Epson Stylus Photo R1800 Clogged Printhead Cleaning

[Lupe Talamantez]

Less than a year ago, I bought a used Epson Stylus Photo R1800. Its manufacturer data plate or sticker does not hint how old it is. I believe that it was introduced around 2005, and I am guessing that mine is nearing 3 years old.

After a little maintenance and installation of its latest download-able software, the R1800 printed beautiful prints with its installed 3rd party inks that the previous owner included with the deal. There was no monitor calibration software installed on my Windows Vista PC. Print settings included the “Let Photoshop Determine Colors” and the “No ICM” check box checked. Within 5 months, the printheads got clogged. Reds were not appearing as before, and then there was way too much blue and not enough green. It did streak; the auto head cleaning cleared it up, but at the cost of a lot of ink usage. Also, I remember accidentally touching the “reset” button on my monitor.

Thinking of sending it to Epson for service resulted with not following that path. I was the second owner, paid a very low price for it, didn’t have enough funds for replacing it, it was out of warranty, and other small factors. So, how do I solve this issue? Google it. Googling for variations of “clogged printheads” came up with many links. Some led nowhere, but many offered the same information leading to a solution that I could handle.

I found that 3rd party inks are a factor of clogged printheads, but then CIS systems were never involved in what I read. Don’t all 3rd party inks come from China? Another was letting the R1800 printer sit idle for nearly a month of weeks. That’s the factor that clogged mine. Another that I did not see was “bad ink” cartridges that can be included in the purchase of 3rd party inks. A final factor may have to do with cartridges that are older than the expected shelf life. 3rd party cartridges do not show a manufactured date on the box, but Epson’s boxes do. For economical reasons, I am inclined to use the 3rd party inks. And, I know I am gambling that R1800 inks move briskly on my reseller’s inventory. If I was printing photos for profit, I would be charging enough money to purchase the Epson inks that, by the way, never seems to be on sale through their website. Of note is that their manufacture dates are current year. I am aware that an online printing service would do better.

Being a do-it-yourselfer, I decided to try what I saw on a few YouTube videos regarding how to clean clogged printheads. The most common method was by injecting a cleaning solution into the printhead’s nozzle where the cartridge inserts into. A short piece of silicone tubing is attached to a small syringe, and the tubing’s free end is inserted into a nozzle. For each of the 8 nozzles, this method of injecting unclogging solution via a syringe is applied. For this procedure, the printhead assembly did not have to be removed.

When that did not work, the next option involved removing the entire printhead assembly. As per recommended instructions, and with a lot of care, it can be done. I placed the entire assembly into a plastic bowl with ¼” deep of Windex glass cleaner, as some people suggested. Windex is not a de-clogging solution for printheads, but that was all I had besides denatured alcohol. I figured that if I lose the printhead, oh well. Toss the printer in the dumpster. After successful reassembly, and a few printhead cleaning cycles to flush out the Windex, the result of that effort did not produce any major change in quality of printing.

What next to do? A week later, I repeated the syringe-injecting method but with warm denatured alcohol as a cleaning solution. This time, I followed the instructions to the “T”. That is, inject 2 ml, leave the syringe attached letting it sit in the nozzle a while, then gently apply aspiration and expiration motion to the plunger to make the warm solution go in and out of the nozzle. Kind of like using a plunger on the toilet bowl to unclog it. I ran a nozzle check test, and the nozzle check print-out showed a great improvement in quality with the 3rd party inks.

All the colors printed well except “red”. The “red” areas of my prints were not ‘true red’ but more like a ‘pale red’. The “ink supply” information showed that this cartridge was over two years old. Several printings and printhead cleanings did not improve the “red”. I even installed Spyder Express monitor calibration software that improved the on-screen image, but did not improve the prints. I finally decided to try an Epson red cartridge from Epson HP Canon Printer Inkjet Photo Papers Ink Cartridges ATLEX.COM . That solved that issue.

Recently, I came across a commercially-available cleaning solution from ASAP inks Cleaning Cartridges for Inkjet Printers There are other products to check out, but this one is applied to the homing station pad and allowed to sit over night. It keeps the ink from hardening on the printheads. Ink dries when it gets exposed to the air. What about the ink droplets that do not leave the printhead? After application, you just cannot use the printer immediately as it will streak the photos. Now, a month later, photo printing is still good.

Unclogging photo printer printheads is do-able, and if done as prescribed, the procedure does work. Of course, if the printer is still under warranty, then arrange to send it back to Epson or another printer service department. If not under warranty, it may be that the cost of getting it cleaned may be nearer to buying another. There were posts where people supposedly trashed the R1800. They did not mention if the ink was so caked on the printhead that no amount of cleaning would ever revive it. I was not going to throw mine in the dumpster until I would exhaust all efforts on it. All I can add is that I will be printing something once a week. At least one 4” X 6” print of a color checker chart that ‘exercises’ all the colors.

In this paragraph, I want to mention that this writing is intended to document what I came across in two month’s worth of trying to get this once-hailed Epson consumer level printer back into service. It now works fine. Even with 3rd party inks and Epson paper. Once I run out of Epson paper, I will be turning to Red River paper. I may consider moving to Epson inks exclusively if I can find them at lower prices than manufacturer. But, this is an aging printer. Groan.

I am wondering how soon before I read that the R1900 has the same clogged printhead issues. Will it happen even if Epson ink is used exclusively? Or, only with 3rd party inks? Or, only if not used on a weekly basis? Has the technology improved so that this does not happen any more?

