Dry Printhead Swabbing Procedure

Introduction

If a nozzle or group of nozzles do not recover, it may be necessary to recover the nozzle by manual dry printhead swabbing.

Equipment

Safety glasses with side shields
Gloves (for example: Ansell Microflex 93-260)
Foam Tipped Swab
Cloth-Poly Wipe 10cm x 10cm (lint-free)

NOTE

To help locate nozzles that need recovering remove the nozzle check print from the vacuum table and place it on the floor under the carriage in the maintenance area. Make sure it is in the correct orientation so the colors are aligned. The print represents a projection of the jetting performance of each printhead. This makes it easier to trace a nozzle or group of nozzle outs back to the area on the actual printhead nozzle plate that requires swabbing.

IMPORTANT

Do NOT use flush liquid for daily printhead maintenance. It may contribute to increased ink/flush pollution levels on the printheads and the underside of the carriage.

Procedure

Slide open the maintenance station drawer.
Push the Raise Carriage button.
Use a swab or lint-free cloth to dry wipe the printhead with low force.
IMPORTANT
Keep swabs and lint-free cloth clean prior to use.

Do not let the seam on the foam of the swab contact the bottom of the printhead. This can damage the printhead. See the next figure.
Position the foam end of the swab or the lint-free cloth at one end of the printhead as shown in the next figure. Slowly move in about 2 seconds the swab or cloth from one end of the double printhead to the other.
Repeat the steps for the next printhead that needs recovering nozzles.
IMPORTANT
Never use the same swab or cloth on two different color channels.

Never "scrub" the printhead with a swab as this will drag debris into other nozzles.
Continue until all printheads are cleaned.
Close the Maintenance station drawer.
Print the Nozzle Check Print and evaluate. If necessary, perform an automatic maintenance (AMS) procedure on the printheads that still show dropped nozzles.
If a nozzle does not recover through this manual dry printhead swabbing procedure it may be necessary to recover the nozzle by a manual ink purge and swabbing procedure.
See: Manual Ink Purge and Printhead Swabbing.