Cleaning The Printhead - Epson Stylus COLOR 900 Service Manual

EPSON Stylus COLOR 900/900N

6.3 Cleaning the Printhead

If your printouts have problems like white banding, color banding, or
missing dots, the printhead may need to be cleaned. You can clean the
printhead either by using the adjustment program or the printer's control
panel. To clean using the adjustment program, see
Printhead" on page 143. Otherwise, follow these steps:
1. Make sure the printer is turned on and not printing.
2. Press the Cleaning button and hold it down for three seconds. The
power light flashes and the printer begins cleaning the printhead.
This takes about two minutes.
You can repeat these steps as many times as necessary. (The
Stylus COLOR 900/900N is not equipped with the CL3 or so-called
"dummy cleaning" sequence, so you don't have to print a test page
between each cleaning cycle.) When you're done and the power light
stops flashing, print a test page to inspect image quality:
1. Turn the printer off.
2. Hold down the Load/Eject button and then press the power button.
Continue holding down the Load/Eject button for about three
seconds. The test page begins to print.
After the test page prints, inspect the nozzle check pattern for missing
dots or lines. If you see any gaps in the pattern, clean the printhead
again as described above. Note that it may take as many as seven or
eight cleaning cycles to clean the printhead fully.
The methods of cleaning the printhead are ranked below by their level
of effectiveness:
Level of
Effectiveness
"Cleaning the
1
2
3
C A U T I O N
Table 6-1. Methods of Cleaning the Printhead
Cleaning Method Notes
Printhead cleaning using Sometimes performs CL2, but not
the control panel always. Depends on current value of
CL timer and number of pages printed
since last cleaning.
Printhead cleaning using Always performs CL2, the strongest
the adjustment program cleaning cycle.
(see
"Cleaning the
Printhead" on page 143)
Resetting the Initial Ink The most powerful way of cleaning
Charge Flag (see the printhead.
"Initial
Ink Charge" on page 145)
If your printing results get worse each time you clean,
the ink cartridges may have run out of ink. In this case,
replace the ink cartridges with new ones as described
in "Replacing the Ink Cartridges"
Chapter 6 Maintenance
on page 154.
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