Was given two broken Epson stylus 500 inkjet printers. Both had been
sitting unused for over a year in the basement of a friend. One had a note
indicating it would not feed. This unit did not have either the Black or
the Color cartridge installed. Second unit had the cartridges in place, but
note indicated it would not print Black.

Decided to take a look at the paper feed problem first and found a pencil
had fallen into and jammed the paper feed mechanism. Removed the pencil and
paper feeder appears to be working properly. I immediately moved the
cartridges from the other unit to this one and was disappointed to see that
I had problems printing Black, and Red (Yellow and Blue appear to be working
although somewhat streaky). I subsequently read a small note on the inside
printer cover that if a cartridge gets removed prematurely, it cannot be
reinstalled ... Oh well, wish I had seen this first as I would have worked
on the other unit.

Decided to use a cartridge refill kit to refill these, but did not see any
different result. Does anyone have any experience with this model of Epson
printer? I am guessing that by having it sit idle for so many months that
the printer's ink distribution tubes or heads got clogged. Any advice to
try to get these working again? I am reluctant to spend $50 on new
cartridges before I can demonstrate that this investment would make the unit
operable again.

Bob

PS Have not looked at the other unit yet since I did not want to remove the
cartridges again. Help is appreciated.

"Bob Shuman" wrote in message
...
Was given two broken Epson stylus 500 inkjet printers. Both had been
sitting unused for over a year in the basement of a friend. One had a
note
indicating it would not feed. This unit did not have either the Black or
the Color cartridge installed. Second unit had the cartridges in place,
but
note indicated it would not print Black.

Decided to take a look at the paper feed problem first and found a pencil
had fallen into and jammed the paper feed mechanism. Removed the pencil
and
paper feeder appears to be working properly. I immediately moved the
cartridges from the other unit to this one and was disappointed to see
that
I had problems printing Black, and Red (Yellow and Blue appear to be
working
although somewhat streaky). I subsequently read a small note on the
inside
printer cover that if a cartridge gets removed prematurely, it cannot be
reinstalled ... Oh well, wish I had seen this first as I would have
worked
on the other unit.

Decided to use a cartridge refill kit to refill these, but did not see any
different result. Does anyone have any experience with this model of
Epson
printer? I am guessing that by having it sit idle for so many months that
the printer's ink distribution tubes or heads got clogged. Any advice to
try to get these working again? I am reluctant to spend $50 on new
cartridges before I can demonstrate that this investment would make the
unit
operable again.

Bob

PS Have not looked at the other unit yet since I did not want to remove
the
cartridges again. Help is appreciated.



If the cartridges have been out of the machine for months then chances are
it will be very difficult to get going again because ink will have dried out
and clogged the nozzles.

The reasons the instructions state that removing and reinstalling cartridges
prematurely are as follows..
1. The printer relies on calculating ink level by ink usage, replacing with
a half full cartridge, or before the previous is reported as empty will
stuff up the counter cycle & have to be reset.
2. When a cartridge is fitted to the printhead an amount of air is injected
into the printhead in the process, so lots and lots of wasted ink results
from lots of cleaning cycles to get it printing if changed in the incorrect
fashion as above.
3. The ink in the genuine cartridges is designed to absorb the air injected
into the head during placement and maintains this ability for about the
first hour of its life after being unsealed from its vacuum sealed
packaging.

BTW.... Some inks available in refills will make your problems worse by
reacting with the genuine ink and forming a jelly that clogs everything up,
this used to happen with a particular third party yellow ink constantly.

For unclogging a printhead.....

Epson do make a cleaning fluid, but not specifically for the ealier printers
such as the 500. It consisted of light magenta ink and a solvent of some
variety. It also costs ~$120AU for 1 litre, but you only need a couple of ml
for each printhead. You may have some luck by mixing a cocktail of genuine
ink, distilled water, and a small amount of isopropyl alcohol. Remove the
head from the printer & sit the surface of the printhead in this for a day
or so then try it in the printer (dont submerge the whole printhead, only
need to have the surface of the nozzles wet.) Without actually replacing the
cartrige with a new one you still should get some idea as to whether its
going to work, just keep all the nozzle check patterns and see if its
getting any better.

