An EPSON STYLUS C42 Survival Guide by GreekAndCheap If you're reading this document then chances are that you are a -by now- desperate owner of an Epson Stylus C42 inkjet printer,or of a similar model (C41,C43,C40,C62...). This guide is based on my personal experience with a C42UX model (which,luckily, was given to me as a gift) and some considerations may or may not work for you or you may not even like them or this guide or me at all,in which case just stop reading this. I wrote it so that owners (or wannabes) of that particular (or similar) printer may get a taste of the everyday problems encountered,resolving them,know all of the pros and cons and even dwell into the more "advanced" things you can do with (and to) your printer. WARNING!!! This guide is written solely for unofficial informational purposes. The author is not affiliated with EPSON or any other company in any way,and makes no warranties of any kind about the contents of this guide,the accuracy of the contained information and assumes no responsability for any consequences resulting from reading this guide or acting according to its contents. Some of the procedures described in this guide can result in permanent damage to your printer or even to persons,animals and other objects,as well as in warranty voids. The author declines any direct or indirect responsability,and performing any of the things described herein is to be done exclusively under YOUR responsability and free will only. Any Trademarks and copyrighted names of products,company names etc. appearing in this document are property of their lawful owners and are included only for informational completeness reasons. CONTENTS [1] The Epson Stylus C42 printer: an overview [1.a] Why choosing it? [1.b] Why NOT choosing it? [2] Known Problems [3] Waste Of Ink [4] Ink Refilling: Does it pay? [4.a] Why not just use the originals (OEM)? [4.b] Using compatible,third party cartridges [5] Refilling Ink Cartridges yourself. [5.a] Refilling and Resetting [5.b] Resetting cartridges with the SSC Service Utility. [5.c] Freezing the ink level with the SSC service utility [6] Head Cleaning [7] Waste Ink Pad [8] General tips for avoiding trouble --------------------------------------------- [1] The Epson Stylus C42 printer: an overview --------------------------------------------- The Epson Stylus C42 inkjet printer is essentially a typical low-end,low budget inkjet printer with an average quality printing output and high ink costs. It's the kind of printer which usually ships bundled with a new PC or is offered for 30$ at supermarkets,you get the picture. It's avaiable in either parallel or USB interface (the UX model). It normally has a low purchase price (usually around 60$ or 60 Euro) but the ink costs are really exhorbitant: for a 10ml black ink cartridge (T036),the price is around 18 Euro (2004 prices) while the color one (T037,three color inks of 5 or 8 ml each) skyrockets around 25 $ or more,depending on your local vendors. Official EPSON prices are maybe 1-2$ lower. This at least for what regards the OEM Epson cartridges. As you will see later,using "compatible" cartridges isn't always better in terms of price (at least for what regards MY local vendors!),let alone quality and reliability. The printer uses a fixed piezoelectric technology print head with very thin nozzles (thinner than a human hair),as opposed to the majority of other brands (such as HP, Lexmark Canon etc.) which use thermal (bubble-jet) print heads (sometimes of the disposable type). Using a fixed print head means that the printing head(s) and nozzles are supposed to last for the whole life of the printer, and perhaps give a "superior" printing quality compared to disposable/thermal head designs (which is not always true). Fixed heads means that periodical cleaning is necessary and if they fail for some reason...then the whole printer needs replacement. The fixed head is also more susceptible to clogging and ink drying-out,which means that you must use high-end ink and waste some ink for the frequent clean ups. [1.a] Why choosing it? After that non-so-brilliant introduction, why would somebody choose this printer? Some reasons include: a) It came bundled with a new PC. b) It was a gift (my case). c) You have paid for it by now and you don't want to trash it just yet. d) The printing quality is not bad, especially for its price, and can even be considered "very good" on special photo paper. e) It accepts many different kind of paper, quite heavyweight ones too (280g/m2) f) You kinda like the "challenge" of using a cheap printer with expensive consumables trying to somehow get cheap prints out of it, or your pockets tell you that you must do just that. [1.b] Why NOT choosing it? Well, there are actually plenty of reasons. Just an overview: The printing quality