ricardojmendez Posted October 13, 2002 Share Posted October 13, 2002 Hi, I'm having a persistent issue with the nozzles on my Stylus Photo 820. Even though it gets used often, the nozzles for the black and darker blue inks keep getting clogged - and the darker blue is really hard to unclog, even with the nozzle cleaning utility. Any suggestions from other Epson users to avoid this? Thanks in advance, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan_ratzlaff Posted October 13, 2002 Share Posted October 13, 2002 Shut it off after you are finished using it. There is a head capping utility that keeps the heads from drying out if it is shut off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark d. Posted October 13, 2002 Share Posted October 13, 2002 Keeping the printer covered is really important. That keeps dust and junk from getting down in there. I just finally cleared a really nasty clog on the black print head on my 820. I took a piece of printer paper and lightly sprayed it with windex. I put it in the paper with a dry piece behind it and I ran the nozzle check. I then ran the cleaning cycle and viola! It was clear. See, windex can fix anything! ; ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimstrutz Posted October 13, 2002 Share Posted October 13, 2002 That's odd, "Mark Dalal" doesn't sound Greek. :~)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricardojmendez Posted October 14, 2002 Author Share Posted October 14, 2002 Thanks for the tips, guys. Mark: don't have any Windex at hand, do you know if it is similar to 409? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark d. Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 No, not similar to 409. Don't use 409. Windex or fantastik (sp) are the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott_blair1 Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 Ricardo, could you post a follow up after trying the windex? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricardojmendez Posted October 15, 2002 Author Share Posted October 15, 2002 Good thing I asked about the 409 before using it. Thanks again, Mark. Now, a small anecdote about Epson Technical Support. Since my Stylus Photo 820 was only a month old, I decided to take it to their Service Center - which happens to be about 1km from here - so that they could check if there was something wrong with the printing heads. Being a pessimist about customer service I expected evasives, denial and finally having to leave the printer there so that they could take two weeks to examine it. The guy at the Epson shop was pretty straightforward. He explained that the first cartridges are often lost to cleaning the printing heads, and that things should be normal after these. He ran he cleaning cycle a couple of times, didn't give me time to complain about having to use ink as a cleaning supply and threw my cartridges away, slapped some new ones on, gave me the printer and told me to go back it the problem persisted with these new ones. Overall, a great customer service experience. Can't tell if it will translate to your local service center, but Epson managed to secure me as a happy customer by simply taking care of the problem. PS: I'll drop a note here if I do try the Windex later on, Scott. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike D Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 I have access to 3 different Epson printers between home and work and all of the heads are prone to clogging. When the Epson 980 is turned on each morning at work, it takes more than 5 minutes for the printer to clean itself before printing its first print. It's noisy too. I'm surprised that HP hasn't used this common Epson short-coming to promote its own printers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_walz Posted July 13, 2003 Share Posted July 13, 2003 My 820 didn't spit a drop of ink last night. I ran over a dozen cleaning cycles and not a drop. Guess I'll call Epson tech support and send that one out. I ran out a bought a new one today. The new one isn't printing clearly either. I run the test and the black and darker red color won't print solidly. ARRRRGH!! I tried the Windex thing, no dice. When this printer works well it really works well but right now, I'm a raging maniac. All I wanted to do was print a 5 x 7 for a friend's birthday.... I need a beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob_culbertson Posted August 15, 2003 Share Posted August 15, 2003 same issues here anyone come up with a solution to clogged print nozzels. On mine everything prints awsesome but Yellow.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_joseph Posted August 31, 2003 Share Posted August 31, 2003 i just found out it would cost $190 (CAN) to replace the print head- the printer now sells for $125 (CAN). anyone know of any place to find print heads cheap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffrey_rodriguez Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Hi All, I've had my Epson 820 for a couple years now and have been very satisfied. I'll go maybe two weeks at the most without printing and have not had any trouble with severe clogging.......until now. I had just finished printing about a dozen 8x10's with great success. When I changed the cartridges it got BADLY clogged with only three colors printing. I have been using the online compatible inks. I tried some of the interesting cleaning methods found here, but no luck. I ran the cleaning session many times. I'm wondering if the cartridge itself could have been faulty? Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricardojmendez Posted December 12, 2003 Author Share Posted December 12, 2003 Jeffrey, It could well be. In my experience, it's best to run the cleaning process just a couple of times and then give it a "cool down" period of about 20-30 minutes. I get better results cleaning the nozzles this way than with continuos cleaning processes, to less ink expense as well. Ricardo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricardojmendez Posted December 29, 2003 Author Share Posted December 29, 2003 For those keeping score at home: Just as I was about to throw out the bloody Photo 820 out the window a couple of days ago, I decided I might as well give the Windex experiment a shot. It worked well, even if not immediately, and removed a persistent clog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffrey_fasick Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 A suggestion for those not faint of heart - I had tried everything to remedy similar problems with my Epson Photo 870 to no avail. Finally, out of desperation, (and figuring I had nothing to lose since I couldn't get a decent print out of it anyway), I took the upper shroud off of the thing, removed the print head from the carriage assembly (being very careful not to stress the ribbon connector), and just spent some time with a magnifying glass carefully cleaning chunks of ink-encrusted fuzz, lint, and dust off of the bottoim of the head and from the paper path. I then flushed the print head out over a rag using an applicator bottle and cleaning solution form fixyorownprinter.com. I reassembled the thing with a prayer and hooked it back up to my Mac, installed new cartridges, and it's been printing like a new one since. 2 things I learned in the process - 1. Keep a dust cover on the printer when not in use 2. Turn the printer off when not in use to keep the head parked in the "Sealed" position (it parks on a pad that keeps the nozzles from being exposed to the air). This helps to keep it from drying out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radellaf Posted February 14, 2004 Share Posted February 14, 2004 So when the printer is on, but idle, Epsons just leave the print head hanging out to dry? The HP and Canon I have definitely "cap" the heads if you let them sit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kot_kotov Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 I have a really weird problem with my Stylus Photo 820. For 2 years it was printing just great, and all of a sudden it starts printing weird. Starts printing fine at the beginning and then going without yellow, so I have about 1/20 of the whole picture in correct colors, the rest is without yellow. Tried many times cleaning using different methods, nothing helps.Any ideas? I'm about to through away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_wire Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 My Photo 820 parks the heads in the same place regardless of power on or off. Is there something wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen_ryan Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Read This! http://www.inkmagic.com/epson_clogged_printhead.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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