HP Printer...cleaning out clots of ink...advice please...trivial update #6

[Catty1]

OK, so the bosses were away for several weeks in July. (They travel all over the place in their work - Thailand, Pakistan, India, Iqaluit, Yukon, even Ontario! ). My job was to organize the office closet.

Part of that involved taking some file boxes to the basement - and in the one room where they went there were about 3 old printers, a scanner, mice and cords and I don't know what else - but anyway, I got permission to e-cycle them.

ONE printer that is in REALLY good shape is an HP 1220C Deskjet Professional Edition. It's kind of HEAVY - so one of my bosses' friends helped me out with it.

We laid it on the ground while I rearranged some stuff in my car to make room...and then we noticed a small black "glug- glug - glug" coming out. Thinking it was dried up like the other printers, we had laid it on its back. Uh - oh. It was wrapped in a big green garbage bag. As soon as I got it up to my place, I set it on a couple of old towels.

Yesterday I plugged it in and opened the top - the cartridges slid happily over. I unplugged it.

I removed the cartridges - they were not cracked - and with several rags, paper towels, a toothbrush and a spray bottle of 1/2 vinegar and water, I got to work.

It's pretty clean. However, the leaking happened in the area right below where the cartridges usually sit. I got two gummy "clots" of black ink from out of there. I cleaned it as well as I could...but unless there is some way to actually get IN there, I may have to leave it as is - or hold that end over the kitchen sink and irrigate it with very warm water and vinegar.

I found the owner's manual, but there is no schematic with it.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[Laura's Babies]

So odd that you mention this NOW.. I had to change the black ink in my HP 1510v all in one printer yesterday and mine looks like a ink exploded in there, sprayed and splatter everywhere in there. Mine is not that old and sure not used that much. I am po'ed! My old one (office pro1150C) never had not one single problem after many, many years of real work! It was just a real big printer and took up a lot of space and I wanted a smaller one so I got this one and gave the big one to Goodwill.

This new on can not handle anything close to what that big one did and now I found this ink everywhere inside!

[Hellow]

As long as the cartridges can slide over and the printer can print, if there is anything in there, it is unlikely to cause a problem.

[RedHedd]

[Catty1]

RedHedd - ROTFL!!!! I have seen a couple of those before...that big tabby behind reminds me SO much of a certain someone who is curled up in his cat bed just a couple of feet from me.

Yeah, I think the part where the ink leaked - originally - I might just give it a good rinse under the spray faucet in the kitchen sink. The rest of the ink stain has been cleaned up.

I have a photo printer already for my pet resume biz (I GOTTA get a press release written!), and a low-end 4-in-one. I can live without the 4 in 1 if I get a scanner and a fax machine...anyone know any efax freeware?

Thanks folks...It doesn't have to be SPOTLESS, I realize.

[Catty1]

I leaned it into the sink, inky end down. Positioned the spray faucet in the right area. I am running warm water through it - it has been a full 5 minutes or more now, and though I HATE to waste water, there is STILL a flow of dark inky water coming out of the unit.

I can't believe how much mess a tiny bit of ink can make!