It has always amazed me that there is so little discussion about printer maintenance. It is as though your printer can go on forever without needing proper servicing or maintenance. Can you imagine what would happen to your car if you did not change the oil?

This topic mainly describes how to keep your ink flowing with out drop outs using our powerful Cleaner CLF1 and Harvey Head Cleaner software. It describes how to prevent ink from gumming up the print heads and when to replace dampers and other parts.

What happens to cause drop outs:

The way ink travels through your printer starts from your cartridge then travels through thin tubing to your damper, through your head and onto your capping station, called capping assembly.

The damper has a filter in it to prevent particles from entering the head. This was designed by Epson. Therefore, there must be the potential of particle build up even with Epson ink. Pigment ink sits in a colloidal suspension and is not as stable as a solution. It has a shelf life. Most ink manufacturers filter their ink well below a micron to prevent particle build up. This does not mean that particles will not form over time.

The head has very small nozzles and must be kept most all the time. Pigment ink is made of chemicals that include resins. When this ink dries the resin becomes solid and is hard to break up and dissolve.

The head sits on a foam pad that has a tube connected to it with a pump on the other end. If the pad dries out the pump will not be effective during the cleaning operation. It is important to keep the pad moist.

Because the head sits on the pad, the head will dry out if the pad dries out. After years of running the pad gunk and cleaning becomes less effective. If the printer is not used for a long period of time the pad and head dries up, causing blocked nozzles which show up as drop outs.

The wiper on each printer must also be kept clean an soft. As the printer executes cleaning the wiper wipes off the excess ink on the head. It will eventually wear and or dry becoming hard. You can clean the wiper with a paper towel dampened with CLF 1.

The Maintenance Procedure:

Place a two to three drops of cleaning fluid on the capping station pad every three days and a four drops when the printer is not going to be used for days. If the printer is not going to be used for months, it is important to keep placing drops on the pad even if it just once a week.
 
While our special cleaning fluid CLF1 will break up ink particles and keep the capping station clean, it is recommended to print a test pattern at least once a day. This keeps the ink in a forward flow, preventing any back flow. There is a software called Harvey Cleaner that will keep the printers active when not not in daily use. I highly recommend it. Here is the Link, www.harveyheadcleaner.com

If want to try the software or learn more about go to their Website and check it out.

Replace the Dampers every two years in when the printer is used not so often. Replace the dampers every year with heavy use.

Replace the wiper every year.

Replace the capping station on an Epson printer on the average every 4 years, but keep cleaning it. The pump may wear out and to understand the cause and effect of problems go to what you need to know.

Run cleaning fluid through the printer every two years before you change the dampers. This will make sure there are no particles in the systems. It refreshes the head. This procedure takes about 20 minutes.

Changing the dampers on an Epson printer may take you 30 minutes of taking the printer covers off.  Locating the parts and performing the proper procedure is important.
See Epson repair for details.

With this standard maintenance procedure your printer can run well for years.

Inkjet Printer Maintenance

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