Ink jet Startup procedure after years of non-use

[Thomas Nilsson]

Hi

I have an Epson Stylus Photo 2100 that hasn't been used for years. And now I want to try to fire it up. I have some unopened new (NOS) cartridges.

What are your recommendations on "startup procedure"? I am thinking I need to do some kind of thorough cleaning before even trying the printers built in head cleaning.

Thanks!

 

[alcelc]

Are you going to put it inside a washer?

The biggest problem for inkjet printer could be the ink could solidify because of too long unused. It could jam the ink nozzle. Any new ink cartridge will not help.

I shall try using deep cleaning procedures of the printer driver to see could it work. If your ink is still good to use, a few to tenths deep cleaning might clear the debris and clean the nozzle.

I have a stanby cleaning ink (from 3rd party manufacturer) which might dissolve the solidify ink. But not always work.

It is a good practice to print a few pages every few months on routine basis to keep the printer in a healthy condition.

Good luck.

 

[AikenMooney]

Hi

I have an Epson Stylus Photo 2100 that hasn't been used for years. And now I want to try to fire it up. I have some unopened new (NOS) cartridges.
What are your recommendations on "startup procedure"? I am thinking I need to do some kind of thorough cleaning before even trying the printers built in head cleaning.
Thanks!

Good luck, please let us know the results, good or bad.

 

[Thomas Nilsson]

So I began by running a nozzle check. Cyan printed perfectly but none of the others printed at all. A few head cleans made no difference.

So I took the printhead out of the printer for a thorough clean and flush.

All nozzles cleared out nicely right away except Magenta and Yellow which both are totally blocked.

I've left the printhead soaked in IPA for a couple of hours, but they are both still totally blocked. Looks like Magenta and Yellow are not dissolvable in IPA, I might have to try someting different. I have MEK too, but it is really aggressive and due to the risk of ruining the printhead I won't try it other than as a last resort.

I'll leave the printhead in IPA over night, too see if there's some improvement tomorrow.

 

[BobKnDP]

Are you willing to risk buying a refurbished printhead? They seem to run around $80US on eBay. May take a while to get one from China, though.

I see a new one for sale for a mere $1.6k.

 

[Thomas Nilsson]

Are you willing to risk buying a refurbished printhead? They seem to run around $80US on eBay. May take a while to get one from China, though.

I see a new one for sale for a mere $1.6k.

The plan is to "refurbish" my own head, which is the process I am in right now

 

[BobKnDP]

Are you willing to risk buying a refurbished printhead? They seem to run around $80US on eBay. May take a while to get one from China, though.

I see a new one for sale for a mere $1.6k.

The plan is to "refurbish" my own head, which is the process I am in right now

Right.

They also have a cleaning "kit" for a few dollars, but I doubt that it's better than what you're doing with isopropanol. (Or are you soaking the head in India Pale Ale? ;-) )

I don't have experience with MEK. Your caution in using it seems prudent. I dimly recall that MEK fumes are regarded as highly toxic.

 

[Philip Eihuyar]

Are you willing to risk buying a refurbished printhead? They seem to run around $80US on eBay. May take a while to get one from China, though.

I see a new one for sale for a mere $1.6k.

The plan is to "refurbish" my own head, which is the process I am in right now

Here is a video on refubishing a printhead when all other methods fail:

 

[BobKnDP]

Are you willing to risk buying a refurbished printhead? They seem to run around $80US on eBay. May take a while to get one from China, though.

I see a new one for sale for a mere $1.6k.

The plan is to "refurbish" my own head, which is the process I am in right now

Here is a video on refubishing a printhead when all other methods fail:

He needs a shave. ;-)

 

[Thomas Nilsson]

Are you willing to risk buying a refurbished printhead? They seem to run around $80US on eBay. May take a while to get one from China, though.

I see a new one for sale for a mere $1.6k.

The plan is to "refurbish" my own head, which is the process I am in right now

Right.

They also have a cleaning "kit" for a few dollars, but I doubt that it's better than what you're doing with isopropanol. (Or are you soaking the head in India Pale Ale? ;-) )

I don't have experience with MEK. Your caution in using it seems prudent. I dimly recall that MEK fumes are regarded as highly toxic.

Haha, the other kind of IPA is for soaking other types of sorrows

Yes, MEK is really nasty, also dissolves many plastics etc, so should be used with great care.

It could be that I need some other kind of solvent to dissolve yellow and magenta. Have googled a bit but not found any fruitful info yet.

 

[Thomas Nilsson]

Are you willing to risk buying a refurbished printhead? They seem to run around $80US on eBay. May take a while to get one from China, though.

