An intelligent person is willing to consider and evaluate perspectives from other experienced people...one of the reasons that Jose is such a trusted expert.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Jose you are a very humble person and that is one of the reasons I'm a subscriber to your channel, of course also because of your experience on the printing process and with the printers too, taking advice from others and commenting about it and agreeing and disagreeing the points respectfully the way you did, it is admirable and says a lot about the kind of person you are in my opinion. Thank you for your videos and for sharing your knowledge with us, I really appreciate it. Stay safe you and your family and keep the good videos coming! Thank you.

FYI cheap windshield washer fluid is a mix of distilled water and DEG, makes a great thinner for acrylic waterbased paints aswell.

Thanks Jose for all your help!! I was able to completely clean my Epson Stylus Photo R2000 in no time following your guidance. My printer was smudging all the colors on the photo paper until I did a printer clean up. Much appreciated :)

Jose you are so informative its rare that I personally can follow a verbal video, as I am a visual person so that alone speaks volumes to me!!! And I love your accent😍 you're awesome keep up the good work!

Thank You. The updated information is good to know. I tried the Windex method on my Epson P600 and it worked nicely.

Thanks for the time and effort you put into your videos , it is most appreciated.

I enjoyed the straight talk, common sense, and open minded advice given in this video Well done. Thank you very much.

I love the way you organize your office. I wish I was that organized.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

It's a mess now. Time for another cleaning!

If you use a cleaning agent, you flush it out with ink, right? If the cleaning agent has dissolved solids in it from being made with tap water, what difference does it make? None. The dissolved solids don't show up until the cleaning agent evaporates. The ink has flushed out the cleaning agent so that won't happen. What you really want to have is a cleaning agent with as little particulate matter (undissolved solids) as possible. The particulate matter might include clothing fibers from workers' clothing, dirt, dust, rust, fragments of bottle cap liners, cardboard fragments from shipping boxes, and a whole host of other things. Neither windex or distilled water or DEG is particulate-free. See if you can find a particle count on a bottle of windex or a bottle of distilled water or a bottle of DEG. You won't. Distilled water is not particulate-free water. Heck, distilled water is not even sterile water. After tap water is distilled, it passes through plumbing, and into bottles with caps. That plumbing and those bottles and those caps and the air all contribute particles to the final product. Those particles can cause clogs. By the way, the new formula for Windex has "ethylene glycol n-hexyl ether" in it, which as you can tell by the name, is similar to diethylene glycol. So, use windex, or an aqueous solution of DEG and filter it if you really want to be fastidious. I am a chemist who is familiar with water quality issues and packaging issues for the pharmaceutical industry.

Jose, I really enjoy watching your channel and appreciate your advice. You look like a fix-it guy that they would use on TV or advertisement. I mean that as a high compliment. 🙂

Thanks for passing this information on Jose. I always use Windex without issues on my 4880 for years (knock on wood) but may try this too just to see.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

People who supposey KNOW seem to be terrified of it. For short treatments it's perfectly safe but I would not use it as a fluid to completely flush and then store a printer. There are other better solutions for that. But for a quick unclog and general cleaning chores it is fine.

Jose! Thanks SOOOO... much for your help with the R3000. This video touches on the exact problem I had- poor suction in the cleaning cycle!! Once I cleaned the far left and right areas, I started seeing my missing colors. One more cleaning, and I was back to nearly 100% on all colors. Now I am letting it sit overnight and hopefully I will be back in business!! Thanks again.

@cheo1949

6 ай бұрын

Glad it helped!

People will always pick, your first video about the windex saved me! My ET15000 is only a few months old but the yellow quit completely. Patience is seriously key! Two days of the windex and paper towels annnnd thank you thank you Jose ❤ 😊 I learned alot and appreciate your time and explanations so much!!

@chorlettabolton7772

4 ай бұрын

Hello... did you use regular windex or with ammonia. Have the same printer with the same problem

thanks for sharing, as you say its always worth trying something as it could be better than what your doing already

@cheo1949

3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely!

I just used your windex method and if fixed my printer in an hour. Thank you! ☺️

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

You're welcome!

Thank you, Jose.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

You are very welcome

Hi Jose, if you remember when i printed a nozzle check my yellow graded into red. Was going to give it the windex treatment but couldnt find any in UK. So after reading the chemical make up on a glass cleaner product called Mr Muscle i gave it a try. After soaking over night and rinsing as advised, I was amazed at the new vibrant color and quality of my prints, my colors are pretty much perfect now, thanks Jose.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

Sounds awesome. Glad you fixed the problem.

@apat279

3 жыл бұрын

Hi, I’m in the U.K. too, which bottle of mr muscle did you use as there’s quite a few

@johnf-kelsey5343

3 жыл бұрын

@@apat279 Hi Pat, Mr Muscle Platumn for windows and glass, extra "white" vinegar. I think if i remember ok, if its got ammonia in that helps. Distilled water as well. Used a plastic ice cream square box and soaked a tissue in the bottom then put the head on top. I think once you get it clean stop using the cheap inks and it should be ok. I use an epsom echo tank now so so far so good. I learnt a lot from Jose "The Master" good luck. ps i nearly got a vibrating tank to assist but didn't.

I wish the nightly news was presented with this mindset. Thanks Jose

I certainly can attest to ammonia melting plastic, I bought a litre of it and stored it in my printing cupboard, a while later I found it had melted through the bottle and was all over the shelf. Fortunately did no damage to anything else.

great videos. i have a question. can i use windex with vinegar to clean my epson xp-620

Great video! .... Cheers

Winded also makes an ammonia free window cleaner. I had to use it on the glass of my wood burning stove. It worked well. The manufacturer of the stove said to only use the “hi-falotin” Windex.

