How to clean Brother inkjet printer´s print head clogged nozzles?

[@linglee8688]

I actually work for brother support , you can also press and hold the red X key for about 10 seconds on most inkjet models to move the print head to the middle once the scanner cover is open. This is with the machine still powered on

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Ling Lee - thanks for that useful input - that helps a lot.

[@lermanetor]

@@octopusoffice I do your paper idea and work but I do the X and work to thank you

[@megacyclisto]

I got soft buttons and that X becomes available only when needed....

[@linglee8688]

@@megacyclisto what model is it I'll try remembering the process for urs

[@megacyclisto]

@@linglee8688 mfc-j5620dw european model all heads are bonedry

[@renatahazelman2129]

Wow - I never comment (no, really) but after self-cleaning the Brother MFC printer I have and seeing no difference in Magenta, I almost gave up. The printer is great except for the magenta not printing properly. It's out of warranty for a few years, it's the pandemic, so i don't want to take it to any little place that doesnt' even show up on google maps, but found this video. Holy Moly - i used a kid medicine syringe (5ml), made my own cleaning solution based on through googling, and proceeded to do what is shown in this video. It's beautiful (sniffle). All the little squares show up, they're all the right colors. I'm so happy! (another sniffle)

[@octopusoffice]

Thank You very much for taking the time and overcoming Your fear of commenting (just kidding). We really appreciate such thoughtful and positive feedback !

[@bowercabin8540]

Thank you for posting. My very old Brother MFC 5490c would not print magenta. Using your video I unplugged power when cleaning head was in the middle and observed excess ink from cleaning attempts. Used paper towels to carefully clean all visible excess ink, folded half a paper towel to go under cleaning head and gently scrubbed it left and right until clean. It is printing fine again after that so I did not need to inject cleaning solution this time. I also had the opportunity to clear dust using vacuum and compressed air. Your video saved me lots of troubleshooting.

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for taking the time to provide that thoughtful and detailed feedback! We are happy to read that You were able to get Your printer back to work. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@THCbakesME]

This helps, thank you

[@PopeCromwell]

Thanks for this video. I thought my Brother printer would never print again, but I bought your cleaning kit and I can confirm it works fantastically. Printy time is back :D

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your nice feedback about our tutorial and cleaner 👍🏻. Nice that Your printer has come back to serve its purpose...

[@TheMikeyb86]

Never could unclog my printer head until you showed me the pump action. Finally did the job! Thank you.

[@octopusoffice]

Glad to hear that it worked good for Your Brother printer. Thanks for the positive feedback!

[@johnho7116]

TheMikeyb86

[@susansparks7238]

Great video. Just used a partial of this, as I didn't have a syringe. Black was crappy, yellow was fairly good, magenta and cyan were not printing at all. 12 cleaning cycles later - still the same. I had already tried taking a pin and inserting into the ink heads to try to unclog, still nothing. So I did as this video explained and started a print and then pulled the plug so I could move the print head manually. Then I dabbed the print head (static position one) with isopropyl alcohol (on paper towel) a number of times - tired again, and finally got something out of magenta and cyan.. Few more cleaning cycles and all is well.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Susan, thanks for Your description and taking the time to provide this excellent feedback! We are happy to read You were able to bring Your printer back to life. Doesn´t matter if You follow our suggestion 100 % or take out what suits Your situation 👍🏻

[@katherineeaton6409]

Amazing! My magenta and yellow ink wasn't working, and this worked perfectly! I used a syringe + heat shrink tubing + demineralised water to flush the channels.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Katherine, thanks for Your positive feedback and adapting our suggestion to Your available materials - that´s the right spirit !!!

[@xmatthewlive6542]

@Mario Justin yeah...sure..... like if it will ever gonna work....+ why should you ever hack your friend account? Your “friend” should be very “happy” to know that you have his Instagram password.......bruh

[@ash1eyrose]

@@xmatthewlive6542what??

[@xmatthewlive6542]

@@ash1eyrose I honestly don't remember much but there was a guy writing dumb things... I don't remember since it was more than 2 years ago

[@ash1eyrose]

@@xmatthewlive6542 ah okay, i should have figured that haha. I guess since you didn’t @ anyone, it confused me

[@mariobranco123]

You can click on the "x" botton for 5 seconds and the printer head will move to the center

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for contributing this information!

[@sgtbilkothe3rd]

Just some confirmation, on a Brother printer this comment is correct, but on some models you must hold the "X" button down for three or more seconds to get the print head to the middle. This is after opening the printer cover.

[@jmemusic]

Thanks a lot. This works as well for my Bother printer

[@tommurphy220]

Thank you very much for this help. I did it with a bulb-shaped ear syringe. Had to do it twice, but it worked fine.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Tom, thanks for Your nice feedback! Especially we like Your choice for the tool ... not important what it was made for ... it counts what it can be used for ... 👍🏻

[@laptaklee5407]

Thanks a lot for showing us this video! Could you please show us how to move the printhead to the center (like what you did at 1:26 of your video) for MFC-J480DW? I am having a hard time doing so, it is locked at the right edge of the rail. If I can't move it, I can't place a paper towel under the printhead, and I am afraid ink might leak everywhere when I flush the printhead. Thanks!

[@octopusoffice]

Hello, thanks for contacting us about our print head cleaning tutorial. You can get the print head out of its parking position by starting a print job and then cutting of the electrical supply by pulling the plug as soon as the print head starts to move - it is free then and You can slide it from side to side. There is also another option, please check the comments below the video: by pressing the home button for a longer time, while the upper cover is open, the print head moves to the center position by itsself - not sure if this works for all printer models but it is worth a try....

[@sushi123401]

Hey, I opened the main hatch, then long pressed the "STOP" soft button. J-132W printer, but who knows, it may work :)

[@riccawthra]

On MY J-625DW, holding the "Stop/Exit" button with the top lid raised moves the printhead to the center.

[@jmemusic]

Thanks a lot for this easy to understand tutorial. I haven't done it because I still need the cleaning kit, but I have to say that I managed to move the printerhead with your instructions :-)

[@octopusoffice]

Hello JM, thanks a lot for the nice feedback.

[@luckyducky6534]

If you have a ink refill kit syringe or Turkey Baster, a rubber vacuum hose or other hose & isopropyl alcohol, paper towel; you now have a kit for alot less money.

[@jmemusic]

@@octopusoffice I did this procedure because I was having an empty horizontal line in the printouts. The problem is still there. Could be that the print head needs to be replaced?

[@stevewilliams2498]

​@@jmemusic Try head alignment instead of head cleaning ?

[@arskiracer01]

How do you get the cleaning solution out of the lines after you're done cleaning? Do you just run the cleaning cycle again after reinstalling new ink cartridges?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Adrian, thanks for Your question. We recommend to print out the cleaner - this avoids that the Your printer´s waste ink compartment is filled up and its lifespan is shortened by this. Install new ink cartridges and send a double sided print job with 20 plus pages to Your printer, use old paper as the print outs are not good for any use. Just have a look on the prints during the print job, the colors come back to normal slowly. Stop the print job when the colors are fine again or start another print job if the colors are not to the point You like yet.

