How do I unclog the inkjet nozzles on HP Photosmart 6510?

How To Unclog Brother Multifunction Inkjet Printhead Nozzles

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All-In-One Printer Fails To Print Black Ink? - Super User

Try doing a head cleaning, maybe there is the problem, let me know.

Inkjet printers need to be used frequently to prevent blocked print head nozzles. You may have blocked print head nozzles.
Try the printer maintenance to clear the printer nozzles.
After several deep cleaning attempts and there is no improvements in the print then a new print head is required. Also try - Removing the print head, run it under hot water for 2 mins, then let soak for 10 min. then used a can of compressed air to dry thoroughly. It may fix the blocked nozzles.
A new print head maybe expensive and it maybe more cost effective to purchase a new printer.

Most likely culprit is a dried up ink within the nozzles themselves. The best things for getting rid of dried ink in the nozzles is to use either a standard bathroom cleaner or rubbing alcohol. With the printer on open the door as if you were replacing ink. With the ink cartidges visable, unplug the printer so they stay put. Remove the cartridge and spray the cleaner in the where the ink is taking from the cartridge and clean it with whatever works. I really really good trick is if you have an old cartridge you can use a syringe to fill up the empty cartridge with your cleaning solution or rubbing alcohol. Insert the cartridge and run some test prints. This will for sure run the cleaner through the nozzle and hopefully dissolve the blockage.

Carefully clean the little gold "bump" contacts on both the cartridge and in the printer with a Q Tip moistend with 91% isoprophyl alcohol... DO NOT use rubbing alcohol !!!!!!

If it still doesn't work, try TEMPORARILY installing an OLD cartridge... At one time HP printers watched over the serial number imbedded in the cartridge electronically and would not let you reuse a cartridge... tried to male it so you could not refill them... By using a different cartridge than the last installed, it fools HP's silly game...

You have to physically clean the nozzles, rubbing alcohol and chammy covered cleaner, like vcr head cleaners.

In this case I would suggest you to clean the cartridges of the printer.

Cleaning the ink cartridges with the HP Printer Toolbox

1. Click Start .
2. Click Settings .
3. Click Printers .
4. Right-click the icon of the printer in use.
5. Click Properties .
6. Click the Services tab.
7. Click Open the HP Photosmart Toolbox or Service this device.
8. Click the Device Services tab. This tab does not display in Windows XP; proceed to the next step.
9. Click Clean the Print Cartridges .
10. Follow the onscreen prompts.

Manually cleaning the ink cartridges

1. Turn the printer on and lift the top cover.
2. After the ink cartridges have moved to the center of the printer, unplug the power cord from the back of the printer.
3. Remove the ink cartridges and place them wide side down on a piece of paper.
4. Prepare a clean, foam-rubber swab or a lint-free cloth slightly dampened with water.
5. Locate the copper-colored circuitry strip on the back of each cartridge.
6. Clean the copper-colored strip with the dampened swab or cloth. Do not wipe the nozzle end of the cartridge or touch the nozzle plate.
7. Clean the carriage contacts on the back wall of the ink cartridge carriage with a damp foam-rubber swab or lint-free cloth. Use a dry foam-rubber swab or a lint-free cloth to remove moisture from the contacts.

Cleaning the ink cartridge cradle

1. Assume an eye level position with the HP Photosmart printer.
2. Locate the ink cartridge cradle.
3. Using clean, moistened swabs, wipe the underside of each wall of the carriage where fibers may collect and come in contact with the paper. Repeat until no ink residue is seen on a clean swab.
4. Reconnect power cord when finished cleaning.
5. When finished cleaning the ink cartridges and the cradle, print a test page.

Hello,

Have you tried to replace the current cartridge with a new one? It is not uncommon for even a new cartridge to be faulty, It happens sometimes.

Also, look in your printer manual for the procedure on how to run a nozzle/cartridge cleaning and alignment.

If that does not resolve it, take the cartridge out, grab some rubbing alcohol and some q-tips. Put some rubbing alcohol on a q-tip and GENTLY wipe the contacts on the cartridge AND on the contacts in the printer where the cartridge installs. BE CAREFUL! Make sure no cotton from the q-tip gets left behind on either.

Good luck and thanks for using the fixya forums!

MPC730
Resetting the Waste Ink Volume Counter
1) Enter SERVICE MODE.--- By pressing Menu-Copy-# 2) Select TEST MODE [set]. 3) Select [8] PRINTER TEST in TEST MODE 4) Select 3. [EEPROM CLEAR]. 5) Select 0. [INK COUNT]. 6) Press the [OK] key. 7) Press the [Stop/Reset] key (returning to the state of 3)), and then press the [ON/OFF] key.