@emmakeeling3356

2 жыл бұрын

I or

Your a fine ambassador for the printing fraternity Jose, like your thinking.

@cheo1949

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@johnf-kelsey5343

5 жыл бұрын

@@cheo1949 Something you may not have come across. I doubt it though...I was printing ok on an epsom stylus, a real old one that i had got going. Then i started getting the little tram lines down the prints gave the wheels a bit of a service but couldnt cure. Went back to my Pixma, then about a month later, the same thing, tram lines on my quite new pixma. I found out the reason was the cheap ebay paper not the thickness, just the covering chemical i guess. Something to look out for. Regards John.

I got a cleaning kit from Printhead Hospital $20. Tried to flush out a clogged Mag nozzle on an old R2880 epson twice with little or no success. Then I tried your paper towel approach using the cleaning solution and got about 60% functionality from the clogged nozzle, repeated the process and am now at 98%. Made a couple prints which came out great.

@cheo1949

2 жыл бұрын

Great to hear. Patience is the key! If it took months to create a clog most folks think it can be cleared in 10 minutes.

The difference between the medicine and the poison is the dosage. In this case dosage means ammonia concentration and frequency of cleaning/unclock. I understand that the guy has a very high frequency (a short gap between cleanings). However in my frequency I do not need to care about it. I use one of The Pharmacist's formula, the one with ammonia. In my country (Brazil) the cleaning products do not have ammonia in their composition. We also not allowed to buy concentrated ammonia (25%~30%), but we can buy ammonia solution (4%~5,8%). I adjust the solution concentration in The Pharmacist's formula using the rule of three method. It works well for me. But it is always enriching to know other points of view.

Jose you're an amazing guy. Thank you for all you do. I hope this pays well because you make helpful clear concise videos. I'm trying to clear a clog in 4 of the 8 sc-p400 printheads . Do you have a video on that ? Amd which part is exactly the print head ? Bottom of each cartridge?

Hola Jose gracias por todos tus videos muy buenos. mi pregunta es. yo tengo un problema en mi epson F2000 DTG el color blanco no me imprime completamente que me recomiendas hacer . gracias

@cheo1949

3 жыл бұрын

Eso es muy comun. El blanco es el peor color. Siempre tapa los cabesales. Por eso muchos tienen qhe reeplasar el cabesal. La tinta blamca se lo come. Aparentemente no ai otro recurso.

I really like your videos. I own a Epson R2400 photo printer that I haven't run for probably 2 years. I plan to get it running again with your methods of ink head cleaning. Once it's running again. I wonder if I made up blank cartridges with the DEG/water solution, ran the printer with those cartridges to completely flush out the print head nozzles, would I be able to shut the printer down for longer periods of time (not 2 years) and be able to put full ink cartridges back in and be able to use it without clogging problems? Just a thought!!! Thanks for your videos.

Hi iv having problems with my cannon mg3560 no video anywhere how to get it out to clean the print head

Hello, thank you for your great videos. When an Epson (Artisan) inkjet printer gives the message: "print heads need replacement" does it mean that my printer is basically garbage? In my research about this, it seems that it is an 'end of life' indicator. I have also read some other posts that say it is a false message, just so that you will buy another printer. In all fairness, this printer is a few years old, but it was only used by me, and only for printing artwork or photographs. It really did a fabulous job, although the cartridges are now ridiculously expensive here. Is it worth trying to fix it? How would I even do that?

I find a very weak ammonia solution works for my Canon MG5420, a capful of ammonia to 4oz of distilled water. I only have the single printer but this has worked well for me.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

Sounds good.

can i use Windex on the capping of an R2000 DTG machine?

Thanks Jose.

Thanks so much Jose for all you do regarding printing! I have a Canon PRO 10 that has developed what appears to be a clogged head. I have printed test prints every other day for sometime using Qimage. Have you ever seen where the parking pads are not engaging? I have not confirmed that is the issue but when I follow your cleaning method using a paper towel soaked with ammonia Windex it is really bad...I have done at lease 6 towels and it keeps showing a lot of residual...do we want a clean towel or just a reduced amount of ink? I had printed some prints a month or so ago with no issue but it all of the sudden would not put down a drop of ink...after the above treatment, I am getting some channels printing again but still have more to go...Thanks!

Question: I have a several Canon MP 520, IP4500 printers that use the transparent larger ink tanks. I have TWO MP 520's. The print head on one of MP 520's failed, so I bought another couple of new factory sealed heads that were new old stock. The new head was installed & briefly first not recognized as the correct head, ( though it WAS the correct one according to the service manual ) . The new print head printed all colors except for YELLOW in the 1rst MP 520 Canon printer. Checking this new head was easy by placing it in the 2nd MP520 printer where the new head printed flawlessly in all colors!!!. Placing it back into the 1st MP520 printer returned a test print with perfect saturation of all colors EXCEPT yellow. I have used iso propyl to gently clean the contact pins on the problem printer's carriage that connects with the removable print head. print reset and re-initialization make no difference... just no yellow. Where do I go from here?

Hello Jose I got a epson wf 7620 I tried to clean my printhead with windex n 70%alcohol. Well I ran a nozzle check n 3 head cleans got no lines so I waited a few hours, tried turning on printer and "No Power". I watched a video on what it could be and one suggested the print heads, so in removing the print head it stated that you can plug it in and it should turn on, i noticed that they had no damage to their flat cables, and it turned on without the print head being in, but my flat cables were damaged "torn" and looked singed. Could repacing the print head and flat cable be a start before assuming it's a Motherboard problem..Thank you.

I use strong ammonia for other cleaning purposes. It is sold in a plastic jug.