ranges from average to very good at the expense of ink, printing time and noise. The printer in fact is pretty slow and noisy for an inkjet, and printing a full-page photograph requires several minutes,as usually does a page which contains mostly text and maybe a picture or two,especially if you chose the "Text and Graphics" quality setting. In other words: it's expensive to use, noisy and slow. Its ink management is just terrible and consumables are amongst the most expensive on the market (for their size and printouts). It also tends to lock itself up for various reasons and clog its printing heads a lot. ------------------ [2] Known Problems ------------------ There are quite a few of them,here presented in the form of a list. Most of these I found out by myself and cross-checked them with those reported by other people in consumer reviews etc. so you might as well be familiar with them. I will try to break them up in categories,for easier management. Ink-related problems are treated separately,for they're particularly troublesome. 1) Manufacturing Quality a) The plastic of which the casing is made tends to break and get scratched pretty easily. Beware of that when handling the printer. b) The case is divided in two parts (the upper,white and the lower,grey) which are held together by a snap-fit assembly. This can be an issue if you need to open up the printer,as the snap-fit joints will likely break up after a time or two you do that. 2) Internal Mechanisms and Circuitry a) The motor-head assembly is pretty noisy for an inkjet printer. b) The printing speed is also very low,especially for color pictures and "Photo" quality prints which require multiple head-passes. c) Possible lubrication problems (head rail and guides). d) When the printer's LEDs blink for some reason, an intermittent cricket-like noise can be heard from the printer,each time the LEDs go on and off. e) Even when idle,the printer frequently produces buzzing,cricket-like and humming noises. f) When turning it on and off,and sometimes before and after a print job,the printer goes through a long,noisy and apparently ink-wasting procedure of "ink charging" or "auto-cleaning" before becoming avaiable for serious work. During this procedure the print head moves around several times and several mechanisms can be heard engaging and dis-engaging. This can last for over 30 seconds, and it activates automatically, with no user control over it. g) The printer tends to internally soil itself with waste ink, soiling the head-parking area as well as the head-cleaning mechanisms themselves, rendering them useless after a while. This can be partially solved with manual cleaning, something definitively not approved and not allowed by the manufacturer (and by the printer's design), unless you force your way into it someway (see later sections). h) When printing large colored pictures, the pressure rollers of the printers (those tiny metallic sprockets near the paper outlet) will likely "pierce" paper shortly after it's printed upon, creating small but visible trails of tiny holes on the front and the back of the page. Some users have gone as far as to REMOVE those rollers. ---------------- [3] Waste Of Ink ---------------- Unluckily,EPSON printers have a very poor reputation regarding their ink management. Some of the problems described,in fact,are common to most EPSON printers regardless of category and price,while some are mostly related to the low-end procucts. Your EPSON C42 Stylus can waste ink in several different ways,making you waste precious money and time,as well as a certain amount of mental stability... Here are some common issues with ink: a) Turning the printer on sometimes wastes some ink. (See problem 2.f) b) Turning the printer off sometimes wastes some ink. (See problem 2.f) c) Sometimes the printer wastes some ink BEFORE and AFTER a print job (See problem 2.f) d) Interrupting a printing job results in wasting some ink too. e) The C42 printer uses two ink cartridges,a black and a 3-color one,and CANNOT print with one of them completely empty (or better,with one of them CONSIDERED to be empty). For example,if you run out of black ink,the printer refuses to print anything,even if the print job doesn't use any black color at all. f) Unlike some printer models from other manufacturers,which can print with the color head alone by "mixing" all three colors (Cyan,Magenta,Yellow) to obtain black,the C42 and many other (if not all) EPSON printers will refuse to print anything until you replace the black cartridge with a new one. g) The same thing holds for the color head: if you run out of color ink,you CANNOT print anything until you replace the "empty" cartridge,even if you only want to use black ink and you have a full black ink cartridge! Even the "use black ink only" option is of