Home repair of Hewlett Packard color printer print heads (HP #14)

What is the procedure for home repair of Hewlett Packard #14 print
heads?

My CYAN stopped printing (even though the refilled cartridge is full)
and a diagnostic report from the HP OfficeJet D145 all in one printer
says the CYAN print head needs to be replaced.

Since the print head has to be replaced, I may as well attempt a home
repair. But how?

A friend suggested I remove the bad cyan printhead drip a solvent such
as alcohol or acetone or hydrogen peroxide on the top steel grid until
it runs clear - which might unblock the screen in case it's blocked by
teeny tiny honey-I-shrunk-the-kids debris.

He said then to gently swipe the bottom of the print head with the
solvent so as to free up goldish metallic strips on the bottom.

Is there a published procedure for home cleaning & repair of print
heads as a last ditch effort before replacing them altogether?

Susan

Susan Sharm wrote:
> What is the procedure for home repair of Hewlett Packard #14 print heads?

I'm confused.

The HP web site says to wipe the contact heads with a dry cloth:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/f...cname=bpa00299

But my googling found many home remedies which said to soak the
HPC4921a #14 print heads in witch hazel, alcohol, and Windex (i.e.,
diluted amonia).

Since the soft cloth cleaning recommended by HP didn't work, my print
heads are currently soaking in witch hazel in my kitchen (I didn't
realize print heads float so I had to hold them down with a large
kitchen magnet).

If anyone has had success cleaning clogged print heads, please let us
in on the secret.

Susan

> What is the procedure for home repair of Hewlett Packard #14 print heads?

Found some more suggestions at the HP web site.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/f...name=c00042511
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/f...name=c00058182

"Susan Sharm" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> What is the procedure for home repair of Hewlett Packard #14 print
> heads?
>
> My CYAN stopped printing (even though the refilled cartridge is full)
> and a diagnostic report from the HP OfficeJet D145 all in one printer
> says the CYAN print head needs to be replaced.
>
> Since the print head has to be replaced, I may as well attempt a home
> repair. But how?
>
> A friend suggested I remove the bad cyan printhead drip a solvent such
> as alcohol or acetone or hydrogen peroxide on the top steel grid until
> it runs clear - which might unblock the screen in case it's blocked by
> teeny tiny honey-I-shrunk-the-kids debris.
>
> He said then to gently swipe the bottom of the print head with the
> solvent so as to free up goldish metallic strips on the bottom.
>
> Is there a published procedure for home cleaning & repair of print
> heads as a last ditch effort before replacing them altogether?

This cart has the head built in right?

I found the heads in the HP carts would fail after several refills for no
obvious reason. They wern't blocked (you could see the ink when blotted) and
there wasn't an air lock (usually cured by twirling it around in a plastic
bag) they just wouldn't print. No solution - just suck the ink out and put
it into another cart.

CWatters wrote:

> This cart has the head built in right?
>
> I found the heads in the HP carts would fail after several refills
> for no obvious reason. They wern't blocked (you could see the ink
> when blotted) and there wasn't an air lock (usually cured by twirling
> it around in a plastic bag) they just wouldn't print. No solution -
> just suck the ink out and put it into another cart.

Pretty much all HP cartridges respond really well when the heads are placed
in about 3/4" of boiling water for 5-minute. I have restored countless HP
plotter and printer cartridges that have been open and sitting for several
years with this method. Solvents don't reach deep in the capillaries and
other areas farther back like heated water.







Rita

On Sun, 13 Nov 2005 12:32:36 GMT
"CWatters" <> wrote:

> This cart has the head built in right?

No, they're separate cartridges and heads. In my experience (I've got a
d155xi) the heads clog up when you don't print regularly, and while the
head cleaning cycle mostly manages to get them going again, a prolonged
period of inactivity will kill the heads, leaving no other option but
to replace the dead head.

Also make sure to replace the cartridges promptly after they run out of
ink. If you're like me and don't like to change them when they're 10%
full (as the printer suggests), replace the cartridge the moment it gets
empty. Leaving the empty cartridge for only a few hours will reliably
kill the head.

Bottom line: this MFD is OK in an office setup where at least a couple
of sheets are printed every day, and replacing cartridges is not an
issue. In a home setting, it needs a quite bit of TLC to ensure the
heads don't dry out.

