Best practice for clearing Epson clogs (specifically 7600)

[AFairley]

My friend has a 7600 with a propensity for head clogs.  I am working on getting her to understand that the printer is designed for constant not intermittent use and to print a little something every day to help "keep the pores open" but in the meantime, there is a stubborn clog of the cl and y channels to clear. 

What's the best way to approach this?  A series of regular cleaning alternating with a test print?  How many rounds before trying a power cleaning?  If power cleaning doesn't do it, then what?  What do you do between power cleaning attempts?  From this forum I'm generally familiar with cleaning procedure (e.g. serial power cleanings are a bad thing, the windex under the head trick), but would like to hear from the old hands who have worked out a reliable routine.

(Fortunately, as a 3880 owner, I don't really have to deal with this sort of thing.)

[AFairley]

Actually, Mark may have answered my question in this response in another thread
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=95756.msg782507#msg782507

[huguito]

Hi Alan

I have a 9600, very similar to your friend's
What does the test print look like?
Parking the head over a paper towel damp with Windex for few hours the few times I had minor clogs always does the trick.

I also have a set of images that are just a square solid, about 6" x 6", of each ink color, if a color bands one print of those blocks help it clear.

[brinked]

This is the order I take when trying to clear out a clog:

- power cleans.  If after 5 power cleans, no success move to next step
- Use a damp paper towel, park your print head over it for 12 hours.  Then do a power clean and then a nozzle check.
- Do a initial priming.  Basically the first thing you did when you received your printer.  This will clear out your lines and use some ink but it helps a good amount of times.
- buy a complete set of refillable ink carts and purge/cleaning fluid.  Load them into your printer, prime your lines with the fluid and then have it print for an hour.  You will not see anything, but just let it print.
- Soak your print head overnight.  There are videos on this I never have tried this method but it might work
- SS clean (super sonic cleaning).  Do research on this before doing it to learn the risks about this.
- Replace your print head.  Watch a DIY video or try to find someone locally.  Epson repair companies usually charge about $400 labor for this, you can probably buy the print head somewhere buy googling the part number.