Epson Pro 4800 care and maintenance?

[Kate-the-Great]

I got lucky and found an Epson Pro 4800 at a local pawn shop with cartridges for 150$ (!), now I'm looking for some pointers on actually using it. I'll do some reading around the internet but I wanted to ask ppl here also.

I'm guessing the first thing I'll have to do is clean the pinheads and ink lines. I understand that injecting a cleaning fluid through the lines with a syringe and same with printheads will do the trick? What's the best cleaning fluid- I hear people mention distilled water, isopropyl alcohol, Windex?

Thanks in advance for any advice! I'm excited to dip my toes into the world of large-format printing!

 

[Glenn2]

This link might be of some help. It talks about the 4000 model but cleaning should be similar.

http://graphic-fusion.com/sp4000.htm

 

[Kate-the-Great]

Thanks Glenn! I skimmed the link and it looks like Sarah has some good info. I'll read it at length tonight.

Per a friend's suggestion, I've suspended the printhead in a container so the bottom (not the PCB obviously) is soaking in water with some Windex added. Pressing the head on a paper towel shows it's helping- this morning I got all 8 colors showing whereas last night only Magenta, Light Black and Cyan were showing up. I'll put it back together tonight and try a head check again.