James

Pull the "PIN" to reply

James,

Thanks for the follow up. I received a separate email from someone else
recommending that I try good old Windex Window cleaner. Have not had the
chance to try this yet, but was able to locate several Epson cleaning web
pages ... one actually had pictures, that recommended Windex or Isopropyl
alcohol. I have some doubts on the alcohol since it did not seem to do much
to the dried ink, but several people have sworn by using Windex and or
ammonia so maybe this will dissolve the clot in the print head.

Bob

"James" wrote in message
...
If the cartridges have been out of the machine for months then chances are
it will be very difficult to get going again because ink will have dried
out
and clogged the nozzles.

For unclogging a printhead.....

Epson do make a cleaning fluid, but not specifically for the earlier
printers
such as the 500. It consisted of light magenta ink and a solvent of some
variety. It also costs ~$120AU for 1 litre, but you only need a couple of
ml
for each printhead. You may have some luck by mixing a cocktail of genuine
ink, distilled water, and a small amount of isopropyl alcohol. Remove the
head from the printer & sit the surface of the printhead in this for a day
or so then try it in the printer (dont submerge the whole printhead, only
need to have the surface of the nozzles wet.) Without actually replacing
the
cartrige with a new one you still should get some idea as to whether its
going to work, just keep all the nozzle check patterns and see if its
getting any better.

James

Bob,

I had the same problem with a 500 a few years back. Hadn't used it in a =
while and the print heads clogged up.

I searched and found a site with pics and step-by-step instruction as to =
how to clean the head. (Probably the same site you found). Personally, =
it was of no success even though I followed the procedure repeatedly. =
Mine were probably beyond repair.

I bought a new print head, replaced it and was back on track in no time =
at all. But...it was expensive, I paid (here in Sweden) something like =
US100 for that one. On the other hand, this was a few years ago and new =
printers weren't as cheap as they are today.

I may also recommend finger nail polish remover for cleaning printer =
heads. But if you have Isoprop, it's probably best. On a sidenote, my =
wife wondered what was with the nail polish remover that ran out so =
fast....

Regards,

Steve
"Bob Shuman" skrev i meddelandet =
...
James,
=20
Thanks for the follow up. I received a separate email from someone =
else
recommending that I try good old Windex Window cleaner. Have not had =
the
chance to try this yet, but was able to locate several Epson cleaning =
web
pages ... one actually had pictures, that recommended Windex or =
Isopropyl
alcohol. I have some doubts on the alcohol since it did not seem to =
do much
to the dried ink, but several people have sworn by using Windex and or
ammonia so maybe this will dissolve the clot in the print head.
=20
Bob
=20
"James" wrote in message
...
If the cartridges have been out of the machine for months then =
chances are
it will be very difficult to get going again because ink will have =
dried
out
and clogged the nozzles.
=20
For unclogging a printhead.....
=20
Epson do make a cleaning fluid, but not specifically for the earlier
printers
such as the 500. It consisted of light magenta ink and a solvent of =
some
variety. It also costs ~$120AU for 1 litre, but you only need a =
couple of
ml
for each printhead. You may have some luck by mixing a cocktail of =
genuine
ink, distilled water, and a small amount of isopropyl alcohol. =
Remove the
head from the printer & sit the surface of the printhead in this for =
a day
or so then try it in the printer (dont submerge the whole printhead, =
only
need to have the surface of the nozzles wet.) Without actually =
replacing
the
cartrige with a new one you still should get some idea as to whether =
its
going to work, just keep all the nozzle check patterns and see if =
its
getting any better.

James
=20

On Sat, 9 Aug 2003 23:41:48 +1000, "James"
wrote:
You need to toss both of these printers out.
Epson is junk.
I havve a closet full of Epson printers that gave constant problems
inregards to clooging and loss of ink prime.
I never had any luck with refilling the cartridges either, even when I
replaced the cartridge seals with new ones.
Epson designed most of their early printers to give seal problems
between the cartridge and the printheads.
I've since replaced all our printers with Lexmarks for image work and
Canon for text work.

