how do i clean my canon i560 heads

joe, March 2006

Nothing fancy needed.

Remove the print head, wash it in running hot water from both top and bottom keep doing it till you see no color on each side, shake dry, dry with tissue. place it back in the printer, add the cartridges, and works like new.

no need of alcohol, steam bath, highpressure dental stuff or cotton buds.

Maverick, March 2013

When the colour deteriates I take out the printhead and give it a thorough steam clean from both top and bottom
using the fine high pressure pencil nozzle on my Karcher
machine.To dry off I use quite a high pressure setting on
my air compressor.The head comes up like new.Print quality returns to normal.I have kept an I560 working like this for many years without ever wasting loads of ink trying to clean it with the computer

Peter Saunders, April 2010

I took my Canon i560 printhead out and put it in a small dish of methylated spirits. I left it for about eight hours and gently cleaned the printhead with a cotton bud. Left it for another hour, drained it, and left it overnight to dry.
Hey presto. Today the printhead works fine and I've got all my colours back. Am very pleased with the advice given here.

Patrick John McNEILL, April 2008

I have sucessfully cleaned my Canon i560 printheads as follows:

Remove the print head and handling it gently place it in a bowl of warm (not boiling) water mixed with 360 ml (a small bottle worth) of printer cleaning fluid, (the kind that comes with ink jet refill kits)

If you haven't got any of this, then a small amount of Fairy washing up liquid in it, might work but the printer fluid is better. Leave it soaking for 24 hours, well away from the kids and the cat, and you should return to a bowl of dirty water as all the ink should have drained.

Now this step is critical. Do not attempt to take a apart or rub violently. but very, very gently using a soft cloth, drain and dab away the excess ink seeping from the head. Be sure that your print head is dry before you put it back into your printer.

When you are sure that it is dry, put your cartridge back in your printer. You will need to do the normal cleaning tests, - a print nozzle and a clean head test. Hopefully it will be back to normal.

I once bought a new Canon i560 because I thought my old head was broken. I completed this cleaning and my old one worked like new.

I hope this will work for you.

David Murray, April 2006