Take care,

--
Stefaan
--
As complexity rises, precise statements lose meaning,
and meaningful statements lose precision. -- Lotfi Zadeh

CWatters wrote:
> This cart has the head built in right?
> air lock (usually cured by twirling it around in a plastic bag)
> just suck the ink out and put it into another cart.

The HP OfficeJet d145 has four separate printheads (black, cyan,
majenta, and yellow). It has two ink tanks (black, and a tri-color
tank). The tanks sit above the print heads but either can be removed
separately. There is a photo of the two at:
http://www.vdhsoft.be/img_art/big/15886.jpg

The ink tanks are all full. I'm don't understand at all how a print
head works but I see spinning it around and around in a plastic bag
whirling over my head as interesting. The print head is pretty large,
about an inch and a half long (see photo above) but still much smaller
than the ink tanks. Where does the air bubble form? The interior of the
printhead appears to be empty (it floats, for example, in a dish of
alcohol). Should my printheads have ink inside of them? There is a
screen at the top, about the diameter of a blouse button. And there is
ink oozing from the bottom metallic strip in two rows.

Where does the printhead print from?
Does electricity somehow cause the ink to shoot out the bottom?
Is the tiny tank that is part of the printhead supposed to be filled
with ink?

So much to learn. Is there a printhead FAQ out there somewhere?

Thank you, in advance, for your help,
Susan

Rita Ä Berkowitz wrote:
> Pretty much all HP cartridges respond really well when the heads are placed
> in about 3/4" of boiling water for 5-minute. I have restored countless HP
> plotter and printer cartridges that have been open and sitting for several
> years with this method. Solvents don't reach deep in the capillaries and
> other areas farther back like heated water.

This sounds like an interesting idea. Am I guessing correctly that the
main evil is that the printhead is "clogged" internally and the boiling
water dissolves the clog?

What is inside the printhead? I found a description of the printhead at

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...637-34076.html
But the HP article didn't describe how a printhead works. If I knew how
it works (and what is inside that little tank) then I could better
figure out how to repair it.

Once we pull the printhead out of the boiling water, should I soak it
with ink from the top screen or leave it filled with the hot water
before putting the printhead back into the HP d145 officejet? Or do we
empty it out and put the printhead back into the all-in-one
printer/fax/scanner filled with air?

Thank you, in advance, for your kind help,
Susan

Stefaan A Eeckels wrote:
> Bottom line: this MFD is OK in an office setup where at least a couple
> of sheets are printed every day, and replacing cartridges is not an
> issue. In a home setting, it needs a quite bit of TLC to ensure the
> heads don't dry out.

I don't know what a MFD is but I have only printed about 300 or 400
pages in the couple of years that I've had this printer so it mostly
sits there, shut off. I maybe print once every few weeks a few photos
of the kid who is still at home and the grandchildren when they find
the time to send me email.

What is it that happens to a printhead when it sits idle?
How does just sitting there kill a printhead?
What does killing mean anyway? Does an electrical contact dry out or
something?

There must be something that happens (is it simply a clog forms?)

Thank you, in advance, for your help,
Susan

Ink jet printers use fast drying ink to prevent smearing on the paper. They
also dry fast in the print head. As time passes they gradually thicken in
the small ports of the print head and dry out. Once dry they block fresh ink
from flowing. If you can't use the printer regularly use an online print
service as you will always have clogged heads no matter what inkjet printer
you use.......


"Susan Sharm" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
> Stefaan A Eeckels wrote:
>> Bottom line: this MFD is OK in an office setup where at least a couple
>> of sheets are printed every day, and replacing cartridges is not an
>> issue. In a home setting, it needs a quite bit of TLC to ensure the
>> heads don't dry out.
>
> I don't know what a MFD is but I have only printed about 300 or 400
> pages in the couple of years that I've had this printer so it mostly
> sits there, shut off. I maybe print once every few weeks a few photos
> of the kid who is still at home and the grandchildren when they find
> the time to send me email.
>
> What is it that happens to a printhead when it sits idle?
> How does just sitting there kill a printhead?
> What does killing mean anyway? Does an electrical contact dry out or
> something?
>
> There must be something that happens (is it simply a clog forms?)
>
> Thank you, in advance, for your help,
> Susan
>