Re: Manual head cleaning of HP 6520e printer

Bob F wrote:

>> I have a printer given to me that does not print properly from the >> black print head. There are regular horizontal gaps in every printed >> head, which I think indicate plugged jets in the print head. I'd like >> to manually clean the face of the head with ammonia water like I have >> previously on other printers, but this unit does not seem to offer any >> easy access to the actual print head. Can anyone suggest the easiest >> way to get to it, perhaps with a cotton swab? >> I have tried multiple cleaning cycles, and printing pages of all black >> with no improvement. They print well except for about 1/8" gaps >> horizontally every 1/2". > > Thinking about this, since it's one section of the entire print head > that seem to be not printing, this might be more likely perhaps to be an > electrical problem in the signals to the print head. Any opinions?

I'd have guessed that any part could clog up. But maybe if all nozzles in one section are clogged it could be electrical. Or a particularly sticky ink?

I had a couple of Epson Stylus 860 (IIRC) and did dismantle to the point where I could soak the print heads. But I didn't know about ammonia. The heads travel on a nice shiny round bar which moves to give variable clearance to the paper. As well as freeing the bar it was necessary to disconnect the drive belt and the position-sensing ruler. Not too difficult...

Mike.

Reply to
Mike
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On Thu, 19 Feb 2015 18:37:11 -0800, "Bob F" wrote as underneath :

Bob here is a copy of something I posted last year in the printers n/g - might help: "Just thaught Id pass this on - my son's family have a HP all in one printer/scanner with fixed printheads that cant be got at or removed, (I didnt know HP produced such - I thaught they had all printheads attached to carts.!). Anyway they were talking about having to replace the printer because the black wouldnt print anymore no matter how much cleaning etc. was tried. I did a bit of trawling and no fixes at all came to light but it turns out ethyl alcohol mixed with a bit of water is good for the job of dissolving ink . So we put two drops of neat vodka on the jet entrance (relying on the existing ink in the black printhead to provide the water), put a layer of clingfilm over the cartrige to avoid drying and ink contamination, put it back in and left overnight, clingfilm off next day - job done and has been printing fine ever since. C+"

Reply to
Charlie+

Don't forget all that ink will have gone somewhere! Don't tip the printer from the horizontal or you may find out where...

Mike.

Reply to
Mike

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