[@kya7890]

Thank you sooo much for this video!!! It saved me from spending money on a new printer 🙃😊

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for taking the time and giving such a nice feedback! We are happy to read about Your positive outcome by trying our suggestion for cleaning Your printer! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🙂

[@ZdzislawWolski]

I bought oxygen breathing tubes, also a syringe with a black plunger inside. this one works better as I pull the alcohol 96% inside. I have a problem with blue ink. looks good now, thank you for your video

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Zdzislaw, thanks a lot for Your feedback and the description. We are happy to read that You have been able to adapt our method to the material that is available to You 👍🏻⛏

[@WaschyNumber1]

Does the printer have not a mode that's clean every day the heads themself, so that's the ink don't dry out?

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your question. Most of the printers with users are not switched on all the time - that cleaning You mention is not performed every day. when the printer is off. Inkjets dry in when not beeing used regularely. The more regularely You use an inkjet printer the less the danger of drying out is :)

[@randallewebb]

I know this may be late , but Thank you for the video.This helped me at a client location to fix a Issue. Great video

[@octopusoffice]

Time doesn´t matter :) as long You could get something useful from our tutorial we are happy. Thanks for taking the time and providing this nice feedback. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@riccawthra]

Thank you for this very clear information. I have followed instructions but having trouble with black ink Brother J-625DW. Are you familiar with clearing the printhead on this machine? If so, I am using a blunted "needle" to inject fluid in where the cartridge is removed. Carefully pumping in and out with air as a cushion and it seems to work. However, when trying to clean... I see air bubbles in the black tube about half way... it seems to pull ink from the cartridge to about half way... then nothing! I have repeated to no avail. Have you any recommendations?

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for contacting us about the tutorial. From the long distance we would guess that the cartridge might be a problem - the air inside the tubes indicates that something might not be that tight and air is coming into the ink system. Beside trying to clean out the air You can also try to peint out the air and bringing back the black ink - this might take some time. Also You should use old paper for these test prints. Printing out the cleaner and the air does not bring waste fluids to the printer´s waste ink sponge. The test print job can be for 100 pages (old paper) - inbetween You can always take a look if something has improved.

[@capnden]

Thank-you, It worked like a champ. I didn't have cleaning fluid so I used 80% windex and 20% alcohol.

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@l0g1cle]

Thanks for the tutorial. Managed to clear the clot but afterwards printer is giving me error 4F, any idea how to fix that? Tried going into maintenance mode and purged the counter but no luck.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Aizal, thanks for Your question. What does this error message means for Your printer model? You can find a more detailed explanation in Your printer´s manual. From there we can assess further steps to get rid off that message.

[@ibbnprovider1472]

No need to pull the plug just to move the printer head out of its default position. you just need to roll the cogwheel located on the left side going to your direction or the normal movement of the cogwheel and then push the printhead out to the left gently while rolling the cogwheel and it will come out easily.

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your valuable contribution to our tutorial!

[@mrfamilysage]

I had to do cleaning in steps, the head cleaning took some time, but it works very well. thanks for the video. the principle is important, methods can be modified.

[@octopusoffice]

Excellent feedback! Thanks for taking Your time and sharing Your experience!

[@KegRaider]

What is the adjustment lever for to the left of your thumb at 3:54? I have been given a MFC-J5730DW that was sitting for quite some time. I've replaced all the ink cartridges and it's getting better with the cleaning cycles, but I've purged about 1/5 the ink from the 3319 tanks already. Magenta is missing about 10 bars, Cyan missing probably 20, yellow is missing 3 rows and black is missing 2 bars only. I'm certain that your method will fix it faster than this slow old purge process too! At the end of flushing, won't the lines be full of cleaning fluid anyway? How do you get that out?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Darth, thanks for Your question. To be honest I do not know for sure what can be adjusted at the print head with that lever - If I remember correctly it deals with the alignment of the cartridges. Please do not pin me down on that. Yes, You are right - at the end there is still cleaner fluid in the lines and inside the print head. But You can print that out - this will take quite a number of prints - slowly the colors will come back to normal - BUT You do not fill up the waste ink compartment of printer unnecessarily. We recommend to use old paper for these tests prints.

[@DrewH789]

Good simple instructions but one detail is missing. What size tubing should be used to conncect they syringe to the printer nozzle?

[@octopusoffice]

The inner diameter of the tube should be between 1,5 mm to 2,0 mm.

[@DrewH789]

OctopusConcept Thank you for your reply. I'll look for the tubing and try the method.

[@octopusoffice]

You are welcome. Let us know in case You need some further assistance.

[@georgeferreira4270]

Thank you so much. This helped me fix my clogged yellow ink issue on my printer!

[@octopusoffice]

Hello George, thanks for trying our approach and taking the time to give that positive feedback!

[@Funkloned]

Im a bit confused about taking air into the syringe, in the video its said to take a bit of air, but other people say to not have any air in the syringe. So it is ok? why is needed or not needed?

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your question. The air in our method is not supposed to be pressed from the syringe into the ink tubes and further on into the print head. "Our" air works as a buffer when building up pressure inside the syringe by pressing in the syringe´s plunger. The air inside the syringe can be compressed and thereby the pressure builds up more gently. This way the pressure towards the printer´s ink system is not that hard as it would be without any air inside the syringe. Always pay attention to keep the air inside the syringe and do not press it into the printers ink system. It will do no damage there but it is very time consuming to get it out from there again.

[@Funkloned]

​ @octopusoffice Oh, so if I were to put, lets say like in the video, 30 milliliters of print cleaner into the syringe and then 10-20 milliliters of air, I would have to go back and forth injecting the cleaner until I reached right before those 30 ml are spent and avoid the air to get into the ink system? Sorry if I sound dumb, I just wanted to get the idea right before I finally clean the printer. Thanks in advance.

[@octopusoffice]

@@FunklonedThanks for coming back - there are no dumb questions if You want to get a thing done right :) Your description is fully right - pump the syringe´s plunger and press the cleaner in. Stop pressing in the cleaner when reaching the air inside the syringe....

[@specialprojects7504]

I have a question. I have a Brother MFC-J5520DW and I tried cleaning the nozzles the same way you showed by plugging a tube onto the ink intake port, except I used warm water. My Cyan was the one that was the most clogged and when I pressed the syringe not much was happening, only a tiny bit of Cyan was coming out onto the paper towel, then all of the sudden all the water from the syringe started squirting out of the Yellow intake port while it was plugged into the Cyan port. I played with it a little bit then water started coming out of the Magenta and Black ports... Is that normal, or did I brake something by giving it more pressure?

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your description and question. We never had Your situation before - so we can do some thinking but no guarantees that we are right: So for sure it is not normal in our suggested way of cleaning that the cleaning liquid pressed into one ink intake comes out of the other ink intakes. But it happened to You - so it might be that the pressure applying the cleaner into the ink system was too high and some internal structures in the print head were not able to withstand that . We recommend to try to go back to printing and see if there is a damage. Sorry for not beeing able to be more specific from the long distance.

[@avielp]

What common liquid could I use instead of this liquid? I doubt I can order it and it would take some months anyway

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your question. Most desktop printer inks are mainly based on water - so You need to have a cleaner based on water too - the specific requirement for the water is that it needs to be purified and in best case demineralized. When cleaning with not clean enough water You trade one problem for the next one...

[@dpkagrwl6621]

I have MFC-260C, after following the steps suggested by you. Cyan is not prined some time on test page. Some time Cyan is very light. What is the solution?

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for your question. There might be cleaning solution remaining inside the printer´s ink system. To get it out we recommend to run test prints - use old paper and start a 50pages print job double sided - this job takes some time - so You can take a look from time to time and see if the cyan is coming back to look normal.

