How to clean printer head

Hi,

Have you tried the steps below, if not, try them Turn on the printer by pressing the"Power" button. Check the red "Ink" light next to the powerbutton. If it is flashing, you need to first replace an ink cartridge. If the"Ink" light is off, proceed with the cleaning process. 2 Open the Epson Printer Utilityprogram installed on the computer connected to the printer. In the mainmenu, click the "Head Cleaning" option. Click "Start" tobegin the cleaning process. This may take several minutes. You will hear noisesfrom the printer and the "Power" light will begin to flash. 3 Load paper into the tray when the"Power" light stops flashing and you no longer hear noises. Click the"Print Nozzle Check Pattern" option on your screen, then click"Print" on the following screen. The printer will now print a testpage. 4 Click "Finish" if thetest page looks complete. If there are gaps in the image or white lines runningacross the page, the print head needs to be cleaned again. Click the"Clean" option on the final screen instead of "Finish" toclean the heads again. Once again, the printer will print a test page whenfinished. If the page does not meet your standards, clean the head until youare satisfied.

If this does not work, try the steps below.

The fix is described here:
http://inkjetprinterhelp.us/duraink.html

But I had a few problems trying to apply it. I wound up with one of those"extra" parts. (see http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/printer/37654)

So, be advised that the fix is non-trivial to perform if you're a klutz likeme, and also you probably DON'T need to disassemble the print head. (On theother hand, if you DO disassemble the print head, and you see a little partlike the one I found, please tell me where it goes!).

Regards,
Ron

Hi,

Clean the print heads by performing a head cleaning followed by printing a nozzle check pattern. A head cleaning and nozzle check must be performed as a cycle. After printing a nozzle check, examine the printed dot pattern. Each staggered horizontal and straight vertical line should be complete, with no gaps in the dot pattern. If there are gaps in the dot pattern, continue with another cycle. Performing up to 6 cleaning cycles is not uncommon if the print heads are severly clogged.

Hope this helps.

Shane

hi.
1 put a small amount of light on on the bale bar (the bar the print head slides on) and then do a head clean. If this doesn't clear the problem, try doing a print head alignment, (see my previous fix) hope this helps

ok what should do is when you finish printing one page wait for some few mins before printing another page ok. that could help or unistall and reinstall your printer again and apply this method i just showed you. thanks

Please follow the procedure your printer has which forces it printer to clean the print heads.
I have experience of other epson stylus models.  I have previously spoken to epson about this exact problem.  Repeating the head cleaning process a minimum 5 times cleared the problem.
Running head clean multiple times in succession builds up pressure in the print heads - causing (usually new) cartridges to work correctly.
kind regards

Has it been a while since you've used the printer? If so, it's probably dried out a little. Try a couple things.

1. Check if you are out of ink. The HP printer software will have an ink level picture indicating how much ink you have in the tanks.
   
2. Print a test page.You can do this by click on the start menu, then selecting printers and faxes. Once you see your printer, right click it and choose properties. Then choose to print a test page. If that fails to print, go to step 2
3. Clean the print heads. In the previous menu, you should find an advanced button. You'll have to search around a little as I don't have this printer, but there will be an option to clean the print heads. You may have to repeat the cleaning multiple times before you start to see an image.
   

If that doesn't work, comment back and we'll try some other things.
Steven

I had this eror. It was caused by indexing error left to right.Would print some then cancel after starting to make clunking and left to right error gets to large.(white edge up the side of full page print).
There is a toothed print head carriage drive belt and a clear indexing strip above the heavily white greased bar behind print head carriage.
If this clear indexing strip gets grease or anything else on it the print head cannot index.
With print head at full right position,power off, I carefully wiped the clear strip by pinching between clean dry fingers and wiping up and down the strip a few times,maybe use cotton wool buds and IPA or methalated spirit if you can't get your fingers in there without breaking the strip. then with power on print head in change cartridge position,push carriage to far left and wipe right side of clear strip.I pushed carriage full left to right a few times,Then ran print head alignment.Fixed without taking apart.

