The underside of the carriage must be cleaned daily. It may be necessary to clean it more frequently if any of the following conditions exist:
media has a high level of static charge
full bleed printing
media thickness value is incorrect (carriage is too high)
CAUTION
For cleaning areas of the printer that have uncured ink contamination use the following safety equipment - nitrile gloves, a lab coat, and safety glasses with side shields to protect your eyes.
If a nitrile glove is contaminated with ink, discard it within a few minutes. Do not re-use gloves.
Equipment
Safety glasses with side shields
Gloves (for example: Ansell Microflex 93-260)
Cloth-Poly Wipe 10cm x 10cm (lint-free)
Surface Cleaner
Isopropyl alcohol - IPA (>= 98%)
IMPORTANT
If the underside of the carriage is dark when examining the printheads or the carriage underside, consider the kind of light source you use for the inspection. Do not use a LED or Halogen (flashlight, smart phone etc). LED and Halogen light sources will cure the UV-based ink in the printhead nozzles rendering it useless. When you need an extra light source, make sure it does not contain UV-components. An example is the Mag-Lite Mini AAA Krypton (EAN 38739167398).
Avoid touching the printheads (see figure below).
CAUTION
Use only nitrile gloves that have been checked for chemical resistance. In general, a minimum 0.5mm or thicker nitrile glove is acceptable. Use the gloves one time only, and replace them immediately if they are punctured or degraded. Do not re-use them if they are removed.
Chemicals in UV ink begin to permeate nitrile gloves in less than 10 minutes. While this action may not be visible, changing contaminated gloves should occur every few minutes. These penetrating chemicals have no pigment so they are not visible; therefore just because you don’t have pigment on the glove or your skin doesn’t mean that exposure has not occurred.
Do NOT close if you are going to swab the printheads next.