it's not the printhead. I'd better start using the other one more often.

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

Place a folded piece of kitchen paper into the track of the printhead, soak it with window cleaner, move the printhead over it and let it soak there for some time.The kitchen paper underneath the printhead will collect the ink/cleaner mix which will come out of the nozzles - hopefully.

I did this in the paper path and the paper towel wicked out a whole bunch of ink. This time I put it over the capping station but I don't think it's a good idea for me to leave it there too long or it'll drain all the ink out. I'm getting less positive about being able to revive this printer, but I'll keep trying.

 

[Larryb]

I remember trying to revive an R2880 I got for cheap, and to play with. (I didn't care if I wrecked it, I was playing to learn). I know that we are talking about dye-based vs pigment-based inks here, but I did learn that dried pigment ink is nearly impossible to dissolve out. I saw dried up pigment in on the manifold nipples blocking 3 out of 4 holes that ink would go through from the ink cart into the print head. I left a cleaning cartridge for several days with piezoflush in contact with the dried pigment ink.

If dried up dye-based ink is just as stubborn, you may have install cleaning carts, flush out all the ink for cleaning solution, then let the head sit soaking on a quality paper towel for days, maybe even weeks. Whatever you do, don't force ink or cleaning fluid through the top with any pressure. I also learned that there are membranes inside the head and too much pressure from above can rupture these membranes. If that happens, your print head is really toast. But, if you're patient, and willing to wait a long time, you may be able to dissolve out the dried ink. I hope you have better luck than I had!

(It's for this reason I do a capping station and wiper clean once a month if possible on my R3000).

Larry

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I'm not doing that cleaning/sucking method frequently but never got into problems with it, I did not get all nozzles free in all cases, but o.k., there must be an end to some printers eventually .

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

I put the caps back on the air vents of the carts to keep the ink from getting wicked out, just gonna leave it for half a day now.

 

[martin0reg]

What had clogged in 8 month needs time... I once tried the soaking in different ways like you, but for a week, every day..
The only real alternative is to take out the printhead for flushing. Which is not as difficult as I thought before I did it the first time with a R285.

PS: there are many instructions for dismantle, here is the german one I've used
http://www.winkler-fotodesign.de/shop/info/Tipps-zu-Epson-Druckern.html#duesenverstopfung