How-Tos

How-to Guides on our website give you detailed information on how to solve various equipment issues, how to make and paint a desk, and many more interesting things.

How to Clean Epson Printhead Nozzles Which are Blocked or Clogged

You need to print an important document. You turn on your Epson printer, you define the print setting and you press “print”. Then, a document with skipped lines and distorted images comes out.

Panic might start to kick in and you might think you need to replace your printer. But, there is one thing that you should check before deciding to purchase a new printer, and that is the printheads, which might be clogged or blocked.

The printheads are a very important part of any printer. They play a crucial role in getting a great printout. If your printheads are clogged, you will not be able to get a clean printout.

A clogged printhead may distort the printed pages and could also result in damaged or broken ink cartridges. So, it is important to examine the printhead, as this might save you a lot of money.

Nevertheless, you need to make sure that you have the proper tools for cleaning your printer’s printheads. This article will give you some tips on how to clean your Epson printer’s printheads.

What Causes the Clogs?

Clogs can be quite harmful to your printer if they are not cleaned on time. So, before you do any cleaning, you must find out what causes the clogs in the first place.

There are a few ways that clogs can appear in your Epson’s printer’s nozzles. Surely the most common way you can get clogs in your printer heads is when the ink cartridge in your printer gets all dried up. When you get a notification from your printer that the ink is very low, and you don’t change the ink cartridges for some time, what can happen is that a lot of ink may be forced through the nozzles, hence making a mess, jamming the nozzles when the ink dries out.

Another very common situation is that the paper dust builds over time inside the printer’s plater rollers, which are essential for printing immaculate printouts, and the rollers.

Ink can also get dry and mess up with your printer’s nozzles if you use the printer very rarely. So, turning the printer once a month may be bad for it, and, not saying that it would mess up the nozzles a hundred percent, but it may happen.

Identifying the issue

Now, before you start cleaning the printheads, you should open the printer carefully and identify what exactly has caused the clogs in the nozzles. Look at the nozzles closely and identify what went wrong so you can know which cleaning process to use.

Cleaning the Epson Printheads

We will now explain all the different ways that you can properly clean the printheads and get your Epson printer running like it is new. There are a couple of types of clogs, and each one requires a different cleaning process.

These can range from very simple clogs that can be removed by starting a head cleaning cycle with a press of a button, to more extreme ones that will require more time and patience.

We will explain each cleaning solution in detail. So, let’s start with the first one, and that is the printhead cleaning cycle.

Solution No.1: Printhead Cleaning Cycle

Many new Epson printers feature a pretty good cleaning cycle. When a simple clog occurs, the pretty straightforward cleaning cycle will in many cases get rid of the issue and clean the printheads.

You should keep in mind that this process takes up a lot of ink, so it’s definitely not the cheapest option, but it’s the simplest one. However, if your printer does not have a cleaning cycle, then you may want to look for one that has this option.

There are two ways that you can start this process. The first way is to go into the Settings menu on the Epson printer and navigate to the Maintenance section. The other way is that some printers also have a button on the front panel that will allow you to start the cleaning process manually.

Once you have done this, then you should just wait until the cleaning cycle is completed. You should get a notification from your printer if you want to know how it went. If the printed paper has perfectly straight lines, without any mistakes like skipped lines, the printing cycle was a success and your printer heads will be cleaned.

Make sure you don’t turn off your Epson printer while it performs that cleaning cycle, because interrupting in may cause some damage.

If the cycle doesn’t show results from the first try, you can also do several more cycles, but be sure to “rest” the printer in between them for 5-6 hours. You can do this during the night while you are asleep so that the printer will be all fresh for a new cleaning cycle in the morning.

Solution No.2: Using Water

This is another simple process that will clean your simple clogs. You don’t need a ton of tools or materials, you just need a bit of warm water, patience, and focus.

If your nozzles have been blocked due to dry ink, the solution is to dissolve that ink with a bit of tap water. To perform this cleaning process successfully you should pour just a little warm water on the printer’s nozzles.

But, be careful not to spill it all over the printer or on the nozzle’s sides. When you’ve poured just enough water onto the nozzle, you should wait a minute before doing it again, and be sure to turn off and unplug your printer from electricity when doing this.

Solution No.3: Using a Wet Towel

Like with the previous cleaning solution, your printer should be turned off and unplugged while you try this method. This method is also recommended for nozzles clogged by dried ink.