If the printheads are badly clogged and the printer driver cleaning cycles aren't fixing it, you may try the 
following:
First effort: put a few drops of cleaning solution onto the park pad "sponge". This is that sponge-looking thing 
(actually a hard plastic foam) where the head sits when not printing. Just do whatever it takes on that printer to 
unpark the heads as if you were going to change cartridges, then close it up and let it sit for a day before you 
run a cleaning cycle and nozzle check again.
Extremely Thorough Cleaning: Take the head out, remove the cartridges. If you've saved the orange seals, tape them 
onto the cartridges, if not then wrap black electrical tape around so it covers the ink outlet and the little air 
inlet on top. Only pull it snug across the ink outlet, not tight, and fairly loose on the cartridge body to prevent 
tape creep.
I then just stick the head under a stream of hot tap water. I use a soft plastic eyedropper to squirt the above 
cleaning fluid into the ink inlet meshes on the head and to flush ink off the bottom of the head. Careful not to 
touch the nozzles!
As you squirt cleaning fluid into the screen, a lot will rush back out, that is fine as it is flushing ink and gunk 
back out rather than forcing it through the nozzles, which are far finer than a human hair.
When you see little or no more color in the water or cleaning solution, force some of the straight 
filtered/distilled water into the screens. Rinse the outside of the print head with straight isopropyl alcohol (99% 
is better than 50% for this) and pat dry with a clean cotton towel (-not- paper towels) and again, DO NOT TOUCH THE 
NOZZLES.
Patience is a virtue. I've bought a lot of Canon printers in thrift stores with full cartridges because the heads 
clogged, they bought new cartridges, that didn't fix it so they tossed it at Goodwill. I clean them up and for 
$12.95 I get $45 worth of brand new cartridges and a backup printer. I only had two heads be unsaveable, those 
would print on all nozzles but had sprung internal leaks between two colors, cyan and yellow. The symptom was 
yellow nozzle checks print green, and the ink inside the yellow cartridge slowly turns green.
---------
Re: Removing Canon MP730 Printhead  Please try at your own risk -- A word of caution: The Print head is sitting in a cradle. So do not confuse the cradle with actual print head. The cradle is the one 
that slides left and right on the metallic rod. Do NOT try to remove the cradle. Here is the link to canon to get 
some guide:
http://64.233.167.104
Make sure to use genuine Canon ink cartidges.
1) Unplug the power to the printer. Remove the USB printer cable. 2) Lift open the top cover by depressing the round button on the right side of the printer; exposing the printer 
ink cartridges. 3)Lift the grey lever on top of the cartridges. This dis-engages the printhead electrical connections. Remove all 
the 4 ink cartridges from the printhead. From the cradle hold the printhead from the top and lift the printhead by 
tilting it toward you. Make sure not to touch the electrical contacts in the back printhead. 4) Take a small plastic bowl and fill it with 1/4 inch or less with Rubbing Alcohol(70% Isopropyl Alcohol). Dip the 
bottom of the printhead in the alcohol. Soak printhead in the alcohol and shake it lightly so the dried ink 
clogging the printhead can come loose. Us paper towels to soak excess alcohol from the bottom of the printhead. 
Make sure not to damage the printheads. 5) Pour some alcohol from the top of the each inlet of the ink cartridge seat and again soak up any excess alcohol 
with paper towel. Let the print head dry up little. 6) Put the printhead back in the cradle and insert back the ink cartridges in their right seat. Lower the grey 
lever back into its position so the electrical contacts are made on the printhead. 7) Plug the power and USB port. 8) Print a picture or diagram with color in draft mode. You might have to do this couple of times, so that the inks 
starts flowing from the ink cartridge through the print head. Then print the same in high quality. If the heads are 
unclogged your printer should work as new.

My first guess is that it is a cartridge issue, due to these printers having the print head as part of the cartridge, there is nothing else, it makes the whole cartridge the only printing item. Ensure the carts are not old (exp date) and that they are HP, With that all understood as I now see that you must due to owning it for 6 years, then you could try to clean the contacts on machine's "cartridge holder" and give that a clean too while your at it cause it may be the problem here (see below)

If a inkjet printer lasts 3 years you would be doing well, and you've had 6. Exceptional!

HP Photosmart printers may print images with white lines or single color streaks. This issue can be caused by ink that has dried in the ink nozzles or by debris that is blocking the ink nozzles. The ink cartridges and the and printer cradle should be cleaned. Clean the ink cartridges with the ink cartridge cleaning utility in the HP Printer Toolbox. Also, clean the ink cartridges and the print cradle manually.
Cleaning the ink cartridge cradle

1. Assume an eye level position with the HP Photosmart printer.
2. Locate the ink cartridge cradle.
3. Using clean, moistened swabs, wipe the underside of each wall of the carriage where fibers may collect and come in contact with the paper. Repeat until no ink residue is seen on a clean swab.
4. Reconnect power cord when finished cleaning.

Manually cleaning the ink cartridges

1. Turn the printer on and lift the top cover.
2. After the ink cartridges have moved to the center of the printer, unplug the power cord from the back of the printer.
3. Remove the ink cartridges and place them wide side down on a piece of paper.
4. Prepare a clean, foam-rubber swab or a lint-free cloth slightly dampened with water.
5. Locate the copper-colored circuitry strip on the back of each cartridge.
6. Clean the copper-colored strip with the dampened swab or cloth. Do not wipe the nozzle end of the cartridge or touch the nozzle plate.
7. Clean the carriage contacts on the back wall of the ink cartridge carriage with a damp foam-rubber swab or lint-free cloth. Use a dry foam-rubber swab or a lint-free cloth to remove moisture from the contacts.

Cleaning the ink cartridges with the HP Printer Toolbox

1. Click Start .
2. Click Settings .
3. Click Printers .
4. Right-click the icon of the printer in use.
5. Click Properties .
6. Click the Services tab.
7. Click Open the HP Photosmart Toolbox or Service this device.
8. Click the Device Services tab. This tab does not display in Windows XP; proceed to the next step.
9. Click Clean the Print Cartridges .
10. Follow the onscreen prompts.

If you've got this far then I should tell you that these days, Printers aren't worth fixing, one just replaces them with new