How do you "professionally" clean a printer?

[IronMentality]

I like to make sure whenever I invest in something, I maintain it very well. To clean the outside of my Canon Pixma MP980 printer, I use a soft cotton cloth with fluid made for plastic, and wipe it down.

However, I am told as a printer gets older, the inside gets dirty as well. I've read various different sites recommending you get your printer "professionally" cleaned every year for a fee.

I'd rather do this myself. What do you guys use to clean out the gunk or make sure nothing gets dirty inside of your printer? Safely of course, with the printer unplugged :)

[doctorgonzo]

I use canned air to blow out the insides. That's about it. If the print heads get clogged, I just run the printer's cleaning cycle.

[glc]

Professional cleaning is more oriented to laser printers used in a high output situation such as office network printers. There, it pays because with proper care, lasers can run over a million copies on the page counter. For home use, by the time the guts need professional cleaning, the printer is ready for retirement anyway. The only time I'd get an inkjet professionally cleaned (and by the way, professional cleaning requires disassembly and reassembly) is if you cheap out, use cheap cartridges or try to fill your own, and they leak. Even then, the $70 for doing this may be better spent on a replacement printer as they are so cheap these days. It's kinda like trying to fix a toaster or a coffee pot - that's just not done these days.

About the only thing I'd do to an inkjet, besides blow out the dust and paper particles, is when I replace the cartridges I use cleaning cloths and Q-tips dipped in appropriate solvent for the type ink used and wipe up any caked or spilled ink that I can readily see.

[TwoRails]

I've never seen a printer "professionally" cleaned, but I've seen probably about 2 dozen copy machines, of various brands, "professionally" cleaned in the office environment: It's always been canned aire, vacuum cleaner, and some wipe down.

[sgtspector]

Unless you're having jamming problems just blow out the dust. If the rollers arent picking up the paper and you're getting jams they may have a "sheen" on them, They get glazed and start to slip. If that's the problem just take a lint free towel and spray some windex or any glass cleaner on it and wipe the rollers where ever you can reach them. If you hit the paper feed button you can usually get the rollers all the way around.

[IronMentality]

Professional cleaning is more oriented to laser printers used in a high output situation such as office network printers. There, it pays because with proper care, lasers can run over a million copies on the page counter. For home use, by the time the guts need professional cleaning, the printer is ready for retirement anyway. The only time I'd get an inkjet professionally cleaned (and by the way, professional cleaning requires disassembly and reassembly) is if you cheap out, use cheap cartridges or try to fill your own, and they leak. Even then, the $70 for doing this may be better spent on a replacement printer as they are so cheap these days. It's kinda like trying to fix a toaster or a coffee pot - that's just not done these days.

About the only thing I'd do to an inkjet, besides blow out the dust and paper particles, is when I replace the cartridges I use cleaning cloths and Q-tips dipped in appropriate solvent for the type ink used and wipe up any caked or spilled ink that I can readily see.

What kind of cleaning cloths do you recommend, and what solvent would you recommend for a particular type of ink? How would I also determine what kind of ink I am putting into my printer, so I can make the correct solvent choice?

[glc]

I use any kind of rags that I can get my hands on that are reasonably lint-free, and I try water first. If that doesn't work, then I use alcohol.

If you are not terribly concerned about operating cost but want maximum reliability, just use genuine ink cartridges and don't try to refill them. Don't stock up too much, they do have a shelf life.