[@ymnazwan4549]

Thank you, its work!! But i dont use any liquid, just use the syringe and pump some air to push out all the ink

[@octopusoffice]

Thank You very much for giving feedback. We are concerned about that it might be difficult to get the air out of the printer´s ink system when You want to go back to printing. Please let us know if You have been able to do this.

[@themlotproductions]

OctopusConcept , if air is inside one of the ink channels, what’s the suggested method of removal? After carefully lifting the ink head circuit board I can see an ink well is empty!

[@unnieaten8509]

how u pump? can u explain

[@themlotproductions]

@@unnieaten8509 This is explained in the video.

[@karentiburciomartin1349]

At first i used this method but i failed..but when i saw this comment that no liquid used i try again and it works..my magenta unclogged..thank you for this video..and the comment..Godbless to both of you..

[@donpenrose2406]

This worked perfectly after nothing else did. Yellow ink would not print at all. I did have to run the printer head cleaning function 2 times but it prints perfectly now.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Don. thanks a lot for taking the time and giving that nice feedback! Great to read Your printer is back to work 👍🏻

[@milliondollar2981]

Thank you!!,,you saved me $365 😃

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for the nice feedback! We are happy we were able to assist You!

[@ameboide0]

​@OctopusConcep Hi! Thanks so much for the video and the product. I have a question. After you use the product and clean the print head, what do you do after that? Just insert a new ink cartridge or do I need to take out the cleaning product from the printer before inserting the ink cartridge? Thanks in advance

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your thoughtful question! When You have bottled ink available - good - then You can actually do as asked - insert new ink into the ink tube leading to the print head. That speeds up the process of getting the prints back to normal after the cleaning. Not everybody has bottled ink available therefore it is also ok to set new cartridges into the printer after cleaning and print out the cleaning fluid that remains in the ink system. This takes more time but has the same effect as priming the tubes with new inks from a syringe.

[@ameboide0]

@@octopusoffice Got it! Thank you!

[@4treKGaming]

@@octopusoffice Hello there.Dose it mater what liquid i use? This kit is too cheap to deliver and i live far away. btw, your cartages and ink work amazing.

[@powerupportal7477]

My magenta was completely clogged, but my yellow, cyan and black were working perfectly. I used the method in your video on my magenta, but the magenta is still clogged and now my cyan seems to be completely clogged as well. Do you have any suggestions?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello, thanks for Your question. When did the blockage of the magenta line start - did it begin when setting in a new cartridge? Has the printer not been used for some time? Are working with alternative cartridges or original Brother cartridges?

[@powerupportal7477]

@@octopusoffice it was my fault, the printer was working fine, but then sat in my basement for 1 year. First time I plugged it in the magenta was completely clogged, and the cyan half clogged. I did the printer's automatic unclogging cycle and the cyan got fixed almost completely, and the magenta gave me 2 lines, so I used your method to see if I could completely fix the magenta, but I noticed that the liquid was coming out of the printhead, but also some fluid was coming out of the cyan. The last set of ink was IKONG brand

[@octopusoffice]

Hello, thanks for Your explanation. Such a long time without doing any prints is really dangerous for inkjet printers. The inks tend to become solid inside the print head. Especially pigmented inks make difficulties as they contain small particles. Getting these particles out of the print head again can cause some serious head aches. The inks that you mention - are they pigmented inks and how old are they? Pigmented inks turn bad after 2 years - this due to the pigment dispersion used in them - the pigment particles fall out after this time.

[@aerodriguez1254]

On my Brother j475dw my black nozzle is clogged up. do i only remove the black cartridge while cleaning and leave the color cartridges attached?"

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your question. Removing all cartridges provides more room for You to attach the plastic tube on the ink port of the color which You would like to clean. That would be our recommendation 😃

[@Bpfeifer2006]

What is the fluid that you are injecting? I missed it or didn't see it anywhere?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Brent, thanks for Your question. We are using our nozzle cleaner fluid - which is basically a waterbased, colorless ink enriched with surfacants for boosting the dissolving effect. Important about the waterbase in our cleaner fluids is that the water is purified and demineralized.

Thank you for the demonstration -- I have a HP inkjet with a clogged black nozzle, but in my case there is a foamy mesh placed over the nozzle opening. Do you happen to have any advice on cleaning this type of printhead?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Jari, thanks for Your question - what HP printer model do You have? HP is a different story than Brother - maybe we can advise something to You based on Your printer.

[@sammiller9855]

How much of the cleaning fluid is actually pushed through. Is the idea only pump it in and out a little? Not to lose too much of fluid?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Sam, thanks for your question. As soon as the cleaner goes through the ink line that You are cleaning it is enough - just let the cleaner stay inside for some time more and then push out a bit more. Most of the cloggings should have been removed by then.

[@arno124d8]

thanks for the video, although my brother is not the same model as yours, mine is a mfcj485dw its very similar. my attempt was ok ,ink and cleaner was coming through quite well, but my test prints still not showing any yellow. did about 10 printhead cleaning, starting from NORMAL THEN STRONG THEN STRONGEST. Now just starting to show 1 line of dashs on test print but still faint. I tried using a paper towel folded up and soaked it with windex underneath the print head, left it overnight, the dashes are showing up now still only 1 line and the bottom but nothng at the top. Any suggestions

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for describing You situation and reaching out for our help. During the print head has been sitting over the soaked paper did You let the cartridges remain in the printer? Otherwise it happens that the absorbent paper under the nozzles pulls out the ink from the ink system and air gets intot the tubes leading towards the print head. You say that You have been running quite a number of print head cleanings and the tubes were actually free - that also indicates into the direction that there might be air blocking the proper flow of ink. You could flush the system again with cleaner fluid - this also flushes out the air. Then You go back to make double sided test prints which should normalize the colors slowly.

[@idokerpel5840]

Worked Perfectly! Used Rob's Homemade Life's cleaning solution. No Cost, No Wait. Printing!

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for the feedback! Perfect, that You have been able to get a solution with material already available at Your home!

[@judymayo8517]

do i need a new bottle and tube for each ink color or can i use the same bottle and tube for each in color

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Juda, thanks for Your question. One bottle of cleaner fluid and one tube serves all colors - just clean the equipment in between and You will be fine.

[@jdk2024-x9m]

Hi, do you need to empty the cartridge of ink before performing the cleaning or clean it with the ink inside the cartridges? Thank you

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Pamie, as we take out the cartridge - the inks remain in the cartridges. After taking out the cartridges we flush the ink line with the cleaner solution. After that cartridge back to the printer and then we print out the cleaner from the inks system. Hope that answers Your question...

[@jdk2024-x9m]

Oh ok! So thankful for the clarification! I now understand that what i did was wrong yesterday!

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Pamie, thanks for Your reply. Nothing is lost at this point ! Hope You will be able to get the printer revived.

[@jdk2024-x9m]

Thanks so much! Printer performance was improved! 🥰

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Pamie, great to read about the positive result 👍🏻👍🏻

[@joaorodrigues7000]

I've boght this kit for my two brother printers. Both are clogged on the blue colors. I suspect that the issue is the recicled catridges. I've done the procidures about a month ago and it have improved a little bit but not mutch. Do you have any tips to unclog it? Thank you.

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for contacting us about the tutorial and the cleaning kits. When You suspect the cartridges to be the reason for the bad printing results - Have You switched to new / different cartridges / inks after the cleaning? Otherwise the problem stays when You use material that causes the bad prints.

[@joaorodrigues7000]

@@octopusoffice the problem in this case is that I haven't found a way to unclog it. The ink brand is an other now, but, since I can't print correctly, I cant confirm if it's solved. Thank you for the answer.

