Any ideas chaps?

I've done the cardinal epson sin of not using the printer for a couple of weeks and now the black print nozzle is clogged up - leaving bands of unprinted white paper.

I've tried the nozzle check to confirm it's a problem and a head cleaning several times but with no luck. The only thing I've managed to do is empty my cartridges :(

I know epsons are known to clog up if not regularly used, but this is rather fustrating and I could really do with printing some nice photos out on proper paper real soon.

I'd rather try and avoid having to buy a "cleaning cartridge" and wondered if anyone knew of some manual cleaning procedure or household chemical I could use which won't damage the printer.

Any thoughts? :(

I've got a PDF somewhere Xavier which details cleaning of the heads. It looks a bit brutal at first but it works, I use it on my Photo 900.

It uses windowlene (Ammonia I think) if you can find some. I use Mr Muscle window cleaner all though I don't think it's as strong, wet a piece of kitchen roll and lay it on the bottom area of the printer where the print head travels over. With the power off gently move the head left to right over the wetted towel. It takes a few goes and makes a bit of a mess on your hands but it works.

I'll see if I can find the PDF.

Found it -

How to clean the head. At your own risk!! Your mileage may differ etc.

Work out how to send the printhead to the change ink position.

[try press the paper feed button for 5 secs with no paper in]

Note where the parks to head change inks

Observe the black hole alongside of the head [now the head's resting in the change ink position]

Send head back to it's normal resting place

Get a lint free cloth, about 5" long - 1 inch wide, fold it once to half an inch wide - soak the cloth in clear Windolene

[remember, at your own risk, it worked for me. In the US they use Windex].

Tuck cloth into hole you saw earlier to retain it when head passes over,

Lay the soaked cloth flat where the head will rest

Send head to left onto wet cloth

Leave 10 minutes

Send head to right

Cloth quite inky?

If the folded cloth is not thick enough to touch the head, make thicker, take new cloth, do it again and leave 10 mins

Try cleaning cycle and Nozzle check

If you can not now achieve a clear Nozzle check pattern, leave to rest a few hours and try again.

Windolene might have softened any hardened ink deposits by now.

If No Go, start again, sometimes it takes an overnight soak

Once it's clear you'll have to print a few images to get rid of the Windolene

This should do the trick

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=73085

Good buy that Dr Z. The only thing that makes me keep my old Epson running is the facilty to print directly to disks. I use a Samsung 1510 laser for everyday use.

I don't think I'll buy another Epson, the 400,440 and 600 I had all suffered the same. You need to remember to print a page at least once a week.

Have you been using genuine epson ink or third party cartridges?

Goochie, I've been using epson ink. I recently changed cartridges to some Jettex ones but they're "proper" ones and not refills or IMHO "cheap bad quality ones".

I guess I made the error of combining the cartridge change (which can let air into the system) and then not print lots straight after giving the ink in the nozzles a chance to dry off.

Dr Z, is the Canon as good for photo printing as the R200/300 ? It's the first epson I bought and have always rated it although it's quirky at times (won't print, won't feed disc feeder properly) but bought it mainly for the odd photo print on paper and direct disc printing which I've used extensively.

It appears that the old adage that Epsons suffer from blocked nozzles and changing cartridges won't help unlike HP where nozzles are part of the cartridges is still an issue, even today :(

Stu, thanks for the tip. I may have a go with that sometime

Actually, all I wanted to do was print out a high quality A4 photo on super thick glossy paper and it's done that fine. My "colour" cartridges are fine, it's just the black one which is carp. I guess I'll just use the printer for photo printing which hasn't been a headache.

Although I think if you chose any option other than "photo" or "best photo", the printer will use the black ink for anything resembling black instead of mixing the 4 other colours to produce black. If I stick the print quality to "draft" or "graphics and text", then anything nearing black has white lines so it does use the "k" one for that

This doesn't look too bad on price

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/750684

I've got a 5% discount code for these too.

Dr Z, is the Canon as good for photo printing as the R200/300 ?

I've got the Canon , and on good quality paper it's outstanding print quality. I did some nice full page A4 prints from a high res source and it was pretty much indistinguishable from a "real" photo.

It's every bit as good as my mums R300 if not slightly better and doesn't suffer from the usual Epson head clogging as every single one of my epsons has done.

It also prints straight onto disk like the Epson.

Funnily enough, the Epson R300 is the only Epson I've owned which doesn't appear to suffer from dried out print heads! How long have you left yours between prints, Xav as mine has been sat for a couple of months idle and I used it the other day and it printed just fine!

Chris

I didn't realise that did CD's Dr Z. I find it very useful but have stuck with the Epson just for that.

It upsets me to say it but it's cheaper at PCworld!! I may be taking a detour to have a look at one of those. Are you using genuine carts?

Funnily enough' date=' the Epson R300 is the only Epson I've owned which doesn't appear to suffer from dried out print heads! How long have you left yours between prints, Xav as mine has been sat for a couple of months idle and I used it the other day and it printed just fine!

Chris[/quote']

Hmm, I'll swap my R200 for your R300 then. Give me a date and we'll "make it so" :P

I'll even bundle in a USB2 multi-format card reader so you get even more flexibility than the R300 :P

I didn't realise that did CD's Dr Z. I find it very useful but have stuck with the Epson just for that.

It upsets me to say it but it's cheaper at PCworld!! I may be taking a detour to have a look at one of those. Are you using genuine carts?

I'm still on my original carts despite printing quite a bit with it. I've certainly done more than I ever did with an Epson though thats probably because I don't waste half the ink doing head cleaning over and over again.

I bought some clone cartridges (not the very cheap ones) but haven't used any yet.

Oh , and the PC world website only price is very good indeed isn't it. Even better when they let you order it on the net for collection from store.

Hmm' date=' I'll swap my R200 for your R300 then. Give me a date and we'll "make it so" :P

I'll even bundle in a USB2 multi-format card reader so you get even more flexibility than the R300 :P[/quote']

Just bought an R300 from PC World for Em's Dad's birthday (hope he doesn't read this site! ) which is currently sitting in our lounge ... Not having my one though :P

Chris

Oh , and the PC world website only price is very good indeed isn't it. Even better when they let you order it on the net for collection from store.

Did this recently with a printer and saved

As I said I have a 5% code too so even better. Although only for delivery not collection.

Uhm, can't find the canon ip3000 on PCW's website

edit found it now

It's every bit as good as my mums R300 if not slightly better and doesn't suffer from the usual Epson head clogging as every single one of my epsons has done.

Canon's head's do clog just the same as Epson's if you don't use the printer.

Only way round it is to go the HP route, but then you end up paying a fortune for consumables...

Rob.

Canon's head's do clog just the same as Epson's if you don't use the printer.

Only way round it is to go the HP route' date=' but then you end up paying a fortune for consumables...

Rob.[/quote']

All the epsons I've had would start to lose lines after as little as a couple of weeks.

No signs of that happening on the canon as yet , though obviously any inkjet head can get clogged up if left long enough