Ink drying up?

[Brian Childs]

I have a HP photosmart printer which only gets very occasional use. Trouble is when I do go to use it (just black ink) it has dried up? so I get very little print per cartridge. Would it help if I took the ink cartridge out after use? Any thoughts on this problem? Thanks.

 

[ircjim]

I have a HP photosmart printer which only gets very occasional use. Trouble is when I do go to use it (just black ink) it has dried up? so I get very little print per cartridge. Would it help if I took the ink cartridge out after use? Any thoughts on this problem? Thanks.

If you are using a cartridge without it's own print head (like 564, 920) I would leave it in the machine and do a print every week or so to keep things moving. If it is a two cartridge system with print head in the cartridge (like 61, 74, 901 etc) you can store the cartridge out of the machine if you take some steps to delay it drying out. Cover the print head part with the tape strip it came with or the plastic clip if it is a refill. Seal it in a small plastic bag. If it doesn't work well when you use it again try cleaning the print head area with a wet cloth.

 

[compound]

You should have cartridge holder from proprint with a syringe to 'blow' the ink through. Lasers are quite cheap today and dont give this problem and are also cheap to run.