Have you encountered an issue where you notice continuous lines in the prints, missing colors, blank prints, or faded colors? Your printer might need a printhead cleaning.
Printheads, the core components responsible for printing on paper, can accumulate debris and dry ink over time, leading to print quality issues and even device malfunction. You can learn about some common reasons for printhead failure here. In this article, we answer common questions about the importance of printhead cleaning, when you need to do it, and in detailed explanation of how you can do it.
When should I perform Printhead cleaning?
Head cleaning is a must when you encounter the following situations:
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Why do I see lines in the print?
People often face misprinting after ink tank refills or when using a printer kept idle for a long time. When you notice continuous lines in the prints, generally horizontal lines, it indicates that a set of nozzles or a few individual nozzles are not firing ink correctly. This may happen in one or more colors.
How can I check the faulty nozzles?
The easiest way to check which nozzle is not firing ink is to check the Nozzle Pattern Sample. This sample represents the performance of a fully functioning printhead. Follow the given steps to check the nozzle pattern:
- Go to Control Panel >> Devices & Printers >> Select Printer
- Go to Printing Preferences >> Maintenance Tab
- Select Nozzle Check >> (Click on) Print
Visual Representation:
How can I perform Printhead cleaning?
Performing head cleaning is a simple process and it is performed via an Operating system (Computer).
Head Cleaning via Operating System – Recommended
This process is the common and easiest method to perform head cleaning. All you have to do is follow the given steps below:
- Go to Control Panel >> Devices & Printers >> Right Click on Selected Printer
- Go to Printing Preferences >> Maintenance Tab
iii. Select Head Cleaning.
Visual Representation:
Note – We recommend 2 to 3 head cleanings to recover the nozzle pattern.
*Caution – DO NOT perform head cleaning too often to recover the pattern.
Why do nozzles clog? Should I worry about it?
Nozzle clogging is a common issue among inkjet printers, and one should not worry about it. The reason behind nozzle clogging is that the nozzles contain a small amount of ink which may not always remain at the tip and may dry out due to the warm surrounding of the printhead or if the printer was idle for a long time.
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How to prevent nozzle clogging?
Though nozzle clogging is a common issue among printers, here are some precautions that can help you prevent nozzle clogging:
- Keeping the printer dust-free.
- Regularly using the printer (at least once a week)
- By using good quality, dust-free papers for printing.
- By using proper and good quality inks
- Keep the printer in cool & dry surroundings.
- Check and recover the nozzles immediately when you see lines in the printing. Do not wait for the problem to aggravate to unacceptable print quality. Removing the nozzle clogging is easy and effective when it’s not old.
What if the printhead cleaning is not helping?
Sometimes performing the print head cleaning does not help to recover the nozzles. There can be many reasons that can contribute to such cases,
- If the clogging is old, it may take time to recover.
- If air gets trapped in the ink supply after refill. It takes time to remove the air, and the nozzle will recover if the printer is kept idle for a few hours.
- If air trapping did not happen, wait for a couple of hours and try to run the nozzle pattern.
- If regular cleaning does not help, you may need to perform deep cleaning procedures to recover nozzles.
Does the quality of the ink affect the print head?
Yes and No. Few inks in the market are of poor quality which may affect the printhead. Whereas if you use reputed inks made by a quality manufacturer, it will not affect your printhead. For instance, you can try using Splashjet’s Inkjet Ink.
What is Print Head Alignment?
Print head alignment is a process of tuning and aligning the print head nozzle and paper movement mechanism to ensure excellent print quality.
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Why should I perform Head Alignment?
The printhead alignment is necessary to achieve a smooth and high-quality printing experience. It can also help to use the printer to its maximum speed without affecting the print quality.
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I am using original inks. Do I need to align the head?
Alignment of the print head improves the quality of print irrespective of ink. Thus it is essential to perform print-head alignment even if you are using original inks.
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When should you do print-head alignment?
In case you observe the lines in the printout, however, the nozzle pattern is clear then you must perform the print head alignment.
It is recommended that print head alignment is performed once a month.
How to get the best quality prints and colors?
A good quality print output needs the following 3 things:
- Right Media
- Proper Settings
- Proper Inks
When done correctly, you get the best quality print outputs.
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How to select the right media?
The selection of media completely depends on the print application to achieve optimum results, such as users must choose photo paper for printing photos and copier paper to print documents. A lot of paper manufacturers now offer good quality papers suitable for inkjet printers.
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How to select the best print settings?
Most printers offer to select the desired print settings e.g. Best photo, photo, Standard, Business Document, Presentation, etc. Select the one that suits your application requirements. That’s all you need to do.
Important Note: Many software such as Photoshop and Corel Draw have their color management & print quality settings as well.
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How to choose suitable inks?
The selection of ink depends on the purpose of your printing i.e. for personal use, office use, or commercial use. OEM inks offer good results. However, the cost of OEM inks is very high, and can not be used for commercial or (in some cases) office use.
Leading third-party inkjet ink providers such as Splashjet, offer reliable and printer-specific inks tuned to deliver OEM Matching Results.
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What else can you do to improve the print quality?
Most printer drivers offer settings with which you can increase print quality. Please refer to our guide “Advanced Printer Settings” for further information.
What to do when print output is still not good? – Help
If you have checked above mentioned requirements and still the print results are not good then please follow the below-mentioned steps –
- Download the new test protocol image by Splashjet.
- Print the same.
- Share the photo of the image and the settings that you used at custcare@splashjetink.com.
- Share the batch numbers and product codes of Splashjet Inks that you are using.
We will try our best to solve your query and one of our support executives will assist you with the same.