no use in this case ! This may have been done for preventing possible clogs caused by an exposed, cartridgeless head but it's annoying anyway! h) Another very annoying point is when only ONE out of the three (or more) color inks runs out: If you say,run out of Cyan ink the printer will,guess,refuse to print anything until you replace the color cartridge,even if you hadn't used any of the other color inks! No single color ink replacements here,unless you refill your own cartridges. This can be crucial if you have a model with 6 color inks! i) The cartridges for this printer use a "protection chip" which officially helps the printer monitor the ink level and "protects" the customer (from what?),but in reality it is there only to prevent or to handicap cartridge refilling. j) The manufacturer has thinked of the unthinkable,by completely corrupting and warping The meaning of "Ink Level Measurement". Ink level "monitoring" is in fact done in an entirely virtual manner,by counting the "ink head shots",estimating in a "logical" way how much ink SHOULD be left and writing that info back into the ink cartridges' chips. There is no actual ink level measurement (e.g. with light or electrical sensors),only a rough software estimate. k) Furthermore.this ink estimation system is too pessimistc: in a consumer product test performed by the "Which?" magazine,completely disabling the ink "measurement" circuits in another Epson printer resulted in a 38% page output increase. Go figure! l) Unluckily,this "intelligent" ink measurement system continues to work even with the print heads clogged,resulting in premature cartridge "emptiness" while there is actually UNUSED ink inside the cartridge! As a side effect(?), this very same system PREVENTS CARTRIDGE REFILLING,which is one of the biggest problems with Epson printers in general. m) Even if you overcome the chip obstacle (several ways to do it),refilling cartridges is still quite a chore,due to ink and poor printer design related problems. ----------------------------------------- [4] Ink Cartridge Refilling: Does it pay? ----------------------------------------- Let's face it,anybody using inkjet printers has wondered why ink cartridges are so expensive and many people have searched for a more economically viable solution, either by using compatible cartridges or by trying DIY refilling kits. An economic premise: the inkjet printer industry is generally considered to be using the "razor blades manufacturers'" marketing model, that is, briefly,selling the shaving machine at a budget price and the blades at premium prices. For some manufacturers, in fact, the profits from ink sales represents over 50% of their total inkjet business income! The manufacturer(s) however, puts it another way: the Stylus C42 (and possibly other models) is "intended for home use only" and for "a low printing volume", which means printing a maximum of 100-150 pages a month, leaving of course the exact definition of "page" somehow vague. Also,the manufacturer(s) claims that the average user,printing far less than that, should't buy more than a set of cartridges a year(!). BTW, the Black cartridge is expected to last 200 pages and the color one 150 or so, which means that printing at the nominal capacity of the printer makes for about 40$ or 40Eur a month! Again however, most manufacturers state: if he/she (the user) wanted a higher printing volume, he/she would have been directed towards buying a more expensive (initially) but also more economical to use (in the long run) printer model. These statements surely make some sense, yet, as we all know,by his/her very nature, man (and woman) wants it all: cheap printer, cheap inks and LOTS of good quality prints. :-) Failing to convince users with the previous statements, all manufacturers claim that their inks are very "special" to justify the high prices, and that using compatible cartridges or refill kits will result in possible printer damage, low quality output, color fading etc. This is also true to a large extent, and surely an ink intended for a thermal-disposable head printer is different from one designed for fixed head products. But, while you surely can't (shouldn't) use fountain pen ink for you printer, it's equally sure that many decent small chemical laboratories or factories can and do produce good quality ink for most inkjet printers out there including the most picky of the bunch, such as the EPSONs. Unluckily, EPSONs tend to be fixed-head procucts, and using low-quality inks or performing other kinds of "experiments" on them can result in permanent damage, frequent clogging etc. so refilling or using non-OEM carts is always a risk. Surely a disposable-head model is less sensitive to low-quality or "home brew" ink mixtures than a fixed-head one, and if something goes