I have a printer given to me that does not print properly from the black print
head. There are regular horizontal gaps in every printed head, which I think
indicate plugged jets in the print head. I'd like to manually clean the face of
the head with ammonia water like I have previously on other printers, but this
unit does not seem to offer any easy access to the actual print head. Can anyone
suggest the easiest way to get to it, perhaps with a cotton swab?

I have tried multiple cleaning cycles, and printing pages of all black with no
improvement. They print well except for about 1/8" gaps horizontally every 1/2".

Bob F wrote:
I have a printer given to me that does not print properly from the
black print head. There are regular horizontal gaps in every printed
head, which I think indicate plugged jets in the print head. I'd like
to manually clean the face of the head with ammonia water like I have
previously on other printers, but this unit does not seem to offer
any easy access to the actual print head. Can anyone suggest the
easiest way to get to it, perhaps with a cotton swab?
I have tried multiple cleaning cycles, and printing pages of all
black with no improvement. They print well except for about 1/8" gaps
horizontally every 1/2".

Thinking about this, since it's one section of the entire print head that seem
to be not printing, this might be more likely perhaps to be an electrical
problem in the signals to the print head. Any opinions?

On Fri, 20 Feb 2015 21:02:37 -0800, Bob F wrote:

Bob F wrote:
I have a printer given to me that does not print properly from the
black print head. There are regular horizontal gaps in every printed
head, which I think indicate plugged jets in the print head. I'd like
to manually clean the face of the head with ammonia water like I have
previously on other printers, but this unit does not seem to offer any
easy access to the actual print head. Can anyone suggest the easiest
way to get to it, perhaps with a cotton swab?
I have tried multiple cleaning cycles, and printing pages of all black
with no improvement. They print well except for about 1/8" gaps
horizontally every 1/2".

Thinking about this, since it's one section of the entire print head
that seem to be not printing, this might be more likely perhaps to be an
electrical problem in the signals to the print head. Any opinions?

I'd have guessed that any part could clog up. But maybe if all nozzles in
one section are clogged it could be electrical. Or a particularly sticky
ink?

I had a couple of Epson Stylus 860 (IIRC) and did dismantle to the point
where I could soak the print heads. But I didn't know about ammonia. The
heads travel on a nice shiny round bar which moves to give variable
clearance to the paper. As well as freeing the bar it was necessary to
disconnect the drive belt and the position-sensing ruler. Not too
difficult...

Mike.

Mike wrote:
On Fri, 20 Feb 2015 21:02:37 -0800, Bob F wrote:

Bob F wrote:
I have a printer given to me that does not print properly from the
black print head. There are regular horizontal gaps in every printed
head, which I think indicate plugged jets in the print head. I'd
like to manually clean the face of the head with ammonia water like
I have previously on other printers, but this unit does not seem to
offer any easy access to the actual print head. Can anyone suggest
the easiest way to get to it, perhaps with a cotton swab?
I have tried multiple cleaning cycles, and printing pages of all
black with no improvement. They print well except for about 1/8"
gaps horizontally every 1/2".

Thinking about this, since it's one section of the entire print head
that seem to be not printing, this might be more likely perhaps to
be an electrical problem in the signals to the print head. Any
opinions?

I'd have guessed that any part could clog up. But maybe if all
nozzles in one section are clogged it could be electrical. Or a
particularly sticky ink?

I had a couple of Epson Stylus 860 (IIRC) and did dismantle to the
point where I could soak the print heads. But I didn't know about
ammonia. The heads travel on a nice shiny round bar which moves to
give variable clearance to the paper. As well as freeing the bar it
was necessary to disconnect the drive belt and the position-sensing
ruler. Not too difficult...


I continued exercising the printer occasionally over several days. Finally,
today, it started to work better,and after a dozen or more pages of printing big
black blobs, the unprinting areas started getting smaller and smaller, until
they went away.. It took most of a new black ink tank total to get it working.

So I guessthe problem was plugged print heads or the ink path to a section of
them, and the ink finally disolved a path through. I hope it keeps working.

On Sun, 22 Feb 2015 22:06:46 -0800, Bob F wrote:

I continued exercising the printer occasionally over several days.
Finally, today, it started to work better,and after a dozen or more
pages of printing big black blobs, the unprinting areas started getting
smaller and smaller, until they went away.. It took most of a new black
ink tank total to get it working.

So I guessthe problem was plugged print heads or the ink path to a
section of them, and the ink finally disolved a path through. I hope it
keeps working.

Don't forget all that ink will have gone somewhere! Don't tip the printer
from the horizontal or you may find out where...

Mike.