What liquid should I use to clean my Epson printer head? Methods for resuscitating a dried out print head

Majority office employees they print a lot, a lot... Let's say you encounter problems such as:

• severe deterioration in print quality;
• disappearance different colors during printing;
• “contamination” of a document with ink.

To solve them you will need cleaning and flushing liquid for the cartridge, which can be used for inkjet printers.

Cartridge flushing liquid from INKSYSTEM

Today, almost all ink manufacturers also produce flushing fluids. And the large international company INKSYSTEM is no exception. This manufacturer is one of the first to produce and sell alternative printing consumables. It manages the production of refillable cartridges, continuous ink supply systems (CISS), inkjet inks and other quality products. Flushing fluid for a cartridge from INKSYSTEM - this is time-tested quality. This flushing liquid varies both in quality and purpose. The universal cleaning agent allows you to remove minor stains. It has average cleaning properties. It is this kind of cleaning that is primarily necessary to clean the printer’s print head when changing the manufacturer or type of ink. For example, if you are switching from pigment ink to ultrachrome.

Universal flushing liquid intended for piezo jets. Epson devices can be used to remove dirt from the print head and to soak it after drying. A flushing agent designed for pigment inks has the best cleaning characteristics. Cleaning with this liquid allows you to remove the most difficult stains after using pigment ink. Cleaning piezo jets Epson heads, using a special washing liquid will be very useful for washing print heads and cartridges from Epson. Cleaning and washing liquid for piezo inkjet printers, in turn, is divided into two more types - universal devices and devices designed for pigment inks.

There is another type of cleaning agent - flushing liquid for cleaning thermal inkjet heads of inkjet printers. These print heads are used in almost all household inkjet machines, with the exception of Epson printers. Everyone knows that when printing documents, the nozzle part of the thermal inkjet head of the device heats up to a very high temperature. It is for this reason that the head nozzles can become clogged with scale from used ink over time.

You can order cartridge washing liquid from us at the most affordable price! This can be done very quickly without spending extra money, time and effort.

Flushing liquid for cartridges of inkjet printers and MFPs

You may need a cleaning agent in a situation where you have not used the printer for a long time and the ink in its print head has dried out. To solve this problem it is necessary to use special liquids. In this case, the most ordinary cleaning of the nozzles no longer helps.

Have you decided to change the type of ink, for example, change pigment ink to ultrachrome ink? Cartridge washing liquid will also be very useful for you! When replacing ink from one manufacturer with ink from another manufacturer, cleaning is recommended. In this case, you will need cartridge washing liquid, which is recommended to wash the print head and refillable cartridges or CISS.

(3 of 3)

In what cases are flushing fluids needed?

• When the print head (PG) becomes clogged and regular cleaning of the PG does not help
• When cleaning CISS or printer elements from ink
• When restoring a print head from dried ink
• When changing the ink type

In all these cases, flushing fluid can be used. The flushing liquid can be used as a preservative liquid. Does not cause damage to head materials. The composition of the composition is close to the ink base and does not cause rapid pigment deposition.

It should be noted that sediment in pigment ink is formed in any case (the period of use of pigment ink is 1 year). When diluted, this process accelerates.

Special experiments and long-term practice of use have shown the absence of damage to the print heads even with prolonged soaking in the most severe cases. The composition showed excellent comparative results when washing print heads after using non-original pigment and dye-based ink (water-soluble), after pigment ink (mixing different types of ink).

Before refilling ink from another manufacturer, you should wash off any remaining ink using a cleaning fluid. Otherwise, a normal chemical reaction between the two types of ink may occur, which may cause sediment to form and block the nozzle plate nozzles.

If there is no ultrasonic bath

1. Immerse the cartridge head about 1 cm in warm water (40-50°C) for about 10 minutes;
2. Pour the washing liquid into a suitable container;
3. Immerse the cartridge head approximately 1 cm in warm washing liquid for approximately 7-10 minutes;
4. Take out the cartridge;

Using an ultrasonic bath

1. Pour the washing liquid into a small container;
2. Immerse the cartridge head 1 cm in the flushing liquid for 2-3 minutes;
3. Clean in an ultrasonic bath filled with water for 5 seconds (note: cleaning for more than 5 seconds may damage the working parts of the cartridge);
4. Take out the cartridge;
5. Using a refill station and a syringe, remove 1 ml of ink from the cartridge;
6. Wipe off any excess ink or dirt from the head;
7. Install the cartridge into the printer and start cleaning the head;
8. If the printer still does not print normally, repeat steps two to six 2-3 times.