@cheo1949

5 жыл бұрын

Keep it that way. Never on printer components.

Jose Rodriguez In my country we haven't Windex, so I was able to unclog my Epson with ammonia solution and distilled water, thanks to your tricks and tips. So far everything is OK. Thank you! Greetings from Bulgaria!

@cheo1949

5 жыл бұрын

Windex is only 0.5 percent ammonia so be carefully with homemade solutions.

@leniprof

5 жыл бұрын

@@cheo1949 What helped me was a 10% ammonia solution mixed with distilled water 1:10. I read somewhere this solution and decided to risk, as I was giving my printer to a service office before, but they did nothing.

my epson missing 1 black channel, 2 magenta channel and 1 yellow channel....i did normal clean three times and still the clogs are there, same spot...rest the printer overnight and then did normal clean still no luck, always same spot...what it does mean ? do i need a new printhead (it's so expensive)? i'm too affraid using power cleaning because back then after do power clean my PH was tosted

do you think that the new printers are now made to be sensitive to household products so that people purchase more printer? In other words, the printers are not made to last?

I think if you flush off the windex and it is not really imbedded in the system, it is ok. If you don't get the cartridge to work, and then you toss it aside after soaking in ammonia, you are going to definitely going to see corrosion down the line a bit. So di-ethylene glycol huh. Do you think radiator coolant would make good print head cleaner? Is that what Piezo is? You could always use Sierra brand coolant. It is propylene glycol rather than ethylene gycol and not near as toxic.

i cant get my blk clear it keep saying , not recognizing the blk, i did the ammonia water and the windex and it keep saying it

REFERING TO EPSON 3800": I found that a paper towel, doubled and folded over the long edge of 110 # or 120 weight card stock, inserted thru the paper exit will make a perfect cleaning pad for the print head. It will cover and fits FAR FAR, FAR better than folding and trying to insert thru the top cover with your fingers. It takes so little pressure (equal along the outside edge) for the card and the towel to move across the entire area and make an edge to edge contact with the portion under the print head. It is like having perfectly cut paper absorption pads made expressly for YOUR 3800. The head is often not the problem but the ink passing (trying to pass that is) thru the cap and pump system during a cleaning cycle is often the leading problem. What ink does get pulled thru is not pulled thru with enough force to get exhausted to the waste cart and just builds like concrete over the ink already dried in the tubing under the cap pads. . Each clean cycle can just add more "concrete" ALSO Changing the Cap and pump unit is really not very difficult using the Service manual. This is where the vacuum is developed to pull out the "dead ink" during the cleaning cycle. The perimeter edges of the cap sponge sometimes start to chip or deform, making the seal non existent. No seal no vacuum , no cleaning. With the card trick you will never do it any other way. #ONE VERY IMPORTANT RULE of disassembly and reassembly (cap and pump ) . PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE TWO MAJOR SCREWS TYPES THAT EPSON USES AND WHERE THEY ARE USED. C.B.S AND C.B.P. are not the same.

@deirdreholcombe8738

3 жыл бұрын

do you put cleaner on the paper towel or ?

Hi Jose, i replaced the printhead of my epson 4900 just 3 Month ago, but already one nozzle Light Vivid Magenta is blocked. I could recover them once with cleaning cycles and cloth under print head, but not sustainable, thats one week ago. What aditive do you recommend here in the video along with distilled water? Do not understand it because English is not my native language. Thanks for your help and great videos!

I'm new to this channel but I am very impressed with Jose's knowledge. One question though .......... what is a purge print (@ 7:35)?

@cheo1949

2 ай бұрын

It's printing an image composed of yellow, magenta, cyan and black bands. Google "Purge Image" and you will find many designs. Or you can bake your own in Photoshop or paint program.

@cloudrippr

2 ай бұрын

@@cheo1949 Thanks

I cleaned the printer head on xp-200 now all lights are blinking and nothing works ... Any suggestions?

Something no one has said anything about is the fact that ammonia in any concentration can eat copper wire. Used to work for a company that used thermal printers and they used windex to clean the print heads that then stopped working. Different concentrations might take longer to eat the copper wire. I have always used 90+% rubbing alcohol to clean computer components or distilled water.

@cheo1949

5 жыл бұрын

That can be true but I have not heard a single report in the last 20 years of folks doing this of anything in a printer failing yet. Even on delicate CANON printheads.

I have watched and listened to this video twice now and I really can't believe the person that wrote that to Jose has even got more than one Epson printer much less 24. Also, if this person prints that many pages a day then he shouldn't be bothered with clogged print heads. I have had my Epson stylus photo R220 for many years and never had a problem with print heads till neglected for a few weeks. Just my opinion and I don't believe Windex with Ammonia-D will cause any harm to Epson print heads.

I own an Epson L3110; and during the lockdown, kids were not using printer so I did test prints every week. Last week, print head dried and excluding the test prints, I ran out of ink without even printing a single page. Bottom Line: If I need to test print every week. I'd go with a dry ink (laser printer) in the first place.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

If you are not creating fine art photo prints and you are not going to religiously print two three times a week then a Laser prints is the best choice.

going to pick up some windex tomorrow and try that. epson 7720. put new 3rd party cartridges in and now it won't print..........hoping your trick works. nothing else has. thanks for posting.

