Question Inkjet Printer Printhead Replacement Process Questions

[Crag_Hack]

I have an HP Officejet Pro 8025. A while back the printing was subpar with streaks and no amount of printhead cleaning fixed it. I replaced the printhead with this guy then everything was great. The installation instructions said to do a printhead cleaning to make the quality good enough but since the quality was already great I skipped it. Now a couple months later the print quality is subpar again with streaks. Again printhead cleaning doesn't help. My questions are:

1. Do you think third-party printheads are made to the same quality standards as a genuine HP printhead?
2. Could skipping the printhead cleaning after replacement have messed things up causing the subpar quality I'm currently seeing?
3. Should I replace the printhead again with hopefully better luck this time?

 

[USAFRet]

1. No.
2. Yes.
3. Unknown. It won't get any worse.

 

[Crag_Hack]

@USAFRet Thanks as always. I hope the relevant government bodies crack down on this BS some time, it's offensive you can't buy a replacement HP printhead for a 2-3 year old printer.

 

[USAFRet]

@USAFRet Thanks as always. I hope the relevant government bodies crack down on this BS some time, it's offensive you can't buy a replacement HP printhead for a 2-3 year old printer.

Well, maybe you can. From other sources/manufacturers.
But I would absolutely NOT trust some janky thing from Ali E.

 

[Crag_Hack]

@USAFRet I googled the **** out of it. Nothing to be found anywhere.

 

[USAFRet]

@USAFRet I googled the **** out of it. Nothing to be found anywhere.

Ah well...

I gave up on inkjets years ago.

 

[Crag_Hack]

@USAFRet Hmm laserjet then sounds like a perfect solution. Maybe the owner of the printer will let me have a go with another printhead for fun just to see. How do you prime a new printhead? Do you just a round or two of printhead cleaning?

 

[USAFRet]

@USAFRet Hmm laserjet then sounds like a perfect solution. Maybe the owner of the printer will let me have a go with another printhead for fun just to see. How do you prime a new printhead? Do you just a round or two of printhead cleaning?

HP will have a specified procedure for that.

 

[Crag_Hack]

@USAFRet Where to find such a procedure?

 

[USAFRet]

@USAFRet Where to find such a procedure?

Almost certainly in the user manual for that specific printer.
Or in the HP user forums.
If not there, ask HP directly.

 

[Crag_Hack]

@USAFRet gotcha thanks

 

[Paperdoc]

Yeah, "priming" a new printhead is just doing a very few head cleanings.

For your poor performance of the new printhead it may well be faulty. But you can try this. Remove that printhead and clean all the electrical contacts on the printhead itself, and in the holder in the printer. A CLEAN common pink pencil eraser is good for this - very mildly abrasive. Make sure to wipe / blow off any residue before re-installing the printhead.

 

[Crag_Hack]

@Paperdoc Thx it was working fine for a while though, could the contacts still have gotten dirty through regular usage?