Do Not Throw Out Old Printers: How To Clean The Printer Heads

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Over time, you will begin to notice that the documents, reports and presentations you print are not as clear and clean as when you first put in a new printer ink cartridge. As time goes on, your printer’s quality will decrease and trying to restore an old printer might not be enough. You will most likely have to clean the printer’s head to make sure you’ll get the absolute best from the printer. You can be sure that a clogged printer head is to blame when printer ink cannot properly flow from the ink cartridge to the paper. That’s why a cleaning may be necessary to ensure your documents are printed at their best.

The first step is to get acquainted with your printer. Locate the print head, but before you do anything, make sure you understand what it does. When the document prints, droplets of ink leave from the printer ink cartridge through its nozzle and they go to the print head, which then puts the printer ink on a particular spot on the paper. As the device prints, these tiny ink droplets often get stuck near the opening of the print head. If the ink has a chance to dry, it could form a crusty layer around the print head opening, which can lead to poor print quality.

Here is what you can do to clean a print head if you are experiencing these problems:

1. Self Cleaning:

Start by taking out the old printer ink cartridges. Then, take a cotton swab that you’ve dabbed in hot water or isopropyl alcohol and rub it around the print head. This will help loosen the crusty layer. There are some printers, like some made by Canon, that have removable print heads that makes it easy to access the print heads and nozzles. Just take great care if you use isopropyl alcohol to clean the print heads because this liquid can be damaging, especially if your printer has rubber gaskets. The gaskets can get dried out if you get isopropyl alcohol on them.

For removable printer heads, you need to take the printer ink cartridge out and then remove the head. Put isopropyl alcohol or some hot water into a bowl and set the printer head into that bowl. Depending on the amount of crusted printer ink, you need to soak the printer heads anywhere from 1 hour to an entire day. After you finish soaking the print head, you should air dry it before replacing it and run the cleaning function before you print something. That should remove any bits of dried ink that have loosened during the soak.

2. Cleaning with Software:

Most printer manuals will have instructions for how to clean a print head. If you don’t have it, you can visit the printer company’s website and get a copy of the cleaning instructions.

Do not panic if you experience a clogged print head. Part of having a print, just like any other piece of electronics, there are going to be problems like paper jams or an empty printer ink cartridge. When you notice that your documents are not as crisp, check your printer head. Do not resort to throwing away your printer when it starts to make low quality prints. All you have to do is give it a good cleaning and you will be back to new in no time.

BIO: Xavier has been blogging and writing helpful articles on consumer products for the past few months. He has taken an interest in printers and printer ink cartridges. If you would like more great tips on printers and printer ink cartridges, check out some of his other articles.

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