windex = good for cleaning ink off your hands. i remember using it on an old wf-1100 (i miss that thing), worked just fine. someone said that print heads contain some kind of lubricant and that windex washes it away and the heads dry up.. found to be absolutely untrue. i went as far as to dissect a print head from ebay (unused), no such lubricant. print heads do not dry out. ink simply solidifies. if you've got nozzle check issues, there's many reasons. 1 (most common), air. don't skimp on head cleanings, flush that crap 10+ times if you have to. 2, a clog in the CISS or a poor vacuum. Don't use the same CISS for more than a year. Always buy a new one. If you're printing products, set aside cash for the next year and buy new ink. 3, (rare, but definitely real) a failing print head. When you print, little tiny coils heat up and push ink out of the nozzles, that's how printers work. Some of these coils can go bad, which is why when you manually flush windex through the nozzle over the sink, you actually will see all the holes spraying normally, but back in the printer, no dice.

can you please provide a link to the new cleaning solution you talked about

@cheo1949

2 жыл бұрын

If you mean Piezoflush it is available at www.inkjetmall.com

Hello, Your videos are great. I have an Epson 3880 and the prints are coming out with black 'splotches', usually at the beginning of the pass and at the end (edges of the print). Any comments regarding this problem? Maybe even do a video regarding this issue, as I'd like to keep this printer in good working order. Thanks, Larry

@cheo1949

2 жыл бұрын

If your Black ink switch valve working? Have you been switching every two months like you are supposed to? If not it is probably one of the black carts that is leaking. It could also be head strikes. If the paper curls up it gets hit by the print head nozzle plate.

I have a question that is a little off of the subject of your video. I just purchase a Canon prograf 1000 I travel quite often and may not be able to print for several months. What is the best way to prep printhead and ink cartridges to prevent clogs when I return to printing. Thank you for your help

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

Well that's not a good situation my friend. There's really not much you can do to prep anything just power it off and when you come back power back on. It will run a massive cleaning cycle. Follow that by a nozzle check and hope for the best. Watch out for any errors on the screen.

Hola Jose donde se compran esas super tintas?

@cheo1949

5 жыл бұрын

www.precisioncolor.com pero solamente si vives en Los Estados Unidos.

Dr. Epson checking in. Nice video. When you clean any part of the printer, inside or out, just use a moistened paper towel. The water making the paper towel wet allows any ink to wick up into the wet paper towel. Don't waste cleaning solution on gathering up dripped, spilled or excess ink. I keep a 60 ml bottle of distilled water handy and should I need to dust, or get a drip or smudge, I just squirt a little distilled water on a paper towel then discard. Additional, no ink should ever be allowed to go down inside the printer where the rollers are. Use a piece or photo paper and forward it thru the printer, as it appears half-way through, power off the printer (pull the plug). Now you have a sort of a dam to hold and collect cleaning solution. For printers with finger like ink inlets, you can push 5mL of my cleaning solution through each portal, the photo paper will catch it and you can put a sharpee marker or roll of electrical tap under one end of the printer to direct the flow of cleaning solution. I fold a paper towel length wise and put it next to the print head and on top of the photo paper. When it get saturated just put it in a zip lock bag. Epson ink stains wood and carpet permanently. For 3800's and newer printers that do not have the ink ports easily accessible, invest in a set of refillable cartridges for that model, and use them with cleaning solution to flush out your print heads regularly. Epson printers are known to clog, and there is ink pigments and color solids in dye based, sublimation and pigment inks. Its this color solids that is drying out and clogging in the printer tubes and print heads. [assuming you have not introduced garbage into your printer a la tap water]. Even CISS silicon tubes from your CISS to your print cartridges will need to be removed and the solids forced out, about every 2-3 years. In a CISS, the silicon tubes are like the plumbing of your house and they will get clogged. I have been using CISS tech since 2005 (??) and so many of my systems have been used for more than 10 years. Hope this helps you. And, it's okay to do what you want, it's your printer. I only know what works through my Edisonian Empiricism where I study, hypothesize then test, write down my results and repeat until I figure it out. My work on printers is based on 12,000+ hours of experience and study. There are many CISS movies on you tube and 98% are technically incorrect (T.I.) and many will ruin your work area with stains by flooding ink. Ever see a fountain of CISS ink? Been there done that... what a mess. Final thoughts... with the new Epson SC P-400, SC P-600 and SC P-800, having a way to flush your print heads is crucial since a down printer will result in lost revenue. Cheers, Dr. Epson / Docp Lakewood CO USA

@sgtbilkothe3rd

3 жыл бұрын

"CISS"? Can you define please?

I just purchased an Epson stylus pro 9860 that hasn’t been used since 2014. Where do I start 😅. Also is there a link to the video review of this product solution from Dr. Epson?

@cheo1949

3 жыл бұрын

OUCH! There is simply TOO MUCH to do. Power it up and run a nozzle check and cleaning and then another nozzle check. I do not know who MR Epson is. I do not have nor would ever be able to house such a large printer here.

Great videos. I travel between Spain & the UK. Do you know if there is an equivalent to Windex in either country? If not, what should I look for in a window cleaner that I could use (or shouldn't use) for print heads? Thanks, Billy

@chrisbrand2942

Жыл бұрын

@@ElliHarper

@chrisbrand2942

Жыл бұрын

@@ElliHarper Thanks for your time in replying.

Hi Jose I am very new in this I have Epson printer All in one 3620 i need to buy new cartridges what brand you recommend I do not want to buy Epson to expansive

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

If you are in the USA try precisioncolors or inkowl.

Im a new printer user from home...i bought a ciss system took out my thermal canon printhead thought id give it a rinse i washed it with tap water and yellow stopped printing i studied hard and seein this video i see now that the particles of the tap water are the issue cuz i only try to clean it with tap water i hope the windex method can help.

@cheo1949

3 жыл бұрын

Physically cleaning a printer is a bit dangerous. Why did you feel like had to clean it? Was it clogged?

My husband's 7890 printer is banding and there is nothing in the manual on how to clear up this problem?

