Maintaining Your Printer; Cleaning The Print Head - Epson Stylus Photo 870 Printer Basics Manual

Maintaining Your Printer

This section describes maintenance procedures to keep your printer working at its best
and preparation steps for moving your printer. Follow the instructions here for:
cleaning the print head (below)
replacing an ink cartridge (on page 61)
aligning the print head (on page 64)
cleaning the printer (on page 65)
transporting the printer (on page 66)
For more details, see your electronic Reference Guide, as described on page 11.

Cleaning the Print Head

If your printed image is unexpectedly light or faint, or dots are missing from the image,
you may need to clean the print head. This unclogs the nozzles so they can deliver ink
properly.
Cleaning the print head uses ink, so clean it only if print quality declines. You can clean
the print head in either of the following ways:
using the Head Cleaning utility (when the printer is connected to a local port, not
over a network), as described on page 58
using the printer's control panel buttons, as described on page 59
When you don't turn on your printer for a long time, the print quality
can decline. It's a good idea to turn on your printer at least once a
month to maintain good print quality.
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