To add this page to your "Favorites" click

Other articles in this section:

PG blockage is far from the only reason why. However, there is a high probability that this is the problem if on your device:

• across the movement of the paper appear;
• one or more colors are missing;
• nothing is printed, although the printer does not issue any warnings, and the carriage moves properly.

Causes of blockages

Most often, the print head does not want to work properly:

After a long period of inactivity

When the ink has simply dried out. In this case, several sessions of cleaning the nozzles through the printer utility program can help. If cleaning twice does not help, use the “Deep cleaning” function; you can repeat it after a day. Didn't help again? This means the problem is much more serious and may require flushing.

Due to mixing of incompatible paints

Water-based and pigment inks categorically do not want to cooperate, they curl up, give sediment, and quickly clog the nozzles. It’s good if you noticed the problem in time and the nozzles did not have time to burn out. The same type of paint may also be incompatible different manufacturers. Ideally, ink tanks should be refilled with the same consumables. Some experts even advise new original cartridges do not print if you are going to refill them later, but immediately rinse and fill with the exact ink that will always be used.

As a result of printing with an empty cartridge

Carefully monitor the condition of the ink tanks, refill them on time, as printing with leftover ink quickly damages the ink tank. First, the nozzles become clogged, and then, if you do not pay attention to the print quality in a timely manner, the nozzles burn out. Here, washing will not help; such a head cannot be restored.

Flushing fluids

Specialized ink stores also sell washing liquids. For example, OCP RSL100 or more concentrated Bursten PDK. But they are quite expensive, and to wash a very dry head you may need a large number of facilities.

You can make your own alkaline solution using the following recipe. For 7 parts distilled water, take one part:

• ammonia,
• isopropyl alcohol,
• glycerin.

Mix the resulting mixture thoroughly and strain. It makes no sense to use distilled water separately, since it is ineffective for water-based ink and does not dissolve pigment paint at all.

Important: Do not wash clogs with alcohol and vodka. Dried or curdled paint releases remaining liquid into ethyl alcohol, making further soaking difficult or impossible.

The glass cleaner has proven itself to be the best Mister Muscle blue or green. Its effect is comparable in results to specialized flushing fluids, but the price is significantly lower. You can use other window cleaners whose composition is similar to Mister Muscle and contains ammonia.

How to remove the print head

Open the cover while the printer is turned on to allow the carriage to move out of the parking space. Turn off the printer. Remove the cartridges. The print head is clearly visible, but it is too early to remove it.

IN different models printers, the latch holding the PG looks different, although the principle of operation is the same in almost all models. There is a lever on the right side, or the frame has a certain form. You need to lift it up.

The MG5440 model has a slightly different principle. The latch here is a bar with the image of ink colors, which does not rise up: you need to pull it towards you until it clicks. Now the PG is free, tilt it forward and carefully remove it from the printer.

Flushing

Make sure that the PG of your printer has no burns near the nozzles, the nozzles are intact, and flushing

Burnouts in the nozzle area (Click to enlarge)

has the meaning. If so, prepare:

1. washing liquid;
2. gauze, napkins or bandage;
3. syringe;
4. a low plastic container where the GHG will fit;
5. tube from a medical drip.

Cover the table with newspapers and place a piece of bandage, folded several times, soaked in the washing liquid, under the PG. Using another piece of cloth, also soaked in the cleaner, gently blot the intake grates.

Remove the rubber seals, wash them, and thoroughly wipe the head body around the intake holes. Drying of ink in these places can lead to depressurization of the system. As a result, air may be sucked in and paint will flow intermittently. It is a good idea to periodically clean the O-rings for preventive purposes, even when there are no problems with the seal.

Digging

Instillation of PG (Click to enlarge)

A little liquid is instilled into each gateway with a syringe and needle. As soon as the drop is absorbed, add more. Change the bandage as it gets dirty and continue dripping until the liquid passing through the head is no longer the same color as the ink. If the liquid is not absorbed very well, heat it to 50–60 degrees. To enhance the effect, you can use a more aggressive agent, following the instructions for its use.

