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How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle) Clearing a clogged printhead clog in a HP Photosmart Plus B210a.
Written By: Nick
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
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Page 1 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
INTRODUCTION If your HP B210a has a clogged printhead, this guide will potentially resolve the problem and get the printer working again. I do not guarantee this will fix your printer, but if the printer is already doing this it's at least worth trying before you recycle the printer or resort to more drastic measures. This guide is primarily made for the HP B210a, but can be used on similar HP 564 printers. Newer printers that use the HP 564 ink tanks will probably need to be partially disassembled but the core cleaning technique can be carried over to other printers. On models I have not personally tested, I cannot guarantee the bypass will work on your particular model of printer. As long as you follow it word for word, you will probably be fine, however. I have validated this method on 4 models over time. The method used in this guide works on the following models: Photosmart Photosmart Photosmart Photosmart
C6380 Premium C309g Plus B209a Plus B210a
Models which will become bricks if you bypass the alignment wrong Photosmart 6520 (Permanent printhead; Requires SETUP cartridges that came with the printer?) Setting/crushing your expectations: Will this work every time? No. Some printers cannot be saved by gentle means and will need to be dealt with using more intensive methods. Try this and see if you want, but you will have to come to terms that this may not work. On more troublesome clogs, the issue may be terminal.
PARTS: Distilled Water (1) Small bowl (1) Shop Towels (1) Source of heat (1) Can be anything that produces heat, such as a coffee maker
High Content Rubbing Alcohol (1)
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Page 2 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 1 — Supplies needed
You will need the following supplies:
Paper towels (to keep the area clean and wipe the parts down when you are done)
Hot water (Distilled is recommended)
Plastic bag (for the ink cartridges)
Optional: Gloves and 91% alcohol (Note: Alcohol should only be used on stubborn clogs).
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 3 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 2 — Getting hot water
Go to a source where you can get hot water, and prepare the water for heating. Hot water is used to clean the head quickly and improve the odds of recovering the printer. Note: While water from a source like a coffee maker works, it may not be the best source. Distilled water is recommended, if possible.
If a source like a coffee maker is used, it is recommended that a filer be installed before getting water for the cleaning. It will help the quality of the water, but it still is not a good source if you have better options.
Step 3 — Pre cleaning baseline(CMYK)
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Print a image that will test the printer's heads before you start, to see how much better it turned out. Use a copy of the NTSC color bars or SMPTE color bars to get a baseline for how the printer performs before cleaning the printhead.
Page 4 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 4 — Removing the cartridges
Remove the ink tanks from the printer, and put these aside in a plastic bag. Once the ink is removed, stop here and move to the next step on how to remove the printhead.
Step 5 — Bypassing the "first use" initialization setup
Unplug the printer before doing ANYTHING. If you do not do this you risk losing the calibration data.
Remove the printhead from the printer. To do this, open the lid and remove the ink tanks. Once the ink is removed, lift the latch holding the printhead up, as shown. Remove the printhead once this is done. Note: If you need clearer instructions, follow this guide for additional instructions.
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 5 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 6 — Cleaning the printhead
Pour some of the hot water into your bowl, and let the printhead sit. You should leave this for a little bit, to allow the water to dissolve as much ink as possible. As the water gets dark or cools dark, change the water. Once the water is reasonably clear, remove the printhead and let the printhead dry. Note: Distilled water is recommended.
As the head clears and you change water, the color of the water should get progressively lighter. If it does not do this quickly, the head is heavily clogged with ink. A small paintbrush with intact bristles may help you clear these clogs. For really hard to clean clogs, a ultrasonic cleaner may help, if you own one.
Maximum recommended water circulation times: With alcohol: ~10 minutes maximum. Without alcohol: ~15 minutes maximum.
Alcohol should only be used as a last resort. This can damage the seals on the printhead, if it isn't sufficiently purged from the printhead. To purge any alcohol used, run the head through hot water at least 3 times.
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 6 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 7 — Cleaning the contacts on the printer
If the contacts in the printer are dirty, clean these before reinstalling the printhead.