[@octopusoffice]

@@joaorodrigues7000 Thanks for coming back to my question: You can repeat the cleaning as often as You want - hard cases may require several applications to get more and more nozzels back to work.

[@jupiterorenia1487]

You have already cartridge reseter for brother j2340dw?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Jupiter, thanks for contacting us about the LC462 Brother cartridges - we are in close contact with the manufacturer of the resetter solutions for Brother - todays´status (Novemeber 7th 2022) is that for this cartridge model the resetter is not available yet - they also can not give a reliable date for its expected availability.

[@supcomFAN]

lets say i did something stupid and injected air into the whole system, including the head.. is there a way to get it out because now its not printing anything

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Kai, no worries - nothing lost at this point. What material do You have available? Do You have clenaer fluid and / or bottled inks? Either You use the cleaner fluid and flush out the air by injecting cleaner into the ink system - this pushes the air out of the tubes and the herad. Or in case You have - You use refill inks from the bottle to fill up the ink system with ink again. Please pay attention to inject the right color of ink into the right line of ink in the printer - You know what we mean 🙂. After flusing You set back the cartridges into the printer and You have to run several test prints - when using the cleaner for flushing this needs longer as the cleaner has to be printed out before the colors come back to normal - print on used paper double sided, When flushing the ink system using refill ink the print results come back to normal faster.

[@supcomFAN]

thanks i will try with cleaning fluid since i dont have bottled ink

[@octopusoffice]

That will do the job - have patience when running the test prints to get the cleaner out again 👍🏻

[@drumwhacker]

I have the Brother MFC-J41W, I tried your method to get the cleaning head out but it was too fast, and when I did catch it partially out I could not move it.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Daniel, thanks for describing Your experience using info from our tutorial. From our understanding You had have trouble to get the print head to a position in which You could move it from side to side, right? Either You try again as You have done and make it stop more in the middle of the working area. Or trying digging the comments under this tutorial: some users found ways to get the print head over the working area by using some button combination on the printer.

[@drumwhacker]

@@octopusoffice wow, awesome fast response. Thanks, I managed to get it to move with just a bit more pressure. At 1st I was afraid of damaging it, but since it was on death row I thought what the heck. Lol

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Daniel - dead printer walking - beside forcing the print head to a managable position: have You been able to bring the patient back to show some life signs? 🙂

[@dougmills6250]

My printer does not have a power cord that can be easily removed from the back and where it plugs into the power soource is difficult to get to. Can I just use the power button?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Doug, thanks for Your question. Using the power button brings the print head back to its parking postion. There it is locked and it is difficult for You to get the absorbent layer under the nozzle plate - please look into the comments of our tutorial - some users have described a way to get the print head into the middle of the working area by using the printers buttons - maybe this can work for You too.

[@dougmills6250]

@@octopusoffice Thank you very much. I was able to get the print head centered by holding the "X". Got the paper towels ready and under the head, now just waiting for my kit to arrive. Curious though, when printing after cleaning will it show ink consumption prior to ink actually hitting the paper or will it only measure what is actually in the cartridge? Would you recommend cleaning all the tubes at one time? What should I print to get the ink back to paper the quickest? Is there a test page or something to use other than when using the cleaning cycle? I don't want to fill up the waste tank trying to print test pages.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Doug, thanks for Your answer. Nice to read You have found a solution for Your printer. Actually we do not recommend to let the print head sit in that middle position for a long time - there the inks in it may dry out - so when waiting for the cleaning kit let the head sit in its normal parking position. We suggest cleaning the trouble making colors only - so You do not waste ink from the lines that are actually ok. After the manual cleaning You should get the same ink level as before the cleaning as no ink from the cartridges is consumed. To get the colors bac,k to normal just print any document containing the colors that You have cleaned - this prints out the remaining cleaner fluid and mix of cleaner and ink goes onto the paper instead into the waste ink tank / sponge.

[@sergeboivin566]

My mfc-j475dw printer seems to have the 3 colours clogged. The black prints fine but all 3 other colours have stopped working at the same time. Is it typical for 3 of the 4 heads to clog at the same time? We don't print colour that often so maybe that's the problem. I thought this printer did an automatic head cleanup on a periodic basis to avoid that?

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for your question. 3 colors getting clogged at the same time is a bit atypical. Do have changed the color cartidges lately? Are You working with alternative inks / alternative cartridges?

[@juntjoonunya9216]

So I pushed cleaning solution through to a brother mfc printhead to clean it, I've done it and each ink passage goes all the way through to the printhead as shown by soaked paper towel placed underneath, then ran several test prints and printhead cleanings and only got maybe a faint print from the cyan, then nothing. Is the circuitry dead or something? Is it salvagable?

[@octopusoffice]

After flushing the ink lines plus the head with cleaner it usually takes quite a number of prints to get the colors back to normal - start a print job double sided on test paper / already used paper - that takes time and You can look from time to time if the colors are coming back. This process gets out the cleaner from the ink system. Make sure that there is no air in the ink system - when You are not sure about this just flush again - this pushes out the air - then start again to print out the remaining cleaner solution.

[@krass76]

when you're done, do you leave the cleaning fluid inside the ink line, connect a cartridge and do printhead cleaning routine(s) to get the ink into the the printhead again or how do you do that?

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your question. After cleaning You can install new cartridges and start double sided print jobs using old paper. This way You can avoid to fill up the waste ink sponge inside Your printer unnecessarily. When doing a print head cleaning routine by the pinter´s menu the liquid goes into the waste ink sponge and the printer deducts that cleaning routine from the sponge´s capacity. We recommend to use the test prints to get the remaining cleaner out of the inks system. Slowly the inks will come back to normal. We start that process usually with a print job about 50 pages - that takes quite a while - but You can look anytime in between and check for the progress.

[@krass76]

​@@octopusoffice wow, thank you very much for the explaination, makes sense! so in effect, is there no difference between "print head cleaning" and printing some solid-color pages? no higher nozzle pressure? could "printing some solid-color pages" be used to clean the nozzles aswell?

[@octopusoffice]

There is a difference between our suggested approach cleaning by printing and the printer integrated head cleaning function: the cleaning done by the printer´s menu also involves a pump that extracts ink by applying negative pressure from the outside on the nozzle plate. In addition the print head is moved over some wiper blades that should remove pollutions from the outside. Except the negative pressure applied from the outside part - our cleaning methos also involves the wiping of the nozzle plate by installling the absorbent underlay. Printing out the remaining cleaner can be done as the ink lines should be free after pushing cleaner through - so there is no need for an increased pressure.

[@krass76]

@@octopusoffice thank you! very informative!

[@octopusoffice]

You are welcome! 👍🏻

[@jeiciaa8347]

same problem with our current printer yellow is missing when printing. where can i get the seringe extension.?? thanks im not from us

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your question. You can find the extension here: www.octopus-office.de/shop/en/refill-supplies/ink-refill-supplies/tools-equipment/3215/extension-for-ink-intake?number=TAV1

[@TheSammray]

kindly advice about the fluid you use, is it alcohol or what,,

[@octopusoffice]

We use a cleaner based on purified, demineralised water - as the inks used in the printer are waterbased too - so You need to have water to have a disolving effect. Alcohol does not have this dissolving effect on dried in waterbased inks.