wrong, then, well, that's what disposable heads are about :-). Back to the point, refilling the C42 carts: ------------------------------------------ [4.a] Why not just use the originals (OEM)? ------------------------------------------ One reason is that they are too damn expensive and the whole marketing scheme behind them is really shameful. Another good reason is that in many cases it just isn't possible or is hard to find the original OEM carts (like in the case of my city and my local vendors... shame!), only 3rd party "compatibles" at best, which cost pretty much the same as the OEM ones, in the case of EPSON...incredible yet true. Also,when the head "decides" to clog and even worse,to "resist" several cleaning cycles, then original ,non-OEM and refill ink gets equally wasted, if you get the point... see chapter 5 for details on head cleaning. An interesting note: EPSON's official site claims that the (bulk?) prices for the original carts should be around 17$ for the black one,and 23-25$ for the color one, yet those prices differ significantly from the actual retail prices a consumer will find: add at least a couple of $ or Euros to get the real market picture. -------------------------------------------- [4.b] Using compatible,third party cartridges -------------------------------------------- Using "compatible" cartridges doesn't seem to be a very viable solution,since their prices, in the case of our "favourite" printer,are only marginally lower or even higher(!) than the OEM products,at least from what I've seen around. This means paying 15 Euro for 10ml of black ink,and 21 up to 28 Euro (Yes,28!) for the color one (actual retail prices for Excellence IE-45 black cart and InkTec EPI-10037 color carts, always from my local vendors). As you can see by yourself, these prices are only marginally lower than those of the OEM products, so one wonders why on earth should he ever choose non-OEM products in this case. You may have seen or heard ads about specialized on-line shops which sell 7-10$ compatible cartridges or promise saves over 50% etc. but it usually comes out that these bargains don't apply to EPSON printers for some reason (why???). If you managed to find EPSON compatible carts (which actually work) at a good price (like 10$) then congratulations,but this is usually not the case with most users. The point is that in the case of EPSON printers,even refill cartridges are too damn expensive to be a viable alternative, at least 2 times more expensive than those for other brands. Not only that, but they can cause frequent ink nozzle clogs, and cleaning the head wastes ink...dearly purchased ink in this case! One case for all: the aforementioned InkTec color cart needed 3 cleaning cycles before working, which wasted half of the ink, including the black one which had nothing to do with the whole matter! Update: Some users (mostly from Eastern Europe) reported that there are compatible cartridges that have retail prices as low as 4-5 Euros. Well, this sounds cool but is pretty rare and probably bound to different economic conditions, as well as to what extent your local vendors are profit "vultures". -------------------------------------------- [5] Refilling the ink cartridges yourself -------------------------------------------- Even if there is that nasty chip protection,it CAN be done,despite the manufacturer's denials and warnings against it. However, refilling cartridges is more of an art, than a robust method, and so results may vary: sometimes one may manage to get "clean" refills with little or no ink nozzle clogging, most of the time one just one cleaning cycle is enough, while other times the clogging and waste of ink are appalling, down to the point of having to waste a fully refilled cartridge just for "head cleaning" and being forced to do multiple refills in one session. To put it in a few words: TRIAL AND ERROR. If that doesn't sound good to you,then you'd better stick to the OEM carts and hope that the clogging curse stays away from you. Update: from my personal experience, having done the refilling procedure many times, here are some facts: a) The first times I refilled I did it with insufficient care, and though I experienced a lot of head clogging, and even a couple of multiple refills. b) Most other times I can usually get away with one cleaning cycle, or even with none if I let the ink "settle" for a few hours. c) On a couple of very rare occasions no cleaning was needed. This was the result of a perfect execution on my part, which included perfect timing, perfect cleaning and obviously good mood and concentration on my behalf. A tip: don't refill cartridges when tired, deconcentrated or in a bad mood, usually this only results in mess and problems. ------------------------------------- [5.a] Refilling and resetting ------------------------------------- I won't extensively describe the actual refilling part in detail, which simply involves piercing the cartridge in a special point and injecting new ink with the needle of a medical syringe. There are special refill kits for sale, which contain ink bottles, plastic gloves, stickers and syringes as well as instructions regarding cartridge handling, like where and how to pierce, how to seal the holes, etc. Usually those kits are sold in boxes labeled for specific printer models, and contain customized instructions, and, ideally, specially formulated ink for each printer type. A nice surprise here: EPSON cartridges are among the easiest to refill, at least for what regards the physical part, as they have no air compartments or such schemes devised by other manufacturers to prevent refilling (this may not be true for "compatible" products!). Even after you refilled the cartridge however, you're not done, for if you simply re-insert it into the printer it will still be considered empty, and all your trouble will be in vain...almost. The trick here is to find a way to reset the nasty chip which is built-in your carts. Removing it or destroying it isn't a solution...as the printer won't even consider it as an inserted cartridge anymore. There are at least 3 ways to reset or overcome the chip protection: 1) Using a dedicated chip resetter. 2) Using a software utility (there's only one at the moment) 3) Building a chip resetter or a similar system youself. Let's see the pros and cons of each of those systems: 1) The chip resetter is a small, dedicated device which simply clamps into refilled carts and reprograms the chip to show "full" when the cart is reinserted into the printer. It's only takes about 5 seconds to reprogram a cart, and it usually works with both Color and Black carts for several EPSON models (the chip seems to be the same). It's easy to use and straightforward,the chips themselves can be resetted thousands of times and there are several models on the market, from different manufacturers. The only cons are the price (it usually ships for over 25$) and the fact that it only works with OEM cartridges, and only for one manufacturer. If you don't mind the money (I do) and you plan on using your current EPSON printer for a long time and/or buying new EPSON printers in the future, then the chip resetter is THE way to go for refilling your present and future EPSON carts. 2) The only known software utility which allows you to monkey with the chip is the Epson Service Utility by SSC Localization Group (www.ssclg.com). It's a cool freeware utility which allows the final user to have much greater control over his/her EPSON printer than the official drivers and software allow. It offers goodies such as compatibility with many EPSON printers, the ability to reset any of the ink values (from black to exachromy), perform black-only or color-only head cleanings, thus saving ink, hot-swapping cartridges whenever you want without the EPSON procedure,and much more. It costs nothing, sure, but there is always the risk of incompatibilities (it just might not work for you) and the fact that it cannot (yet) reset some printers' chip directly, new models mostly. Unluckily the C42 IS one of those printers, BUT the utility allows you to reset the chip indirectly by using a special swapping technique,which will be described later. If you want to be as cheap as possible, then that's the way to go. 3) Some people,possessing the right equipment and knowledge, have managed to built their own chip resetters or have even permanently hacked their printers in order to disable or fool the ink "measurement" functions, down to the point of attaching big external ink supplying units to them...wow! Imagine having a litre or a gallon of ink to continously print with...wow :-) Other possible hacks include firmware or driver hacks which help getting around the many limitations placed by the manufacturer. Needless to say,none of these methods is officially supported,recognized or accepted by the manufacturer, and all will instantly void your warranty...doh! ----------------------------------------------------------- [5.b] Resetting ink cartridges with the SSC Service Utility ----------------------------------------------------------- PREMISES: 1) This procedure works only with original EPSON cartridges! 3rd party products will probably not work and may even get permanently damaged! 