clogged nozzles on epson r200

[nick101181]

Hello,

I've had my epson r 200 for 2 years now and so far no problems. I've been using third party ink since the originals ran out and I've only had a problem recently. At first the black was clogged up but no matter how many times I used the head cleaning tool it just never worked. What I did was I put some windex on my finger and rubbed it across the top of the nozzle and then it was fine. while I was doing that I had to take out the cyan and light cyan so I could fit my hand down in there. After putting them back in they are clogged but the black is fine and dandy. Well I've tried the windex trick on these two nozzles a million times and it's still clogged. I used an eye-dropper to put a drop or two on the tip of the nozzle and let it dry, but nope nothing. I also used a q-tip with windex and scrubbed the top of it ,but nope still clogged. Does anyone know how to unclog these nozzles ? using the cleaning tool drains all my good cartridges so so far I've had to buy 4 cartridges to replace the one's used by the head cleaning application. Thanks

[Dubber]

Epson is very well known for that prob you got. Especially if one uses 3rd party inks. My personal opinion - run away from Epson or buy a new one; it'd cost you same $$ to get it fixed as opposed to get a new one ( that would come with a set of cartridges too ).

[redwudz]

You could try putting a saturated pad across the nozzles for a few hours and see if that works. Something like a band-aid that would hold a mix of 50% of alcohol and Windex against the holes to allow it time to soak in. Not much more I can come up with. Not familiar with that printer, but I have used this method with my printer that has the nozzles on the print cartridge with good success.

[JerryB]

Hello,

I've had my epson r 200 for 2 years now and so far no problems. I've been using third party ink since the originals ran out and I've only had a problem recently. At first the black was clogged up but no matter how many times I used the head cleaning tool it just never worked. What I did was I put some windex on my finger and rubbed it across the top of the nozzle and then it was fine. while I was doing that I had to take out the cyan and light cyan so I could fit my hand down in there. After putting them back in they are clogged but the black is fine and dandy. Well I've tried the windex trick on these two nozzles a million times and it's still clogged. I used an eye-dropper to put a drop or two on the tip of the nozzle and let it dry, but nope nothing. I also used a q-tip with windex and scrubbed the top of it ,but nope still clogged. Does anyone know how to unclog these nozzles ? using the cleaning tool drains all my good cartridges so so far I've had to buy 4 cartridges to replace the one's used by the head cleaning application. Thanks

Hi,
Don't waste your time with windex... it 90% water
Alcohol .... is a much better solvent than water in desolving inks...!!but there drawbacks
However.... there are kits avail, specifically designed for epson printer inkjets! and these kits are cheap 5-10 bucks.... below are two sites you can order from... I would probably preferr the first link since they say they used the same cleaning solution that epsone company uses...!!

http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/kits/epson/K70

http://www.maxpatchink.com/epsonclean.shtml

A little background info on epson... epson has a long history of thiere inks clogging the ink jets.... and the primary reason is that the particles in the ink settles if not used for long periods..!!!! also the residue in the jet maynot completely clean out after a usage session.... it been advisable to run the printer at least once a week and clean after a long usage session!!

third party inks....there particles are generally alittle larger...... and the liquide holding agent again may not suspend the partciles good enough.. smile.... so again when using shake up those cartriges a little each week...!!

[Poppa_Meth]

Stop by any paint store and ask for Denatured Alcohol. This is some of the best solvent type alcohol you can get. It's more potent and does a better job than rubbing alcohol.

[winifreid]

I had a C80 and C84; both clogged. I tried all the possible de-clogging activities and never fixed them. I had used them often with Epson ink. Just my story.

[nick101181]

Thanks to everyone that replied I was able to fix it. I took some 99% alcohol and soaked a cotton ball and pressed it down on the nozzles and let it sit for about 3 hours. I keep adding alcohol whenever it dried up. At first it didn't seemed fixed, but after having to replace one of the cartridges it was fixed, then I just had to concentrate on the cyan and it eventually worked out. Too bad that cleaning takes out so much ink from the other cartridges.

[solarfox]

Just to add my US$0.02...

A bottle of "Everclear" from your local liquor store works wonders as a solvent, as well.

[KBeee]

Wire brush and bleach - also cures Haemorrhoids.....