how to clean print heads for HP, Brother, Canon and Epson Printers
Everything that runs gets dirty and clogged with time. Printer heads are also one of them.
They do need periodic maintenance and cleaning to work in a proper manner.
But before going to “How to clean print heads”, we have to have an idea about the 3 different types of clogs that you can face.
1. Simple clogs
These are mostly ink or dust particles. These can be easily removed after the initial try by blowing air into the printer heads.
2. Partial clogs
These are formed when printing is done for a long period of time, that is if there is no cleaning done to the printer heads then partial clogs will happen because of dried ink at some parts which prevent it from working properly.
For this type of clog, you need to do little more than just cleaning using an air blower and hairspray (if required) maybe twice or thrice depending on how much-dried ink remains in your printer head. But still, if it doesn’t work you have to take further steps to remove this kind of clogs.
3. Severe clogs
This is the most dangerous type of clogs which will happen to your printer heads. This happens when you don’t clean or prevent your print heads from getting dry for a very long period of time. These are the hardest to remove and require extensive cleaning methods with chemicals if required.
Now, here are some steps that can be done at home to make your printer heads work in proper condition without causing any damage while doing it. It’s always better not to do these steps by yourself if you don’t know what you are doing, may cause more harm than good especially when we talk about expensive printers like HP, Canon, etc… because sometimes these steps might lead to leaking ink out of your cartridges and your printer head so BE CARE FULL.
How To Clean HP Printheads
If you own an HP printer and facing a print head issue then clean it with the steps mentioned below:
Open your printer and make sure that the ink cartridges are in their place and there is no loose connection or broken parts in your printer. Sometimes, even paper gets stuck between the cartridge holders and heads which might cause major damage to the cartridge and your printer.
Now, take a damp cloth or tissue and wipe the cartridge holder gently in a circular motion without applying any pressure on it to avoid damaging anything inside. Also, make sure that you don’t injure yourself by any broken part of the cartridge holder because ink might start dripping out from somewhere which is very harmful if it touches your skin or clothes.
Now, take a cotton swab and dip it in the cleaning solution which is mentioned below to clean it further, if still there are some ink remains inside then you have to repeat the process until all the dirty patches are removed from your printer cartridges.
But, before applying any of these steps on your printer make sure that this method doesn’t void your warranty of the printer because sometimes manufacturers don’t cover this kind of technical issue under warranty due to their negligence.
So I would recommend not attempting this by yourself unless you know what you are doing. If you do want to try then read carefully the instruction manual first.
There is another way that can be followed for cleaning on HP printers but isn’t 100% accurate as it requires a few additional tools to do the job. You can follow this step but after going through all these steps you should be able to know how much your printhead is clogged and whether it’s worth trying or not.
How To Clean Brother Printhead
If you own a brother printer and are facing printhead issues that are not serious yet but want them to be fixed as early as possible then try this method.
First, remove the ink cartridges from your printer (if installed).
Now, turn off your printer for at least 30 minutes to allow it to cool down. This will also reduce the risk of getting any kind of injury by hot plastic pieces or malfunctioning parts especially on some models like the new Brother MFC-9340 CDW color laser multifunction printers which have metal gears inside which can cause injury if turned on before cooling it completely so better be safe than sorry.
Take a small screwdriver and lift up the cartridge holder from your printer. You don’t have to take out the cartridges yet as they are still connected to your printer head with a small wire.
. Check those wires if it is intact or broken as that can also cause problems with ink leaking or printing issues on your color laser MFC-9340CDW, Brother DCP-L8450CDW, etc… So better check each and every part of your need before going ahead with this method because these things might be very costly if damaged permanently inside a laser printer which costs a lot more than inkjet printers.
Now, clean all the dirty patches with cotton swabs dipped in distilled water then dry it upside down making sure no drops of water are left over the cartridges or printhead.
Now, check the connection wire if it has become loose due to constant movement of the cartridge holder, else clean it too with cotton swabs dipped in distilled water (you can also use rubbing alcohol).
If this doesn’t work then try using electrical tape over the cartridge wires which will provide good grip and hold on to them tight enough not to cause any problems while inserting or removing them from your printhead or cartridge compartment.