"Bob Shuman" wrote in message
...
Was given two broken Epson stylus 500 inkjet printers. Both had been
sitting unused for over a year in the basement of a friend. One had a
note
indicating it would not feed. This unit did not have either the Black or
the Color cartridge installed. Second unit had the cartridges in place,
but
note indicated it would not print Black.

Decided to take a look at the paper feed problem first and found a pencil
had fallen into and jammed the paper feed mechanism. Removed the pencil
and
paper feeder appears to be working properly. I immediately moved the
cartridges from the other unit to this one and was disappointed to see
that
I had problems printing Black, and Red (Yellow and Blue appear to be
working
although somewhat streaky). I subsequently read a small note on the
inside
printer cover that if a cartridge gets removed prematurely, it cannot be
reinstalled ... Oh well, wish I had seen this first as I would have
worked
on the other unit.

Decided to use a cartridge refill kit to refill these, but did not see any
different result. Does anyone have any experience with this model of
Epson
printer? I am guessing that by having it sit idle for so many months that
the printer's ink distribution tubes or heads got clogged. Any advice to
try to get these working again? I am reluctant to spend $50 on new
cartridges before I can demonstrate that this investment would make the
unit
operable again.

Bob

PS Have not looked at the other unit yet since I did not want to remove
the
cartridges again. Help is appreciated.



If the cartridges have been out of the machine for months then chances are
it will be very difficult to get going again because ink will have dried out
and clogged the nozzles.

The reasons the instructions state that removing and reinstalling cartridges
prematurely are as follows..
1. The printer relies on calculating ink level by ink usage, replacing with
a half full cartridge, or before the previous is reported as empty will
stuff up the counter cycle & have to be reset.
2. When a cartridge is fitted to the printhead an amount of air is injected
into the printhead in the process, so lots and lots of wasted ink results
from lots of cleaning cycles to get it printing if changed in the incorrect
fashion as above.
3. The ink in the genuine cartridges is designed to absorb the air injected
into the head during placement and maintains this ability for about the
first hour of its life after being unsealed from its vacuum sealed
packaging.

BTW.... Some inks available in refills will make your problems worse by
reacting with the genuine ink and forming a jelly that clogs everything up,
this used to happen with a particular third party yellow ink constantly.

For unclogging a printhead.....

Epson do make a cleaning fluid, but not specifically for the ealier printers
such as the 500. It consisted of light magenta ink and a solvent of some
variety. It also costs ~$120AU for 1 litre, but you only need a couple of ml
for each printhead. You may have some luck by mixing a cocktail of genuine
ink, distilled water, and a small amount of isopropyl alcohol. Remove the
head from the printer & sit the surface of the printhead in this for a day
or so then try it in the printer (dont submerge the whole printhead, only
need to have the surface of the nozzles wet.) Without actually replacing the
cartrige with a new one you still should get some idea as to whether its
going to work, just keep all the nozzle check patterns and see if its
getting any better.

James

Pull the "PIN" to reply

I whole heartedly agree. Been there done that and wasted countless
hours - those printers are landfill material!

gothika wrote You need to toss both of these
printers out.
Epson is junk.
I havve a closet full of Epson printers that gave constant problems
inregards to clooging and loss of ink prime.
I never had any luck with refilling the cartridges either, even when I
replaced the cartridge seals with new ones.

quoting:
Was given two broken Epson stylus 500 inkjet printers. Both had been
sitting unused for over a year in the basement of a friend. One had a
note indicating it would not feed. This unit did not have either the
Black or the Color cartridge installed. Second unit had the cartridges
in place, but note indicated it would not print Black.
Decided to take a look at the paper feed problem first and found a pencil
had fallen into and jammed the paper feed mechanism. Removed the pencil
and paper feeder appears to be working properly. I immediately moved the
cartridges from the other unit to this one and was disappointed to see
that I had problems printing Black, and Red (Yellow and Blue appear to be
working although somewhat streaky). I subsequently read a small note on
the inside printer cover that if a cartridge gets removed prematurely, it
cannot be reinstalled ... Oh well, wish I had seen this first as I would
have worked on the other unit.

