What do you do when the old Epson 800+ printer gives faint and
wobbly print.
Being a bit hard up I had economized on my printer ink refills, using a
squeeze bottle refill or another brand of cartridge which ever was cheaper. This
was my choice in spite of the warnings in the Epson book. Now 7 years old the
printer was not working to full efficiency and the output was looking pretty
ragged.
Should I buy a new one?, but they don't make any with front feed, except H.P.
and I have the printer boxed with another sitting on top so a rear feed is
impossible. Or should I have a go at it?!
Well being a bit 'pull-it-to-pieces' inclined and on the basis that 'it don't
work now' so I have nothing to loose, I set to work with the screwdriver.
The first trick was to get the case off (big screwdriver?) but on
examination there were some plastic clip things that could be seen from
underneath through slots at the front and moving these away from the case while
lifting the case up (with your three hands) it came loose and could be gently
pivotted to the rear and lifted up as the rear clips disengaged. The flat cable
connection to the front control panel came away at this time and the panel could
be unclipped and put to one side.
At the rear is a screw holding a clip for the power cable and a plug for the
power wires. Take these off.
On the left hand side is a metal assembly, held down with three screws. Take
these out and lift the assembly out after releasing the black wires. It will
hang by its wires.
 Take out
the ink cartridge and look down at where it sits. You should see a spike
sticking up that has ink all over it. This has a little hole in it like in the
illustration.
You will need to get a squeezy bottle and a piece of plastic tubing that will
fit over the body of the spike as the cleaning method will force soapy water
through the little hole and flush out the ink jets.
The ink head slides along a metal rod and on the left hand side you will see
a copper colored retaining clip. Disconnect this and wriggle it out of the side
frame. Next a plastic retainer needs to be rotated until it matches the slots
and it can be pulled off (note it's starting position as this positions the ink
head height) Now gently pull out the rod until the ink head comes free and is in
the center of the work area. The rubber belt can be disconnected (remember how
it went) The head can now be turned over and inspected. There will be a lot of
ink splattered around so get some cotton buds and water and clean it off. The
ink jet holes will be seen, probably oozing a little ink still. It would pay to
put some paper towels in the bottom as there will be some liquid and ink
dropping down soon.
Now the messy part. Put some water (for an S020025 cartridge) or ink other
thinner if not , and some detergent or concentrated cleaner in the bottle. Slide
the tube down over the spike and squeeze the bottle. The plastic tube should be
square at the ends so it seals at the bottom of the spike. I used a little sugar
soap also with the cleaner as one of my jets had been clogged for years.
There should be ink oozing out of the jet holes for a few seconds as it cleans
out. Then a watery inky solution should flow. Stop squirting and clean round the
jet area, now squirt a little and try to see if the water is coming out of all
of the holes. There are two rows. My machine was well clogged and I had to work
it for some time before it cleared properly on all holes.
Once you are happy that all is clear then reassemble the rod, LHS assembly
and case. The panel strip connector pushes into the slot visible on the PCB and
the panel clips back into the case.
Open a NEW ink cartridge and install it. Power on and get it operating. You
may need to do several ink cleaning cycles before the ink flows properly.
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1stDec2002..
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