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Wednesday, July 05, 2006 |
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Keep Your Printer's Nose, Er, Nozzles Clean! :-)
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Faint output, unprinted lines running across the page, or simply no visible printing at all indicates clogged nozzles. Many inkjet printers come with a nozzle-clearing function that draws ink through the nozzles to unclog them. Use this feature regularly, especially if your printer tends to sit unused for weeks at a time. How to run your printer's 'cleaning' procedure is found in your printer manual.
Tip if you're using Windows98: To access your printer's software, double-click on the My Computer icon on your computer's desktop. When the screen comes up, double-click on the printer's folder. Next, place your mouse cursor over your installed printer's icon and right-click, selecting "Properties" from the drop-down list, and bam, there's your printer utility. All sorts of settings can be found there, including the portion for cleaning your cartridges!
For cartridges with built-in print heads like HP and Lexmark:
If you know you've got ink and suspect a clog and you've tried the printer's cleaning routine described above...
It's most likely that the nozzles (where the ink comes out) are just clogged. It's easy to see if that's the problem. The following works most of the time to get your ink flowing:
Draw up about 1/2-3/4 cup hot tap water (distilled or bottled is better) and put in a small bowl. Put JUST the nozzles of the cartridge into the water and hold it there for 3-4 minutes (sometimes longer). You should see the ink start to 'bleed' out into the water... don't worry, it won't all leak out. You should see a good strong stream of black ink (or all three colors if trying to unclog a color cartridge). This "bleeding" helps to unclog the nozzles. When a good flow of the inks in the water is visible, remove the cartridge and "gently" dab the nozzles on a folded paper towel to dry.
Next, use a cotton swab with alcohol to gently clean the metal (copper-colored) contact plate on the cartridge AND the contacts on the printer where the cartridge fits. Place the cartridge back in the printer and run the cleaning cycle, then print a test page or two to get your desired print quality.
Note: you may have to repeat the above a time or two to get it completely unclogged and the ink flowing again.
Another Note: It is important never to let your cartridge sit out of your printer, as it takes only a short time for the nozzles and the internal sponge to dry out! If you must have your cartridge out of the printer, place a slightly moist paper towel along with your cartridge into a plastic baggie and seal it tightly... this should prevent drying.
source: http://www.maxpatchink.com |
posted by ^%&^
@ 8:23 AM
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