Decided to use a cartridge refill kit to refill these, but did not see
any different result. Does anyone have any experience with this model of
Epson printer? I am guessing that by having it sit idle for so many
months that the printer's ink distribution tubes or heads got clogged.
Any advice to try to get these working again? I am reluctant to spend
$50 on new
cartridges before I can demonstrate that this investment would make the
unit operable again.


Yes, they are clogged due to sitting unused for a long time. To fix:
Take one each back and color empty cartridges. Fill them with alcohol.
Place them in the printer and run the cleaning cycle many times. See if
there's any improvement. If there is, run the cleaning cycle some more.
Keep running the cleaning cycle until the heads are cleared. If it stops
improving, try leaving the alcohol filled cartriges in overnight, but the
printer need not to be running.


For the people bashing Epson: I have two of their inkjet printers. As long
as I don't do something stupid, they don't clog. Leaving it without any ink
carts is a sure way to clog it. Just leaving it unused for a log time will
clog it. Buddies of mine have Canons, HP, and Lexmarks and they all have had
their fair share of clogging due to extended periods of non use. And for my
Epsons, I do not refill the carts, but I do buy "compatibles" from a
respectable seller. I have found this particular brand of carts to be
reliable.

quoting:
Hello I'm also interested.
Which type of alcohol do you use ? isopropyl or...


"Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol 70%" is good enough.

For the people bashing Epson: I have two of their inkjet printers. As long
as I don't do something stupid, they don't clog. Leaving it without any ink
carts is a sure way to clog it. Just leaving it unused for a log time will
clog it.

That to me is a big flaw. We had a 500 at work that would require
multiple cleaning cycles everytime it went unused for more than a
week. Of course all those cleaning ate expensive cartridges very
fast. We ultimately threw it out in favor of an HP. The HP
cartridges were only slightly more expensive and replaced the head
with the cartridge.

The print quality sucked as well.

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 23:02:05 UTC, (JM)
wrote:

For the people bashing Epson: I have two of their inkjet printers. As long
as I don't do something stupid, they don't clog. Leaving it without any ink
carts is a sure way to clog it. Just leaving it unused for a log time will
clog it. Buddies of mine have Canons, HP, and Lexmarks and they all have had
their fair share of clogging due to extended periods of non use.

The difference being that if an Epson or Canon printhead clogs, it's a
throw-away item (or, at best, a hope-and-pray cleaning). At least with
the (admittedly, not too great either) HP inkjets, you can "merely"
replace the ink cartridge, and you're back in business, because you're
buying a new printhead with the ink.


--
Regards,
Al S.

(b) wrote:

I whole heartedly agree. Been there done that and wasted countless
hours - those printers are landfill material!

My Stylus 500 started producing badly striped images not long
outside its warranty period. I was never able to properly clean its
print head either.
What really annoyed me was discovering that huge absorbent pad
under the mechanism, and how much massively overpriced ink the thing
had pumped into that pad during its unstoppable self-cleaning cycles
it went through every time it was powered up.
This made me vow never to touch another Epson product. I've got a
second-hand HP Deskjet 500 a friend gave me. Only black and white and
very old, but it just keeps on going and going even after refilling it
with non-standard ink twice so far.
If I ever decide to risk spending money on another colour inkjet, I
think it will be a HP.

Cheers,
Bob


Hate spam? Go to http://www.bluebottle.com (It's free)

"Bob Shuman" wrote in message
...
Decided to take a look at the paper feed problem first and found a
pencil had fallen into and jammed the paper feed mechanism.
Removed the pencil and paper feeder appears to be working properly.
I immediately moved the cartridges from the other unit to this one
and was disappointed to see that I had problems printing Black, and
Red (Yellow and Blue appear to be working although somewhat
streaky). I subsequently read a small note on the inside printer
cover that if a cartridge gets removed prematurely, it cannot be
reinstalled ... Oh well, wish I had seen this first as I would
have worked on the other unit.

