Your cartridge has a few weeks, and yet the printer only produces a sheet of white paper or with empty spaces? Then, probably, by virtue of a holiday, an illness or some other reason, you have not used your inkjet printer for an extended period. The consequence? The print head of the cartridge has dried out and the prints are white or have blank spaces. This phenomenon occurs very often in inkjet printers. Depending on the model, it can happen before or after the cartridge dries out if the printer is not used. This article explains what to do if your cartridge has dried out, providing you with some tricks to prevent it from happening again in the future.
Index
The cartridge has dried … now what?
- Automatic cleaning by the printer
- Manual cleaning with a cloth
- Manual cleaning by immersion in hot water
Professional tips for technical experts
If nothing works?
Tricks to prevent the print cartridge from drying out
The cartridge has dried … now what?
Like most owners of an inkjet printer, surely you also know the problem: the device is rarely used, but when you need to print something urgent, the result is horizontal white lines or completely white sheets. Certainly imagine what it means: the print head of the cartridge has dried out again. This is particularly annoying if you recently purchased your cartridges, which are therefore almost full. But there is no need to throw them away right away. Try the following tips, thanks to which you have a good chance of saving your cartridges.
- Automatic cleaning by the printer
Most inkjet printers come with printing software, which allows you to maintain your device. Run the program on your PC and search for keywords such as cleaning the nozzles or cleaning the print head. This possibility is present in the programs of almost all printer Repair. If you have a printer for which there is no specific software, you can perform maintenance through the control panel of your computer. In the list of installed devices, search for your printer and open the maintenance item. Here you have the option to perform a normal or thorough cleaning.
Before proceeding with a manual cleaning, it is advisable to try all automatic programs.If, after cleaning, you find that the print quality has already improved, it makes sense to perform several cleaning steps several times. However, please note that such cleaning programs consume a lot of ink. Therefore, it is worth relying on the automatic procedure only if the cartridge still contains enough. It would be frustrating if the cleaning was successful, but the ink was only enough to print a few pages. If the automatic cleaning of your printer does not produce results, you just have to try cleaning the cartridge manually.
- Manual cleaning with a cloth
The first step of manual cleaning is to clean the dry cartridge with a damp cloth or cotton wool sticks . To do this, remove the cartridge from the peripheral, moisten a lint-free cloth or a cotton swab and carefully clean the lower part of the cartridges, where the nozzles are located . To do this, always use hot water and avoid cleaning agents. Finally, reinsert the cartridge and print a test page.
Is the print still defective? Then you have to use strong ways. Buy some denatured alcohol in the pharmacy and use it to soak a cloth abundantly. After that, put the tea towel in a low bowl. Remove the cartridge again and place it overnight on the cloth so that the nozzles are in direct contact with the damp cloth . The following morning, you can reinsert the cartridge. Now perform an automatic nozzle cleaning and print a test image to check if the alcohol procedure worked.
- Manual cleaning by immersion in hot water
Does your printer keep printing blank pages because the cartridge is dry? Then you can perform a cleaning by immersion in hot water .
To do this, you have two possibilities:
Variant 1
First of all, it is good to insert the cartridge in a waterproof plastic bag (such as those for food). Then fill the sink with hot water at 60 degrees and immerse the packed print cartridge in it completely . Wait about five minutes , remove the cartridge and check if the procedure has worked.
If not, it’s time to try the second variant:
Variant 2
Fill a low bowl with hot water at 60 degrees ; this time, put the cartridge submerged from the bottom, where the nozzles are located. After about half a minute , the dry ink on the print head of the cartridge should have dissolved. Once this is done, carefully dry the cartridge using a clean, lint-free cloth . Carry out a test print again and check if stripes still appear on the sheet.
Professional advice for technical experts
If none of the recommendations provided has been successful, it means that the cartridge nozzles are clogged properly. Even in this case, however, you still have two tricks for experts to try:
The first method consists of an ultrasonic bath . This procedure cleans almost all print cartridges even stubbornly dried. The variant in question is therefore only suitable for saving very expensive dry cartridges.
If you are technical, you also have another possibility:
with a disordering pump , you can remove the clogging of the printing nozzles. These pumps are also on the market for a few AED
If nothing works?
If none of the proposed methods for saving print cartridges has worked, you just have to dispose of the cartridge. If so, you need to purchase a new one. In addition to the original cartridges, in the UAE Technician cartridge store you will also find compatible third-party cartridges at cheaper prices. It is worth comparing the prices between original and compatible cartridges!
However, in the future keep in mind the motto “Prevention is better than cure”, in order to prevent the cartridge from drying out.
Tricks to prevent the print cartridge from drying out
To prevent the print cartridge from drying out, just follow these tips
In general, when you turn off the printer, it is good that it is always in the rest position. This is achieved by turning off the printer from the device, instead of simply unplugging it. This allows the cartridge to reach its rest position, which prevents it from drying out.
Especially if you do not use the printer for an extended period, it is a good idea to print a test page every two to three weeks to operate the nozzles and prevent them from drying out. Are you afraid to forget it? Then set a reminder on your PC or smartphone.
If, due to a holiday, a business trip or other reasons, you are absent for a long time and you are unable to print the test page regularly, you can still prevent the cartridge from drying out.
Just remove it, wrap it with cling film and store it in a sheltered and cool place.
If you don’t have food foil, you can protect the cartridge by carefully covering the nozzles with adhesive tape. Again, we recommend storing the cartridge in a cool place away from sunlight.
Alternatively, you can ask if there are special packaging for your cartridge model, which are also suitable for storing the cartridges and preventing the ink from drying out.