If this is not cleaned, the ink will continue to build up and eventually, cause the printer to error out with a false ink system failure message. This doesn't destroy the cal data, but if you clean it wrong you do risk losing it. It's better to do this while the data is safe, especially if it's already dirty.
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 7 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 8 — Reinstalling the printhead and ink
Once the head is wiped dry and has sat long enough to clear the water from the printhead, put the printhead back in the printer. Important: Do not plug the printer in until this is finished. Doing this wrong will erase the printhead calibration.
Reinstall the printhead. To do this, reverse the way you removed it from the printer.
Put the ink cartridges back in the printer.
Plug the printer back in, and close the lid. The printer will run a cleaning once you do this, but you lose substantially less ink then you will lose if you were to reset the stored calibration.
If you continue having problems with the quality, try replacing the ink cartridges. If this does not work, the printhead is very likely to be beyond repair. A new printhead will cost ~$80 brand new, so they are not worth replacing. It may not hurt to try another head clean at this point to try and save it.
If you get a message that says Printhead Problem, you did not replace the printhead correctly. At this point you will want to buy a new set of ink cartridges, since you will lose ~1/2 of the ink on retail cartridges. It will also complain about the ink being used, if you use your old ink cartridges to do this, but it should accept them.
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 8 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 9 — Testing (CMYK)
After replacing the printhead and running a printhead cleaning, print the same reference image and see how much the result improved. Do this multiple times if you have to, but try not to exceed 3 attempts.
If you still have quality issues, you may need to run another printhead cleaning to get more ink through the printhead.
Important: Ink levels matter for this test. If your ink is low, it is recommended you replace the ink cartridge that is low, along with any ink that is not far off from running out of ink. The ink in this printer was low.
If your printer is working as well as it came out from the day you got it, you salvaged this printer completely. Anything less then perfect does not mean it's garbage, however. It just means the head has some permanent clogging, but it's good enough to put in service for basic printing. This document was last generated on 2017-07-09 02:48:49 PM.
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 9 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle) Clearing a clogged printhead clog in a HP Photosmart Plus B210a.
Written By: Nick
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 1 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
INTRODUCTION If your HP B210a has a clogged printhead, this guide will potentially resolve the problem and get the printer working again. I do not guarantee this will fix your printer, but if the printer is already doing this it's at least worth trying before you recycle the printer or resort to more drastic measures. This guide is primarily made for the HP B210a, but can be used on similar HP 564 printers. Newer printers that use the HP 564 ink tanks will probably need to be partially disassembled but the core cleaning technique can be carried over to other printers. On models I have not personally tested, I cannot guarantee the bypass will work on your particular model of printer. As long as you follow it word for word, you will probably be fine, however. I have validated this method on 4 models over time. The method used in this guide works on the following models: Photosmart Photosmart Photosmart Photosmart
C6380 Premium C309g Plus B209a Plus B210a
Models which will become bricks if you bypass the alignment wrong Photosmart 6520 (Permanent printhead; Requires SETUP cartridges that came with the printer?) Setting/crushing your expectations: Will this work every time? No. Some printers cannot be saved by gentle means and will need to be dealt with using more intensive methods. Try this and see if you want, but you will have to come to terms that this may not work. On more troublesome clogs, the issue may be terminal.
PARTS: Distilled Water (1) Small bowl (1) Shop Towels (1) Source of heat (1) Can be anything that produces heat, such as a coffee maker
High Content Rubbing Alcohol (1)
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 2 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 1 — Supplies needed
You will need the following supplies:
Paper towels (to keep the area clean and wipe the parts down when you are done)
Hot water (Distilled is recommended)
Plastic bag (for the ink cartridges)
Optional: Gloves and 91% alcohol (Note: Alcohol should only be used on stubborn clogs).
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 3 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 2 — Getting hot water
Go to a source where you can get hot water, and prepare the water for heating. Hot water is used to clean the head quickly and improve the odds of recovering the printer. Note: While water from a source like a coffee maker works, it may not be the best source. Distilled water is recommended, if possible.