I've successfully reinstalled used cartridges in my Epson. To do that,
carefully inject some air through top gap until ink starts coming from the
bottom, then quickly place the cartridge in the printer so that the bottom
gap is still all full of ink when inserted. Problem is the ink tends to go
back up and leaves an air place and then printer is not able to pull that
air out (it never works if that happens no matter how many cleaning cycles
you do).
Once that done, one or two cleaning cycles will get it going like new.

BTW, my Epson has 6 years and still operating - secret: use only Epson
original replacements. I've also used Pelikan compatibles and they are good
too. But DON'T use too cheap replacements or strange brands.

quoting:
I whole heartedly agree. Been there done that and wasted countless
hours - those printers are landfill material!

My Stylus 500 started producing badly striped images not long
outside its warranty period. I was never able to properly clean its
print head either.
What really annoyed me was discovering that huge absorbent pad
under the mechanism, and how much massively overpriced ink the thing
had pumped into that pad during
it went through every time it was powered up.


Thing is - I know for sure that the cleaning cycle doesn't run "every time"
it's powered up. It runs once if the printer is off for more than about two
days. And yes Epson ink is massively overpriced, but that's why I buy the
$4.99 stuff.

If an Epson or any inject printer just starts to clog while being used,
then there's got to be something more deeply wrong with the printer, or long
periods of non-use perhaps?

There must have been something seriously wrong with your printer if "its
unstoppable self-cleaning cycles" because like I said, by itself, it runs
once in about two days, but more if manually started.


This made me vow never to touch another Epson product. I've got a
second-hand HP Deskjet 500 a friend gave me. Only black and white and
very old, but it just keeps on going and going even after refilling it
with non-standard ink twice so far.
If I ever decide to risk spending money on another colour inkjet, I
think it will be a HP.


Yes HP's are great refillable printers. Many people are into refill kits,
and a printer with the removable print heads is the way to go. Just fill it
up and pop it back in.

quoting:
Decided to take a look at the paper feed problem first and found a
pencil had fallen into and jammed the paper feed mechanism.
Removed the pencil and paper feeder appears to be working properly.
I immediately moved the cartridges from the other unit to this one
and was disappointed to see that I had problems printing Black, and
Red (Yellow and Blue appear to be working although somewhat
streaky). I subsequently read a small note on the inside printer
cover that if a cartridge gets removed prematurely, it cannot be
reinstalled ... Oh well, wish I had seen this first as I would
have worked on the other unit.

I've successfully reinstalled used cartridges in my Epson. To do that,
carefully inject some air through top gap until ink starts coming from the
bottom, then quickly place the cartridge in the printer so that the bottom
gap is still all full of ink when inserted. Problem is the ink tends to go
back up and leaves an air place and then printer is not able to pull that
air out (it never works if that happens no matter how many cleaning cycles
you do).
Once that done, one or two cleaning cycles will get it going like new.

BTW, my Epson has 6 years and still operating - secret: use only Epson
original replacements. I've also used Pelikan compatibles and they are good
too. But DON'T use too cheap replacements or strange brands.


My Stylus 400 - that's right an 8 year old 400 is still going great. This
thing used to be connected to a first computer - a Pentium 75 mhz. problems
I've had with it we

1) A couple of times, I have had to leave it unused for two or more months.
It got quite streaky, but a bunch of cleaning cycles fixed.

2) Through the life of the printer, I have always used "compatible" ink. I
found out cartridges that are $2.49 and under are garbage.

Otherwise, this printer has been almost trouble free.

People seem to bash these printers due to excessive cleaning cycles. I don't
see anything wrong with mine though, about 2 - 4 times per week.

For ink, I'm sticking with this brand that is no-name, but is good quality
ink. It comes in a blue box, and they are usually about $4.99 . Not a
single problem with it. I would have to say it's as good as the Epson made
ink.

(JM) wrote:

Thing is - I know for sure that the cleaning cycle doesn't run "every time"
it's powered up. It runs once if the printer is off for more than about two
days. And yes Epson ink is massively overpriced, but that's why I buy the
$4.99 stuff.

If an Epson or any inject printer just starts to clog while being used,
then there's got to be something more deeply wrong with the printer, or long
periods of non-use perhaps?

