fixing an epson printer with vodka

I'm not recommending this, but it did get me out of a jam. Some years ago I donated a broken Epson printer to the local tip. The device didn't print although everything else seemed to work.

The salutary point was that someone at the tip asked if they could have the plastic crate that the printer was in, but the actual printer ended up in a skip with the broken lawnmowers.

This time, away from rashbre central, I thought I'd try something different. I read that print heads can get clogged if the printer isn't used enough. Even the cleaning cycle won't fix it. There's various kits with syringes and special paper to fix it for about £15. I didn't have time for this, because I needed something printed "Right Now".

Time for the J-Cloth and vodka.

I started the printer cleaning cycle and then powered the whole printer off when the big print head was in the middle. It can be pushed by hand at that point. I cut some J-Cloth into a strip, folded it double and put it under the print head (ie where the paper would normally sit).

Then another piece of J-Cloth onto which I dabbed a small amount of vodka. Transfer the vodka to the J-cloth strip in the printer, move the head backwards and forwards. Like I was 'ironing' the J-Cloth with the print head. Lots of colourful smudges transferred to the J-cloth. Alcohol was breaking down the blocked ink.

Remove everything, reset the printer, run the printer cleaning cycle once and then...

Hooray. It all worked like new again.

Cheers.