@cheo1949

3 жыл бұрын

Nozzle check will show is any nozzles are not firing and that would be a sure cause for banding. Run cleaning cycles followed bu nozzle checks and hope it clears. If you are using OEM inks that should be happening. Printing Often is also recommended to prevent clogs. Also run a Head alignment. These functions are all found in the maintenance tap of the driver.

What if the printer is printing blacks smudges and black streaks? How do I handle that..

@cheo1949

2 жыл бұрын

You know there are dozens and dozens of printer makes and models right? Need to know what you have. Smudges are basically cause by a very cruddy parking station where the PRINT HEAD rests after use.

My printer is an Epson Workforce 500 all in one and until today it has been a beast of a printer but I'm guilty of not using it for quite a while. I turned it on today and did the usual and when I tried to print up an invoice I had a paper jam. I cleared the jam and tried to print the invoice and I got nothing at all. I did a nozzle check and then a clean and then another nozzle check and hardly anything printed. I did a clean once more and nothing helped so here I am on KZread looking for a solution to my problem. I have tried the Windex on the paper towel once with minimal positive results so I'm going to spend the rest of the day applying this method to find out if it works, as according to you flushing out the nozzles is the next step. Thanks for the informative video and I will come back and let you know if I was able to get the old beast running again. If you have any suggestions I'm open to any Jose.

@cheo1949

3 жыл бұрын

Patience is the key. It took m about 3 straight weeks to unclog a printer I found in the trash and got it to work perfectly. .

I have a HP Printer/Fax/Scanner, I only hear you speak on Epson and other Like Printers. But the may or may not help me, do you know anything about HP printers??? I hope so...you seem knowledgeable about Epson printers

my printer is hp 660its not detecting ink,not picking papers at all and whenever you set head cleaning nothing happens.How sort out the problem.Than you.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

I only work and do videos on EPSON and Canon dedicated photo printers. I do not use HP as they do not make Photo printers. If you mean it's not feeding papers then that's a transport problem. I don't know how HP performs head cleanings.

I'm very familiar with photographic chemistry (I created a family of processing chemicals under Silvergrain brand some 15 years ago), and that information is hard to believe. Diethylene glycol is used in inkjet inks to adjust viscosity, ensure excellent dispersing effect, and ensure even drying. It's not a particularly good cleaning agent. Also, most inkjet inks have neutral to moderately alkaline pH (7 to 11 range) and this is the pH range in which polyacrylate derivatives and other ink binders are fully dissolved. So, any effective cleaning solution should have a pH of about 10.5 to be effective. I've used a small amount of pure sodium carbonate or diethanolamine mixed in purified and filtered water. Also, effective cleaning solution should contain a small amount of surfactant, like Tergitol TMN-6. You can add DEG if increased viscosity or slower drying solution is more effective in cleaning, but usually not essential. If you are cleaning a yellow CLI-42 cart, I bet the problem is the pH that determines whether the ink will gel in situ.

@dpvideocontent

5 жыл бұрын

Epson ink has a fairly neutral pH (7.0 to 8.0). We just use colorless ink, DEG is a surfactant and as such aides bigly in helping distilled water open the nozzles and flush the print head.

@cheo1949

5 жыл бұрын

I will leave you two to hash this out as you all are far more knowledgable than I when it comes to the chemistries involved here. Enjoy!

@RyujiSuzuki

2 жыл бұрын

Update: I have not seen any inkjet ink that cannot be effectively removed by a mild carbonate- or diethanolamine-buffered cleaning solution at a pH of 10.5 with a small amount of surfactant. CLI-42 Yellow OEM ink washes out completely in just a couple of injections through the fill hole at the top. The only heads that I couldn't get unclogged were those fed with old magenta inks with insufficient biocides.

@RyujiSuzuki

2 жыл бұрын

In response to some inks being pH of 7 to 8, that is not surprising, what I am saying is that, in order to ensure all ink binders are dissolved, a pH of 10.5 is a good target to maintain, since at that point polyacrylate and other soluble polymers used in the inks are dissolved.

Hello Rodriguez, I bought my epson workforce wf-3640 printer. It worked well for a while. I stopped printing for 7 months after it showed black ink empty. I bought the double size black ink and replaced cleaned the head nozzle 3 times. I also cleaned under the cartridge inside as your video stated but I'm not able to get anything when I print. My printed paper comes out completely white. What do you recommend?

@cheo1949

3 жыл бұрын

That sounds serious. It could be and internal failure. I have a 3800 on my floor right now with thte same symptoms. It's a brick.

What is the cleaning procedure for pro100 printhead using Diethylene glycol.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

There isn't. These solutions are only for EPSON cold firing printheads.

@dadobbs

4 жыл бұрын

Jose Rodriguez So what is the pro100 printhead cleaning procedure for unclog Ing?

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

Remove it and lay it on folded paper towels soaked with Windex. Drip some Windex on the port needing cleaning. The use distilled water as you did with the Windex. Allow to fully dry. Reinstall will carts with enough ink. Run cleaning cycle and nozzle check. Cross fingers.

Jose, Ian at CO Ink Distributions’s. As you know, we manufacture the highest quality Epson-Specific Pink Piezo Cleaning Solution. We manufacture it in CO and use a 6 stage RO/DI filter to achieve 0.00TDS H20 in the water that goes in our solution. This is the solution your currently cleaning you’re Epson R3000 with and are looking for your feedback and your video showing how to use the proper solution and proper manner!

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

I will be doing that very soon, I need a printer ( Just found one ) that literally is clogged so I can demonstrate the efficacy of the product . It would not make since to use it on any of m working printers as None of the them are clogged at the time or ever.

