HP DeskJet 600 Series Printers

How to clean your printer to prevent ink streaks

/ Small quantities of dust, hair, fibers and other debris can build up inside your HP DeskJet/ DeskWriter printer to produce streaks on your output. To prevent this from happening, occasional cleaning of the printer is recommended.
The following is a quick and simple process that will clean debris and fibers from your printer to ensure clear, sharp output every time. HP recommends that you perform this process at least every three months.

Before you start, make sure you have the following:

Before you start, make sure you have the following materials available:

/ 1. / 8-10 cotton swabs or any clean pieces of soft, lint-free material that will not come apart when wet or leave fibers behind.
/ 2. / Enough distilled, filtered or bottled water to moisten the swabs. Tap water should be avoided since it could contain contaminants that may damage the print cartridges.
/ 3. / Sheets of paper or paper towels to rest the print cartridges on while you are working.

Warning: Keep print cartridges out of reach of children.

Remove the Print Cartridges

  1. Turn the printer on and lift the top cover and wait while the print cartridges move to the center of the printer.
  2. After the print cartridges have moved to the center of the printer, unplug the black power cord from the back of the printer.
  3. Remove the print cartridges and place them on their sides on a scrap piece of paper.

Do not leave the print cartridges outside the printer for longer than 30 minutes. If a

cartridge is left uncapped for too long, the ink will dry out and the cartridge will become unusable.

Note: Be careful not to get any ink on your hands or clothes

Clean the Print Cartridges

  1. Dip a clean cotton swab in water and squeeze out any excess.
  2. Hold the black print cartridge by the colored cap.
  3. Use the swab to wipe clean the face and edges of the print cartridge as shown by the arrows. DO NOT wipe the nozzle plate.
  4. Inspect the cartridge to see if any debris has been left behind. To do this, hold up to the light and tilt it at an angle. If you see any traces of dust, dirt or fibers, repeat steps 2 and 3 to remove them.
  5. Now repeat steps 1-4 to clean the color print cartridge. Always use a fresh cotton swab for each cartridge to avoid transferring debris from one cartridge to another.

Warning:Keep print cartridges out of reach of children.

Clean the Print Cartridge Cradle

Locate the cradle that held the print cartridges.

  1. Locate the three black, hook-shaped arms on the base of the cradle. If you lift the front of the printer slightly, you will be able to see these more easily. Lower the printer before proceeding to step 3.
  2. Using clean, moistened swabs, wipe the flat surfaces (the shaded area shown in Diagram C) underneath each arm, from back to front.
  3. Repeat the process until no ink is left on a clean swab.

Clean the Service Station

  1. The Service Station is located behind the on/off switch on the right side of your printer, (See Diagram D). You will need to reach back behind the casing to clean it.
  2. Using a clean, moistened swab, wipe the rim of the sponge holder.
  3. Remove any built-up ink and fibers from the top of the sponge. If the sponge is higher than the rim, use the cotton swab to push it down below the rim.
  4. Using a clean, moistened swab, clean Wiper 1 and the top surface of Cap 1. Always use a light touch when cleaning the print cartridge caps. Rubbing may unseat the caps which could eventually damage the print cartridges.
  5. Now take another clean, moistened swab, and clean Wiper 2 and the top surface of Cap 2.

Reinstall the Print Cartridges

  1. Reinstall the print cartridges and close the printer's top cover.

Reinsert the power cord into the back of the printer.

Check Your Output

  1. Print a document from Netscape or MS Word.
  2. Check the output for streaks.

Note: Careful cleaning will usually be enough to remove any streaks. However, it is possible that fibers or debris may have been missed which might interfere with print quality. To remove them, simply repeat the cleaning procedure until the test printout is 100% clear and sharp.

For trouble-free printing with your HP DeskJet printer, remember to clean the cartridge, cradle and service station every three months.

Cleaning the Inside and Outside of the Printer

CAUTION:Do not clean the carriage rod. Cleaning the rod may reduce the life of the rod. Any ink present on the rod will not hinder operation of the printer.

The interior and exterior of the printer should be examined for smudges, dust, etc. Clean the exterior with a soft cloth moistened with mild detergent and water. Open the top cover and examine the interior areas of the printer. Accumulations of paper or lint should be carefully removed by brushing the loose material onto a cloth or by using a small computer vacuum cleaner. Except for the printer carriage contacts, use only water to clean the printer. The contacts may be cleaned with a lint-free cloth moistened with water. Platen cleaners or alcohol may damage the printer.

