1280 Nozzle Cleaning

The following procedure to clean stubborn nozzle clogs was graciously submitted by Ed Holley

Using Distilled Water to Unclog a 1280 Printer (and possibly others): The basis for using distilled water is the fact that dye-sub inks are water soluble. That's why cleaning your hands of the ink simply requires water. The ink dilutes rapidly with water. The use of DISTILLED water is preferred because it has less contaminents, minerals, etc.

First of all, I use a plastic syringe; 60cc I think. Without any needle being attached, I force a 3" piece of clear microtubing over the tip of the syringe. I'm not sure of the microtubing inside diameter, but I purchased a roll in the aquarium accessories section of PetsMart. I'm sure it's available elsewhere. I'm guessing the I.D. is somewhere around 1/8", maybe less.

Before using any distilled water, I cut a 1" wide strip of paper towel using the full width of the paper towel as the length of the 1" wide strip. In fact, you may want to cut several strips. The purpose is so that each strip can be layed down into the valley of the 1280 that is below the ink cartridge carriage as it moves from left to right. Next, assuming that the printer is turned on, I press the yellow button and as the carriage begins to move left, I simultaneously unplug the printer. This allows the carriage to then move left and right freely.

After moving the carriage over to the left, I place a strip of the paper towel down into the valley. The purpose of the paper towel is to absorb excess distilled water. If placed properly into the valley, the carriage will move left and right without catching on the paper.

Next, I remove the cartridge and begin the cleaning process. It helps to have a small saucer or something similar to pour distilled water into. The saucer is used to draw distilled water into the syringe. After drawing about 3 or 4 m/l into the syringe, I start by slipping the microtubing over one of the nozzles. Be gentle, and careful not to damage or break the nozzle. The hose should just slip snuggly over the nozzle.

Then EVER SO SLOWLY, I push the plunger on the syringe to slowly allow about 1 m/l of distilled water to be forced thru the nozzle to the printhead. Recognize that 1 m/l is not very much. After a few seconds, draw back on the plunger to pull colored water and air bubbles into the syringe. Whatever that does not come into the syringe will drip onto the paper towel strip.

Do this for each nozzle (every color, including black). However, the paper towel strip should be changed with each nozzle, or at least move the carriage directly over a section that has not absorbed water. The point is to not let much if any water get down below the towel. Otherwise, there is a chance thast the water can cause an electronic short when the printer is turned on. Not likely however. Especially if VERY little water is used with each nozzle cleaning AND a fresh paper towel is below the carriage.

It is not unusual to clean each nozzle many times, depending on the length of time and production volume the printer has seen between cleanings. My most recent cleaning took five (5) separate cleanings of each nozzle. Nevertheless, the entire procedure was less than 1 hour.

One other thing. It doesn't hurt to use each WET strip of paper towel as a kind of piece of dental floss as it is removed from the valley of the printer. With the cartridge carriage centered over the strip of towel, grab the left and right end of the paper and GENTLY rub it along the bottom of the carriage. This will act to clean of any junk that has gathered.

Once you think you have cleaned enough, put the ink carts back in and get a good nozzle check. Then run some prints of color squares/rectangles whereby the squres are each of the six colors. If you go to the MIS Associates website ( www.inksupply.com ), you can download a free color chart for this pupose.

And that should be it.

I have to give credit to "fergie(FERG)" from the DSSI forum who has promoted this method over all others. I have subsequently become a believer.

Even 1280s and others thought to have been "dead" have been unclogged using this method. Nevertheless, since every situation and printer is different, with all this there cannot be any guarantee.

Hope this will be useful for you and your customers.

Ed Holley

Marck & Associates
Toledo, OH
(419) 478-0900

Marck & Associates
Mira Loma, CA
(951) 685-9346