Improving Print, Copy, And Scan Quality; Checking And Cleaning The Print Head - Epson EcoTank ET-8500 Series User Manual

Maintaining the Printer

Improving Print, Copy, and Scan Quality

Checking and Cleaning the Print Head

If the nozzles are clogged, the printouts become faint, there is visible banding, or unexpected colors appear. If the
nozzles are severely clogged, a blank sheet will be printed. When print quality has declined, first use the nozzle
check feature to check if the nozzles are clogged. If the nozzles are clogged, clean the print head.
Important:
c
❏ Do not open the scanner unit or turn off the printer during head cleaning. If the head cleaning is incomplete, you
may not be able to print.
❏ Head cleaning consumes ink and should not be performed more than necessary.
❏ When ink is low, you may not be able to clean the print head.
❏ If print quality has not improved after repeating nozzle check and head cleaning 3 times, wait for at least 12
hours without printing, and then run the nozzle check again and repeat the head cleaning if necessary. We
recommend turning off the printer by using the
Cleaning.
❏ To prevent the print head from drying out, do not unplug the printer while the power is on.
1. Select Maintenance on the printer's control panel.
2. Select Print Head Nozzle Check.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to load paper and print the nozzle check pattern.
4. Check the printed pattern to see if the print head nozzles are clogged.
❏ A:
All lines are printed. Select
❏ B or close to B
Some nozzles are clogged. Select
❏ C or close to C
If most lines are missing or not printed, this indicates most nozzles are clogged. Select
check feature, and then run Power Cleaning. For details, see "Related information" below.
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Improving Print, Copy, and Scan Quality

P
button. If print quality has still not improved, run Power
. No further steps are needed.
, and then follow the on-screen instructions to clean the print head.
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Checking and Cleaning the Print Head
to exit the nozzle