2) The cartridge to replace mustn't be completely empty, or else you won't be able to use the "Head Exchange" functions of the SSC Service Utility! It is highly advisable to keep a spare (non-empty, preferably OEM) cartridge just in case. Anyway,the way to reset your EPSON's C42 cartridges with the SSC utility is as follows: a) Obtain,install and configure the SSC service utility correctly, first of all. b) Click on the SSC icon on the system tray and select the "Head Exchange" Functions. c) From there,choose the option "Move head to exchange position". The printing head will be released and presented to you, exposing the inner mechanisms and allowing you to extract the cartridges whenever you want. NOTE: this function is important, as it allows for cleaning and servicing the printer youself (see chapters 6 and 7). The manufacturer normally forbids this! d) Extract the cartridge you want to refill leaving the printer on. IMPORTANT: At this point,provide some means to cover the exposed ink-intake tube(s) in order to prevent exposed ink from drying out, while you complete the refilling procedure. Inserting another (even if "empty") cartridge should work just fine. It is also an excellent idea to clean up the area AROUND the ink-intake tube as well as the ink outlets of the cartridge, leaving no old ink around, which can only cause trouble. Try avoiding the formation of air/gas bubbles inside the cartridge and the nozzle, as they're the primary cause of head clogs. e) Refill the removed cartridge,and cover the first contact of its chip (the uppermost- leftmost one) with scotch tape (be sure to cover ONLY that contact!) The pin array of the chip looks roughly like this (with the cartridge holded normally!): 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 It should be straightforward which is pin 1! :-) f) Reinsert the cartridge inside the printer with the scotch tape still on,move the head back to parking position, and switch the printer off (don't try doing ANYTHING else at this point, such as printing or cleaning the heads, not even measuring the ink level!) g) Switch the printer back on, and either use the normal EPSON procedure or the red button to change the cartridge. The printer will probably be complaining about having no installed cartridge at this point,and the red led will be on, that's normal. When asked to insert a "new" cartridge however,you simply remove the "scotched" one, remove the scotch tape and re-insert it, completing the procedure (by pressing the red button again or by following on-screen instructions). h) If you done it right,the cartridge will be "accepted" and the virtual ink level will have been restored to 100%. Sometimes it gets somehow lower, such as 80 or 90% which is not much of a problem, and rarely it can go only up to 20 or 30% or even fail. You can repeat the procedure again if you wish (or if it is necessary). FINAL NOTE: The chip can be resetted 1000s of times and the cartridges can be physically refilled several times (10-12 is a good number) but not TOO MANY times. At some point they will eventually concentrate too much dirt from old ink inside them and will be causing frequent head cloggings. When this happens, it's better to get a new, preferably OEM cartridge and start refilling that instead when the time comes. --------------------------------------------------------- [5.c] Freezing the ink level with the SSC service utility --------------------------------------------------------- An alternative to the chip resetting procedure is to use the "Ink Freezer Functions" of our -by now- favourite utility. They even work with the C42 printer directly, and if used correctly should render chip resetting unneccessary for a long time. They're fairly simple to use: after your printer is online, before printing anything select the "Store Counters Values" function from the "Ink Freezer" function menu: the current ink level values will be stored by the SSC utility. Work as usual, and after all of your printing jobs are done, use the "Restore Values Back" function before shutting your printer off (Beware: DO shut it off at this point or else the trick won't work!). If you did everything right, then the next time you turn it on the ink values will have been "restored" to their old values (before the printing jobs). If you do it constantly, the (virtual) ink levels will never drop, or they will drop very slowly over time. Are we done yet? No,read on! IMPORTANT !!! Of course, the real ink level...really drops, so you have to be extra-careful in determining when ink is REALLY ending! If you fail to do so, the printing heads will start sucking in AIR, which will tenaciously clog them. It's advisable to keep an eye on the printing quality or even better, to keep a note block near the printer and monitoring ink levels by considering how much % the ink has dropped between "ink level restores" (use the SSC ink monitor for that, not the EPSON one). Do the maths and you should be fine. Refill ink when you know it's running out, or keep the carts filled all of the time, your choice. WARNING !!! I am not 100% sure,but I've noticed that this procedure DOESN'T work with non-OEM carts. In fact, the