Starting this process, you need to pull one sheet of paper towel, fold it end-to-end and wet it a bit. Now that you have done that, open your printer and search for a printhead. Once you’ve found it, put the paper towel in the middle and slide the printhead over it.

Now you should wait a couple of hours until the process is finished and the ink is softened enough that the printer will work correctly.

Solution No.4: Compressed Air

First and foremost, this is the cleaning method that you should be most careful and focused on while doing. While using compressed air, be aware of the pressure and be careful not to create some leaks inside the printer.

Compressed air is recommended for more serious clogs, ones that have larger bits and fragments than those you see on simpler clogs.

To perform this cleaning method you will need compressed air, which can be bought from any local hardware store. Just be aware not to blast the air straight into the opening of the nozzle as it can cause severe damage.

Solution No.5: Pro Cleaning

If none of these solutions work for you, or you are scared to do it yourself, our recommendation is to hire a professional cleaning service that will clean the printheads or replace them if necessary. This is the most expensive solution, but it’s surely the best one.

Prevention

The best thing that you can do is maintain your Epson printer regularly and don’t let it create problems like these ones. Therefore, you won’t have the headaches that many Epson printer owners have with the blocked or clogged printheads.

Here are some tips that will help you to prevent nozzles from being blogged:

  • Regularly replace the ink cartridges;
  • Paper tray should be full;
  • When refilling, suck the air out of the cartridge;
  • Prevent the dust from coming into the printer by always keeping the cartridge doors closed;
  • If you are not sure about some cleaning method then you shouldn’t do it yourself. Consult someone who had similar experiences or get some professional service.

Conclusion

Clogged or blocked nozzles can be a big headache, especially if you need to print something important quickly. Many Epson printers have an issue with clogged nozzles, like the Epson WF-7710, but that is nothing to be afraid of. However, the best option is to maintain your printer in pristine condition, but if the problem occurs, try some of the solutions that we’ve mentioned. Good luck!

By |2022-10-27T01:41:25+01:00January 26th, 2022|How-Tos|
Read More

How to Paint a Desk – A Simple Guide

Giving your desk a fresh coat of paint can mean a world of difference. If you don’t want to spend money on a new desk and you have an old desk just sitting around, or you have your DIY desk, painting it will make it seem like a whole new desk.

It may sound terrifying at first, but painting a desk is not that complicated and with this guide, you will learn how to paint a desk like a professional. It will save you money and best of all, you will feel proud of yourself.

Let’s learn how to paint a desk.

Things You Will Need

Before painting a desk, you’ll need to get a couple of supplies and materials. Maybe you have some of them at home, maybe you need to buy some of them, or maybe you are already prepared with the supplies.

Either way, below you’ll find a list of supplies that you need to have before painting your desk.

  • Paint (your color of choice)
  • Primer
  • Fine sandpaper
  • Medium grade sandpaper
  • Flat brush
  • Wax brush
  • Finishing wax
  • Respirator
  • Polyurethane
  • Cleaning cloth

When you have all the supplies you are now ready for the very first step. Before we begin the first step, it is best if you paint your desk in a garage or a separate room, so you don’t inhale the smells from the paint all day. Another reason is that the paint needs time to dry during the painting process, so it’s best to leave the desk in a separate room.

Step 1 – Preparation

When you know where you want to place the desk, put some oilcloths beneath it so you don’t spray the paint on the floor. If there are some walls near the desk, you should also protect them.

Now that you’ve done that, you should either tape all the hardware on the desk or remove them so you don’t paint them accidentally. It may take a little more time to get them removed than to tape them, but it’s the safer option.

You also need to remove the drawers and place them somewhere near the desk so you don’t forget about them.

Step 2 – Cleaning

Now that you’ve completed the first step, it’s time to move on to the cleaning process. This is a very important step, as in the cleaning process you will remove all the dust and grain that has been sitting on your desk for years. Don’t skip this step.

Cleaning cloth

Take a cleaning cloth and soak it in water just a bit. Don’t soak it too much as too much water that may damage the wood. When you’ve done that, now it’s time to clean the whole desk and the drawers from dust. Do this thoroughly and when you are finished, take a dry cloth and wipe any place that may contain water.

Step 3 – Sanding

Once you are finished with the cleaning of the desk, the next step to take is to sand it. This step is very important and without it, the paint on the desk just wouldn’t look as good.