[@ivanchroma]

Thank you for the video! I'm going to try this method. I have the same printer you showed. Is it usually enough with 30 ml per printhead or does it require several washings?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Ivan, thanks for Your comment. With 30ml cleaner per print head You mean 30ml per color, right? Yes, 30ml cleaner is sufficient for each ink color. How many flushings are necessary depends on the blocking - some require only one cleaning cycle others need more attempts.

[@craig156]

I have a Brother MFC J5330DW that won't print magenta. Cartridge is full and all the others work fine. If I try to print a color box I just get a blank box with a little streaking but no color. Do you know what size tubing I need to connect to the printer to try to flush it out?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Craig - You can ask at Your local pharmacy for a single infusion line - these connect infusion bags to ports or other luer lock connectors. Such a tube should be suitable for Your purpose.

[@craig156]

@@octopusoffice Thanks for the response.

[@gencrexhaj7866]

I'm using 95% Alcohol, i fixed C,M,Y but Black one wont unclog, i tried it for around 20 min and no ink came out of print head, is it safe to disassemble print head and and soak it in alcohol?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Genc, thanks for Your description and question. Before disassembling the print head there is a different, more simple approach that You can try: Try to clean the print heads nozzle plate from the bottom side. That means put the foil material and on top of that the absorbent material soaked with head cleaning liquid under the print head - let the print head sit there for a while and then move the print head from side to side over the absorbent cleaning pad. Check afterwards by printing test prints if the color is coming back. Beside that Alscohol is not the best cleaning agent for the inks in the Brother desk top printers as these inks are waterbased and alcohol does not disolve such an ink. When You can get Your hands on a waterbased cleaner, give it a try....

[@pattybrinilifecoach]

UNDER LOCKDOWN HERE!!! NEED ASAP HELP!! NEED PRINTER TO WORK I did exactly what you demonstrated on my brother MFC-J430w black which was clogged. Did many test printings as well and black finally started to print lightly on paper but now I got a sign saying ink absorber is full! and stops me from printing. I can actually understand that by injecting the fluid into black nozzle it must of filled up absorber.. This is my problem now . and by the way It is not written as an error 46 so it isn't error... What do i do now???? Printer won't print at all? How can i empty out ink absorber and clean ink pad felt? I called customer care no repair services are being provided during covid

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Patty, thanks for reaching out for help and describing Your situation. The waste ink pad inside the printer is filled up when using the print head cleaning function integrated in the printer´s functionalities. The method we show in our tutorial bypasses the printer´s waste ink pad and saves it for later. Depending on Your printer´s age it might be the case that the pad has been close to its capacity before applying our cleaning approach or did You try to clean Your print head by running several print head cleanings from the printer menu? The situation is that with this message You are not going to get Your printer going again without a service technician - thanks to Brother®. 😶 Please do no harm to the bringer of the message 😐

[@nouhbaha8924]

Hi man thnx for helping i have a question m'y 4110 printer IS n'ot reconising thé yelow one

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your question. Are You trying to install an alternative or a refilled original cartridge into Your printer?

[@nouhbaha8924]

@@octopusoffice alternative

[@skadogg22]

Thank you. This helped me fix my clogged ink issue!

[@octopusoffice]

Thank You very much for positive feedback!

[@steps8644]

P

[@Unlicensedkarebearr]

What do I do if it’s not printing cyan? I printed out a lot of test prints and now my printer is no longer detecting the ink even though there’s still the same amount as to when I put it in... I’m at a lost :/

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for your question. Do you mean that Your printer signals the cyan cartridge as empty? Even if the ink from the cyan cartridge is not reaching the paper when doing the test prints the cartridge´s remaining page yield is counted down as the printer does not know that no ink is flowing out of the cartridge. This is why ink is still available in the cartridge but the printer says it is empty. In case Your printer says cyan empty You need a new cartridge.

[@DenisHuaHin]

Yes i have this problem the yellow not printing , but do you get the ink tank out?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Denis, thanks for Your question. What do You mean by ink tank? Are You using a Brother printer with build in ink tanks?

[@dr.k2779]

Very helpful! I have the Brother MFC-J690DW. Where can I order the fluid, syringe, & tube? Thank you.

[@octopusoffice]

You can use this link to get to the product: www.octopus-office.de/shop/en/printer-ink/nozzle-cleaner-cartridge-cleaner/4676/nozzle-cleaner-for-brother-print-head-cleaner-with-extension?sPartner=KZbin001

[@HenryLoenwind]

@@octopusoffice Und bestellt. Dann hoffe ich mal, dass sich das satte Weiß, dass mein 6710 grade druckt, mit Durchspülen und guter Tinte beheben lässt...

[@ralseichanuwu]

Can i do this without the printer cleaning alcohol thingy i will just pump the inks out using the syringe Also my printer is Brother MFC - J430W It has no chip

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Asriel, thank You very much for Your question. Yes, Your printer is worling with similar cartridges as used in our video tutorial. The cleaning solution should match the type ink that is used in Your printer. The standard inks for printing for example office documents are water based inks. In that case You cleaner should be waterbased too - alcohol based cleaner does not clean waterbased inks very well.

[@narditeav9720]

Hi there, I have done what you have said in the video. All the colour ink is unclogged but the black seems to be still clogged and wont print black. Do you have any solution for fixing this problem? I have clean the black ink head twice. and still no black being printed.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Nardi, thanks for Your question. According to Your description we assume three possible scenarios for Your situation: either there is still cleaner in the black ink line that needs to be printed out, second the black nozzles are still blocked with a very rigid blcking as You say, keep on cleaning in that case and third scenario is the worst case: the black part of the print head is damaged. Our cleaner can clean but is not able to do any repairs...

[@Stallnig]

My printer stopped printing black. I cleaned my printhead similarely as described. tissue under head gets soaked in black. Put in new cartridge, paper still blank after 30 papers and several cleaning runs. The cleaningfelt was soaked in black. 3/4 of the cartrige used up already. What else could be the problem?

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for contacting us about Your situation. According to Your description Your printer did not print black before the cleaning already. The cleaning runs using the printer´s internal cleaning functionality uses a littel pump that sucks the ink from the cartridge through the print head into the waste ink compartment - the print head itsself does not print during that procedure. So in Your situation it indicates the the black part of the print head might be defective. We ask for Your understanding that we cannot say that for sure from the distance. We recommend to try keep printing - it might need more than 30 test pages to get the color back onto the paper. Make sure that there a no air bubbles trapped inside the tube leading from the cartridge to the print head.

[@chloebee80085]

I tried this but my printer now isn’t using any ink at all. I can see the lines to the print head are sort of jammed maybe too? Any advice?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Chloe, thanks for contacting us. From Your sescription we assume that You are able to start a print job on Your printer but no ink / only few ink lines appear on the paper. At this point we would point into the follwing direction: First make sure that no air is pressed into the ink lines during the cleaning - when You are not sure if that did happen - flush again with cleaner and the air is pressed out through the nozzles - that should clear the ink lines. After that it is necessary to get out the remaining cleaner from the printer´s ink system: Best practice to do so is to run test prints on old / used paper - start a 50+ pages, double sided print job and keep an eye on the development of the prints. It may take some time that the colors come back to normal again.

[@donnaambrose9094]

Lots of black ink on the paper towel, but black ink still not printing at all. Any tips?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Donna, thanks for Your question and the description. We see two possible scenarios here: Worst case is that the print head is damaged technically in the black ink line - so cleaning out the clooged or dried in ink cannot fix that 😒. Second thought: Have You printed out the cleaner fluid from the ink system after cleaning - this may take quite some time and quite a number of test prints? You say there are black ink remains on the paper material - ok so the line should go through again.

