Maintenance; Checking And Cleaning The Print Head - Epson Stylus CX7300 Series Basic Operation Manual

Maintenance

Checking and Cleaning
the Print Head
If your printouts are unexpectedly light,
colors are missing, or you see light or dark
lines across the page, you may need to clean
the print head.
Tip:
To maintain print quality, we recommend
printing a few pages on a regular basis.
Checking the print head
You can print a nozzle check pattern to see if
any print head nozzles are clogged, or to
check the results after cleaning the print
head.
1. Turn off the printer.
2. Load A4-size plain paper (& page 6).
3. While holding down y Stop, press
P On.
The printer turns on and prints a test
pattern.
4. Examine the nozzle check pattern you
printed.
■
If your printout looks like the one
shown below, the print head does not
need to be cleaned yet.
■
If your printout has gaps like the one
shown below, clean the print head as
described in the next section.
18 Maintenance
Cleaning the print head
Follow these steps to clean the print head so
that it can deliver ink properly. Before
cleaning the print head, run a nozzle check
to see if the print head needs cleaning
(& "Checking the print head" on page 18).
Note:
❏ Print head cleaning uses ink, so clean it only if
quality declines.
❏ When ink is low, you may not be able to clean
the print head. When ink is expended, you
cannot clean the print head. Replace the
appropriate ink cartridge first. (& "Replacing
an Expended Ink Cartridge" on page 15).
1. Make sure the printer is on and the B ink
light is off.
2. Hold down y Stop for three seconds
until the P On light starts flashing. A
head cleaning cycle begins and the P On
light stays flashing.
c Caution:
Never turn off the printer while head cleaning
is in progress. You may damage it.
3. When the P On light stops flashing,
print a nozzle check pattern to check the
results (& "Checking the print head" on
page 18).
If there are still gaps or the test patterns
are faint, run another cleaning cycle and
check the nozzles again.
Note:
If you do not see any improvement after
cleaning about four times, turn off the printer
and wait for at least six hours. This lets any
dried ink soften. Then try cleaning the print
head again. If quality still does not improve,
one of the ink cartridges may be old or
damaged and needs to be replaced
(& "Replacing an Expended Ink Cartridge"
on page 15).