There must have been something seriously wrong with your printer if "its
unstoppable self-cleaning cycles" because like I said, by itself, it runs
once in about two days, but more if manually started.


Howdy,
Let me clarify by saying that this printer didn't get a whole lot
of use. It would certainly have been many days or even weeks between
printing anything in color. There were gaps of days between using it
for anything at all. I only ever powered it up when I wanted to print
something, and every time I did, it went through the drawn-out
self-cleaning cycle which is not something you can tell the printer
not to do. It just did it every time I powered it up.
OK, so I was probably asking for trouble by not using it very much,
but that's my printer usage pattern. The Deskjet 500 doesn't get used
any more often, but it doesn't appear to go through a cleaning cycle
unless I hit the "Prime" button, and it never clogs up or prints badly
striped images.
So let's just say that the old saying of "Once bitten twice shy"
applies to my experience with Epson inkjets. I've seen too many
similar stories about the Stylus 500 and other Epsons on this
newsgroup to trust that brand again.


Yes HP's are great refillable printers. Many people are into refill kits,
and a printer with the removable print heads is the way to go. Just fill it
up and pop it back in.

Yep, that's what I've been doing! :-)

Bob

Hate spam? Go to http://www.bluebottle.com (It's free)

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 10:55:29 UTC, (JM)
wrote:

Thing is - I know for sure that the cleaning cycle doesn't run "every time"
it's powered up. It runs once if the printer is off for more than about two
days.

There are a lot of people who use a power strip to turn off everything
(including the printer, which is really on standby otherwise). Might
this foul the two-day timer? Leading the printer to self-clean every
powerup? Just a WAG.

--
Regards,
Al S.

Bob Parker expuso:
(JM) wrote:

Thing is - I know for sure that the cleaning cycle doesn't run
"every time" it's powered up. It runs once if the printer is off
for more than about two days. And yes Epson ink is massively
overpriced, but that's why I buy the $4.99 stuff.

If an Epson or any inject printer just starts to clog while being
used, then there's got to be something more deeply wrong with the
printer, or long periods of non-use perhaps?

There must have been something seriously wrong with your printer if
"its unstoppable self-cleaning cycles" because like I said, by
itself, it runs once in about two days, but more if manually started.


Howdy,
Let me clarify by saying that this printer didn't get a whole lot
of use. It would certainly have been many days or even weeks between
printing anything in color. There were gaps of days between using it
for anything at all. I only ever powered it up when I wanted to print
something, and every time I did, it went through the drawn-out
self-cleaning cycle which is not something you can tell the printer
not to do. It just did it every time I powered it up.
OK, so I was probably asking for trouble by not using it very much,
but that's my printer usage pattern. The Deskjet 500 doesn't get used
any more often, but it doesn't appear to go through a cleaning cycle
unless I hit the "Prime" button, and it never clogs up or prints badly
striped images.
So let's just say that the old saying of "Once bitten twice shy"
applies to my experience with Epson inkjets. I've seen too many
similar stories about the Stylus 500 and other Epsons on this
newsgroup to trust that brand again.

I've also heard many times the same stories and don't know why people is
having so many problems. I've an Stylus 400 and my usage pattern is worse
than yours, mine sits months unused sometimes. When I turn it on it usually
works just fine, no cleaning needed. Few times I've had to run just one
cycle to get it going.

I use only original ink. I know that other inks, while sitting unused few
weeks dry out. Original ink has some product that quickly breaks dried ink.
I think while other inks may be ok to print, they are not good to be kept
unused because they badly dry. So, if you print a lot and often cheaper inks
may be ok, otherwise original ink is the best.
Yet, original ink is overpriced. Given that heads are fixed Epson surely
could sell ink much cheaper than other brands, but they don't seem too
interested in doing competition.

JM wrote:
Yes HP's are great refillable printers.

Didn't work that way on my 672c. Any ink I put in started leaking out the
cartridge's print head immediately.

--
It is possible to distinguish between a referral and a NXDOMAIN
response by the presense of NXDOMAIN in the RCODE regardless of the
presence of NS or SOA records in the authority section.
-- RFC 2308