Using inkjet printers is becoming a costly issue and hence most people avoid using these printers if they have other choices. However, to keep your printer’s cartridges in working condition, you have to keep printing copies both in color and black at least once in a week. Prolonged idle state of inkjet printers causes the ink inside the nozzles of the print head to dry up, especially in the summer seasons. Consequently, the printing gets adversely affected in different ways.

We show you some simple and basic steps to help clear the clogs in these nozzles. What you will need for this workshop: some warm water, a Petri dish or a saucer, some ear buds, a lint free cotton cloth, some isopropyl alcohol (readily available at a chemist for around Rs 40 for a 500 ml bottle).

We recommend that you read each method mentioned below very carefully before trying it.

Note: This workshop is only applicable for those print cartridges which have the print head and ink tank as one single unit. For example: HP print heads and some bubble-jet print heads. Canon and Epson use a separate head unit and ink tank altogether. If the print head of these types of printers are having the same problem, you may try this workshop in a similar fashion with the print heads.

The methods given below can possibly damage the cartridge too, but its risk worth taking as anyway the cartridge is almost half dead. Try the workshop completely at your own risk.

Method 1
Switch on the printer and remove the cartridge (to be serviced) safely from the head unit. Turn over the cartridge upside down and you may notice a smudge or a lump of dirt and ink accumulated on the nozzles. Clean this part carefully using a standard ear bud (ensure that is dry) to get the lump of residue off the nozzles. Then use another ear bud dipped in warm water (just dampen the ear bud, don’t wet it completely) or isopropyl alcohol and clean the nozzles again thoroughly. Make sure you don’t apply too much pressure to the nozzles.
At this stage you can check whether the cartridge is working by inserting it back into the printer and taking a test print. If it does not work, then try Method 2.

Method 2
Dip the part of the cartridge which has the nozzles (not the whole cartridge) in a Petri dish or a saucer containing warm water for an hour or two, or more, if needed. Make sure you do not dip the whole cartridge or else this may damage the circuitry and the cartridge may be rendered useless.
This method should dampen the dried ink settled on and inside the nozzles to a certain extent. You may find the area of water around the nozzles getting colored due to bleeding from the cartridge nozzles—this is a good sign. After some time of leaving the cartridge soaked in the water, remove the cartridge from the water and wipe dry the excess water from the cartridge carefully. Check the cartridge again or try Method 3.

Method 3
Place the cartridge’s nozzles on a dry or damp, lint free cotton cloth and slightly press the nozzles to the cloth using the gentle force of your fingers. You should notice some ink smudging on the cloth. This is an indication that the ink is flowing and the cloth is trying to absorb as much ink as possible. Continue this for around 5 - 10 minutes to allow some quantity of ink to flow out. Again try to test the cartridge and if it doesn’t work, you can attempt the nest method of cleaning.

Method 4
This method can possibly damage your cartridge (try it at your own risk). Place the cartridge under running warm water for around 15 to 20 minutes. Ensure that you do not flow too much water over the cartridge. Just release a thin stream of warm water from the tap and place the cartridge under it in such a way that the water flows only on the nozzles and not on the circuit strip.
This method ensures that the heat from the warm water and the flowing stream loosens the dried ink and some of it also enters the cartridge. Once you are satisfied with the water flow over the nozzles, wipe off the excess water using the cotton cloth and insert it into the printer back again. Try printing to check if it works or else try Method 5.

At this stage, if the printer releases smudged or faded prints, then try a number of more prints till the prints are satisfactory. The reason for smudged prints may be the water inside the nozzle pathway which may have mixed with the ink, making the ink thin and diluted.

Method 5
Take a Petri dish or any flat saucer, keep the cartridge nozzle facing down in it, and fill it with isopropyl alcohol to an extent that it does not raise above the level of the nozzles to the circuit board. Isopropyl alcohol is a cleaning agent and is widely used in cleaning electronic circuit boards to get rid of grease and stubborn dust. It is a volatile liquid and does not leave back any stain or residue.
You can buy this alcohol at any computer hardware store or a chemist for around Rs 40 per 500 ml. Beware of the duplicates sold in the market which may be mixed or diluted with water—to test it, take a drop of it on your fingers and rub it gently, it should disappear in seconds and your finger should feel completely dry—not damp, moist or sticky.

Follow the same procedure as Method 2. Similarly you may try using Method 3 where the cloth is dampened with isopropyl alcohol and pressed on the cartridge’s nozzles. Finally when you are done, insert it back into the printer and test it again.

The final resort
If any of the above procedures manage to rescue your cartridge, you can save a few hundred rupees before buying a new cartridge. Additional to the above methods, you can also clean the contact points of both the cartridge and the printer (where the cartridge is installed in the printer) with a cloth dampened with isopropyl alcohol to siphon out any corrosion or dirt residing on the contacts. You may also have to try the cartridge cleaning function (in addition to the manual cleaning) which can be performed using the printers function buttons or the printer driver software from your computer.

If all works well, then you have successfully revived your dried cartridge, or else it is time you buy yourself a new one. We hope this works for you!