How to Clean Printer Heads Epson

Your prints are getting faded or of poor quality but you think your ink cartridges are not empty? Your printheads may have dried out. Indeed, if your cartridges are not used regularly enough, the ink can dry and thus deteriorate the quality of your prints.

To remedy this, you need to perform printhead cleaning which you can run through a program on your device or do manually.

Caution: The printhead cleaning process is likely to consume a lot of ink and should therefore only be performed when clearly needed.

Also Read: How to connect a Brother printer to WiFi

Table of Contents

1 – First solution: automatic cleaning Printer Heads Epson & other models

This is the most common solution, to be tested as a priority. To find out how to start an automatic cleaning, we invite you first to refer to the instructions for your printer.

Most often you will be able to initiate the cleaning process either through your printer or directly through your computer. If you don’t have the instructions handy, see the most common procedures below to help you start cleaning if a printhead fails.

A printhead may require up to 4 cleanings in some extreme cases.

Also Read: Which Printer has the Cheapest ink Cartridges

Cleaning the printheads using a printer

Open the menu for your printer. Scroll through this menu and select ” configure ” then ” Maintenance ” or ” Ink “. You will then have access to the option ” Cleaning the print heads ” (or “Printhead cleaning”). Wait while cleaning and then do a test print.

Cleaning the Print Heads Using the Computer

Under Windows:

Open the control panel
In ” hardware and sound “, click on ” Printers and peripherals “
Right-click on the affected printer
Choose ” Properties ” then ” Cleaning “, ” Maintenance ” or ” Services ” depending on your model
Start cleaning the printheads
Wait while cleaning and then do a test print.

On Mac:

Go to ” System Preferences “
Select ” Printers and Faxes ” then choose the printer concerned
Open ” Print queue” (or “Open print queue”)
Click the icon of the service associated with the printer
Select ” Maintenance ” then ” Printhead cleaning “
Wait while cleaning and then do a test print.

Caution: Never turn off the computer or printer during a cleaning cycle: you could damage it.

Also Read: Cheapest Place To Buy Printer ink Online

2 – Second solution: manual cleaning

Despite several automatic cleaning attempts, you are not getting any real improvement in the quality of your prints? Try manual cleaning!

Some Precautions

Before starting to manually clean your printheads, here are some recommendations:

Do these manipulations with gloves so as not to strain yourself
Do not use alcohol, vinegar, or tap water
Be careful not to touch the metal parts with your fingers
Do not wet the circuit board on the printheads and cartridges
Do not leave the printheads in the air for more than 30 minutes or they may dry out even more

Be very careful when handling so as not to damage your printing material.

Brands also recommend that you do these manual cleanings only when your printer is out of warranty.

Also Read: How long does printer ink last before it dries up

If the printheads are integrated directly into the cartridges

Carefully remove the cartridges from the printer and place them on absorbent paper

Turn off the printer
Dampen a soft, clean, lint-free cloth with warm distilled water
Remove excess dry ink from the printheads without pressing too hard
Place the cartridges in a container containing sheets of absorbent paper covered with a few millimeters of hot distilled water (printheads facing down)
Leave to soak for 10 minutes and air dry for 15 minutes with the printheads facing up this time
Put the cartridges back into the printer

Also Read: How to keep printer ink from drying out

If the printheads are built into the printer

Note: On some models, it is not possible to remove this part because the print head is attached to the printer e. In this case do not force anything, at the risk of damaging your equipment.

Find out how to clean in this case!

Carefully remove the cartridges from the printer and place them on absorbent paper
Turn off the printer
Carefully remove the printhead support (there is a handle/latch to lift, if not, refer to the next part)
Dampen a soft, clean, lint-free cloth with warm distilled water
Remove excess dry ink from the printheads without pressing too hard
Place the print heads in a container containing sheets of absorbent paper covered with a few cm of hot distilled water (nozzles down)
Leave to soak for 10 minutes and allow to air dry for 15 minutes with the nozzles facing up this time
Put the printheads and cartridges back into the printer

Also Read: How to Clean a 3D Printer Bed

If the printheads are built into the printer and attached

If the printhead holder does not have a latch and therefore can not exit the printer, use the following steps to attempt to clean your machine manually.

Carefully remove the cartridges from the printer and place them on absorbent paper

Turn off the printer
Take a sheet of absorbent paper and fold it so as to obtain a rectangle 2 / 3cm high across the width of the absorbent paper
Slide the absorbent sheet under the carriage at the part where the nozzles are located (this part is attached to the printer but it can be moved left to right and right to left)
Dampen a soft, clean, lint-free cloth with warm distilled water
Place a few drops of hot distilled water on the nozzles by wringing the cloth above the nozzles or using a pipette for example
Wait a few minutes: the absorbent paper will prevent water from incorporating into the printer
Remove the absorbent paper sheet then replace the cartridges in the printer
As the last step, repeat a printing test. If the quality has not improved, one of the ink cartridges may be too old or damaged and need to be replaced.

Conclusion:

well, This was all about “How to Clean Printer Heads of Epson (Automatically & Manual)” I hope you like my article.