values don't seem to get restored and drop normally, or even change randomly! ----------------- [6] Head Cleaning ----------------- A brief summary: there are two kinds of inkjet printer designs out there: fixed-head and disposable-head. EPSONs are mainly fixed-head piezoelectric models, while most other manufacturers prefer the thermal, disposable head solution. The piezoelectric fixed-head solution SHOULD give superior printing quality AND cheaper cartridges but tends to be very picky on the ink used and very prone to clogging,ink drying-out, soiling etc. Disposable heads are, well, disposable, so if anything goes wrong changing the cartridge (which contains the heads) will usually work things out, and their print quality is, by now, almost equal to the fixed ones. Unluckily EPSON uses fixed heads for its printers, and what's more their cartridges are among the most expensive on the market, while the print quality is OK but not exceptional, especially for mid-to-low end products. The point is: your EPSON's printer heads CAN and WILL get clogged. Leaving the printer unused will make the ink dry out and clog the heads. Using poor quality ink will clog the heads. Using average quality ink will clog the head. Hell, even using the specifically designed OEM ink will, on the long run,clog the heads. Removing the cartridge (even for a normal replacement) for some split seconds will make the ink dry out and clog the ink nozzles...a living hell, that is. The printer even soils itself during normal use, by spurting ink all inside it, and this will result, you guessed, in a clogged head. Now...the manufacturer has provided your printer with a cryptic "head cleaning" option, which passes it through a traumatic, noisy and ink consuming procedure, which should unclog all of the print heads, at least temporarily. In practice, the head block is "parked" in a special position and a special pump sucks on it (at least that's what I figured out),sending the dirty ink to the waste sponge (see chapter 7). This sometimes works and sometimes not. Frequently, it just makes the problem worse, especially after some months of average usage, when the cleaning mechanism itself has been thoroughly soiled. In any case, the chip will record a 7% ink decrease for the color cartridge (each color) and something more (like 10%) for the Black cartridge, regardless of the final result. That's a LOT of ink. It's like paying 5$ each time you "clean" the head (assuming you can get both cartridges for a total of 50$,a realistic,feet-on-the-ground etc. retail price). To get over those serious limitations, you can either use the more detailed head-cleaning functions provided by the SSC service utility (like Black head-only or Color head-only cleaning) or try to manually clean the print heads. Using the automatic head cleaning functions is easy but it wastes cartridge ink and it sometimes doesn't work (on the opposite,things tend to get worse!). The manual method involves removing the cartridges manually (you still need the SSC service utility to be able to do this at will) and forcing some cleaning fluid through the ink nozzle, usually with a medical syringe and a plastic tube or something equivalent. It can do wonders for your print head,but the choice of the cleaning fluid is a bit tricky. There are some special liquids on the market just for this job,but you can do it with home brew ingredients too. There also exist special cleaning cartridges (maybe made by EPSON itself) which sound worthy trying out. Things to AVOID using include tap water (too many particles which cause clogging and corrosion),denaturated alcohol (for the same reasons), mixtures of ink,water and alcohol and too aggressive chemicals like ammonium, gasoline etc. In any case, avoid getting any AIR through the print head, as even a single air bubble will immediately cause the ink to dry out. Things to USE include inkjet refill ink and -maybe- very pure alcohol or distilled water, apart from dedicated/certified cleaning fluids. The most effective thing to use seems, however, the very ink used for printing. Ink works great because it's supposed to be the friendliest thing for the print head and should contain ingredients which give it the ideal physical characteristics. Usually, refill ink comes pretty close to those characteristics, and forcing some through the printing head removes all internal and external clogging, dirt,air bubbles etc. The prices for refill ink are also reasonable (10 to 15$ for 40ml) so you can afford using 1ml (or less) of ink for cleaning your heads without wasting the ink INSIDE your cartridges, and usually with much better results,especially in the case of very persistent clogs. Of course use black ink for the black heads and the correct color for each color head, and remember to clean up