On 03/01/2012 13:02, Norman Dunbar wrote:
On 26/12/11 15:15, [email protected] wrote:
When THAT happens, it is necessary to spend 5-to-10 minutes (maybe, it
took a longer time -- who can remember?) pressing the button which tells
the printer to CLEAR its print jets (whatever the process is called to
re-initiate the printer).
Breaking with tradition and bottom posting! ;-)
My Epson Stylus 800 was a fine printer, the best one I ever had to be
honest. However, as it had a system whereby the cartridge was replaced
and the print head remained, then leaving it unused for any "long"
length of time resulted in the head gumming up with dried up of gungy
ink.
The "press the cleaning buttons" option sometimes worked but simply
accelerated the emptying of the cartridge. Way too expensive.
I obtained a proper printer cleaning kit from PC World which contained
- amongst other things - a small sponge thing on a long handle and a
decent sized bottle of isopropyl alcohol.
Soak the pad with alcohol then apply generously to the print head - I
admit it was fiddly to scrub (gently) the head between the platen
roller and whatever else was in there - but it worked and reduced the
number of refills I needed.
Eventually, I gave up and bought a new printer - an HP 2610 Photosmart
all in one - this one replaces the print head along with the ink, and
it has never clogged up on me no matter how infrequently I use it.
I prefer to keep my heads but sometimes the better option isn't as
good - think VHS versus Betamax - and you just have to adapt.
Also, when I tried to dismantle the Epson once - for fun - I
discovered that the vast majority of the internals was nothing more
than a huge sponge. Every time the printer cleaned or flushed the
head, the sponge absorbed the overspill and eventually became a huge
blob of "used" ink.
Very, very, very mucky indeed! However, it did solve the riddle of
where all the ink went!
Happy 2010 everyone.
Cheers,
Norm.
Viva bottom posting, only in this disorderly medium can anything be
added to the top of a list (but what does an old fart like me know)
Anyway I had the same thing with an Epson 740 and moved onto a wireless
Cannon that serves my two PCs and Nans Laptop.
The tought did occur to me though that the answer to the Epson would
have been an old cartride filled with cleaner, however there is the
issue of getting the heads in the right position (no problem with the
Cannon), the Epson firm ware for changing a cartridge still containing
ink is something I never got around.
I do still have the 740 and a lot of Pattern cartridges should anyone be
interested
All the best - Bill
_______________________________________________
QL-Users Mailing List
http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