When each of the sluices begins to absorb well and allow flushing to pass through, let the head stand. After an hour, there should be no strong ink streaks on the fabric. This means that the washing was successful and the head can be returned to the printer. Before printing, be sure to clean the nozzles of cleaning agent using the printer utility program.

Soaking the nozzle plate

But washing is not always so simple. Perhaps one or two sluices do not allow liquid to pass through: the drop is not absorbed for a long time. For some time you need to remove it with a bandage and drip again, but if nothing has changed in an hour, it’s time to proceed to the next stage.

Pour 2–3 mm of washing liquid heated to 40° into a plastic container, lower the print head there with the nozzles down and place it in a warm place to soak, after covering the airlocks on top with a damp bandage to prevent them from drying out and covering the PG with a plastic bag. If no changes are observed the next day, heat the cleaning liquid again and leave for another day. In general, washing the print head is a long process; you can only save the part slowly.

Soaking intake holes

If the sluices still do not allow liquid to pass through, you can try to create some pressure from above. You need to put tubes about 5 cm long on each of the intake holes and fill them with cleaning liquid.

In this form, the structure can be left for a long time, periodically adding rinsing. If the liquid still leaves the tube through the problematic sluices, continue the procedure for two days.

Reaching out

When the liquid level in one of the tubes does not decrease, you can try the following technique. Pour a little product into the container, put a piece of cloth and press the PG nozzles against it. Insert a syringe without a needle into the tube and, carefully moving the piston towards you, draw the cleaning agent through the nozzles.

Do this several times, adding clean liquid to the pan. Pour out the used rinse from the syringe, then refill the tube and leave for another hour. The process can be repeated several times.

Important: The head must be pressed firmly against the wet fabric to avoid drawing air into the nozzles.

If liquid now leaves the tubes with approximately same speed, The steam generator was washed out.

Pumping

If after two days of soaking the liquid still does not flow well, you can

Pumping liquid through the steam generator (Click to enlarge)

try pumping it with a syringe in both directions. Continue to press the nozzles against the wet bandage, drawing in the liquid in the same way. Squeezing in the opposite direction must be done when the tube is full.

Liquid is drawn into the syringe so that there is a layer of air between the piston and the flushing agent. This technique helps to avoid a sharp push that could damage the nozzle plate.

You need to press the piston very carefully, no more than 2-3 divisions at once, then even more slowly, depending on the fluid loss.

Extreme methods

So, in fact, we have run out of methods that still have a high chance of saving the print head. If the goal cannot be achieved, you can use several more much riskier methods:

1. Press out the liquid with a full syringe without an air cushion. The pressure on the nozzles will increase significantly, as will the risk of damaging them. Do not press the head against the fabric, but lift it slightly. Press the piston carefully, as before, the pressure is much greater due to the lack of an air cushion.

Hold the steam generator nozzles over the steam for several minutes and push through the flushing heated to 40–50 degrees.

Place the head on the surface of hot water for a few minutes, without dipping more than a millimeter, and draw the liquid through the nozzles.

The print head is washed (picture taken from www.chernila.com) (Click to enlarge)

1. Use a more aggressive product: mix 9% vinegar and distilled water in a ratio of 1:9. This composition cleans well, but has a destructive effect on internal parts, and after using it, it is necessary to rinse with an alkaline solution to neutralize the acidic environment. Do not use this method if you are not prepared for the fact that the print head will fail in two to three months.

If one of these extreme methods helped achieve the desired goal, do not rush to return the PG to the printer. After such extreme measures, be sure to dry it with a hairdryer. Do not overheat the head: take breaks for about twenty minutes. If you doubt that everything has dried well enough, leave it near the battery for two days, and before installation, drop a little flushing liquid into each gateway.

You can also order repair (washing / restoration) of the Canon print head.

Have fun typing.

In contact with

Classmates

Printhead– the most “capricious” element of an inkjet printer. Prolonged downtime of the print head can cause slight blockage in its nozzles. The first signs of a clogged inkjet printer print head are horizontal white streaks on your printouts. If the blockage is not cleared in a timely manner, it can develop into an ink jam, which paralyzes the operation of nozzles clogged with dried ink. A visual comparison of a slight blockage and an ink jam on the print head of an inkjet printer is shown in the figure.

Slight blockage and ink blockage in the nozzles of the inkjet cartridge print head

There are many ways to revive a dried-out inkjet printer print head. Let's look at some of them.

