Printing - getting clogs out of Epson SC P-600

I just wanted to pay this forward to someone who might be thinking of tossing their Epson printer.

My SC P600 was completely clogged in the vivid magenta line. There was no commercial solution that would do a dent in the clog. I had also tried different mixes of IPA and Windex. But to no avail. I researched and I found that vivid magenta can make some serious clogs and I was not the first person sitting with this issue.

Since it was my very last straw I tried oven cleaning solution. About 12 hours later I had a working printer again. Yay!

To dismantling the printer to get to the printer head and flush it with oven cleaning solution should probably not be your first solution. But for me it was either this or tossing the printer.

The label on the oven cleaning solution says:

Water 30%

Butyl diglucole 15-30%

Triethanolamine 5-15%

Isopropanol (IPA) 5%

Sodium hydroxide 5%

Jeeeesus...never heard of that solution. But maybe I'm behind the times.

For my Epson printers, when you get a clog, you run head / nozzle cleaning settings. You should find out how long you printer can go before it clogs. For mine I can go 5 weeks or so then I should run it. If I have no jobs, I run test patterns or RPPC's. I prefer the latter as they are usable and I just trash the patterns.

Good luck!

The last ingredient is lye, which is very caustic. Are you sure it did no damage?

Not more than a permanent clog. :D I'm a chemical engineer and I was more worried about the solvents since not all plastics are resistant to them.

Nevertheless, it was either that or tossing the printer. And as I said, compared to not printing vivid magenta at all, it is now printing a perfect nozzle head check. But I'm sure there's something devious that will back fire. :rolleyes: Just I wait...

As I have suggested elsewhere, I have a "pigment" ink printer that can clog up if not used regularly.

Often the 'cleaning' cycle will do the job, but it is pretty expensive with the inks made for the printer.

I looked around on-line and found very cheap dye-ink refilled cartridges. I pop them in and go through many cleaning cycles until the machine works, then I put the real ink back in.

As I have suggested elsewhere, I have a "pigment" ink printer that can clog up if not used regularly.

Often the 'cleaning' cycle will do the job, but it is pretty expensive with the inks made for the printer.

 

I looked around on-line and found very cheap dye-ink refilled cartridges. I pop them in and go through many cleaning cycles until the machine works, then I put the real ink back in.

That's an interesting idea, but I don't think it would work with my Prograf 1000. As I understand it, the printer draws a lot of ink into tubes going from the cartridges to the head. One would have to go through all of that ink before the cheap ink would reach the head, and then one would have to go through the same to get the good ink to the head.

Not more than a permanent clog. :D I'm a chemical engineer and I was more worried about the solvents since not all plastics are resistant to them.

 

Nevertheless, it was either that or tossing the printer

Good points.

With my printer, an irreparable head isn't reason to toss the printer, just reason to get very upset. A new head costs about 1/2 the cost of a new printer.

On my printer, Epson R1800, the distance between the cartridge and the nozzle is minimal.

When the ink is feeding cleanly, it's still plenty good for me, despite its age.

Not all pigmented printers 'clog' the same way (or at all).

My 4900 clogged nearly every other day if not used.

I can go months without printing on my 3880 and P800, no clogs.