[@cyberlafrique5961]

pls i wanna ask for ink pad full the same printer dcp j4120, so how we clean that or ...............

[@Mobin92]

So this fkn machine cleans itself like once a week wasting all my ink... and then it STILL clogs!!

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Mobin, what kind of cartridges / what kind of ink are You using? Are You working with alternative materials?

[@halthegreat]

dude same. This is the last ink printer I own, gonna rely on a b/w laser printer for papers and the local copy shop.

[@ESP4762]

After doing this to my Brother MFC printer won't recognize blue and yellow cartridges anymore! is it possible that Air has trapped inside the printer? How do I fix this now?..

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for contacting us and for Your question. We read Your comment that You have tried already more than 1 of the cartridges that are not recognized anymore, right? In the cartridge slots there are the contact pins that make contact to the chip on the cartridge. Did You bend one or more of these pins during the cleaning? Maybe a pin cannot reach the chip on the cartridges anymore and may cause this situation.

[@pieralessi7426]

Hi, Brother mfc-j5320dw I can't move the printhead to the centre of the printer, when I press start on the printhead cleaning option it makes the three "beep" sound and does nothing, it gives no information, I know this is not to do with your product but I can't get an answer elsewhere. Thank you

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Pier, thanks for Your question. No matter if the issue is related to our product - we are happy to get into contact with the viewers. You can try to use the print a test pattern function instead. When the print head starts to move to print the pattern You pull out the cable for electrical supply - then You should be able to move the print head freely. When starting the cleaning the print head actually stays in its parking position.

[@pieralessi7426]

@@octopusoffice thanks for replying but the problem is that when I press the button to start cleaning it beeps three times and the head does not move, nothing happens. Thank you

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Pier, does the printer not work at all anymore or are You able to start a print job and the printer actually prints?

[@pieralessi7426]

@@octopusoffice Thank you for your reply, the situation is as follows: at first the printer does not recognise two of the new cartridges (not original), I had already used a set of the same brand and it recognised them all but after a move it started to discard all the cartridges that were already finished, I did several head cleanings and after recognizing some and not others I decided to put a new set of cartridges similar to the previous ones but two of the colours (C and M) it does not recognize them, thinking in the possibility of being blocked the ducts I decided to do the cleaning with your product but following the instructions I cannot make that when I press the "start" button on the printer screen the head moves from its place. I am not sure but I think that before doing this cleaning job the printer was not reacting to the head cleaning command, if you know the cause of the symptom and the solution I would be grateful if you could let me know, maybe it is a home-made solution or I will have to take the printer to technical assistance. thanks.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Pier, thank You very much for Your excellent, detailed explanantion. From Your description we assume that the issue is releated to the ink chips on Your alternative ink cartridges. When the chips on the alternative cartridges are old they might not be suitable to work with newer version of the firmware on your printer. Did You update Your printers´firmware or did the printer do that automatically maybe? In both cases it is possible that a cartridge that worked flawless before the update is not recognized by the printer anymore after the update. So You have two options right now - switch to a new set of alternative cartridges made by another supplier (hoping that their chips are newer versions) or go for a new set of original cartridges and see if it solves the problem. Also in both case You should take a look into Your printers´settings and disable the automatic firmware update option.

[@ronaldhofman1726]

print 1 testpage per week and prevent it from drying in

[@octopusoffice]

Exactly - keeping a inkjet printer in use - keeps it alive !

[@ihaventbeenmyselfeversince7331]

I saw other videos like this, why is it always the yellow ones you’re cleaning?

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your question! Do You mean we and the other videos are always cleaning yellow? Or just we do always yellow? Honestly - we pick yellow because it´s a nice ink color we think 😏

[@Eener1000]

Hahaha, I have the almost the same printer as in the video, just a bit newer model, I here it is also the yellow that is clogged, eventhough it gets quite regular use. Must be something with the ink

[@TheOldgrumps]

Eener1000 I think yellow pigments under the microscope are long and thin, the others are round! That goes fir concrete colour pigments anyway!

[@TheWinterShade]

How dyou know when it's clean?

[@besullivan1]

I only use black ink, so it is probably the only clogged port. Should I clean only the black and ignore the colors?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Barbara, just clean the color that makes trouble. There is no need to flush the other inks.

[@stevewilliams2498]

For those watching for the 1st time. DON'T do what I did. I left the printing head in the middle, over the paper towell, over night whilst I found a piece of tube. The next morning the new cartridge I had put in to allow me to move the head was empty and the paper towel was sodden with ink.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Steve, big respect for sharing that bad experience! The absorbing material applies an absorbing effect towards the nozzles constantly. Sorry for Your cartridge loss. Thanks for sharing this very useful information!

[@ronaldhofman1726]

I had a MFC5730DW with problem print head , used nog standard ink , so ordered a new MFC5740DW and am happy and only use standard ink from now on, my orther ptnter had printed 1088 pages A4 and A3 , the renew of the printhead was not a good solution and did not do it, printers are not that expensive 5 years is a normal live for inkjet.

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for sharing Your experience - with 5 years You already expecting a quite long life span for a standard desktop printer :) we calculate with 3 years 🙂

[@eckyhen]

Cleaned out my "cyan" easily but still not printing this colour. Does this indicate a total printhead failure?

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your question. Did You clean the other colors too or just the cyan ink color? After cleaning an ink line as demonstrated in our tuturial there always reamains cleaning solution in this ink line and inside the print head - after the cleaning You have to get the cleaner fluid out for example by printing test pages on test paper (20 to 50 prints ongoing) - then the color should go back to normal slowly. When You have bottled ink available You also press the cyan ink into the cyan ink line to push out the remaining cleaner. If this all does not help it indicates that there is a problem with the print head itself.

[@eckyhen]

@@octopusoffice Thanks. I will try that before buying a new printer. Actually cheaper than buying a new print head.

[@octopusoffice]

@@eckyhen Hello Eric, thanks for the feedback! Good luck to You...

[@markwayne8011]

Octopus i can’t find that process, can you repost it?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Mark, to be able to show You the right thing: Which process do You mean?

[@markwayne8011]

@@octopusoffice I found it. its that process by going into the black screen.

[@octopusoffice]

Glad You made it 👍🏻👍🏻

[@spyrostziakouris8110]

is this compatible with MFC-6935?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Spyros, thanks for Your question. Our tutorial does NOT work for Your printer model and its cartridges. The connection between the cartridges and the printer is made differently. And the main difference is that there is a kind of buffer tank for the ink inside the print head compartment. Due to this compartment You cannot push the cleaner fluids through the nozzles directly. For Your printer we recommend to try cleaning the nozzles from the outside by placing a pad (containing cleander fluid) under the nozzle plate and shifting the print head over this pad from side to side.

[@rioaldama4445]

This is exactly my problem, my yellow ink is not working, I'm gonna try this. Thanks!

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your input - let´s hope that the method can fix Your problem !!

[@johnmcfie2681]

Very helpful video demo. Thank you.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello John, thanks for taking the time and giving this nice feedback!

[@jingo500]

Buddy, you got a Kiwi way to do this? I got bogroll for the paper towel part, but I ain't gonna abuse my bike pump with chemicals, as it will degrade the seal, and I need it for my bike. How about cotton buds, and whiskey to clean the repository holes? Or just some bogroll on the end of a thin screwdiver?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello, thank You very much for the question. Cottin buds will be fine too - but whiskey is not going to do any good in that place :) safe it to Yourself pls. The inks are waterbased and the alcohol will have no effect on the dried in inks. Without a syringe it will be difficult to get cleaner in the printer´s ink system. But in the first step You can try to get rid off the blockings from approaching the print head from the nozzle plate. Place a cotton bud soaked with cleaner fluid under it and let it sit for a while.

