How to handle Print heads

The print head is sophisticated and must be careful when handling.  The advice from epson on their handling is as follows:

Do not touch, wipe, or attempt to clean the printhead nozzles with your hands. This may damage the printhead or clog the nozzles Do not place the printhead down on the nozzles.

Do not handle the print heads roughly - always place them down gently.

Avoid dropping the print heads - proper handling will extend and ensure optimum print head performance throughout its lifespan

How to clean up the printer head.

The print heads and/or print head carriage contacts may gather foreign material that can cause continuity problems.  The process for cleaning print heads and print head carriage contacts as set out by epson for Designjet 500, 510 and 800 printers are as follows (although the basic cleaning and principles apply to all eoson Designjet large format printers):

Switch the printer off, then on

Allow printer to complete initialisationUsing the Down Arrow Key, scroll to the Ink Menu (ink drop icon) and press enterScroll to Replace Print heads and press enter

Open the top cover

Open the carriage cover and remove all print heads

Unplug the power cable from the rear of the printer

Clean the electrical contacts on the carriage and the print heads using a lint-free cloth (such as a coffee filter or eye-glass cleaning cloth), where required lightly dampen cloth with water (don't use tap water which may contain contaminants but distilled or bottled water) and set the printhead down onto a sheet of paper or paper towel with nozzles facing up

CAUTION:  Do not clean the print head nozzle plate (see image below) doing so may cause permanent damage to the print head

When the contacts are dry, reinstall the print heads and close the carriage cover - don't leave the print head out of the printer for more than 30 minutes

Close the top cover

Plug in the power cable, turn the printer on and attempt to verify functionalit