Inkjet News

Well I am sure this has happened to most (all) of us. When printing out that special photograph all of a sudden blank spots start showing up in the printout.

This is normally a symptom of running out of ink, but every so often it is the telltale sign that the heads on your printer are starting to clog up.

This can be caused by a multitude of issue but they all relate to the ink drying in your heads. Most often happens when you run out of ink in a cartridge and the printer sits idle waiting for it to be replaced. This allows any ink in the printer to be exposed to air (and dry) and prevents the printer from clearing the blockage early in the cycle as there is no ink left in the reservoir.

Again running the built in head cleaning utilities normally will clear a small blockage after 2 or three tries….

The unfortunate thing about the cleaning utility is that it typically cleans ALL colors at the same time regardless of the color that has the blockage. This results in excessive amounts of ink being wasted.

What most people don’t recognize is that the ink used for cleaning cartridges can be up to 10% of the cartridge(s) capacity depending on the printer.

I don’t know how many times I have hear of people throwing our their printers thinking their heads are defective, only to find out that they have exhausted the ink supplies via “Head Cleaning”.(They say I must have ink left as I just changed the cartridge)

OK now, lest say you have checked all the above items, run countless head cleanings, and although the heads are SLOWLY becoming cleaner the process of cleaning appears to have stopped with the clogs still present….Is there anything else you can do to try to save this “crippled printer” from the nasty junk heap ? YES, Yes, Yes…

Now I have to warn you that the cure is sometimes worse than the disease, so this next step must be taken with the clear understanding that it could result in permanently disabling your printer. (But then again, you were just about to throw it on the junk heap anyways right?)

Again, not all printing problems are related to clogged heads, and could be clogged exit hoses, or defective heads, electronics, etc…so this may not work for those reasons.This procedure, we administering too much solution can also, in some printer models result in debonding the glue on some heads causing premature head failures.

Ok, OK, Ok…You understand that this solution is to be taken as a last resort and any problems that may be caused are understood in advance. I.E. You are an educated person and realize that this is a last ditch effort to save the pritner.

The fix is relatively simple.. Take a USED cartridge (Not empty) and cover the top ink hole while turning the cartridge over….Now comes the secret ingredient…. Add about 1 Ounce of your standard home window cleaning solution that must contain Ammonia D…. Yes Ammonia D is the secret ingredient that disolves virtually any inkjet clog. Run the head cleaning utility a few times, and the results will be amazing. (Make sure you perfom the oepration in a well ventilated room, and are present throughout the entire operation. Inspect and monitor the operation ensureing there are no problems caused by its use.

Note: This procedure is to be performed at the users own risk and expense and Metawatch assumes no responsibility for any outcome related to the use of this procedure. As with any chemicals, care must be taken with their use and any and all results should be monitored to ensure there is no risk of electrically induced shorts caused as a result of this operation.

Filed under: Inkjet Info | Tagged: clog, color inkjet printer, inkjet, last resort, unclogging injket heads |