blocked AGAIN

[Matt Quinn]

Windowlene's one of the substances I'd generally avoid putting through a printer as it can cause contamination issues... The American 'windex' product is what is widely touted as a cleaner for Epson printers... From the Wikipedia entry on Windex...

"The Sam Wise patent #3,463,735 lists several example formulae, one of which is 4.0% isopropyl alcohol (a highly volatile solvent) 1% ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (a less volatile solvent), 0.1% sodium lauryl sulfate (a surfactant), 0.01% tetrasodium pyrophosphate (a water softener), 0.05% of 28% ammonia, 1% of a dye solution, and 0.01% perfume."

...Your printer can probably really do without the perfume, surfactant, water softener, dye and perfume; all potential contaminents! And the trouble with the Windowlene is that people (half understading what they're doing) WILL try this trick using the pink creme stuff (as opposed to the liquid) - and cause all sorts of issues in the process!

...If you MUST use Windowlene it needs to be the CLEAR liquid type ONLY!

However; there's a cheaper and better solution...

It's the IPA (isopropyl alcohol) in Windex/Windowlene that does much of the work... You'll find this is a VERY good solvent for most ink. It's also volatile enough to evaporate completely and leaves no deposits behind. - Used regularly in science and industry on all sorts of sensitive optical and electronics surfaces that need to be left perfectly, chemically, clean...

Ammonia is also a key solvent for many inks... Though you shouldn't use it neat. A mix of 10% Ammonia to 90% IPA is often used by print technician

IPA can be obtained from various suppliers - By the gallon off Ebay if you so desire. The purer it is the better IMHO. Some people though DO dilute it with distilled water - which would be fine if you're using water-based inks...

We've revived printers that were left for dead literally YEARS ago using IPA and techniques very similar to those posted above.


http://www.printerhacks.com/how-to-real ... ple-steps/

http://hardware.mcse.ms/message309697.html

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IPA-5-Litre-Iso-P ... 20b2fcf7e0

A GALLON of the stuff is £18!

[Stitch Up]

Good post.

I tried to get Windex in the UK but no-go.

You have to be careful using IPA because it can cause rubber parts such as seals, wiper blades etc to harden. I have the main ingredients mentioned above - 5 litres of 99% IPA, 25 litres of distilled water and I discovered Boots sell a cheap household ammonia without perfumes and coloured stuff.

The problem I find with calculations involving Ammonia is knowing exacly what is meant when it's referred to as pure ammonia. Pure Ammonia is a gas not a liquid. I guess I'll find out one day.

I need to make up a solution similar to Windex for use with my Jet Genie machine. I purchased it to provide some sort of insurance for the printhead in my NeoFlex direct to garment printer, to date, I've not needed it

See here

[Matt Quinn]

Very kind of you to say so... I think we have a new thread on cleaning solutions which might help us all pool experiences

Not quite confident in linking to other threads but it's called 'cleaning solutions'. Newly set up by Gooner Gary...