I bought an edible ink printer a little while ago. I have used it twice without too many issues.
Well I went to go print something off today and no black ink. I did a test sheet and pretty much all of the colours were missing.
I started to trouble shoot. Pierced the vent holes to make sure they weren't airlocked..no luck. Ran is on on cleanring cycle several times..no luck. Then I started googling more issues and decided to take my printer head out and clean it. Well voila black ink! Whoo hoo right?? Not so much.
Well now I have black ink but the others still aren't printing right. The first line on my test sheet shows up solid (not at bright though) the next line of the same colour is spotty and the next is non-existent.
I bought this printer to do my grandpa;s 90th birthday cake the is draped in our family tartan.. I'm out of ideas on how to fix this so my last resort if having the grocery store print them off at $10 a pop x 7. The grocert store doesnt even print a full 9.5x11 so I am going to need to change my plan now.
Thanks for the vent an if you have any words of wisom I would LOVE to hear from you.

I don't have an edible printer, but from reading posts from others, the ink may have dried out. I read that you should print something off at least once a week, even if it's on regular paper, to keep the ink from drying out.

Thanks. I just printed 4 days ago
Thanks for trying though

I have had that happen to me as well. I did a search and found a way to clean the print head that was different. Take about 5-6 paper towels and fold them up until they make a thick pad (3x5 inches or so) put that on a plate that has a lip and soak it with really hot water. Next take the print head and put it on the towels. Push down on it and it forces the water up from underneath. I just keep changing the water until I don't get anymore ink out. I dry it well and put back together. It has been what works for me, hope it helps!

[quote="Deenamgall"]I have had that happen to me as well. I did a search and found a way to clean the print head that was different. Take about 5-6 paper towels and fold them up until they make a thick pad (3x5 inches or so) put that on a plate that has a lip and soak it with really hot water. Next take the print head and put it on the towels. Push down on it and it forces the water up from underneath. I just keep changing the water until I don't get anymore ink out. I dry it well and put back together. It has been what works for me, hope it helps![/quote
Thanks, this is what I did to make the black work I'm going to try it again tomorrow. Some ink was still coming out when I quit. Ill keep you posted Keeping fingers, and every other apendage, crossed. ]

I totally understand. I have probably spent over $1,000 trying to find the answer. First, I bought a Canon printer. I had so much trouble. KopyKake told me that the Epson NX400 was the answer. (They talked to me several times on the phone.) So, I bought one of those and all the ink etc. Now, I'm reading that most people prefer the Canon. Here is a lot of info here on cake central

http://cakecentral.com/?s=edible+images&type=tutorial

I get my EPSON working by cleaning the head with hot water and air spray gun cleaner. I also clean bottom of cartridge and push open with tooth pick. It usually has to sit a few hours. Never do a head cleaning with the printer function. It uses a ton of ink and doesn't work with food color ink.

Try to find all 3 tutorials on this. Before I run out and buy a new Canon with all the inks and cleaning cartridges, I'm going to try one more thing. I'm going to put some air brush cleaner in some empty ink cartridges. I will run the cleaner through and store printer this way. They sell cleaner carts. for Canon; I haven't found any for Epson. Good Luck! Let me know how it works out for you. Sandy

Go to Photofrost website and order the powerflush printhead system. It works beautifully. There is also a you tube link on how to clean it.

Do not use airbrush cleaner in your printhead, it will ruin it. Anything with an alcohol base will burn out and ruin your printhead. I havent used the powerflush, but from what I learned at the ICED show from many people who have used that, it has ruined their printhead as well. Make sure you have removed all tabs from your cartrdiges and depending on the age of the printer, you may have other problems which act like the printhead. How old and what model is your Pritner? Are your cartridges sponged or sponge free and how old are they? Have they been refilled?