the waste ink from the printer's plate before using it again. FINALLY, it's strongly advisable that you clean up with a cotton bud and some alcohol the "parking place" of the head,where a lot of wasted ink can be easily seen, to avoid frequent head clogs and inefficient clean cycles. Generally,I don't reccommend using the manual method unless the "normal" head cleaning procedures don't seem to work at all and you're afraid that your printer is 99% ruined. I had to do it a single time so far, after everything else failed. If you wonder,it was after a not-so-successful DIY refill job (I had mixed tap water with the cyan ink by mistake). My fault it was,but now the printer works OK :-) ----------------- [7] Waste Ink Pad ----------------- Another obscure (and dirty) secret of you C42 is the infamous "waste ink tank". Ever wondered where all this "wasted ink" goes? It goes to a specially designed tank with a special sponge hidden in the rear part of your printer (you can only see it by removing the upper casing). The ink gets trapped in the sponge and eventually dries out with time. At least the bulk of the wasted ink stays away from your print heads and paper :-) Unsatisfied however with that solution, the manufacturer has also included a special "protection" counter which counts how much ink has (virtually) been wasted, and after a certain amount has been reached,the user gets a cryptic message which more or less says: "Some of the printer's components have reached the end of their service life, take it to an EPSON center for service" and the printer will get permanently locked, refusing to print ANYTHING until it has been serviced. Now, it might be true that too much wasted ink COULD eventually leak out and cause damage, but the tank seems pretty capient, and besides the final user can clean the ink pad him/herself in a couple of minutes without having to take the printer to a service center. Actually cleaning the ink pad is easy: just pry your printer open and then you can either: a) Remove the soiled ink pad yourself and clean it with hot tap water until it becomes white(!)again and then drying it and putting it back. (Good,but sounds a little messy to me). b) "Pierce" the ink pad with a syringe and suck the waste ink out it. Of course don't even think of reusing this ink later! This part is easy, but you actually need to reset the protection counter too! Regardless of how the EPSON service centers do it, you can do it too with the SSC Service Utility. You can also monitor its values...I suggest keeping it zeroed all of the time (just answer "yes" to the question done to you) and actually clean the ink pads only when you see or think it's necessary. ------------------------------------- [8] General tips for avoiding trouble ------------------------------------- There are a few things you can do to avoid unnecessary ink and time wasting, and perhaps make your "favourite" printer live a little longer: a) Never turn the printer off by pulling the power cord. Use the printer's power-down switch for that. If you pull the cord or just interrupt the power externally, it will with a 95% chance start a headcleaning cycle the next time you power it on. b) If you want to use refills/compatible cartridges, accept the associated risks and choose the solution which works better for you (some users actually reported of having found compatible cartridges as cheap as 4-5 Euros, as well as chip resetters able to reset some of these cartridges as well). Just see what you can find before you start monkeying with the printer. c) Don't refill cartridges when tired, deconcentrated or in a bad mood, usually this only results in a messy desk and clogging problems. d) If possible, after a successul -or an "almost" successful- refill, do not use the printer for a couple of hours. This will cause the ink to "settle" and most bubbles to disappear, thus reducing or even eliminating the need for cleaning. e) As correctly reported by a reader of this guide, one of the best ways to avoid head clogging and ink drying out, is to use the printer frequently. Usually, at least once a week is enough, but I'd recommend at least once every two or three days or even daily, depending on your local climate). Honestly, even having the printer printing out a "head check" pattern (Black and Color) each two days is generally enough to keep the ink fresh and flowing. f) I'd also recommend that you clean the head parking's place quite often -at least once a week- as described in section 6. It makes cleaning cycles much more effective, and the printer more functional overall. h) If you haven't got it, get the SSC Service Utility for your printer at http://www.ssclg.com Even if you don't plan on using refills or compatible cartridges, you can still use it for cleaning and diagnostic purposes.