For the first step of sanding our recommendation is to use the 220-grit sandpaper. Now you should sand all the surfaces of the desk lightly, evening the desk out. If you notice any rough parts, use medium grain sandpaper to smooth out those spots, then use the fine sandpaper and sand those places again. Try to make the desk as smooth as possible, as that will make the paint stick much better.

Before we continue, use a cloth to wipe off all the dust that was created by sanding to get a clean desk.

Step 4 – Using a primer

Now it’s time to use the primer. You can use a primer in a spray can or you can use a printer in a can that needs to be brushed. Prime the desk evenly a couple of times and let it dry.

Step 5 – Painting!

Finally, we’ve come to the most interesting part, the painting of the desk! Before you start painting, it’s recommended that you shake the paint can for a minute and when you open the can, stir it up with a wooden stick so that the paint can spread evenly throughout the can.

Once you’ve done that, now use a brush and dip the tip in the can. Don’t dip the whole brush as then the paint will be all over the place. Remember, just the tip.

Now comes the part where you should be relaxed but focused. It’s painting time! When you dip the tip of the brush in the paint can, you should start painting evenly, dragging it from one way to another. Once you see that the brush loses the paint, it’s time to dip it in the can again.

You can also paint in the opposite direction, just don’t paint it left or right since that movement will be seen after you’ve finished painting. Plan the movement of the brush before painting and you will be good to go.

Now, once you’ve painted the whole desk and the drawers with the first layer, it’s time to let it dry. When the paint dries completely (be patient) it’s time to sand it lightly before painting it again. This second layer of paint will fill the wood with it in all of the places where the paint didn’t stick the first time. When you are done, let it dry.

Step 6 – Protecting the wood

When the second layer of paint completely dries and there is no rough sport, it’s time to use a protective wax or a protectant like polyacrylic. We like to use protective wax, but it’s just our preference.

Get the wax just a little bit on your wax brush and then brush the desk in smaller movements. Be sure to use a cloth to even out the wax. Just don’t forget to wax the drawers also!

Jolie Finishing Wax

Step 7 – Putting the desk together

When you are finished with the waxing, now is the time to put all of the pieces of the desk together. Place the hardware where it has been before and place the drawers in their place.

And that is it! You’ve now learned how to paint the desk like a professional. Not just that you’ve saved money that you would spend on a new desk, but you’ve learned to do something new. Be proud of yourself!

If you are interested in how to measure a desk, feel free to read our guide here.

By |2022-10-27T01:29:05+01:00January 9th, 2022|How-Tos, Pastime|
Read More

How to Measure a Desk: The Ultimate Guide to Desk Size

Getting a desk that will fit perfectly in your office space is vital. It doesn’t mean anything to have a desk that looks amazing but won’t fit in your space.

So, getting the right measurements of the desk is of much importance.

There are several things you should be familiar with before measuring a desk. So, we’ve rounded up all the things that you should need to know about measuring a desk, and created this simple guide.

Let’s get into it.

Desk Setup

Desk Measurements

The very first thing you should be familiar with is the desk measurements. Indeed, when you’re trying to buy a new desk, the first thing you want to be sure of is that it will fit in your room.

You don’t want to spend a lot of money on a desk that won’t fit in your room. So, it is vital to make sure that you understand how much space you have in your room.

The three measurements that you should focus on are:

  • Width (W) – The desk’s width is the measurement from its left side to the right side. 
  • Height (H) – The height of the desk is measured from the bottom to the top of the desk. 
  • Depth (D) – Imagine you are sitting behind the desk. The depth is a measurement from the nearest point of the desk to the farthest.
Measurements of a desk

Height

If your height is anywhere from 5ft tall to 6ft tall, then the recommended desk height is 29-30″. That is the most common desk height and it works well for most people.

If you are taller than that or you just prefer to work standing, then the height adjustable standing desks are recommended. These types of desks have an option to adjust the height, either manually or by electric motors.

Pro Tip: When adjusting the height of the standing desk, the height of it should be just below your elbows when you are standing up.

Depth

While in many cases the depth of the desk can be ignored, it definitely shouldn’t be. It determines how much space you have available for your monitors, keyboard, and any other things you wish to put on your desk.

If the depth of the desk is too small, you may find yourself in the position that you lack the space for many of the things. On the opposite, if the depth is too big, the monitor can be far away from you or you can find yourself lacking the space in your room because the desk takes up too much space.