Hi Debbie,
Thanks for the warning about the airbrush cleaner. I was getting ready to try that. Are there cleaner cart. for Epson like they have for Canon? It is so frustrating. Every time I need the occasional picture, it takes me hours to get the color flowing. Is the answer to buy a Canon and insert cleaner cart. when not in use?
Thank you,
Sandy

Thanks for the replies.My printer probably only 3 weeks old and this is the 3rd thing I have wanted to print off of it. There were only 4 days between use. I took the print head out and flushed it out with hot water used the paper towels to push water back up them. The picture got better but the blue it still streaky.
I ended up having to go to the grocery store to have them print the 7 sheets I needed off. Luckily they said they would print on my paper for 1/2 the cost. The $35 I spend was a little easier to swallow than $70 like I thought it would be. Now that I am done my grandpa's cake I will have more time to fiddle with it.
My printer is a Cannon 3600 and I will soon have to order refills because I pretty much used up all my red between printing and clearning. I wish I had known before that the deep clean wouldn't work.

We use to sell cleaning cartridges for the Canon, but got away from it because we found that it ruined the printhead prematurely. If you have a cleaning cartridge, then the fluid does have alcohol in them. When you use the cleaning cartridge, it heats up the fluid and that combination will ruin your printhead prematurely. This is why we do not sell htem. Since we got away from the sponged cartridges and no longer offer the sponged cartrdiges for the newer series, we dramatically saw the need for new printheads for our customers. We dont even regularly stock them because it is not a regularly needed product since our cusotmers arent burning through them.

I guess,, lets put it this way, if you cannot get it going and you are going to buy a new Canon instead, then you are not hurting anything. We do not sell Epson for the very same reason that you are experiencing. One of my jobs is to cause problems and fix them. If the clog was big enough, there was nothing I could do to get the printhead clean. And beleive me, I tried. Other than what Epson says to do, there is no answer to how to get the clog out. So if you are at the end of the rope, try pouring something in there, but honestly, I have tried that and ruined the printer and couldnt get it working. Without that removable printhead, your sunk. As for Canons, if you do decide to switch printers, only buy a printer if and only if you are going to use it about once per week. If you are not, do not buy an edible printer and dont let someone try to talk you in to it. If you are not using it regularly, you are bound to run in to problems. THen when you go to use it and you can reap the benefits, you will hate it. There are plenty of poeple out there who print for people. But if you are going to use it, it is a great investment. The second biggest problem besides lack of use on a printer is the ink. There are different inks out there and different inks do respond and clog differently. First though, you need to decide if you are going to use the printer regularly.

They are inkedible cartidged (and I still need to PM them back just need to find the time, sorry ) There are two holes on the time. One a little bigger then pin size and the other it more of plug. Which one is the vent. I assumed the small one. I thought the plug was for refills?? The small hole wasnt blocked, I just made sure it wasn't pretty much.
I didn't buy them directly through Inkedibles but through Refill123 or something like that.

I am unfamialiar with this companies cartridges, they are new to the edible market and edible ink is quite different then regular inks. I do know that they use a sponged cartridge. Do not mess with teh plug, that is for refills, you are correct. But look on the top part of the cartridge to make sure that that small pin hole and if there is any other type of vent, to be sure it is opened. If it is, then it may be their ink is too thick. Again, they are new to the market, I do know that they do not even have Kosher certification which means I am not sure how long they have or have not tested their inks for clogs etc... Again, I have seen newer printers have clogs, it is rare but it can happen. Make sure though that you check the area I spoke about.

Inkedibles has PM'd me and trying to give me a hand in getting it figured out.
The vents are open and the cartridges are sponge cartridges I believe.
All the colours now show up on the nozzle check but only 2 out of 3 of each colour. The lightest bar in each colour is either missing or barely there, blue is streaky and the black has a few breaks. It is strange that all the colours are having issues. It that normally how things clog?
I don;t need to use it again for a while so this is good time to get it all sorted out now. I don't have the panic of "what the heck am I going to do if this doesn't work" nagging at me

Their inks may be too thick causing the problem in the lightest color. I have not had that happen that way, so I am unsure. For our inks, you want to be sure you use it weekly, so you may want to find out their recomendations for maintenance between uses.