Cleaning a clogged Epson printer head. (This uses the Epson 3800 as an example.)

Here’s how:

You’ll need to visit your auto parts store, and get a bottle of “ArmorAll Auto Glass Cleaner” – NOTHING ELSE ! ** (This product is one of the very few that has exactly the right ingredients, in the right percentages. I’ve been using it for a long time now on several different printers.)

(UPDATE: 2016 – I’m now using Simple Green instead, diluted 3:1  (3 water to one SG)

 
Open the lid of your 3800, so you can watch the head move. Power it on, and when the head moves to the left, unplug it. (This happens quickly !) That will leave the head away from its parked position, and leave it unlocked / moveable.
 
Locate the capping station where the head parks. It’s about a 1-inch square of two compartments, with sponge covered with an open mesh.
 
Using an eye-dropper, soak that sponge with the glass cleaner. (Again, not any old glass cleaner will do!) You may, in fact, be able to see the old ink dissolve. The sponges on my 3800 are actually white.)
 
There is a drain under the sponges, and hopefully it’s clear, so you should not see a puddle form, bur rather the cleaner rinse through.
 
Once the pads are wet, get any flashlights etc out of the way, and plug the machine back in to the power. It will slowly adjust itself and reset the head. Once things have settled down, power off the machine using the power button, and go away for a day.
 
Hopefully, tomorrow, you’ll be able to see something more printing. If you don’t get full printing back, but do get something more than you now have, then wash, rinse, repeat.
 
With an older printer, an equally likely issue is that the tubes that feed the printhead now have settled ink particles in them. This is much more annoying than “merely” a clogged head. Pigment ink will settle out, which is why the recommendation to periodically shake the cartridges. Well, not only will it settle in the carts, but in the tubes as well. At best, this “only” reduces the inkflow; at worst, it will chunk off a clog a head in the most inaccessible place.
 
Cleaning the tubes is non-trivial and very time consuming.  I use Jon Cone’s special cleaner for that. Visit <http://shopping.netsuite.com/inkjetmall> and look for PiezoFlush.
 
Tips: if you cannot get the ink flowing at all, this will be useless, unless you’re interested in tearing the printer apart. And, if the head soaking does get things going, be careful about doing too many power cleans in quick succession, since that too can damage the head.
 
Hopefully, life will be more simple than all that, however, and a simple soak will spring it back to life.
 
 

Finally, I should note that I’ve tested this with K3 pigment inks. I have no idea at all if it works properly with dye-based inks.

The usual “no liability” caveat:
That said, anyone who tries it is on their own. For all I know, it dissolves plastic too, so if you use it, and your printer turns into a clogged up melted mass of goo, well, I’m very sorry, but my liability extends to what you paid for this tip: nothing. It’s worked fine for me… YMMV.

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**
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/inkjet_cleaning.html
http://www.armoredautogroup.com-pdf-Armor-All-Armor-All-Auto-Glass-Cleaner-(6-2011).pdf.webloc
http://http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov  (in case you want to look up some chemicals yourself…)