how to clean the ink sponge well in the B209a All-In-One printer?

[Richardosj]

There is a sponge in a small box-like well to the extreme right inside the printer, visible when the the artridge rack is centered for replacing a cartridge.  Lots of ink all around inside the area, and there seems to be coagulated ink on and around the small box.  Help!

[Rudy1906]

You can try to clean it, if you reach in that area. There is not a way to disassemble the printer and clean that area.

Did you ink spill, or is there a cartridge leaking?

Is this causing a print quality problem?

[Richardosj]

The area is reachable; can the sponge be replaced? We may have had a leaking cartridge.  Yes, the print quality is affected. Black color is streaky and faded, even with a new cartridge.

[Rudy1906]

No, you cannt replace the sponge. You can try to clean that area with lint free cloth and water. NO ALCOHOL. Any area that is reachable that can be clean, try to clean with water and cloth. 

Let me know the results. 

[Richardosj]

Well, the printer head is removable! So the head was soaked in hot water, with several rinse and re-soak cycles.  Lots of ink had built up around the area where the head slides along the paper. OK, no alcohol used. Next step after some drying and blotting of visible water is to re-install and run the head cleaning operation.  As to the sponge, very curious as to why it is not cleanable/replaceable.  The entire area around the tray that wipes the heads was loaded with coagulated ink.  Used a forceps and dry clean soft paper to wipe up all that could be reached. LOTS of ink.  The sponge was removed and blotted using the same cleaning paper, until there was minimal ink transferred to the clean paper.  Sponge was replaced into the well where it came from.  Will post results.

richard

[Rudy1906]

Let me know what happens. 

[threelakeys]

I actually had replaced my black ink cartridge only to get an error message that I could find no solution for.  Finally I took a flashlight and looked around the cartridge area, I finally noticed the sponge well you mentioned...I had never noticed or heard of it before.   Ink drips had built up into a 1/4 inch high coagulated mess.  I took a tool and removed the mess and problem solved.  I did wonder at the time if I could remove the sponge and at least put between some paper towels to remove excess ink.  I was hesitant at the time to try and peel the sponge up in case it has been glued down.  I'm surprised that this isn't mentioned in the troubleshooting for ink cartridge problems.  Thanks for your information.  If you or someone else is still following, is the sponge easily removed with forceps?   Completely makes sense that these sponges could be a problem after several years.

[Duane_D]

Hello
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