Clean printer head residue compartment is full of jelly and ink

[EconJohn]

Maybe I've cleaned my printer heads too many times, but the residue compartment on the right side of the ink cartridges is full of ink, dust, jelly and gray/black gunk.   Is there a way to remove and clean that residue tray?

[Bob_Headrick]

How full?  Take a flashlight and look at the mound of ink in the service station - is it scraped flat?  The service station is designed to handle the waste ink and normally it is not necessary or desirable to clean this area.  If the ink is scraped flat on the top it means the service station is getting full.  In this case it maybe appropriate to clean the service station.  

It is not really easy to remove the service station, but you could clean it as follows:  get some newspaper or a disposable sheet of plastic and put it on your desktop.  Get a half dozen plastic spoons and a disposable cup to put the ink waste in.  It may help to wear rubber or plastic gloves.  This is a messy process, be careful!  Do not drop a glob of ink in the printer, on your desk or the carpet.  

Open the lid of the printer as if you were going to change the ink.  Locate the encoder strip - this is a thin mostly clear strip that runs the width of the printer a bit above the carriage rod.  It is important to NOT get ink on this strip, avoid touching the strip, stay well away from this during the process. 

 Allow the carriage to move to the left, then unplug the printer power cable as well as a USB cable or network cable if they are connected.  Use the plastic spoon to scoop out some of the sludge and put it in the disposable cup.  Use another clean spoon and repeat the process to remove the majority of the ink.  It is not necessary to completely clean the area, just remove the majority of the glob.  

Close the lid, then plug the printer back in and turn it on.  

There are a few things to do to minimize ink in the service area:

• Do not run manual cleaning cycles unless necessary (which is rare).
• Always keep the printer plugged into a live outlet.  If an outlet switch or other external switch is used to turn off power to the printer it will use more ink for servicing the next time the printer is turned on.