How to unclog an inkjet printer?
 

I have an Epson C82 inkjet printer. I did the mistake of buying 3rd party ink when my ink ran out. It printed fine for a while but now no matter how much I run the nozzle head cleaner utility it prints out smudgy or some colors don't show up for the print pattern. Any recommendations on getting it to print right?

I have used this trick once or twice, but be carefull. You will need an ink cartridge that you are no longer using. use your injector that came with your refill kit, and inject some alcohol into the cartridge. insert the cartridge and run a few tests. this should help unclog things.

you can also use a good quality paint brush, and try dripping a few drops of alcohol in the repository where the ink cartridge valve gets punctured. the alcohol should help break up the dry ink.

i also suggest inserting some paper, cheap, non glossy to help soak up any spillage. do a manual paper feed so the paper gets pulled through.

Power the printer down and unplug before messing with it.

Dont use anything to scrub the print heads as you can damage the piezo (sp?) head.

Good luck.

On some of the epson printers the print head is encoperated into the ink cart. itself. This mean when you are replacing the ink cart. you are also replacing the print head as well. I don't know about your particular model but replacing the cart. might be all you need to do.

this model i believe has got a valve system and the head is on the printer side.

Been there---done that--

I have the same printer and have cleaned it several times---
here is a link to the info I use---one trick I added was to install the old cartridge AND THEN ADD THE ALCOHOL--relax---let it soak--you can't use it anyway....I have never had one not clean up---also run the cleaning process while the alcohol is in it--
there is a tray under the heads to catch the excess...

http://www.weeno.com/art/0899/140.shtml

there are other links at this site...LOL