USING THE PRINTHEAD CLEANING UTILITY

Inkjet printer manufacturers supply utilities with their products to check the condition of the print head nozzles. If, after running such a utility, it turns out that some of the print head nozzles are clogged, you should run 1-2 cycles of cleaning them. Cleaning involves running ink through the print head nozzles. The increased pressure under which the ink is driven allows the nozzles to be freed from light ink plugs and accumulation of air bubbles.

One or two such cleanings will be quite enough. If you run the print head cleaning cycle many times in a row, then air-ink bubbles may form in its nozzles and the situation will only get worse. It should also be taken into account that when cleaning the print head, a certain amount of ink is wasted, which would be enough to print 3-5 sheets of high-quality A4 text. After cleaning the print head nozzles, leave the printer alone for a period of 2 to 5 hours. After this, you need to start printing a test page. If horizontal white streaks are still visible on the printout, you can run another cleaning cycle.

SOOOKING THE PRINT HEAD IN CLEANING LIQUID

If cleaning the print head of your inkjet printer does not help, you can try soaking it in a special cleaning liquid. Only removable printheads can be soaked (most Canon printers and older models of Epson printers) and print heads built into the cartridge (HP, Lexmark). To do this, you need to take a small clean container, pour 2-3 millimeters of cleaning liquid preheated to a temperature of 40-50 ° C into it, and place the print head in the liquid with the nozzles down. To reduce evaporation of the cleaning liquid, the container can be covered with a plastic bag. After this, the print head should be left alone for a period of 1 to 3 days, depending on the degree of contamination. Since the cleaning liquid is ethereal in nature and periodically evaporates, it should be added to the container as its volume decreases. After the specified time has passed, the cartridge with the soaked print head is inserted into the printer and based on the print quality of the test page, a conclusion is made as to whether further washing of the nozzles is necessary.

PRINTING WITH CLEANING LIQUID

To bring the non-removable print head back to life, you should run a print cycle with cleaning fluid. To do this, fill the cartridge with cleaning liquid instead of ink and start the print head cleaning system. If printing defects do not appear on the entire image, but only in areas a certain color, then the liquid must be poured into a cartridge of the appropriate color. After cleaning, the printer must be left alone for about 2 hours so that the cleaning liquid dissolves the ink that has dried in the nozzles.

After two hours, you should create in any graphic editor sheet, and fill it with the appropriate color: if a purple cartridge was revived with the help of a cleaning liquid, then the sheet should be filled with purple, if yellow, then yellow, etc. It’s better to do this in Photoshop, which allows you to use color scheme CMYK. We print the resulting square filled with paint on standard paper, having previously set the print density to the highest. The cleaning liquid, mixing with the remaining ink in the inkwell, leaves prints on the sheet. If horizontal white stripes are visible on the print, it means the print head has not been cleaned; if the fill is continuous, then the ink jam has been removed.

For a final check of the print head, the cartridge is refilled with ink of the appropriate color, the nozzles are cleaned, and the same sheet of paper filled with ink is printed. If the ink plug is not removed, the printing procedure with cleaning liquid can be repeated.

WASHING THE PRINT HEAD WITH A HOMEMADE SOLUTION

For washing you will need: glass washing liquid with ammonia, distilled water, cotton wool, a small cup, a plastic bag, two syringes with a capacity of 10-20 ml, paper napkins and a hair dryer.

The print head is carefully removed from the printer carriage. Blot the surface of the print head with a paper napkin folded several times. The napkin needs to be changed until the ink prints disappear on it. With a new cloth soaked in washing liquid, lightly wipe all surfaces of the print head with the exception of the electrical contact board, with which the head is connected to the printer. The print head must be completely clean before soaking. The flushing liquid is drawn into a syringe and short distance released onto areas where ink residue is visible.

If the printer is equipped separate cartridges, you should rinse the intake fittings from the syringe. If the printer uses built-in cartridges, you should empty all the contents from them and rinse the inside of the ink tank several times with washing liquid using a syringe with or without a needle, depending on the structure of the cartridge. After completing the procedure, the print head is blotted with a clean and dry paper towel.

If the printer has removable cartridges, then the intake fittings should be closed with cotton wool, generously moistened with flushing liquid. The cotton wool should be moistened with liquid until liquid begins to leak from the print head. Next, the print head needs to be placed in a small cup with the nozzles down. 2-3 mm of washing liquid heated to a temperature of 35-45 ° C is collected in a cup. Thus, the print head nozzles are immersed in the washing liquid. The cup is placed in a plastic bag and sealed tightly. The print head is left in this state for a day. After a day, the form is opened, the cycle of washing and soaking the print head in the washing liquid is repeated for a day.