Cleaning the Drive Rollers

  1. Turn off the printer, then unplug the power module and parallel cable.
  2. Open the top cover.
  3. Remove the OUT tray and remove the paper from the IN tray.
  4. Clean the drive rollers by wiping a cloth moistened with water against the exposed area of each of the three drive rollers.
  5. Manually turn the drive rollers with the thumb to expose another section of the roller. (It takes a significant amount of force to manually turn the drive rollers.)
  6. Clean the new section of the drive rollers.
  7. Continue rotating and cleaning the drive rollers until all sections of all three drive rollers are clean.
  8. Load paper in the IN tray and install the OUT tray.
  9. Plug in the power module and turn on the printer, but leave the parallel cable disconnected.
  10. Verify the printer will pick up paper by printing an internal self-test page with the parallel cable disconnected. To print a self-test page, with the printer turned on, hold the Resume button down for about 5 seconds and then release the Resume button.
  • Repeat the above steps if the printer does not pick paper from the IN tray.
  • If paper pickup problems continue, return the printer for repair.

Cleaning the Paper-Tray Sled

Contamination build-up on the paper-tray sled may cause printing problems. In particular, transparencies may be scratched as they are fed through the printer. These scratches that may or may not be visible when projected on a screen, run down the page (vertically when printing in portrait mode). If scratching occurs on transparencies, clean the sled attached to the OUT tray with tissue.

Print Cartridge Cleaning Procedure for Missing Lines or Dots in Text or Graphics

When your page contains missing lines or dots in its printed text or graphics, it may be time to clean the print cartridges. Usually, the print cartridges can be cleaned from the HP Toolbox or from the buttons on the front of the printer.

Note: Do not clean the print cartridges unnecessarily, as this wastes ink and shortens the life of the print cartridge.

Note: DOS users can clean print cartridges from the HP DeskJet Control Panel for DOS.

To clean from the printer buttons:

  1. With the printer turned on, press and hold the Power (bottom) button.
  2. While still holding down the power button, press the Resume (top) button seven (7) times.
  3. Release the power button.

Either of these procedures will initiate a cleaning process that includes wiping the print head and printing a sheet with several ink bands from both print cartridges. The sheet also contains a diagonal test pattern at the top and bottom of the page to indicate the functionality of each nozzle. The bottom pattern is the more important, since it was printed after the cleaning. On a perfectly working print cartridge, each printed line of color should be continuous with no gaps in the line.

Encoder Strip Cleaning Procedure for Print Head Crash, Noise, Shifted Characters

Overview:

The encoder strip is the mylar strip that is located just behind the carriage rod. Its purpose is to help the print cartridge keep accurate track of its position as it moves along the rod. Sometimes dust, ink, or oil can accumulate on this strip and cause one of the following symptoms: 1. print cartridge cradle slams into the wall, 2. printing stops and front panel lights indicate an error condition, 3. left-to-right margin shift, 4. gaps in printed text or image. Occasional cleaning of this strip will prevent or correct these symptoms.

Procedure:

With the printer powered on:

1.Open the top cover, allowing the print cartridge cradle to move to the center of the printer.

2.Unplug the power cord from the back of the printer.

3.Slide the cradle to the far-right position.

4.Identify the semi-clear mylar encoder strip, located just behind the carriage rod (round, metal rod).

CAUTION:When pulling the cloth along the strip (step 5), grasp the strip gently so as not to break the strip. Pull the cloth in a right-to-left direction.

5.Moisten a clean cloth or tissue with water, then gently grasp the strip between thumb and forefinger and gently pull the moistened cloth along the entire length of the strip in a right-to-left direction. Repeat with a different portion of the cloth to ensure all foreign matter is removed.

  1. Move the cradle to the far-left position and repeat the procedure on the right side of the strip, beginning as far to the right as possible. Again, gently pull the cloth in a right-to-left direction.

7.When finished, position the cradle near the center, connect the power module, and close the top cover.

8.Verify the printer will pick paper by printing. To print a self-test page, with the printer turned on, hold the Resume (top) button down for about 5 seconds, then release the button.

Check Your Output

  1. Print a document from Netscape or MS Word.
  2. Check the output for streaks.

Drive Roller Cleaning Procedure for Paper Pick Problems

Overview:

The purpose of the drive rollers is to pick a single sheet of paper from the stack and feed the sheet to its printing location. Over time, paper dust accumulation on the surface of the rollers can cause the surfaces to become slick, preventing the rollers from grabbing and feeding the sheet. Periodic removal of paper dust from the rollers will result in improved paper feeds.

Procedure:

  1. Turn off the printer from the front panel, then unplug the power cord from the back of the printer.

2. Open the top cover.

3. Remove the OUT tray and remove the paper from the IN tray.

4. Clean the drive rollers by wiping a cloth moistened with water against the exposed area of each of the three drive rollers.

5.Using your thumb to push downward on one of the rollers, manually turn the drive rollers to expose another section of the roller. (It takes a significant amount of force to manually turn the drive rollers.)

6.Clean the new section of the drive rollers.

7.Continue rotating and cleaning the drive rollers until all sections of all three drive rollers are clean.

8.Load paper in the IN tray and install the OUT tray.

9.Plug in the power cord and turn on the printer.

10.Verify the printer will pick paper by printing. To print a self-test page, with the printer turned on, hold the Resume (top) button down for about 5 seconds, then release the button.

Repeat the above steps if the printer does not pick paper from the IN tray.

If paper pickup problems continue, return the printer for repair.