Old printer and dried up ink.

[Ciber]

I got given an Epson C82 as a kind of a thanks for helping my mate's dad with his laptop. After I'd found a power lead for it I tried it out, but no print. The head moved and everything, but no ink got to the paper. I tried taking out the ink cartridges and shaking them and ran the head cleaning quite a few times, but at best I got a few lines of ink or just yellow printing. So, seeing as the printer is 5 years or more old and may not have been used for a long time, I've ordred some new ink off ebay. However, having installed all 4 new cartridges and run the head cleaning a few times, it's still like the print head is very badly clogged, maybe with dried ink, as at bet I get a few lines of black and yellow ink. The new ink it seems hasn't helped.

Any suggestions? Should I just run the head cleaning utility like 10 times until it is OK? Seems to be using up ink at quite a rate so far. Is the printer basically shagged? Is it worth maybe taking it apart and cleaning with isopropyl alchohol?

[Agent]

Epsons are notorious for it, especially ones around that age.
In all truth, there isn't a lot you can do. Keep trying to clean the heads - you have nothing to loose other than a bit of ink.

With Canons you can buy replacement heads. You can't do this with most Epsons, but have a google about it, just in case

[Andy3536]

I got given an Epson C82 as a kind of a thanks for helping my mate's dad with his laptop. After I'd found a power lead for it I tried it out, but no print. The head moved and everything, but no ink got to the paper. I tried taking out the ink cartridges and shaking them and ran the head cleaning quite a few times, but at best I got a few lines of ink or just yellow printing. So, seeing as the printer is 5 years or more old and may not have been used for a long time, I've ordred some new ink off ebay. However, having installed all 4 new cartridges and run the head cleaning a few times, it's still like the print head is very badly clogged, maybe with dried ink, as at bet I get a few lines of black and yellow ink. The new ink it seems hasn't helped.

Any suggestions? Should I just run the head cleaning utility like 10 times until it is OK? Seems to be using up ink at quite a rate so far. Is the printer basically shagged? Is it worth maybe taking it apart and cleaning with isopropyl alchohol?

I work for an epson aurtherised dealer and it's very common to have the head clogg up when not used.
Epson ink is normally better but can be overpriced. Ebay has been a good scorce of cheap ink in the past.
Try what you can to clean the head, isopropyl alcohol would be ok. Chances are that is all that is wrong with it.
Just make sure it's dry before you plug it back in.

[JimNastics]

i have a C86 sitting in the corner of my office with the exact same problem, and that's only just over 2 years old. A bit of research suggested it might be more than just a dried up print head, but I seriouesly can't be arsed to sort it out, I don't think it's worth the hassle:

http://inkjetprinterhelp.us/duraink.html

http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/inkjet/31764

[Ciber]

Well I found out how to take it apart and about how some ink tube may be disconnected or clogged. I did it, took it apart, cleaned some hard dried ink off the print head, cleaned the tube and cleaned the 'ink system', but it is still no good. It's for the bin, along with the ink I bought, at least I didnt waste £30 or so on epson inks, but found a set £4 on ebay, but still £4 and hours of my time wasted, not to mention the frustration.

Now I want to buy a printer, which I wasn't bothered about until I got given this 'free' one. At least I know now not to buy an epson inkjet unless it's going to be used daily, which I wouldn't at home tbh. We've got epson inkjets in the office (I chose them lol, because of the cheapness of the inks) and they're fine, as they are used every day. I didnt know they could be ruined by leaving them unused for a time tbh.

Or are modern epson injets OK for this? Do other makes suffer from this flaw? I know the xerox we had wouldn't, as the printhead is part of the cartridge, so just replace that and it's fixed. Trouble with the xeroxes we had inthe office is the cartridges cost like £30 just for the black and didnt last all that long. We also brought a very old HP deskjet 600 mono back to life as a backup printer and the ink was all dried up solid in the catridge, yet I just put a new cartridge in and it has worked fine ever since no dried ink problem like the epson doesnt even seem to need cleaning cycles and head alignment regularly like the epson C48 we use.

What about a mono laser, do they suffer from this infrequent use? I bought a samsung ML2510 mono laser for priniting invoices and such and I'm quite impressed with it, so I would consider it's smaller brother the 2010 for home, as it's not expensive.