[@winstontaganna318]

Hi can you help me with my printer has alarm unable to print 49 and my brand brother T710W

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Winston, thanks for reaching out to us. What error code does Your Brother printer give to You?

[@winstontaganna318]

@@octopusoffice UNABLE TO PRINT 49

[@winstontaganna318]

Machine error 4900

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Winston, in the manuals, that we were able to check, this combination stands for some paper beeing stuck inside Your machine. Open the printer and check if there is small part of paper remaining somewhere - esprecially take out the duplex part on the back of the printer. When everything is cleared - disconnect the printer from the power supply and check if the error messages will disappear.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Winston, in the manuals, that we were able to check, this combination stands for some paper beeing stuck inside Your machine. Open the printer and check if there is small part of paper remaining somewhere - esprecially take out the duplex part on the back of the printer. When everything is cleared - disconnect the printer from the power supply and check if the error messages will disappear.

[@mohammedmohammedsaeed9547]

Tried this method with Brother MFC-480DW, i managed to inject the liquid into the Yellow color pipes, i could see the liquid came out at the klenex under the printer head, but still no Yellow color when testing the printer.

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your question plus description. There are two options for You: either there is still cleaning fluid inside the ink tubes and You have to print that out before the normal ink color yellow comes back to Your print outs. That may take some time - we recommend to print on used paper for these tests. The second option is, that the yellow nozzles are actually damaged - the cleaning cannot repair damaged nozzles ...

[@darylmorse]

What is the cleaning fluid?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Daryl, our cleaning fluid is basically a colorless ink plus suitable surfacants that enhance the cleaning effect. Important is that the cleaner is waterbased as the normal inks inside the Brother desktop printers are waterbased too.

[@redcreekpaydirt]

Thanks for the great idea. I am having a problem though and wanted to see if you had an idea. I cleaned the black print head as you described, and then printed - it printer partially but there were still a lot of clogs (missing streaks) so I cleaned more extensively (longer) and got a lot of cleaner flow through the print head, but when I went to print - nothing - no blank ink at all came out. And I printed about 80 pages of almost pure black - but not a drop of ink. I did not inject ink into the line after cleaning (how? where would I get the ink?). Now the printer also thinks my cartridge is empty even though it is not.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello R C, thanks for Your description. It can take really quite a lot of test prints to get the ink back onto the paper. The cartridge that is shown as empty is an original Brother cartridge or an alternative cartridge? With an original Brother cartridge You can go on printing despite the status empty. In case You are using alternative cartridges we recommend to invest in another new alternative, run some cleaning cycles and keep on printing until the ink is back.

[@redcreekpaydirt]

@@octopusoffice Thanks for the reply. It is an original Brother cartridge. It was very strange that I cleaned the head, it was better, then I cleaned it again and nothing came out on the paper. I will continue to run some more test prints. And yes it still tries to print, and there is ink still in the cartridge, but nothing is making it to the paper. It is almost as if I have taken the cartridge in and out so much the printer refuses to read it or pump from it??

[@octopusoffice]

As You have told before that one cartridge is shown as empty despite there is still ink in it - You can extract this ink from the cartridge and press it into the tube directly. So this ink is not lost and You can utilize it to get the ink flow going again.

[@TheNikonclubtrg]

Thanks OctopusConcept. Mine are yellow and magenta having issue. After cleaning both colors printed nothing. Using another 1ml syringe injecting about 0.6ml ink till it flow to tissue. Done!!!!! MFC-J2310 with refill ink-tank works wonder again.

[@FaYT02]

​@@redcreekpaydirt As an Indian technician explains under an other video of the same procedure (Best Printers), this method can damage the ink detection sensor. Maybe is it what happened to your printer?

[@buzeegroupsltd870]

Hello...I have done cleaning on my print head following your instruction but after cleaning my printer is not printer again , please can you advice me what to do next

[@octopusoffice]

Thank You very much for Your question: Does it mean Your printer does not start to print at all? Or does it mean that there are still some or all colors missing in Your prints?

[@buzeegroupsltd870]

The printer is not print again ,I was thinking the print head is bad. I am looking for where to buy new print head to replace it.

[@octopusoffice]

Sorry to hear that. Our method needs the printer working at least - meaning that You are able to start print jobs. If the printer does not start at all, the way of cleaning described in our tutorial will not help.

[@WayneMoran]

Do you have a link to the cleaner products??? I need to do this.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Wayne, You can get the cleaner from : www.octopus-office.de/shop/en/printer-ink/nozzle-cleaner-cartridge-cleaner/4676/nozzle-cleaner-for-brother-print-head-cleaner-with-extension?sPartner=KZbin001

[@daniellanderos6243]

Do you know a way to take out ink tanks on DCP-T700W? I have a yellow clogged head but can't run this method with ink tank in place.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Daniel, if You dismantle the printer´s outer housing on the right side You can take out the ink tanks. We have done that before with our DCP-T300. But sorry we took no pictures or video material of it. We check on our printer again next week, hopefully we can provide You some more visual information next week.

[@daniellanderos6243]

OctopusConcept thanks a lot I will try to do that 🖒

[@cutegal1989]

Hi i would like to ask on how to remove the ink tank of DCP-t300 would be a great help if there will be a tutorial for that. Yellow printhead was clogged so i brought it to the service center and they Told me that the printhead should be replaced all colors are working fine except yellow so i want to try and clean it myself coz its too expensive to have the printhead change.. thank you and im hoping to get a reply.

[@flaviusioan69]

Hy , great video . Since i need the Ink Printer at this moment until i whait for the product to arrive(nozzle cleaner ) , can i use demineralised water (i have it in stock) ?

[@octopusoffice]

Hello, thanks for the positive feedback. Yes, demineralised water will also work - the inks in the printer are water based so the dissolving effect requires to have water there. Our product also contains surfacants to lower the surface tension on any cloggings inside the print head. By this effect water can reach the pollutions faster and can cover more surface.

[@flaviusioan69]

OctopusConcept tnx for your fast replay, and for the great info.

[@octopusoffice]

You are welcome :-)

[@bppxii5247]

mfc j2330dw keep alarm ink cover is open but it's not , try open and close again several times but it's still keep show cover is open don't know how to fix

[@octopusoffice]

thanks for Your question. On one side of the cover for the ink cartridge compartment there is a roundish lever that goes into the printer when closing the cover. This lever usually reaches a contact inside the printer and activates the status that the cover is closed. You can check if there is a problem with this part - difficult to analyse deeper from long distance... 🙂

[@mrfamilysage]

Bro I have a brother dcp t500. looks like the ink tanks are fixed, doesn't come out. I called the service person, he checked and said the print head needs replacement. the yellow is not coming out of the print head. please help if you know

[@mrfamilysage]

@@octopusoffice Thanks for the prompt reply. I will surely try it out and will post here the outcomes.

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your feedback. We wish the best outcome for You - hopefully a new print head will not be necessary.

[@midnightchannel111]

Don't u need to close the top before running the test again? Cant see if the printing head has moved... Just pull the plug as soon as you hear anything (?)

[@octopusoffice]

You can check the comments under our tutorial - some users have pointed our a way to move the print head by using the printer´s buttons - maybe this is also suitable for You. When checking for the result od the cleaning we put everything back into its order.