@ianaram4899

4 жыл бұрын

Sounds great you have all the supplies you need to unclog your next Epson printer with our solution. Excited to see the results from a seriously clogged Epson! Contact me whenever that is. Have a great day.

@MrMorisoh

8 ай бұрын

Where can i buy this

About 50 years ago we used benzene to clean rollers on letterpresses. That stuff cleaned dry crusted ink. And now it has more warnings for more health hazards than you could read in a day. I'll stay with the Windex.

@jeffveit9970

2 жыл бұрын

It's carcinogenic.

Can we get a link to the post you are reading?

@doctorepson1731

5 жыл бұрын

Anton, here is my original post in Jose YT post about 3800 printer. Hi Jose, I like your videos. "Well done. I heard you say to use Windex to clean your print heads. NEVER use Windex or any commercial product. I have 24 epson printers, and print about 25,000 to 50,000 pages a year for in house work. Back in 2009, I worked with a chemist (my dad) to formulate a clear ink, or ink with zero pigment. This is called epson cleaning solution. Epson ink is manufactured in Germany. It has no alcohol, ammonia, soap or acetone in it. Windex that you buy uses tap water and not distilled water when they make it. Normal tap water has particulate matter in it, and this stuff is big enough to clog your print heads. Your q-tip can also leave behind particles that can clog nozzles. If your windex has ammonia in it, the ammonia will disintegrate (melt/eat) the plastics. Never use anything with ammonia, soap or acetone. Acetone will melt the plastic right before your eyes. Epson ink is soluble in water -- no need for more. Epson ink with no pigment is made of distilled water and DEG which is Diethylene Glycol Reagent (D49-1). It must be reagent quality since it has to be free of particulates. You can buy DEG from a chemical company for about $110 for a liter. Your cleaning solution is 10% DEG and 90% distilled water. Go buy a few gallons of distilled water for $0.88 per gallon, and buy a case of 4 oz water, probably 48 bottles. Empty all the water and rinse each twice with distilled water to remove any particulates. If you have a zero-water filter that tests at 0 particles, you can use that for rinsing. Knowing 1 oz = 28.57 mL, you know each 4 ounce bottle has 118 milliliters capacity. Use your larger syringe and put 12 ml of DEG in each bottle, then fill with distilled water. Your one liter of D49-1 Diethylene Glycol (DEG) will make 83 four ounce containers of Pure Epson Cleaning Solution. Be sure to label the bottles with a cool photo paper (water proof) label. Just fill your 48 bottles and store the remaining DEG for future use. Or, make a few super cleaning bottles with 20% DEG and 80% water. Remember in chemistry, more is not always better. Store the remaining back in its box in a cool place. DEG can also be found in our foods and household sundries, but do not use liquids containing DEG since they are full of little particles. Also, FYI never rub anything on the bottom of a print head, as it will damage it. As Gary Vaynerchuk says: "Patience is grossly under estimated." So be patient and let is stay wet and dissolve. To keep your heads clear, simply print a color test each day or so at 100% (highest quality) so as to push ink through 100% of the nozzles. Hope this helps." Cheers, Doctor Epson

Recently I used Windex to prime printhead. The result I found is discoloration on black ink. It came out grey color. It seems I have to flush out distilled water again. The ink I'm using dye ink. There's slim chances to get better result.

@cheo1949

Жыл бұрын

PRIME the print head???? What did you do?

Hi Jose, any links to the deg stuff for buying ? What is it exactly? So it’s 10% deg and 90% distilled water? I’ve had a nightmare unclogging my sc-t7200, tried windex, and printhead hospital, but now my nozzle checks are semi random blocks, I’m using ciss but there’s no air between the ciss and printer cartridge input, none seems to be in the main ink lines, I’m guessing it’s stubborn air bubbles in the head, any idea how to get rid of them Thanks

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

You have to get it from a chemical supply company. To remove air requires a full ink recharge and you would need an Adjustment Program and those are only available to service centers.

Hello Jose i recently cleaned my epson 3880 print heads and after putting all back together now im gettuing a message that say maintenence cover open do you have advise on how or what is going on

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

Check it. Did you open it?

@0ldskoolfool

4 жыл бұрын

@@cheo1949 sensor had come lose problem fixed thank you for the reply i do have another problem magenta doesnt print. if i do a power clean all colors print fine for 1 print then i lose the magenta again its kind of like ink not pushing thru i prime it and it does prime but wont print once in the printer thanks again in advance really like your channel

Cant get Windex in UK Josi, wish we could, i'm sure its the best.

I really think sometimes different is not wrong. Sometimes different is just that...Different. I suspect that the ammonia method could do damage if the exposure of the head was an 'extended' period of time or extremely often. For myself, I don't think I would need to clean very often. But, as far as using a method tried and true, go for it of course. But both methods fall into that category, so sometimes different is just that..Different

@cheo1949

5 жыл бұрын

There are other proprietary options for non ammonia based cleaning options.

hello jose, i made a very silly mistake.. I refilled one of the CLI42 cartdridges with P400 inks... Dont ask me how i made such a mistake. Do you think i need to buy a new cartdridge or do you consider i can recover it? Thank you!!

@cheo1949

Жыл бұрын

Flush it and after it is dry refill with correct ink. You will need a replacement cart installed while you do this regardless.