- Once all these steps are done then put back the ink cartridges into their place by gently pressing each side of the cartridge holder down until you hear a click sound which indicates that they have been successfully inserted again otherwise just follow the previous steps for checking the wiring inside your printer once more thoroughly.
How To Clean Canon Printheads
So here are some steps that will guide you through the process of cleaning your printer heads on a canon printer.
- First, turn off your printer and wait for at least 30 minutes to allow it to cool down completely. If you can’t wait that long then at least turn off your computer before powering on the printer again.
Now take out all the cartridges from their place or holder area inside your printer if installed or attached already after checking this method’s compatibility with your model in its manual first because some printers have ink cartridges which are hard to be removed so better check before taking them out by turning off your device first or disconnecting it from power source if there is any risk involved in removing these things while computer is still otherwise you will have to face major problems like fire etc…
Now, open your cartridge lid and clean each dirty patch with lukewarm water or any other cleaning solution that is safe according to the manual of your printer but still we recommend you to use distilled water as it’s very cheap and available at many stores for just a few dollars only.
After this, put back all the cartridges into place and close the lid then turn on your printer and wait for 30-40 minutes until ink from nozzles dry up completely if you see some dark spots on the paper after printing something then allow it even more time to dry because sometimes prints might leave marks on paper whenever there is a problem with ink flow inside the print head which can be caused due to clogged ink nozzles
Now, unplug your printer and take out all cartridges from their place or compartment then repeat the above-mentioned steps over again with distilled water only if the problem still persists then try using alcohol but it can damage your printer heads so better go for distilled water instead of anything else because that’s cheap and doesn’t harm your device too much.
Lastly, put back each cartridge into its place connecting back the wiring to it by just pulling gently on both sides of the cartridge holder with a closed lid in hand while taking them out.
After this, connect the power supply to your device and turn on your computer again to see whether you are able to find any changes or improvements in printing quality or not.
How To Clean Epson Printheads
Here are some steps that will guide you through the process of cleaning your printer head on an Epson printer.
First, turn off your printer and wait for at least 30 minutes to allow it to cool down completely. If you can’t wait that long then at least turn off your computer before powering on the printer again.
Now take out all the cartridges from their place or holder area inside your printer if installed or attached already after checking this method’s compatibility with your model in its manual first because some printers have ink cartridges that are hard to be removed so better check before taking them out by turning off your device first or disconnecting it from the power source if there is any risk involved in removing these things while the computer is still otherwise you will have to face major problems like fire etc…
Now, open your cartridge lid and clean each dirty patch with lukewarm water or any other cleaning solution that is safe according to the manual of your printer but still we recommend you to use distilled water as it’s very cheap and available at many stores for just a few dollars only.
Next, follow the same steps as told above for the HP printer.
Printhead Clog Prevention
Here are a few tips that you can follow to prevent your printhead from clogging.
- Remove and insert printer cartridges only after the printer has completely cooled down, as otherwise, you will end up damaging your printhead.
Always use high-quality ink and toner cartridges because these provide better quality prints than the standard ones.
Your print heads may need lubrication as they can accumulate dust particles due to their constant contact with paper so lubricate them every now and then by opening the cartridge compartment door and squirting proper amounts of grease on all copper contacts inside taking care that none of it seeps out onto other components which can damage them permanently if there is a problem with ink flow inside the print head which can be caused due to clogged ink nozzles or dirty copper contacts then try using alcohol but it can damage your printer heads so better go for distilled water instead of anything else because that’s cheap and doesn’t harm your device too much.
Try to use only the recommended papers by the manufacturer as other paper types are not recommended for printing purposes or may leave behind unwanted ink marks on paper whenever there is a problem with ink flow inside the print head which can be caused due to clogged ink nozzles.
Lastly, always try to maintain a suitable temperature inside your printer room by using an air conditioner during summer season if possible but avoid areas near windows or doors or any other area where there exist chances of direct exposure to sunlight as this will reduce the life of components especially heater cartridges also avoid exposing your delicate printer to temperature variations as this puts unnecessary pressure on parts and can cause problems like ink nozzles becoming blocked.
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