Ultra sonic cleaner for DX5 grey printhead. ( Epson 4000 Stylus Pro )

[LenRalph]

Hi
Have an Epson Stylus pro given to me that was sitting around for about a year. Took head out and did reverse waterfall and all with cleaning solution. Got most of the nozzles cleaned, but yellow is really bad still...only about 80% of nozzles working, some of the other colors have some gaps....2 to 8. Wondering if ultrasonic cleaner is suitable for DX5 printhead. I have heard that it can damage some printheads. any ideas? Strangely enough if I choose highest quality printing in the driver, the actual prints are nearly perfect, but the quick print shows lots of banding.

Thanks insights and wisdom on this.

regards

Len

 

[VA1DER]

with cleaning solution

Sounds like you know what you're doing, but I'm curious what solution you're using? I generally recommend 1/2 cup ethanol to 1/2 cup glass cleaner and 1tbsp ammonia.

Wondering if ultrasonic cleaner is suitable for DX5 printhead. I have heard that it can damage some printheads. any ideas?

I've used ultrasonic cleaners on Brother print heads (which are also piezo heads), but never had to use it on Epson ones. I hadn't heard that it can damage them, though now that I think about it, it's plausible in that they are piezo crystals and reach resonance at ultrasonic frequencies. That being said, I think it's unlikely that your cleaner will be at the exact resonant frequency of those crystals. I might try (if you haven't) heating the cleaning fluid first.

Strangely enough if I choose highest quality printing in the driver, the actual prints are nearly perfect, but the quick print shows lots of banding.

At the highest print qualities the printer interleaves lines so the jets that aren't working get interleaved with the ones that are and it's much harder to notice. At low print qualities the paper is being advanced the full width of the print head jets and so any missing nozzles are immediately visible.