Video Script

For Epson desktop inkjet printers:

Before we start, pehaps I'd better show you the nature of modern inkjet ink: When applied to the coated side of inkjet paper,it dries almost instantly - so well, in fact, that some good inksets turn waterproof at this point - see how I can run this Lyson print under running water, and the image is already fixed sufficiently not to run. When we apply ink to the uncoated side, not only does it not dry immediately, but it will remain wet for many hours, even days.. The underside of a typical inkjet printer's print head is coated with a layer of material which enhances this non-drying effect, which enables you to leave an inkjet printer for days and weeks between printing jobs. - But remember that whatever ink you are using, the inks must eventually dry!

My next comment applies to all inkjet inks, whether brand OEM or third-party bulk inks: If you run your inkjet printer to produce text and fairly rough line drawings, leaving your printer for weeks on end between prints is OK. - If a tiny part of your print head nozzles are obstructed with an area of dried ink, your text and rough graphics may not be perfect, but remain legible and acceptable for normal day to day use. However, when we wish to produce professional-quality photographic prints, WE ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE A PERFECT NOZZLE CHECK AND HEAD ALIGNMENT AT ALL TIMES. If ever our photographic inkjet print exhibits a series of regular white horizontal lines or banding, we have to stop printing, and check our ink flow integrity by clicking on to the utilities section of our printer driver, a looking at our nozzle check print out:

Here is a normal, perfect, nozzle check pattern. – And here is a bad nozzle check. In this case, there is a clear area of the nozzle check in one colour channel which is missing. If the nozzle check fails to improve within two cycles of nozzle check and cleaning, we may assume that all is not well. – If the nozzle check print-out is missing in different places with each succesive print-out, it is probable that we are suffering from a failure of the inkjet cartridge to maintain a good airtight seal with the print head, and air bubbles are entering the ink flow between inkjet cartridge and printhead. The probable cure for this is to clean the print head spigot that pierces the cartridge with a cotton bud soaked in hot water, and replace the cartridge for a new one. In the case of a continuous ink system, obtain a new CIS cartridge from your supplier, re-prime and then inspect your nozzle check print out again.

If our nozzle check pattern is failing to appear in exactly the same place each time, we may be suffering from a blocked print head nozzle, which may clear within two cycles of nozzle check and cleaning. If the missing areas remain, we may be suffering from dried ink blocking the external part of the printhead. An additional reason for horizontal lines or banding may be that our printhead, although allowing all the horizontal bars of the nozzle check to be produced, does not achieve a uniform horizontal displacement of the individual nozzle check bars, as we see here, which is also caused by dried ink, but this time only partially obstructing the affected nozzles. – In both cases, we need to soften the dried ink, then shift the obstruction without damaging the printhead or carriage assembly:

A professional printer technician would remove the printhead for servicing, but we use a far simpler method: Take a clean, lint-free cloth of around 10 cm square, fold in half, then fold in half again, then thoroughly soak in distilled water (some users prefer isopropanol). Move the printer carriage to the ink change position, take out the mains lead from the back of the printer, then manually move the carriage to the left slightly. Lay your soaked pad into the centre of the printer platen as we show here, then move your carriage over the top, so the underside of the head is in contact with your soaking wet pad. Leave to soak for a few hours – preferably overnight. After the soaking period, move the carriage to the right, remove pad with a pair of tweezers and throw away. Now print our a few pages full of the particular problem colour – you can do this in Photoshop by creating the colour in the colour picker by dialing in the RGB values, then use the paint bucket tool to fill the entire area of your page with that colour. Printing a few pages out may remove the offending obstruction. Check this by printing out a nozzle check, and compare this with the nozzle check you performed prior to the soaking. If you now have a perfect, aligned nozzle check, fine, you can start photographic printing. If you see a slight improvement, repeat this soaking procedure over again until you achieve a perfect nozzle check. If you see no improvement at all, you may wish to repeat the soaking procedure, but maybe this time, move the carriage left and right across the soaked pad, hoping that the slight abrasion may shift the dried ink obstruction.

If you are unable to achieve a perfect nozzle check after all this, contact your printer supplier, whose service technician may be able to clear your printhead by gently syringing a mild solvent through the inkways, or partial immersion in an ultrasonic cleaner, or at the very worst, replacement of the inkhead with a brand new replacement. These last procedures are likely to be quite costly in labour and materials, so I would encourage those of you with a nozzle check that is improving during the soaking process to be patient, and be prepared to repeat the process a number of times. Finally, once you have achieved a good, continuous nozzle check print-out, don't forget to perform a horizontal head alignment, usually found as the bottom button on the printer utilities dialogue box for quality inkjet printers.

For Canon desktop inkjet printers:

Canon printers are fitted with a removable printhead, which makes access to the underside of the head much easier. Buy an inkjet cleaner kit (link is shown below this movie screen), and use the cleaning fluid and foam pads supplied to gently dissolve the offending dried ink, then replace the head, and print out complete pages of colour, in an effort to shift the obstruction. If you fail to achieve a perfect nozzle check after a number of attempts, you may than have to buy a new printhead, which are easy to fit by the user.

For large format inkjet printers:

Never try anything yourself without qualified advice. Call your supplier, and talk to their print technician before attempting any diy procedure.

General advice:

If the above procedures do not work, contact your supplier for expert assistance – modern inkjet printers have a number of components which may cause incorrect nozzle function, and a simple cure may be available with one phone call – e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for an appropriate service technician in your area, who may be able to put things right without too much drama or expense.

Inkjet printers like to be used regularly, and hate being left unused. As in most things, prevention is easier than cure, and in the case of an inkjet printer, I advise photographers to at least turn on their printers for a minute or two every two or three days – you don't have to turn on your computer, just let the printer go through it's initial start up sequence, which spits a tiny amount of ink out through the printhead, thereby keeping the head moist, and in good condition. For those of you who leave your studio for weeks or more, simply buy a cheap mains timer switch, and connect it to your printer, so that every day, the printer (which has it's power switch left on) comes on for a minute or two. When you return,you will find that your printer nozzle check is perfect, and you are ready to print!