Hi please try these steps:::

Right-click the printer icon, and then select 'Properties'.
2. Click the 'Maintenance' tab, and then click 'Deep Cleaning'.



3. Select 'All Colors', 'Black' or 'Color' for the print head to be cleaned.





4. Read the message displayed, and then click 'OK'. The power lamp blinks and print head deep cleaning starts. (Do not perform any other operations until print head deep cleaning is complete. Print head deep cleaning takes about 1 minute.)

IF ABOVE STEPS DOESN'T WORK TRY THESE STEPS BELOW

Check ink tank vent hole The ink tank requires air to flow through it so ink can move from the reservoir to the print heads.

1. Confirm there is no orange tape across the top of the ink tank
   
   
2. If the orange tape is as shown in Figure (1), it is properly removed.
   
   
   
   *BCI-3's shown in this example.
   
   
3. If the orange tape is as shown in Figure (2), remove the remaining tape to the level shown in Figure (1).
   
   
4. Make sure each ink tank is snapped into the printer.
   
   IF THESE STEPS DIDNOT WORK THEN YOUR PRINTER NEEDS REPAIR(You might need to change the printer head.)
   

Perhaps the CMY color heads need alignment. If you have not already done so, run a head alignment from the driver maintenance section. It will print out a page containing several lines and text, and request you select the closest-aligned images. After this is done, do another image print to check for improvements.
Normally, the printer uses the black cartridge for text and the CMY inks for images (even for black on photo and specialty paper). So when you are printing normal text pages on plain paper, only the black ink is used. A good check for this would be to print a normal text page, but select photo paper in the driver to trick the printer into using the CMY inks to make a substitute black text page. If this looks ok, then you are having issues other than cartridge alignment.

Alarm / Power light flashes orange 7 times consecutively is a Print head error so it sounds like you did the right thing.

I would reseat the printhead along with each one of the ink cartridges. Make sure that you removed the tape from the bottom of each of the ink cartridges and try it again. After installing the new printhead, you should have run a printhead cleaning cycle immediately after installing.

Issue: Certain colors are missing or no ink prints on the paper
Solution: Install / replace the recommended ink tanks correctly i550 / i850

Untitled Document How to install / replace the ink tanks
The ink tanks suitable for the printer are as follows;


Black Ink Tank BCI-3eBK
Cyan Ink Tank BCI-3eC
Magenta Ink Tank BCI-3eM
Yellow Ink Tank BCI-3eY


Note: There are two ink tank label designs.
Operation procedures are shown with label design A.
Replacement Procedure


1. Check that the printer is powered on, and open the front cover. Wait until the print head moves to the center.

2. Remove the empty ink tank by pushing the tab on the ink tank.

Note: When doing this, do not remove the print head. When replacing multiple ink tanks, it is recommended to replace one at a time to avoid inserting them into the wrong slots.
(The image is an example using i850.)


3. Remove the new ink tank from its package. Pull the orange tape in the direction of the arrow to remove it completely, and remove the shrink-wrap film.

Note: Remove the orange tape completely. If the tape remains, printing may not be performed properly.


Confirm that the orange tape is completely removed from the ink tank, as shown in image 1. If the tape is similar to the sample in image 2, remove the remaining portion of the tape so that it looks like the sample shown in image 1.


(1): Correct

(2): Incorrect (where the arrow indicates)
4. Slowly twist the orange protective cap in the direction that the arrow indicates, and remove it. To avoid ink adhering to your fingers, brace the orange protective cap while removing it.




5. Insert the new ink tank to the print head by holding it at a slight angle.

Note: Confirm that the ink tanks are installed in the right order according to the labels on the print head.

6. Press down on the top of the ink tank until a click sound is made.

7. Close the front cover. The next time the printer performs printing, it will automatically start print head cleaning. The power lamp will flash while cleaning is performed. Until cleaning completes, do not perform other operations.