viernes, 9 de mayo de 2014

How to clean ink cartridges

Being shocked by how much ink cartridges cost every time we need to buy a new one for our printer is a very common scenario, and one of the main reasons that have led us to refilling them.

In all honesty, I can’t begin to understand why they cost so much when the raw materials are so cheap. Unfortunately, things are how they are, we we need to learn how to get all the juice out of an ink cartridge. This includes knowing many things, such as how to refill them and how to treat them like the fragile children they are.

In order to guarantee our ink cartridge’s durability, it must be in top shape. This is something we and only we can provide for them by cleaning them, knowing when to refill them, and by adding the exact amount of ink to each cartridge.

In this post, we’ll show you a more effective way of cleaning your ink cartridges in a step-by-step tutorial. Hopefully, this will elongate your ink cartridges’ durability and working lifespan, and help you save a bit of money on something as important as printer accessories.

For starters, here are some ingredients you will need in order to clean the ink cartridges, which you can find in your own home. This post will not teach you how to unclog them, but only how to clean them.

Please repeat this tutorial on your own printer after you’ve refilled your ink cartridges, since they can spill some ink on the printer; if the printer blinks, you will also need to clean the contacts on it. You may also need to clean it when your prints are coming out blurry, or once in a while for maintenance purposes.

You will need the following materials:
  1. A bit of hot water.
  2. A soft cloth or napkin,
  3. A few cotton balls (not mandatory).

Instructions to clean ink cartridges manually:

Step #1:
First of all, identify which kind of ink cartridges are installed on your printer: they could have the print heads installed on them or set separately in the printer. If you have the latter, clean the print head individually.

If you’re not sure of which type of cartridge you’re using, check the printer’s user manual or the brand’s Help website to know which parts to clean during this procedure.

Remember you can count on us to answer any question that may arise. You only need to post a comment in the section below this post, and we will be happy to get back to you with a step-by-step solution.

Step #2:
Please execute the default cleaning process installed on your printer before starting this manual procedure. You can find it on the user’s manual or browsing your printer’s menu, located on the front side of the device.

If the print quality obtained still doesn’t satisfy you and you want to continue cleaning the ink cartridges by hand. please turn the printer off, open the gate leading to the ink cartridges and wait for them to reach their changing position. You can now remove them from the printer, and clean the contacts on your printer if you want to.
cartridge connectors
cartridge connectors
Step #3:
Now you must out your ink cartridges in a bain-marie, a cooking technique where the water isn’t hot enough for melting the plastic but can still warm things up. In case the ink cartridges do have the print heads installed on them. submerge the print head using the same technique.

We use hot water because this has been proven to be the best way of removing dried ink from printers and ink cartridges. Do not overheat the water.

Step #4:
Take the ink cartridges out of the water and clean them a bit using the soft cloth, especially around the print head area if this is the kind of cartridge you’re using.

You could also use napkins, which are also very soft and you can just throw them away when you’re done. If the ink cartridge has even a bit of ink inside it, it can damage any material we’re cleaning it with.

Clean the cartridges and print heads very carefully, and invest all the time you need to make sure this works out well. Remember to clean the contacts on your ink cartridge and printer if they’re dirty.

If the print heads are inside the printer, you can take them out to clean them. Please keep in mind these print heads have contacts of their own, and that you must also clean them if you notice they’re covered in ink. Do not rub them with your fingers, since this can set some of the remaining ink on the contact and keep it from working in the future.

Step #5:
You must now check the ink cartridges have been cleaned properly, which you can do by printing several test sheets. This can be done directly from the printer’s lateral panel, or the computer in case your printer model doesn’t have one of these.

If you can’t clean your ink cartridges with this procedure, please leave a comment in the section below this post describing what happened, and we will help you out.

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