I see a new one for sale for a mere $1.6k.

The plan is to "refurbish" my own head, which is the process I am in right now

Here is a video on refubishing a printhead when all other methods fail:

Great, funny and helpful guy in the video. So ammonia is what I should add. Will try that!

Thanks!

 

[Thomas Nilsson]

Dad, there's a strange strong smell here down in the corner of the dining room.

What?

There's a strange strong smell here down in the corner of the dining room.

Me running into the dining room.

It's amazing how the small amount of ammonia I used in the kitchen to soak the print head very quickly infected half of our large high ceiling house in a few minutes with ammonium gas.

Also interesting to see how a thin yellow string trickled its way up the ammonium filled tube attaced to the print head barb. Still a total clog in the yellow and magenta though, but at least now I have some hope they will clear up by tomorrow

It also rinsed out the other colors much better than the IPA I used yesterday, a lot of small particles rinsed out now as well. Let's just hope the ammonia doesn't have any negative side effects.

 

[Thomas Nilsson]

Cool, half of the magenta nozzles just cleared out.

Slowly getting there

 

[NAwlins Contrarian]

I have an Epson Stylus Photo 2100 that hasn't been used for years. And now I want to try to fire it up. I have some unopened new (NOS) cartridges.
What are your recommendations on "startup procedure"? I am thinking I need to do some kind of thorough cleaning before even trying the printers built in head cleaning.

First, IIRC the 2100 is the same printer that was sold in the U.S. as the 2200, and it uses the very first version of Epson UltraChrome inks. If so, then you may want to skip the effort, or at least much effort, because Epson discontinued the inks years ago, and full Epson ink cartridges are getting hard to find.

If that doesn't deter you, then balance the time and money you spend with the results you might achieve. My guess is that getting a bunch of refillable cartridges, filling them with Piezo Flush, and then trying to work that through is the process most likely to get good results with little or no risk of damaging the printer. But that's considerable money and effort for a printer for which you can't even buy new Epson ink.

Alternatively, gently shake whatever ink cartridges you have, install them, and print a nozzle check. If you get mostly the correct pattern, try alternating patterns of one or two self-cleanings, waiting several hours, and printing a nozzle check. If several cycles of that get you nowhere, then maybe ask yourself about throwing good time and money after bad.

 

[Simon Garrett]

I have an Epson Stylus Photo 2100 that hasn't been used for years. And now I want to try to fire it up. I have some unopened new (NOS) cartridges.
What are your recommendations on "startup procedure"? I am thinking I need to do some kind of thorough cleaning before even trying the printers built in head cleaning.

First, IIRC the 2100 is the same printer that was sold in the U.S. as the 2200, and it uses the very first version of Epson UltraChrome inks. If so, then you may want to skip the effort, or at least much effort, because Epson discontinued the inks years ago, and full Epson ink cartridges are getting hard to find.

If that doesn't deter you, then balance the time and money you spend with the results you might achieve. My guess is that getting a bunch of refillable cartridges, filling them with Piezo Flush, and then trying to work that through is the process most likely to get good results with little or no risk of damaging the printer. But that's considerable money and effort for a printer for which you can't even buy new Epson ink.

Alternatively, gently shake whatever ink cartridges you have, install them, and print a nozzle check. If you get mostly the correct pattern, try alternating patterns of one or two self-cleanings, waiting several hours, and printing a nozzle check. If several cycles of that get you nowhere, then maybe ask yourself about throwing good time and money after bad.

And if you use 3rd-party inks then colours won't be precise (and not necessarily consistent) unless you regularly profile the printer (more time and expense). A new printer might be more economical. If you don't print regularly then clogging may always be a problem, especially with pigment inks, and modern dye ink printers (which may clog less) have much greatuer longevity than used to be the case.

Of course, if the main purpose of reviving the printer is the challenge of doing it...

 

[Thomas Nilsson]

No further success with ammonia.

But a bit of a breakthrough just now anyway.

Went back to IPA and realized I could take the print head apart a bit more, by separating the manifold that the cartridges attaches to from the actual nozzle head.

That showed yellow ink all the way up to where the manifold attachehs.
It also gave me the oppotunity to put the syringe directly to the nozzle head input and put some more pressure. This made a breakthrough and finally fluid coming out of the yellow nozzles too
A bit of debris came out too, and the nozzles clogged up again. So it is clearly quite a bit of dried up ink in there, and the question is if MEK isn't the only ting that will actually dissolve the dried ink.

But first I will leave it over night, now that I know that I got some IPA flushed through and still in there,