Hello, Dear friends and subscribers of my channel!

Data-medium-file="https://refitrf.ru/wp-content/uploads/pg_epon-300x169.jpg" data-large-file="https://refitrf.ru/wp-content/uploads/pg_epon- 1024x576..jpg" alt="Flushing the Epson PG from disassembling the printer to assembling it" width="176" height="99" srcset="https://refitrf.ru/wp-content/uploads/pg_epon..jpg 150w, https://refitrf.ru/wp-content/uploads/pg_epon-300x169..jpg 768w, https://refitrf.ru/wp-content/uploads/pg_epon-1024x576..jpg 1038w" sizes="(max-width: 176px) 100vw, 176px"> Данная заметка является некой базой знаний о том как и в какой последовательности (от извлечения ПГ, ее промывки и установки на место) нужно производить промывку и восстановление работоспособности принтера Epson. Обязательно читайте далее и смотрите видео в конце статьи.!}

Be careful when rinsing. Any microdrop on the board or PG cable can damage your printer!

Very often they ask me how to wash the print head (PG) from the very beginning, they say, provide a video in which everything is from beginning to end, to which I reasonably answer - such a video will take a couple of hours and no one will watch it. This is how it really is. And here individual videos how to remove the contact pad, how to remove the PG, how to rinse and what solutions I use, there are plenty on my channel. With this video I decided to systematize everything and indicate the order in which these videos should be watched, don't forget to read the articles on my website . Under the video in the DESCRIPTION there are all links to articles on this site. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that it is not enough to just watch the video; you should definitely read the note. During filming, I may miss something, so after editing I write and add what I missed.

Firstly, all the videos that I shoot are spontaneous and are produced during the repair of equipment that is handed over to me for service, so there are reservations and so on, which I ask you not to pay attention to and do not write unnecessary comments, especially CAPSOM, do not after reading the description on the website.

Secondly, I am simply sharing my practical experience, which has been accumulated over many years of repairing equipment and nothing more. If you have any other thoughts about other repair options, write calmly and without emotion, otherwise it can be scary to read. And again, before commenting on anything, read the article on the site. For some reason no one does this!

Now to the essence of the question.

1. What I always do is I make a diagnosis, why this and that happened, I look for the reason and eliminate it. Therefore, do not write to me about “sandwiches” and other methods of trying to fix it blindly. In practice, many times I have seen PGs and formatter boards killed by these same sandwiches and domes used in them! Pour half a jar of unknown solutions onto the mouthguard and leave it overnight. For many, everything simply corrodes, for many, moisture and reactive elements contained in solutions get on the PG contacts and cables, completely destroying the printer, I’ve seen it SO MANY TIMES!
2. If your printer has just been sitting for a couple of weeks, you can not speculate too much here, but use the express method, the link is in the description under the video.
3. If the printer has been standing longer, I would still recommend removing the PG and looking at everything carefully, assessing the situation. Taking a PG in general always helps to make the correct diagnosis. Often, even just the fur of your pets can be a malfunction; it’s enough to just clean everything well (parking lot and PG)

Sequencing:

1. First of all, we remove the system and the contact pad behind it.
2. Next we remove the PG.
3. Then we make a diagnosis and try to wash it out.
4. At first we use only a simple liquid, and if it doesn’t help, use a powerful one!
5. If it doesn’t help, we disassemble the PG. Why is that? Yes, because this is already a big risk and because fine filters clog very rarely and have only encountered them with sublimation and pigment. If this happens to you, then for your other half you can use almost any method, including RAS! As I understand from the comments, many do the opposite. Well, this is well founded and arguments are given. Let me just say, I don’t do that right away. If drawing flushing liquid through the steam generator does not help, then there is nothing to lose and you can try. I believe that the user himself must decide where to start).
6. What else is important to remember. In addition to the fact that you have washed the PG, you also need to restore the continuous ink supply system of the CISS and its cable.

That's probably all, thank you for your attention, I hope the video and note were useful and will help you in restoring your printed favorite from Epson.

Happy printing, thanks for your attention, subscribe to my channel and see you soon.