Hello Jose, can I use pure distilled water with a little 99.9 % ipa in the refill cartridges to clean the tubes/printhead? my head is 99.9% blockage free, I could do 10 nozzle checks in a row and every now and then there is a random clogged nozzle, then the next time it is clear etc... the printer is an Epson sc-t7200 and it was using unknown aftermarket inks before, but i'm getting 5 litres of ink from easy-inks so I want to clean the system before I use the new inks as I will be using an x-rite for icc profiles, also I have an sc-t5200 that keeps throwing an error and shutting down, the cyan is completely blocked and probably 3 out of 5 print attempts it shuts down.... its a strange one, the heads on these are supposed to be permanent as advertised by epson, I know its definitely the head as I also have another sc-t5200 where the printhead was collision damaged and when i swap the head into it the same issue happens.... any advice would be appreciated and thanks

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

I looked up those models and I am not at all familiar with them. But I assume in order to flush each channel it would take a ton of fluid or water and then a ton of ink to flush that out. You got me when it comes to the printhead error you are getting. My expertise is printing and I fail miserably when it comes to mechanical repair side of printers.

@GaryTaylorvw

4 жыл бұрын

No worries Jose, thanks for replying though, oh and yeah they take a lot of ink to charge from empty, I’m installing 700mm refill cartridges with arc chips and 5 litre ciss kit, looking forward to setting it up , thanks Jose, enjoy your videos by the way

Hi Mr Rodriguez, I have one HP 610 digital copier/printer. I cleaned with Windex. it seems that the nozzles are still good. I refilled the ink with the original ink cartridges but I couldn't print it it kept saying that the color in is out. Do I have to buy the new color ink cartridge?

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

Of course you have to buy new carts. Just because you refilled it does not mean the chip is reporting full.

@hannahvo3465

4 жыл бұрын

Hi Mr Rodriguez, it's complicated. I refilled both carts. The black ink cart show 70% of ink level on the computer but it didn't recognize the color ink level. The HP part numbers are C5010 and C5011. They don't have the digital codes of these ink cartridges anyway. It's pretty old model printer and one of the ink cart is out we couldn't use the printer. Thank you very much Mr. Rodriguez. Have a nice day!

@hannahvo3465

4 жыл бұрын

@@cheo1949 , thank you very much Mr Jose Rodriguez. God bless you!

have you ever had a printhead that is so clogged that you can not do the reverse flush on it? if so, how do you unclog this one ?

@cheo1949

2 жыл бұрын

I have say no. If it's that bad and a CANON you just get a new one. Not worth my time or effort. EPSON however with a lot of patience can be eventually unclogged. I just did an old WF1100 that two me about a week to clear out. It had sat unused with sublimation inks (the worst )for about 2 years.

@danielvanravenhorst6917

2 жыл бұрын

@@cheo1949 Thanks for your response man this is actually an epson R 1800 with OEM ink

how many times should I try the paper towel method before giving up? It's really difficult to be patient! LOL. My magenta has never shown up for me (Espon Stylus Pro 7800), but I bought my printer used (I have no idea how long it was stored, but it had empty cartridges stored in it. Several cleanings and windex fully unclogged other colors relatively quickly.)

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

Does the magenta ink line have ink in it or air??? Soaking the print head will do nothing if it's air. It could be air, supper clogged or simply damaged. Does the nozzle check remain exactly the same or does it produce different results each time?

@angelaspaintings

4 жыл бұрын

If anything sometimes it shows a different color (faintly) in some of the spots for the nozzle check. I personally have only ever used OEM ink in that spot. I noticed my printer shows that the magenta is almost empty but it FEELS full. (Cyan is almost empty and I can feel the difference) I did buy a syringe and solution to try to clear printhead but haven’t tried it yet because it seems invasive. I can tell the OEM magenta has fresh ink at the exit hole. How would I know if there is air?

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

On the INK LINES. The flexible tubes leading to the print head. Your magenta is not flowing. But the chip still counts down. That's why it is physically full even though the chip has been counting down as you been printing and running cleanings. Are all your other colors perfectly flowing? By the way you can not use a syringe as are intending on an EPSON pro7800.

@angelaspaintings

4 жыл бұрын

Thats what i was thinking too! I was thinking of getting a chip resetter for this reason. They were a bit blocked when I first got the machine, but after several power cleanings all the other colors came back strong. I have no holes in the nozzle checks for the other colors, but I have yet to see my magenta flow through. All other seven colors flow extremely well now. It looks amazing but it’s obviously missing magenta when I try to print photos of people. I spoke to Epson and they told me I wasted a lot of ink doing power cleanings (I learned the REALLY hard way) but magenta still hasn’t shown its face. Thank you for the tip about the syringe. I thought I saw a video somewhere of someone disassembling the print head from dampers, etc but I’m nervous to even mess with that.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

After all this....did you look at the magenta ink line like I asked???

I wish this expert could address the Brother MFC-J825 brand printer. Lots of Epson, no Brother information I really need.

@cheo1949

Жыл бұрын

Because this channel is about PRO PHOTO printers which are only EPSON and CANON.

I'm getting nothing from my 9500 mark ii. I have the head soaking in Windex now. We'll see...

@cheo1949

3 жыл бұрын

Good luck,. But you might need a new one if you can even find one.

If they are printing 50,,000 pages a year, they need to switch to dot matrix and transfer paper. I assume they are receipt printers? Voice quality sounds good, I wouldnt have known you were having issues.

It's funny that guy said that the chemicals in Windex will melt plastic, but Windex comes in a plastic bottle.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

Yeah.....well you have to take things with a grain or salt sometimes. I have not had a single problem using Windex.

@ruthprovins9008

3 жыл бұрын

He said acetone would melt plastics

@sgtbilkothe3rd

3 жыл бұрын

@@ruthprovins9008 some folks are not too big on details it seems.

Any suggestion that after cleaning the printheads multiple times on my Photo Stylus 1400, it still insist that there is no black ink? I even replaced the cartridge with the original Epson cartridge with no luck. The Epson software just show that I need to replace the cartridge. Very frustrating.