If a source like a coffee maker is used, it is recommended that a filer be installed before getting water for the cleaning. It will help the quality of the water, but it still is not a good source if you have better options.
Step 3 — Pre cleaning baseline(CMYK)
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Print a image that will test the printer's heads before you start, to see how much better it turned out. Use a copy of the NTSC color bars or SMPTE color bars to get a baseline for how the printer performs before cleaning the printhead.
Page 4 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 4 — Removing the cartridges
Remove the ink tanks from the printer, and put these aside in a plastic bag. Once the ink is removed, stop here and move to the next step on how to remove the printhead.
Step 5 — Bypassing the "first use" initialization setup
Unplug the printer before doing ANYTHING. If you do not do this you risk losing the calibration data.
Remove the printhead from the printer. To do this, open the lid and remove the ink tanks. Once the ink is removed, lift the latch holding the printhead up, as shown. Remove the printhead once this is done. Note: If you need clearer instructions, follow this guide for additional instructions.
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 5 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 6 — Cleaning the printhead
Pour some of the hot water into your bowl, and let the printhead sit. You should leave this for a little bit, to allow the water to dissolve as much ink as possible. As the water gets dark or cools dark, change the water. Once the water is reasonably clear, remove the printhead and let the printhead dry. Note: Distilled water is recommended.
As the head clears and you change water, the color of the water should get progressively lighter. If it does not do this quickly, the head is heavily clogged with ink. A small paintbrush with intact bristles may help you clear these clogs. For really hard to clean clogs, a ultrasonic cleaner may help, if you own one.
Maximum recommended water circulation times: With alcohol: ~10 minutes maximum. Without alcohol: ~15 minutes maximum.
Alcohol should only be used as a last resort. This can damage the seals on the printhead, if it isn't sufficiently purged from the printhead. To purge any alcohol used, run the head through hot water at least 3 times.
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 6 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 7 — Cleaning the contacts on the printer
If the contacts in the printer are dirty, clean these before reinstalling the printhead.
If this is not cleaned, the ink will continue to build up and eventually, cause the printer to error out with a false ink system failure message. This doesn't destroy the cal data, but if you clean it wrong you do risk losing it. It's better to do this while the data is safe, especially if it's already dirty.
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 7 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 8 — Reinstalling the printhead and ink
Once the head is wiped dry and has sat long enough to clear the water from the printhead, put the printhead back in the printer. Important: Do not plug the printer in until this is finished. Doing this wrong will erase the printhead calibration.
Reinstall the printhead. To do this, reverse the way you removed it from the printer.
Put the ink cartridges back in the printer.
Plug the printer back in, and close the lid. The printer will run a cleaning once you do this, but you lose substantially less ink then you will lose if you were to reset the stored calibration.
If you continue having problems with the quality, try replacing the ink cartridges. If this does not work, the printhead is very likely to be beyond repair. A new printhead will cost ~$80 brand new, so they are not worth replacing. It may not hurt to try another head clean at this point to try and save it.
If you get a message that says Printhead Problem, you did not replace the printhead correctly. At this point you will want to buy a new set of ink cartridges, since you will lose ~1/2 of the ink on retail cartridges. It will also complain about the ink being used, if you use your old ink cartridges to do this, but it should accept them.
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 8 of 9
How to clean the HP Photosmart Plus B210a Printhead (Gentle)
Step 9 — Testing (CMYK)
After replacing the printhead and running a printhead cleaning, print the same reference image and see how much the result improved. Do this multiple times if you have to, but try not to exceed 3 attempts.
If you still have quality issues, you may need to run another printhead cleaning to get more ink through the printhead.
Important: Ink levels matter for this test. If your ink is low, it is recommended you replace the ink cartridge that is low, along with any ink that is not far off from running out of ink. The ink in this printer was low.
If your printer is working as well as it came out from the day you got it, you salvaged this printer completely. Anything less then perfect does not mean it's garbage, however. It just means the head has some permanent clogging, but it's good enough to put in service for basic printing. This document was last generated on 2017-07-09 02:48:49 PM.
© iFixit — CC BY-NC-SA
www.iFixit.com
Page 9 of 9