[Andy3536]

HP have the print head in the cartridge, so if the in does dry up, a simple swap out will do.
As for new epson printers, i have the dx6000 and hardly use it, and it works everytime.
I know many of you would have herd this before (especially those with fauly epson printers) but cheap ink really is much worse for drying up.
Epson have spent alot of money on improving thier ink, and it's really all you should use.
If you don't want to pay epson prices there are always plenty on ebay going cheaper.
I'm ok though, i get a discount

[Ciber]

The epson I had a problem with was fitted with all epson inks and those were then ones that dried up and ruined it. It may be that this issue is only with the C8x series printers, this is what I don't know.

[Andy3536]

The epson I had a problem with was fitted with all epson inks and those were then ones that dried up and ruined it. It may be that this issue is only with the C8x series printers, this is what I don't know.

No, the problem is right accross the epson range.
Latter models and latests inks have improved reliability with this, but it is the main reason people have probs and bring thier printers back for repair.
The problem has got a lot better but it's still there.

[Pob255]

HP have the print head in the cartridge, so if the in does dry up, a simple swap out will do.

Depends on the model, some of them do have seperate print heads, mainly the bussnes jet series, the office jet and multi fuction don't generally.

HP do a couple of nice cheap multi fuction printers (Inkjet & a4 scanner all in one) not sure what they'll be like for drying out.

I've got an old mono HP laserjet 1100, it just keeps on going, doesn't get used for a month or so then will happly spits out a few pages. (only problem with it is the paper feed, but newer models tend to be far better on the feed)

One thing to be aware of is that currently printer prices are very low but toner/ink is expensive, I'm sure this is how they make there money.
Also every time they release a new model it needs differnt cartridges
Colour lasers are really bad for this as often buying a full set of toners actually costs more than the printer.

Another note, often when you get a new printer the ink/toner cartridges it comes with are only 1/4 cappasity and you'll often have to buy a USB lead as they very rarely come with them.

[Ciber]

I'm pretty sure the cartridge for the deskjet 600 has no printhead on it tbh, just an ink tank. Yet the dried ink/long storage didn't screw the printer up, not one bit. The closest thing to a dried ink problem I've had on anything other than an epson is that sometimes after diy refilling an xerox printhead/cartridge I've needed to clean the printhead with a rag and maybe some white spirit.

As for lasers, I know a mono laser can be had for about £45 and also that the replacement toner (just one) also costs about £45, it's not bad though, as one toner does 3000 pages iirc.

[Agent]

Buy a Canon, Nothing comes close IMO at the moment (Apart from HP)

[JimNastics]

Buy a Canon, Nothing comes close IMO at the moment (Apart from HP)

Yep couldn't agree more, replaced my Epson C86 with a Canon Pixma IP 4300 which has been superb, touch wood.

[Andy3536]

Depends on the model, some of them do have seperate print heads, mainly the bussnes jet series, the office jet and multi fuction don't generally.

HP do a couple of nice cheap multi fuction printers (Inkjet & a4 scanner all in one) not sure what they'll be like for drying out.

I've got an old mono HP laserjet 1100, it just keeps on going, doesn't get used for a month or so then will happly spits out a few pages. (only problem with it is the paper feed, but newer models tend to be far better on the feed)

One thing to be aware of is that currently printer prices are very low but toner/ink is expensive, I'm sure this is how they make there money.
Also every time they release a new model it needs differnt cartridges
Colour lasers are really bad for this as often buying a full set of toners actually costs more than the printer.

Another note, often when you get a new printer the ink/toner cartridges it comes with are only 1/4 cappasity and you'll often have to buy a USB lead as they very rarely come with them.

My last printer was a HP multifunction, and the later ones do seem to have the printhead with the ink cartrige. But that died.... Very unlike a HP.
The printhead in the carteige is also what bumps up the price as that is where most of the advancments are made each time a new priter is released, also why the cartrige changes to accomodate new printhead.
Genrally speaking if you buy a cannon or hp you can't go wrong.
And only buy an epson if you use your printer on a regular basis.

[Mad-Max]

The only thing really to do with Epson printers is

1) Bin the printer and buy a new one

2) Strip it and soak the printer heads in ink cleaning fluid until they clear

I know about Epson printers thats why I have HP now after having to many epson printers go hay wire.