Away from the subject of the video but has to do with what was sitting to your right side in a nice frame, I am struggling with editing in LR my raw images, I feel there is something off and I always look at your images and they POP and scream tonality and value, and I started getting to know the culprit, I think POSSIBLY the difference between you and me is YOU HELD A BRUSH AND PAINTED, yes sir, I think this is what I lack, when you paint your brain is wired to see values and tonalities and gradients and blending lines between zones, I got to know this because am starting into water coloring and boy am I struggling, but the more I go the more my eyes are opened to editing my photographs and I started seeing things I have not seen before. long post but I thought of sharing it with you.

@cheo1949

5 жыл бұрын

You may have a point. I once took one of those color acuity tests where you have to discern color patches between extremely close hues, densities, and other parameters. Often the patches would scattered among other diferent colors in order to confuse you. You would have choose the "Correct" one depending on what they wanted. I got near 100 percent.

I trust Jose...nobody else...

@cheo1949

5 жыл бұрын

I wouldn't go that far.

Jose, I went on your Amazon affiliate page to purchase the syringe you use to flush your carts, but since you have several syringes on your page I wasn't able to tell which ones to buy. Can you let me know, please.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

What were going to use them for? Refilling or flushing carts.

I imagine that a majority of the concerns this person has with Windex ultimately comes down to cleaning frequency. I imagine keeping 24 Epson printers up and running would mean their print heads require excessively frequent maintenance. We all know that actually using an inkjet can help prevent clogs, but I expect there is such a thing as using it too much, and that could likely cause many clogs as well. Basically, I think what that person is saying is 100% accurate in a very specific context. If you have to regularly maintain a printer and clean the printhead once every couple of weeks, these concerns are likely very accurate. The ammonia content in windex is small, but if you used it super frequently it wouldn't surprise me at all if it eventually damaged the printhead or the plastics. I guess what I'm saying is, the Windex suggestions likely work just fine for low volume, low frequency maintenence. I watched one of your videos to unclog an Epson and it will likely never need that treatment again until another year or two from now (depending on use). Many people who use Windex and a paper towel to unclog their print heads are only doing that once every year or every couple of years. But framed in the context of maintaining high volume printing? Printers that would require constant and excessive maintenance? I can see valid concerns there. You'd want to minimize as many issues as possible. The concerns outlined by that person are totally valid, but they're concerns for a very different kind of context. The average printer owner isn't doing any work that would require cleaning more than once a year.

@visionsmagazineonlin

8 ай бұрын

I use mine a lot printing postage and find its the best way to avoid clogs. Had my printer for 7 years. It may have reached the end of life today however. As cheap as printers are if your business depends on one have a back up.

New printhead and new ink. However, no printing of ink on paper at all?

@cheo1949

Жыл бұрын

You Printhead maybe is not printing due to not receiving any information. Assuming the Printhead is new.

Hard to argue with a guy who has to keep 24 printers maintained constantly! 😉

@cheo1949

5 жыл бұрын

Yes sir.

Here's a question for you sir I'm stationed in Japan In Yokosuka and I'll be moving to Holland will my printer still work . I know I will need a transformer to regulate the voltage but will the ink work or is their something i can buy

@cheo1949

5 жыл бұрын

It depends on the country. When I was stationed In Belgium we needed transformers and plug adapters.

@photozen8398

5 жыл бұрын

I think he meant if the chips with the inks may differ as far as refilling especially none OEM inks... @@cheo1949

@cheo1949

5 жыл бұрын

Oh ok. It should not matter at all.

How do you maintain print heads if you go on vacation?

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

Watch my next to last video I just uploaded this week.

Hello Jose, I recently used the paper towel under the carriage technique with denatured alcohol on it. Did I create a problem? I did this because the the print head nozzle check was only showing the black witch is fine. The Y, M, C showed no lines whatsoever. I did a cleaning after that with the syringe and proper solution. still no indication of the three color patterns. It is an Epson WF-3540 Thank You, John Corona

@cheo1949

2 жыл бұрын

I have no idea the cart and print head configuration of that model. And yes Alcohol is not good. Use Windex Window cleaner.

Interesting.... he told me on the phone a few months ago TO USE windex 🤷🏻‍♂️

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

Who me? Instill use it but not for prolonged contact with electronic components. Great for cart flushing.

@adriantwiss600

4 жыл бұрын

@@cheo1949 European Users Beware (possibly) - knowing EU safety legislation the formulation of Windex may be different from the US version. I don't know how this would affect flushing out those pesky yellow canon cartridges.

@jamwerx

4 жыл бұрын

@@cheo1949, not you, that's what precision colors told me, it seemed to work at least. The 2 carts I did are extra carts anyway. Another thing I noticed is that Windex comes in 4 million variations now, do they all work or do you need the one with ammonia? Of course, the one brought home to me was ammonia-free

I don't if you view newer comments.I am trying to do this on my Epson R1900. My red is clogged. What I can't make happen is getting the printhead to float free. I finally counted to 19 on warm up and pulled the plug which is right behind me. I am fast, but the printer is faster. It stop too soon or heads over to the far. I can't it to stop in the right place so I can move it around. Help.

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

You have to be fast. Without off. Press the power button and the instant the print head detached you pull the wall plug and the head assembly will stop dead on its track. Then you can slide it over.

You’ll try to clean up the audio?..Well you did a great job..Windex?

@cheo1949

4 жыл бұрын

??????

@patriciocordova449

4 жыл бұрын

Jose Rodriguez Lol I. Sorry Jose I was just being silly, thanks for your help by the way.

Before everyone starts doing a "daily" print let me buy some Epson stock first ;)