Originally posted by: NICKel
Some people swear by Amonia or Windex (has to be brand new bottle) .... I have a stubborn clog in the yellow nozzle of my EPSON 820 I ran the clean process 8 times and its still clogged a bit...
How does this work ? Do I just pry the caps off my empty ink carts? Wont it spill out since the viscosity is much thinner than say the ink? Are there any instructions around on how to turn old carts into cleaning carts? I dont wanna pay 12.50 for the ready made cleaning carts...
I never tried windex, it's just alcohol, amonia, soap, and
mostly water... Alot of water, we make our own cleaning products here and the windex recipie is:
1 cup rubbing alcohol
1 cup household ammonia
1 tsp Dish Soap
1 Gallon Water
Cost me about $.35 a Gallon for glass cleaner that way compared to paying $3-$4 for a 28oz bottle of windex... and the results are the same.. Even though mine isn't blue

, I suppose I could add a few drops of blue food coloring to it but, that just doesn't makes sense, if you are trying to clean glass why would you put blue on it?? Isn't clear better??
So based on that I wouldn't use windex. just straight 90% rubbing Alchohol. The process is easy, just use the stuff that comes with your refill kit but every other refill, fill them with rubbing alcohol instead of ink. Some carts have to be busted open others just need a small hole driled or punched in the top. That's why I like the Ontel kits. They comes with everything you need and the instructions for each type of cart are excellent.
I have never had a problem with Alchohol/ink leaking out of carts. Most have sponges in them. The viscosity is lower but not by much and the ink in the cart can be somewhat dry and gummy and it evens out. Gooey ink is what clogs the heads after all.. easiest way to make your own cleaning cart is to add rubbing Alcohol to your cart by making a small hole in the top and inject 10 or so Ml of Alcohol in and run the cleaning process..
Like I said my wife is a realtor and we go through lots of ink, using the Alcohol makes it go twice as far and also saves the print heads..