Epson Stylus C80 Repairs
* Note: I don't recommend you repair your own ink jet printer uneless you have at least 2 hours to waste and an old change of clothes that you don't mind ruining.
If you've got an old inkjet printer lying around and it doesn't print, it could be a simple case of a clogged tube. In my case, I had an Epson C80 printer that I hadn't used for more than a year. It refused to print in black although colors came out. Here are the steps I took to fix it.
1. The moving printer heads will normally be locked in place on the right. To unlock them, turn on the printer, remove any paper, and press the paperfeed button. This will cause the heads to move to the left. Quickly unplug the printer. You will then be able to move the heads around and access screws later.
2. Unassemble the printer according to these instructions. You'll need a long magnetized phillips screwdriver.
3. If you've never seen inside an inkjet printer, you'll notice that it's messy in there! Ink collects at the bottom where it gets soaked up by some tampon-like sponges. If your sponges are soaked with ink, this is a good time to change them.
4. In my case, the repair was simple (but messy). There was a small tube where the excess ink drops into the bottom of the printer (now you know where all your ink goes and why you've got to buy more ink all the time). All I had to do was blow air up through the tube util it bubbled up the other end (and all over my lap). There are some sites that recommend you clean it out with a degreasing solution but I prefer the low tech solution.
5. While unassembled you can test your printer - it will still print even without the outer case. In the utilities portion of your print driver software, there should be some utilities for running a nozzle check and head cleaning. You may have to run these several times before anything prints.
6. Reassemble everything.