Computer Related > reviving dried-out inkjet Miscellaneous
Thread Author: devonite Replies: 14
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New Tue 26 Oct 10 15:32 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - devonite
I have an old Lexmark z33 printer that i`d like to give to an oap friend thats just bought a computer at age 73! - trouble is, it hasn`t been used for 2 years and it appears the colour printhead is blocked. It prints great in black! and great in 3 colours when i put the colour cartridge in the black holder!

Anybody know any tips/tricks for unblocking it please? - i know printers are dirt cheap but seems pointless him buying one if my old/spare one will work again.

thanks!
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New Tue 26 Oct 10 15:41 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - Statistical Outlier
Yep, use some clean kitchen towel to dab a flat, clean section at the printhead. Don't use the same bit of tissue twice to avoid contamination as it starts to flow. If that doesn't work, a little bit of alcohol on the tissue can help start it flowing again.
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New Tue 26 Oct 10 17:31 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - Stuartli
I don't think many senior citizens would appreciate having to fork out the staggeringly high cost of Lexmark replacement cartridges even if you do get it working...:-)
Last edited by: Stuartli on Tue 26 Oct 10 at 17:31
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New Tue 26 Oct 10 20:19 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - devonite
Thanks! am now trying the Alcohol tip! tis soaking under a piece of Grouse - soaked cotton wool overnight!

existing ink cartridges seem ok at the mo! but a quick look on ebay reveals he can get re-manufactured ones at about £7 each, brand new ones are quite a bit dearer as expectedl
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New Tue 26 Oct 10 20:33 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - Victorbox
You will need to install the printer onto a PC of course but does the settings for the printer include a head cleaning mode? Usually in same program that aligns a new printer cartridge.
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New Tue 26 Oct 10 20:46 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - devonite
yep! tried that first (its usb so takes minutes to get going) thats how i realised the colour printhead was blocked, realigned the cartridges/cleaned heads etc etc, didn`t work, whichever cartridge i put in the left hand holder wasn`t being seen by the printer, after a few wipes with kitchen towel, (as per tip) cartridge now being read, but no ink flow, so soaking under my best grouse!
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New Tue 26 Oct 10 20:57 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - VxFan
>> soaking under my best grouse!

Re: Alcohol, whoever suggested it actually meant Isopropyl alcohol, not the falling down type.
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New Tue 26 Oct 10 21:53 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - Stuartli
I have an Epson R300 photo printer which uses six cartridges (I buy packs of the set of cartridges for under £5 each from www.diskdepot.co.uk) and, to prevent unnecessary head cleaning and ink loss, I leave it switched on permanently.

That's been the case over the four years I've owned it and it has ensured that cartridges' life is at maximum level.

It always produces superb colour prints up to A4 size.
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New Tue 26 Oct 10 23:07 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - rtj70
I hear soaking the printer in Ouzo works too - joking of course!

I'd say printers are so cheap for a basic one with some ink then let them sort out their own printer. This one will never be reliable without a replacement print head and therefore a problem for you - they will come back!

For infrequent use, printers with combined cartridge/printhead can make sense.

My printer ended up in storage for 6 months (some sub zero temperatures) and it does have separate ink and print head. It is fine. Maybe the answer is a good Canon and not a cheap Lexmark :-)
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New Wed 27 Oct 10 20:23 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - devonite
>>Re: Alcohol, whoever suggested it actually meant Isopropyl alcohol, not the falling down type. <<

falling down type or not, it`a done the trick!! ;-) now printing like a good`un!
just goes to prove theres no such thing as the "wrong" alcohol!! ;-)
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New Wed 27 Oct 10 21:25 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - VxFan
>> now printing like a good`un!

You wait until morning when it has a hang over.
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New Wed 27 Oct 10 23:00 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - bathtub tom
>>You wait until morning when it has a hang over.

Nah! If I was devonite, I'd only let it 'borrow' the alcohol. ;>)
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New Fri 29 Oct 10 13:03 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - FocalPoint
I've been wrestling with a dried-out HP inkjet colour cartridge - the sort with three tanks. Having soaked it overnight in meths without success I drilled a small hole in the top of each tank and blew into them to get ink through to the print head.

I reckon as long as the cartridge stays upright in the printer I'm safe from spillage, but presumably I should tape over the holes to prevent further drying out.

These cartridges are pretty expensive and I reckon I've got nothing to lose anyway.
Last edited by: ChrisPeugeot on Fri 29 Oct 10 at 13:04
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New Sat 30 Oct 10 23:49 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - JohnM{P}
My 91 year old father has a Lexmark - having suffered dried out cartridges, he now tries to print something once a week. Replacement cartridges I get for him from Morrisons are a lot cheaper and are ok for him (no doubt other generic crartridges are available!)
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New Wed 3 Nov 10 10:10 
 reviving dried-out inkjet - J Bonington Jagworth
"he now tries to print something once a week"

Good policy - most of the inkjet problems I have to deal with are due to lack of use. If he just uses it to print the odd letter, a cheap mono laser is also worth considering - I got a Samsung one recently for an old guy who just likes to print the odd page, and the clincher was a 'print screen' button on the front that simply grabs the current screen and prints it, which works a treat with web pages that often do not print as they appear when you use the 'proper' method.

For reviving ink nozzles, adding a bit of anti-freeze to the alcohol often helps, as it is very penetrating.
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