This post will teach you how to clean ink cartridges by hand using products found in your own home or workplace.
Purchasing a printer is a one-time good investment, in the long run, this acquisition will provide a lot of advantages especially if you have to work from home or simply are a student who needs to print or scan documents, you will not need to go the library every time to get the work done.
However, knowing the very high cost of ink cartridges, it is important to learn how to find a solution to save money or at least to make sure the ink cartridge is completely empty before replacing it. In this post, we are going to show you how to clean an ink cartridge, it also important to remember how to refill ink cartridges and take good care them to make them last.
In order to guaranteed the ink cartridge durability, you have to know how to clean them, when it is time to refill them and the exact quantity of ink the cartridge hold.
We will have a step by steps details solution to clean ink cartridge, hopefully, this solution will extend the ink cartridge durability and help you save money. This post will only teach you how to clean the ink cartridge not how to unclog them.
You can also use this tutorial after refilling the ink cartridge. If you have not correctly clean your ink cartridge after refilling, it might lick on the printer. In fact, you will receive an error message and your printer will start blinking.
The following material will be needed
First of all, identify which kind of ink cartridges are installed on your printer: they could have the printhead installed on them or set separately in the printer. If you have the latter, clean the printhead separately.
If you are not sure of which type of cartridge you are using, check the printer user manual or the brand. You can also check the printer Help website to know which parts to clean during this procedure.
Step #2:
Please complete the default cleaning process installed on your printer before starting this manual procedure. You can find it in the user manual or browsing your printer menu, located on the front side of the device.
If the print quality obtained still does not 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.
Step #3:
Now you must put your ink cartridges in a warm water container, make sure the water is not too cold or too hot. In case the ink cartridges do have the printhead installed on them. submerge the printhead using the same technique.
We use warm 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 using a soft cloth, especially around the printhead area if this is the kind of cartridge you are 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 are cleaning it with.
Clean the cartridges and printhead 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 are dirty.
If the print heads are inside the printer, you can take them out to clean them. Please keep in mind these printheads 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, 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 by printing several test sheets. This can be done directly from the printer lateral panel, or the computer in case your printer model does not 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 work with you to find a solution.
However, knowing the very high cost of ink cartridges, it is important to learn how to find a solution to save money or at least to make sure the ink cartridge is completely empty before replacing it. In this post, we are going to show you how to clean an ink cartridge, it also important to remember how to refill ink cartridges and take good care them to make them last.
In order to guaranteed the ink cartridge durability, you have to know how to clean them, when it is time to refill them and the exact quantity of ink the cartridge hold.
We will have a step by steps details solution to clean ink cartridge, hopefully, this solution will extend the ink cartridge durability and help you save money. This post will only teach you how to clean the ink cartridge not how to unclog them.
You can also use this tutorial after refilling the ink cartridge. If you have not correctly clean your ink cartridge after refilling, it might lick on the printer. In fact, you will receive an error message and your printer will start blinking.
The following material will be needed
- A bit of hot water.
- A soft cloth or napkin,
- 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 printhead installed on them or set separately in the printer. If you have the latter, clean the printhead separately.
If you are not sure of which type of cartridge you are using, check the printer user manual or the brand. You can also check the printer Help website to know which parts to clean during this procedure.
Step #2:
Please complete the default cleaning process installed on your printer before starting this manual procedure. You can find it in the user manual or browsing your printer menu, located on the front side of the device.
If the print quality obtained still does not 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.
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| cartridge connectors |
Now you must put your ink cartridges in a warm water container, make sure the water is not too cold or too hot. In case the ink cartridges do have the printhead installed on them. submerge the printhead using the same technique.
We use warm 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 using a soft cloth, especially around the printhead area if this is the kind of cartridge you are 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 are cleaning it with.
Clean the cartridges and printhead 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 are dirty.
If the print heads are inside the printer, you can take them out to clean them. Please keep in mind these printheads 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, 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 by printing several test sheets. This can be done directly from the printer lateral panel, or the computer in case your printer model does not 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 work with you to find a solution.
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