[Gianfranco]

DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS

NOTE:I am mentioning photos: To get the photos send an email to cweelo@gmail.com

Needed tools: (1) Small flat screwdriver. (2) Small star screwdriver. (3) Bottle of denaturated alcohol. (4) Plastic pipe fitting the nozzles. (5) cleaning jar: the lid of a plastic CD box will suffice (see photographs).

1) Recommendations
1.1 Never use low cost compatible or refilled chartridges. They will clog the print head in the long run.
1.2 Never leave the printer unused for a period longer than 1 week. Inks will harden and quality will suffer. Besides a lot of ink will be used in the automatic cleaning process.
1.3 To avoid the above just make one test print. Go to the printer icon, right click and select "print test page".

2) Clogged head
When you start seeing VERTICAL (not horizontal) thin lines and they do not go away by software actuated cleaning, your head is beginning to clog. Clogging can become so severe that the printer will print, but one or more colors will be missing and the pictures will look nasty.

3) Dismantling
3.1 Remove all chartridges. If none is empty the printer will refuse to position the trolley in the right positioin. In this case turn the printer on: as soon as the trolley lifts up, unplug the power cord. You can now move the trolley by hand.
3.2 Position the trolley in the open space. Remove all chartridges.
3.3. Using a small flat screwdriver CAREFULLY lever the right side of the trolley cover near the hinge and gently remove it.
3.4. On the right inside of the trolley you will see a black plastic plate holding the flat cables (PHOTO 1). On the right outside of the trolley you will see two tabs. Using a small flat screwdriver GENTLY lift the tabs and remove the plate.
3.5 NOTE: Prepare a lint free clean rag to hold the print head, as it will be dirty. On the bottom of the trolley there are three screws. Unscrew them.
3.6. The print head assembly can now be lifted (PHOTO 2). Use small pliers, but do not lift by the flat cables. Unplug the flat cables fron the right side of the assembly and place it on the rag.
3.7 The trolley will appear as shown in PHOTO 3.
3.8 Turn the print assy with the nozzles facing down. Note a metal retainer (PHOTO 4) held by three screws. Remove screws and retainer.
3.9 Gently separate the nozzle assy from the print head proper. The two sides of the print head are shown in PHOTOS 5 and 6. The bottom is a very fine mesh: handle with great care!
3.10 Put the print head in the cleaning jar and fill the jar with alcohol. Cover the jar to avoid evaporation and let it rest for 3 hours.
3.11 Alcohol wil become very dirty. Remove dirty alcohol, clean jar, put fresh alcohol in an soak for another hour.
3.12 Remove print head and put it to dry on a clean rag. THE HEAD MUST DRY IN A COOL PLACE FOR A MINIMUM OF THREE DAYS. The reason is that the PC board and connectors will be damp with alcohol and if they are not bone dry, short circuits will occur.
3.13 Put the nozzle assy in the jar with clean alcohol, let it rest for two hours. Alcohol will become very dirty.
3.14. Clean jar, put nozzle assy in with clean alcohol. Push the plastic pipe all the way down on each nozzle (PHOTO 7). The other side in your mouth and alternately gently suck about 2 cm of alcohol in the pipe and then empty the pipe outside. This will unclog all the ink channels. BEWARE NOT TO GET ALCOHOL IN YOUR MOUTH!
3.15 Put back the nozzle assy in clean alcohol, let it stand for one hour more, then place pipe on each nozzle in turn and blow them dry.
3.16 Put all parts together with the print head in a dry, cool and clean place and let them alone for three days, one week is better.
3.17 Rassemble all parts and mount them back into the trolley. Be extra careful with the flat cables, that must go into their round guide. Examine the print head connectors and verify they are BONE DRY.
3.18 Extra extra careful when plugging the flat cables back into the connectors of the print head assy.

4) Making it work
4.1. Put flat plate holding flat cables back in place.
4.2 Put in ORIGINAL full chartridges.
4.3. Please understand THE ENTIRE PRINT ASSY MUST BE FILLED UP WITH INK BEFORE IT WORKS, so that many automatic print checking/cycles will be necessary befor the ink can reach the paper. A complete set of chartridges will go before the machine will start printing normally again.
4.4. If all goes well you will have a brand new machine!

[GonzoBernelli]

This worked great on my Epson 2400

Epson Stylus Head Cleaning Solution - fixyourownprinter.com

[Gianfranco]

Dear Nick, thanks for your info. I appreciate that the proposed cleaning solution will work better than alcohol. Before I decided to dismantle, I used a syringe and an entire bottle of "SI-U250 Gleaning" (ISO 90001) Standard Cleaning Solution, but results were not satisfactory. This is because the ink ducts in high quality printers are very small and with an assembled and mounted printing asembly it is very difficult to dissolve and remove dry clogs. Difficulty also depends on the quality of the inks which were used. For this reaso my advice is to use ORIGINAL INKS ONLY!. Bye, Gianfranco

[rquiroga]

I used this on a clogged epson 1400 unclogged it after 1 application. E.K.S. PRINT HEAD CLEANING KITS. 1 Ounce kit. E.K.S. Rocket

[Fireball]

Amazing how this thread was resurrected from 2010.

I got rid of my R1800 just a few weeks ago because of these same problems. Plus I got sick of replacing ink cartridges all the time. I now have a Lexmark Interact that only takes three cartridges and has better color than my Epson. Go figure.