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Cleaning Printer Heads

This video from Castle Ink explains how to clean your printer heads.

Transcript

  • Take a shallow dish and pour in the liquid to a depth of 3 to 6mm (1/8 to 1/4"). You should have just enough to wet the print head.
  • Remove the problem cartridge from your printer. Avoid touching the print head or contact ribbon and place it with the print head in the liquid. Let it soak. Depending on the degree of blockage, this process can take anywhere from 10 minutes to overnight.
  • This process does require patience, so just let the cartridge sit. Refrain from tapping it or rubbing the print head. In doing so, you may just drive the clog back into the print head. You'll know it's working when the colour you've been having problems with starts to flow into the surrounding cleaning liquid.
  • Take a few sheets of paper towel, fold them into a pad and pour some cleaning fluid into the center. The towel need not be completely soaked, but the center should be quite wet.
  • Remove the cartridge and holding it gently by the sides, be careful not to touch the electrode ribbon and gently push it down into the center of the moistened paper towel. Rock the cartridge gently from side to side, front to back in a dabbing action in order to draw the clog out and get the ink flowing more freely.
  • You should see the colour spotting on the paper towel. Once you've established that the ink is flowing, reinstall the cartridge and, try another head cleaning and print a few more test prints.