[@christopherchan7581]

Hi, Could you make a video on how to clean print head for Brother Ink Tank system DCP-T series please?

[@christopherchan7581]

My model is DCP-T420W. Many thanks. Your instruction seems clean and clear.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Christopher, thanks for teasing us about a tutorial which we already have in our mind for a while but did not make it yet - You need it we have not delivered yet - sorry 😑 The approach for Your printer with the tanks for ink is the following: 1.) Empty out the ink tank that You would like to clean 2.) Fill some cleaner into this tank 3.) Move the print head to the middle of the working area and install some protection + absorbent underlay under its nozzle plate 4.) Use fabric tape to attach the combination of syringe and hose to the tank´s opening - the connection must be airtight 5.) then do the same as shown in our tutorial - push and pull the syringe´s plunger carefully to get the cleaner from the tank towards the print head ( no cleaner necessary inside the syringe as it is already in the tank) 6.) let the cleaner in the ink system sit for a while. it also works over time 7.) remove the cleaner from the tank and fill in some ink 8.) pump the ink towards the print head with the combination of syringe and hose 9.) power up the printer again and print out the cleaner from the ink system - this may take some time - use old paper to print these test pages...

[@christopherchan7581]

@@octopusoffice thank you for typing this instruction very helpful. I ended up buying dcp-t520w. This model is also available in eastern europe: hungary etc. May consider a video :)

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Christopher, thanks for Your response. As You printer should is quite new right know we think it may take a while before You have to do a manual cleaning 🙂 Just keep printing regularly - one or two pages a week and blocking should not be a problem as long as You use the right inks.

[@sharongething5390]

Hi there How can I get the syringe with tubes in or to South Africa. please advise as soon as possible. thanks Sharon

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Sharon, thank You very much for contacting us. You can order from our webshop to South Africa directly. You will find the cleaning kit for Brother by using the following link: www.octopus-office.de/shop/en/printer-ink/nozzle-cleaner-cartridge-cleaner/4676/nozzle-cleaner-for-brother-print-head-cleaner-with-extension The negative thing attached to our answer is the costs for shipping - we are based in Germany and You are .... So we have to use UPS for getting this small item to You. UPS is charging 37 EUR to us for this. We would like to mention that in advance before You think we are trying to rip You off.

[@pegobua]

Thank you for this video - I've got the same printer (Brother J4420DW) and I did the cleaning as described in this video with your cleaning fluid. I did the cleaning for several minutes - it was a lot of yellow ink on the kitchen roll so I thought that everything would be OK after some test pages - but unfortunately the printer won't print the yellow ink. After some fails I tried to fill the ink channels with some yellow ink - after this procedure I was able to print out yellow colour but after some pages the yellow color got paler and paler until it turned to white. :-( It looks like that the printer doesn't pump the ink to the printer head - any ideas what I can do now? btw. all the other colors are printed out correctly :-/

[@wherryd]

I have this same issue! Not sure what to do now :/

[@pegobua]

​@@wherryd OMG...hell has frozen over. I contacted Brother support and they helped me solving this issue *scream* Try the following steps: 1. Activate your display 2. Press the home button for some seconds until you enter a special menu (with dark background) 3. Press last "button" with black background and no text for some seconds until you enter a special menu again. I'm not kidding, you really have to press the button without text ;-) 4. A number pad will appear 5. Enter within the next 2 seconds the following keys * 2 8 6 4 don't forget the asterisk! 6. You are now in maintenance mode 7. Enter 76 and MONO START 8. Now the printer will do a special cleaning 9. After the cleaning has finished you can exit the maintenance mode with 99 After the procedure described above I had to do a print head cleaning again. After that everything worked nicely. Brother support pointed out, that this maintenance mode is not officially documented and that you should do the special cleaning in maintenance mode only once with sufficient fill level of your inks as it consumes more ink than a normal print head cleaning. They also adviced me to use only original inks and paper of Brother - yeah.... ;-) Pls. let me know if that also helped you!

[@maxschachinger]

@@pegobua Thank you so much!! I had the same issue and thanks to you I managed to solve it!

[@peacemaker5920]

@@pegobua first of all, thank you so much for your detailed instructions; however, i did that twice without any signs of improvement. I guess I'll have to call the tech support. thank you though

[@halsteinke6539]

@@pegobua After following the instructions you gave, I was able to once again print black on my Brother MFC-J6920 printer. The first standard print head cleaning after the procedure showed faint and scattered black dots, which gave me some hope as before there was nothing. I continued with four additional standard cleanings with each one showing improvements over the prior. Finally, after the fifth cleaning, the black print was perfect. This method was ever so easy compared to all that was shown in the video and the only cost was a little bit of ink. I think you should post this somewhere others can find it. As for myself, I can not thank you enough.

[@apsb21]

this still works, thank you

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your nice feedback!

[@derftklop]

Thank you for this really helpful info.

[@octopusoffice]

Hell o JD, thanks for taking the time and giving that nice feedback! 👍🏻

[@whiterazer1]

I bought the kit and used it on my dcp-j315w. Unfortunately now my printer head is leaking yellow. All other colours opened up pretty fast. I probably have pumped too long for yellow and maybe too hard after a while without realizing. I wish I could run the printer without yellow ink cartridge, because I only need black and do not care about colours. The black test pages still show a line through the text and texts fade more with each line down.

[@octopusoffice]

Hello, thanks for contacting us. Actually You can run the printer with an empty yellow cartridge - as You say You do not need the colors cyan, magenta and yellow. if the yellow ink is used up the leaking will stop.

[@whiterazer1]

@@octopusoffice Thanks. Do you think replacing my black cartridge will improve print quality? Now the words display a line crossing through them.

[@octopusoffice]

@@whiterazer1 Do You use original Brother cartridges or cartridges by an alternative supplier? If there are lines missing in the print out, in cas eYou are using alternative cartridges, that might indicate that the ink is not really suitable for the printer.

[@whiterazer1]

OctopusConcept thanks for that advice! I use a very old non-original cartridge. I will try with a brand new original brother cartridge. I also have a good tip for everyone from another video: put a piece of dark coloured tape over the transparent “window” of your color cartridges. It will think it is full. So you can print in black and white without problems.

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your answer - the age of the old alternative cartridge might be the explanation for missing lines in the black print outs. Let´s assume the cartridge contains pigmented ink - this ink tends to turn bad after 2 years and can block nozzles in Your print head easily.

[@fatma8711]

Can I use alcohol solution instead of printer cleaner ??

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Fátmá, thanks for Your question. The inks used in a Brother Desktop printer are waterbased inks - so the cleaner should be waterbased too. You can use alcohol but its effect on cloggings caused by waterbased inks is not going to be the best one.... The water part of the cleaner should purified, demineralized water - this eliminates the risk that mineral particles in the water build up solid structures inside the print head.

[@fatma8711]

OctopusConcept So can I use purified water ?

[@VictoriaGarcia-lq8qd]

more useful than the Brother website

[@octopusoffice]

Hello Victoria, thanks for Your nice feedback. 🙂 We are quite sure that Brother isn´t one of our biggest fans 😂

[@MrRuthless1231]

Can anyone help me can this same tactic work with water too? Or just the cleaner

[@octopusoffice]

Thanks for Your question. You need to pay attention to use demineralized plus purified water. When there are minerals left in the water it might happen that residual ink and these minerals react with each other inside the print head and buid up a solid blockage....