Some time ago I discovered that Sainsbury’s bathroom cleaner in the UK was an excellent cleaner for dried up and clogged inkjet printers.
For those of you outside the UK, Sainsbury’s are a big supermarket chain, where I happen to get a lot of my food :-)
Unfortunately, the formulation was changed – probably to make it cheaper to make and in a fit of consumer safety paranoia, of the same sort that makes so many interesting ‘Science Experiments’ that little bit more difficult/illegal to try any more…
For a while, I’ve just added a bit of isopropanol to the current product (taking care not to leave it in the kitchen, since I no longer live alone… )
I’ve seen various substitutes (often found in cheaper stores) which work, but today, I was sent (thanks Roy) details about a mixture that includes the magic ether glycol that seems to make the product work just that little bit better on dried up ink.
ingredients list for inkjet cleaner
There are lots more details and important notes about cleaning clogged and dried up printers in the original article
Article link: Cleaning your dried up inkjet printer
This ‘new’ mix shows the sorts of products to try if you can’t find the exact same cleaner – if you’re in the US, please do let me know if you find a widely available alternative?
Wizz glass cleaner - work on clogged printers too
One important thing to remember about unclogging inkjet printers – be patient, be prepared to leave overnight.
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hi i have a canon i6500 and i think the print head has run out of gas
i am a bit worried about socking it in liquids as it looks like there is a electric part on the face of the head or a chip wont dipping nit in liquid bugger the head al together ?
Canon print heads are replaceable and do have a limited service life
Anywhere ink goes is meant to be able to get wet anyway? – Just apply cleaners with care
Resolve carpet cleaner appears to have Teflon. I think Teflon is a solid even when in such a cleaning solution, and therefore the small particles would be a clogging risk.
I’d be very careful with anything run through an IJ printer, but for general cleaning I’d be more forgiving, since the cleaner isn’t drawn through the heads.
Even so, teflon particles sound potentially problematic
Sorry about that
the last link should be:
http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/safety/MSDS/RESOLVE%20CARPET%20CLEANER.htm
F
Hi:
I started wondering what cleaning products used PGME
and in my search I found
http://www.ehow.co.uk/list_7419875_ingredients-resolve-carpet-cleaner.html
and
http://www.epinions.com/review/Resolve_Carpet_Cleaner_12_Pack_1920000601/content_494221954692
and
http://www.epinions.com/review/Resolve_Carpet_Cleaner_12_Pack_1920000601/content_494221954692
What do you think of this for the purpose?
Frank
This looks excellent – the real test is to spray some on some dried up ink, but the ingredients are all there
Here is a list of ingredients for each product sold in Europe by Reckitt Benckiser.
http://rbeuroinfo.com/
Thanks very much for the accompanying article on cleaning inkjet printers.
We’ve recently moved house and the packers packed my trusty old HP970c on its side. As you might imagine it leaked spectacularly. Luckily it was wrapped in bubble wrap and so the ink was contained.
I thought it was a write-off and left it for 4 months. Then I found this site, and others.
However I was not able to get any of the products mentioned (veekay.co.uk is a wholesale distributors requiring a minimum spend of £500 and no longer list Spic & Span anyway).
I disassembled my printer using online instructions from a forum. Be sure to wear latex gloves and change them when they get holed especially when cleaning the absorbent mat in the service station/ “spittoon” (sic). I can tell you that it is very difficult to get inkjet ink off of your fingers.
I took all the ink soaked plastic pieces and washed them in a bucket of hot water with a little washing up liquid using an old 1″ paintbrush. Amazingly, all the ink came off very easily, even from inside the service station.
I wiped the cartridge print nozzles a couple of times with a tap water dampened paper towel, lubricated the cartridge rod with some bicycle lube and an hour later, after everything was reassembled, produced a very acceptable full colour test print.
So thank you Keith and northlight-images.co.uk for inspiring me to rescue my old printer.
Hello Ya’ll,
The formula for ‘busting’ dried & problematic print heads on the Epson Stylus 3000 has been of great interest to me since I own several of these old but excellent printers. I once bought a very expensive head cleaner in compatible cartridges and left it in a clogged machine for a couple of months… checking occasionally with a head cleaning & nozzle check. One day it began to print like a new machine. Since then I have wondered why the cleaning agent is so incredibly expensive..Geezzz!
I read a Northlight article about Sainsbury’s and did a search on PGME (Propylene glycol monomethyl ether ~ CAS# 107-98-2). It has a number of synonyms & brand names. It turns out to be noted as a solvent for inkjet ink production… yehaaa. Here in the States I have yet to find a simple product with Isopropyl Alcohol and PGME so I have done a long search to find the ingredients. Finally found & purchased PGME from Sherwin-William’s chemical store… their product name is “PM Reducer R6K34″. I have a gallon of the stuff to make the diluted formula and plan to run trials on a used (blocked) machine right away. If it works I will be writing again to give the formulation.
Hahaha… with a gallon of PGME (at 3 to 5 parts to 100 parts water) I can make many gallons of cleaner.
Thanks to all who have written on this subject. The costs of products for these printers is absurd…. anytime I can help fellow printers & artists it is a joy.
Good fortune to you all, Tommy
PS: ( Just a side note I have been able to increase the longevity of my Epson 3000 prints with Krylon UV resistant Clear spary “1305″ which I buy by, 24 cans at a time, from Jerry’s Artarama with 15% 0ff & free shipping)