Head cleaning

Joined
May 16, 2016
Messages
3
Hello,

I am on Epson L565 all in one device. I bought it some months ago.
I am working with iMac 21 with the last OS (el capitain) updated. All Epson drivers are updated. The printer is connected to my Mac by Ethernet and a router.
Recently, I have observed that the printed B&W text is not Black as it was.
I have run a Head Cleaning. I got the results for the black printing with many 'windows' in the results.
So I ran a second round and the results were slightly better on the printed results page (the Color side results were perfect).
]I continue to the cleaning and I did almost 20 rounds of head cleaning.
The results in the black square were much better but still not perfect and there were here and there small 'windows'

My question:
How many rounds should I do, if at all. How can I get cleaning the heads perfectly.

Thanks in advance
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2016
Messages
29
riklar, gaps in the test print are, as you already know, caused by blocked nozzles. This is one of the most infuriating aspects of owning an Epson printer and the only way to avoid it is to make regular prints - even if it's just a test page. If your print is not as black as it was there are a number of possible reasons; you're printing in draft mode or using 3rd party inks being the most likely.

The print heads are part of the printer, unlike most other inkjets where the print heads are part of the cartridge. Once they become blocked it is a nightmare to get them running free again and I wouldn't continue to do head cleans because they use quite a lot of ink and you'll soon end up having to replace cartridges.

One of the tried and tested methods is rather messy and you may not want to try this. You will need some kitchen roll, cotton buds, isopropyl alcahol and a syringe.
Turn off the printer at the mains (not just with the on/off button on the printer).
Move the cartridge carriage to the removal place and remove all the cartridges.
Put some kitchen rollunder the cartridge carrier - as much as you can.
Dip a cotton bud in the alcahol and use it to clean the area in the head where the cartridges normally fit. Be careful not to disturb any plastic seals in there.
Keep cleaning in there until the cotton bud comes out clean
Look into the area you've been cleaning and you should see a small tube - this is where the ink goes to get to the heads.
Suck some alcahol into the syringe and slowly release it into the tube until it fills up. The level will go down as the alcahol flows out of the clear holes in the head.
Do the syringe trick several times maybe changing the kitchen roll each time.
Remove the kitchen roll and push the cartridge carrier back into its park position.
Clean up any mess (there will be some) in the printer and refit the cartridges.
Power up the printer and try a head clean/print test again until you get all the colours coming through.
If everything went to plan you should now have all nozzles firing - but no guarantee :)

Think VERY carefully before you attempt the above it can get VERY messy - you have been warned :eek:
 

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