Digital BW, The Print

Hi All,

Wanted to share with you a quick solution I found to printer head clogs.
My Epson E3000 had not been used in 7 months. The black position was 
the worst with half of the nozzles clogged. Two days of cleaning cycles 
did little....

The Solution :
I cut a piece of MrClean MagicEraser foam with a sharp kitchen knife to 
about 1/4" x 3/4" x 6" long. It cuts as easy as stale bread, no crumbs 
or flakes of any kind. 
Soaked it a bit with alcohol and put it in the printing track. 
Disengaged the head from its parking position and dragged the heads 
over the foam pad... removed the pad, blotted it with some paper towels 
to remove the ink ( almost ALL comes out ! ) and then again without the 
alcohol.

The head clogs are gone - even the misdirected nozzles are fine.

This may be the quick solution to head clogging.

The material contains no abrasive and remains intact. 
It is actually white melamine foam.

FYI : From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
The microfine structure of melamine foam, creating very hard, tiny 
fibres which scour some surfaces clean.Melamine foam is a foam-like 
material consisting of a formaldehyde-melamine-sodium bisulfite 
copolymer. The foam, because of its microporous properties, may remove 
otherwise "uncleanable" external markings from relatively smooth 
surfaces. For example, it can remove crayon, magic marker, and grease 
from painted walls, wood finishings, and grime from hub caps.

The open cell foam is not only microporous, but its polymeric substance 
is also extremely hard, meaning that it works like sandpaper but on a 
smaller scale, getting into tiny grooves and pits in the subject being 
cleaned. On a larger scale, the material feels soft. Because the 
bubbles interconnect, its structure is more like a maze of fibreglass 
strands than like the array of separate bubbles in, for example, 
styrofoam.

The substance needs to be dampened to work properly. It does break down 
rather rapidly, so a given block of foam generally lasts only a single 
intensive scrubbing session, though it can be used repeatedly for much 
smaller marks.



Regards,
Alex
Orlando Fl

That scares me!

Mark
http://www.stillrivereditions.com

On Jul 20, 2008, at 8:09 AM, A Pettit wrote:

>  it works like sandpaper but on a
> smaller scale

Try 'sanding' some lexan with a dampened piece of the material.
There are some extremely fine scratches that can be seen, but that is 
plastic, and I really overdid the pressure and duration. And their 
spacing makes me question if it was the material or some dust. I 
would have expected a more soft dulling if it was the melamine foam.

I think that the infrequency of such cleaning is such that there will 
be no head wear. 

Car polish is 'like sandpaper but on a smaller scale'

Regards.

> That scares me!
> 
> Mark
> http://www.stillrivereditions.com
> 
> On Jul 20, 2008, at 8:09 AM, A Pettit wrote:
> 
> >  it works like sandpaper but on a
> > smaller scale
>

If it is a question of try it or throw the printer out, might as well
try it. You can always throw the printer out later if it doesnt work.

More information on melamine

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-
lists/texcons/2005/11/msg00015.html

From my observations: If it takes more than a day of cleaning cycles, 
use this ! Inkjet nozzles must be of either silicon or stainless steel: 
you'd spend endless hours trying to mar that with MagicErasers. 

I will have no reservations about using these when cleaning cycles fail.

Cheers,
- ap

Hi. I don't know about desktop machines but the 7xxx series machine
heads appear to be coated with a hard Teflon type substance. Looks
just like the silvery gray color stuff on skillets. It does wear
eventually and the head is then kaput.

Regards,
Duane


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "A Pettit"
<a_pettit_jr@...> wrote:
>
 Inkjet nozzles must be of either silicon or stainless steel: 

> you'd spend endless hours trying to mar that with MagicErasers. 
> 
> I will have no reservations about using these when cleaning cycles fail.
> 
> Cheers,
> - ap
>

Hi Duane,

I did another test with this stuff - 
It will create a soft sheen on the thin clear plastic containers
that you get in the deli. SO, I'd consider melamine foam
to be micro-abrasive to softer materials. If the heads
are really clogged, I believe this material will efficiently 
remove the dry inks without detrimental wear.

End of Story,
Best,
Alex

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "dlruckus" 
<dlruckus@...> wrote:

>
> Hi. I don't know about desktop machines but the 7xxx series machine
> heads appear to be coated with a hard Teflon type substance. Looks
> just like the silvery gray color stuff on skillets. It does wear
> eventually and the head is then kaput.
> 
> Regards,
> Duane
> 
> 
>