What is a Printhead’s Role in a Printer?

A printhead is a crucial printer component that transfers ink onto paper or other media. It consists of tiny nozzles that spray ink droplets to form text and images. The printhead moves back and forth across the paper, ensuring even and accurate coverage, and plays a vital role in determining print quality, affecting the final output's sharpness, color accuracy, and detail. Proper printhead maintenance is essential, as issues like clogs or dried ink can significantly impact printing performance and longevity.

Why Do Printheads Malfunction?

What causes printhead failure? There are a few reasons as to why you may need to fix your printhead. Here are seven factors that can cause printhead failure and what to do about it.

• Ink Clogs: Ink typically exists in liquid form. When all goes well, it flows freely with the right applied consistency to the paper, garment, or other item per the computer's printing instructions. However, ink can thicken and become clogged in the printhead, causing the printing process to be inconsistent or even stop altogether.

• Dried Ink: Ink that remains in the printhead for a long duration can dry and cause blockages, preventing ink from flowing freely and even leading to dried ink flakes that can ruin a printing project.

• Dust or Lint Buildup: Sometimes, it's not the ink that causes a clog but dust or lint that builds up on or in the printhead. Dust can collect from particles floating in the air, and lint can come from the material used in garment printing.

• Lack of Airflow: Insufficient or lack of airflow can cause problems with your printhead, from clogs to dried ink. Dust, lint, or ink can block the air nozzles of your printhead.

• Leaving the printer on continuously: Most printers have a self-clean cycle that runs when the printer is turned off or first turned on. If you leave your printer on constantly, it won’t get a regular cleaning.

• Infrequent Use: On the contrary, when you rarely use your printer, your printhead can fail due to dust/lint buildup and dried ink.

• Mechanical Malfunctions: Sometimes, a printhead fails due to a mechanical malfunction. Your printer may need repair or a new printhead.

How Can These Issues Be Corrected and Prevented?

You can often correct and prevent these printhead issues with the following tips:

• Run the printer’s self-clean cycle: If your printhead malfunctions, the first step should be to run the self-clean cycle on your printer. If it doesn’t automatically run the cycle, you’ll have to instruct the printer to do so.

• Manually clean your printhead: Using mild cleaning products, preferably those designed for printhead cleaning, manually clean your printhead to remove dried ink, dust, and lint.

• Use your printer daily: Print something each day, even a small test sample, to keep your printer working efficiently and prevent its ink from drying up.

• Turn off the printer at the end of each workday: It is essential to power down your printer daily at a workday’s end, triggering the printer to self-clean, which can help prevent clogs and dried ink from building up.

• Get the Printhead Doctor: The Printhead Doctor is a machine that can unclog any type and manufacturer of the printhead. Consider investing in this device to clear your printhead.