The average desk depth is 30″, however, you should think about how much workspace you need before choosing the desk. Maybe 30″ is too narrow for you, maybe it’s too wide, or maybe it’s just perfect.

Width

The final dimension you should focus on is the width of the desk. As for the average number, the average desk width is 60″. Anything smaller than that number will present you with difficulties regarding the space you have for your things. For example, if you have a dual monitor setup then the dual monitor desk should have an even higher width to be able to accommodate the two monitors.

However, if you don’t have that much space in your room, there are smaller-sized desks like this FLEXISPOT 48INCH Electric Height Adjustable Desk.

FLEXISPOT 48INCH Electric Height Adjustable Desk

With a steel frame, electric motors that allow you to adjust its height, and a great price, this height adjustable standing desk from Flexispot is one of the best and most affordable when it comes to smaller standing desks.

Check Price On Amazon

Additional Factors You Should Consider Before Buying a Desk

While the dimensions of the desks are the most important factor you should look at, there are also a couple of other factors you should consider before purchasing a new desk.

Available Space

When you know the measurements of the desk you want to purchase, or for your DIY desk, the next step is to measure the available space you have for a new desk in the part of the room you wish to put it. This is another crucial step because imagine spending a lot of money on a new executive desk for example and not having the space to put it in. So, we can’t stress this step enough.

Desk Shape

A very important factor that you should think about before purchasing a desk is what shape of the desk do you need. For example, if you don’t have enough amount of space in your room for a big desk, and you have space for a corner (l-shaped) desk, then that is the logical way to go.

Chair Size

This may not sound important, but before you choose your desk, you should definitely take into consideration the size of your chair. If your new desk takes up a lot of space and there is no place for you to put your chair, where are you going to sit? So, think about the space that is left for your chair and if it can fit under your desk.

By |2022-11-04T17:45:10+01:00January 7th, 2022|How-Tos|
Read More

How To Make Copies On A Printer – A 7-Step Guide

Many office spaces and home offices are equipped with highly popular all-in-one printers that have three features: printing, faxing, and copying. Those all-in-one printers are quite in-handy pieces of electronic equipment, and you never know when you’ll need one of those features that they have.

Copying is an extremely convenient process and is very simple to do. We will now explain how to make copies on your printer.

Let’s jump to it.

Step 1

The very first step is to connect the printer to a power source properly and then power up your printer by pushing the power button. You can then either pair it up with a device that you wish to control the copying process from or you don’t wish to connect it to a device, many printers have buttons on them that let you control the copying. So, you should check if your printer has that option.

Step 2

Whichever way you want to copy, the next step is the same. Open the lid on your printer and place the document you wish to copy on it, face-down. Place it precisely in the middle so you don’t get a copy with distorted text. After doing that, close the lid.

Step 3

The next step is to choose wheater you want a black and white copy or you want to copy in color. If your printer has a button for black and white and color copying, you can press one of those, or if you are copying from your smartphone, you can choose from the app, or, if you have a more expensive printer with a touchscreen, you can choose there.

Step 4

Moving on, you can choose to shrink or expand the size of the copy if your printer has that option, which is mostly the case with newer printers. You can do it through an app.

Step 5

If you need more than one copy, now is the time to select the number of copies you wish.

Step 6

Once all of these steps are finished, you are ready to copy. If you are, for example, using an HP app, you will get a notice that the printer is ready. Press the button that indicates the start of copying, which may be different in order of which brand of printers you are using.

Step 7

Once the pages are out of your printer, remove them and turn off the printer if you don’t wish to copy some different documents.

Conclusion

That is the end of this how-to guide, and we hope it helped.

If you don’t have a printer, feel free to check out our list of the best all-in-one printers under $200.

Happy copying!

By |2022-10-27T01:36:26+01:00December 31st, 2021|How-Tos, Technology|
Read More

How to Build a Simple Desk | Office Desk DIY

Working in the office, whether it’s your home office or at work, you know how important office furniture is to your productivity. The desk is an essential piece in your office space, but it doesn’t have to be the most expensive one.

If there is a piece of office furniture that you should invest your money in, it’s the chair, as the uncomfortable office chair can really be detrimental to your health.

The desk, on the other hand, should be functional, comfortable, flat, and not wobbly. If it fits your office space perfectly – even better. And unlike the chair, you can actually build a desk that ticks all the boxes, by yourself, very quickly and for less than a half of the price of a lousy fiberboard office desk bought in Walmart, that’s going to fall apart anyway.

We will show you how to build a simple desk that is cheap and easy to build for people that have done nothing like this before. Believe it or not, it costs approximately $15 to build this table. You can’t buy one for that amount of money. Let’s get started:

What do you need to build a desk?

For materials, you will only need 4 pieces of wood:

  • 2 boards 2×6, 8’ long
  • 3 boards 2×4, 8’ long
  • screws
  • wood glue

As far as tools go, you need some pretty basic stuff:

  • Clamp
  • Level
  • Measuring table
  • Cordless Drill
  • Table saw and a miter saw (if you don’t have any of these you can get away with a handheld circular saw)
  • Pencil or marker

Ok, let’s get crackin’!

Step 1: Cut the tabletop

For the first step, you’ll need to decide how long you want your table to be. For this table, we decided that 4 feet would be perfect, so all we had to do is cut our 2×6 boards in half. If you need more than 4 feet, you will need one or two more 2×6 boards, but for this tutorial, we are keeping it as simple as it gets.

Take your measuring tape and mark 4 feet from each side. The boards are often a bit longer than stated, so you’ll have a quarter to a half an inch to spare. The easiest way to cut the boards is using a miter saw, but a circular saw will do the job just fine.

Step 2: Flatten the boards.

If you inspect the board, you will see that the edges are a little rounded. And if you want a nice and flat office table, you are going to need to take a little bit of the edge off, just enough to get it nice and square.

Now, if you don’t have a table saw, this step is going to be a little bit trickier. You will need to do the same thing with a circular saw. There are some great instructions on how to cut a straight line with a circular saw, so I suggest you take a look at them before trying to do it yourself.

Remember, you just need to cut the rounded edge off, it’s a very thin strip of wood. On 2 boards you should cut only one side, so the other one stays rounded; these will be the edges of your tabletop.

cutting the board table saw

Step 3: Glue the tabletop

Lay the board altogether, with rounded edges on the outside and flat edges all flushed together. To glue the boars together, you are going to need 4 clamps – 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom.

Place 2 clamps underneath the boards, then turn the boards on the side and apply glue. Spread it around the whole edge, nice and evenly. Lay the boards over, putting the glue and the non-glue sides together.

You don’t really have to apply glue to both sides of the board, it’s just messier and not actually stronger. Clamp the boards together, tightly and evenly. Make at least one side perfectly flat, but you can cut and flatten them later anyway.

If the excess glue starts coming out, it is best that you get it off right now, otherwise, you will have to sand it off. Wood glue is very strong and will keep the pieces together just fine. So you don’t really need to put any screws in, whatsoever.

Step 4: Attach the legs

To attach the legs cut 4 pieces from those 2X4 boards that are 17.5” long. Place 2 of the pieces on the bottom of the tabletop, about ¾ of an inch in from the side edge of the table, and equally apart from both the front and back edge. Screw the pieces to the tabletop using the drill. If you want you can put a screw in each board, but 2 screws are just enough.

Now for the legs. First, you should be aware that the 2×6 board is not actually 2 inches thick, it’s 1.5. So when deciding on the height of the table, take that into account.

We wanted to make a table that is 30 inches tall, so that means that we cut the legs to 30”-1.5” for the tabletop = 28.5”. Screw the legs by placing them against those pieces that you screwed to the tabletop and screw them by driving the 2 screws to the side in each leg.

Now, take the two remaining 17.5 inches long pieces and use them to connect the legs of the table midway.

build your office desk

Step 5: Sturdy it up

At this time, the table still feels a bit wobbly, so we are going to add a crossbeam, to sturdy it up. Get what is left from your third 2×4 board and cut to 46.5 inches. Just lay it across those boards between the legs and screw it in. Turn the table over and put a screw through each corner from the top.

Step 6: Make it pretty

Now the only thing you need is to sand it out smooth, paint it or stain it and just make it your own.

This is a super simple project that is easy for woodworking beginners, and can be expand upon by those with more experience. If the instructions here were a bit unclear, here is a video to help you:

If you are interested in painting a desk, feel free to check out our guide here!

By |2022-12-11T00:19:32+01:00December 15th, 2020|Office Design, How-Tos|
Read More
Copyright© 2024 TDS Office | All Rights Reserved | tds-office.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
InstagramXPinterest
Go to Top