Got to say, you are really a genius. I have a Photosmart 5510 that wasn´t printing in black. I tried to clean the heads myself, but it didn't solve the problem. I took the printer to a technical service, and they told me to buy another printer because they thought it was a problem with the heads. But I didn't give up and found your amazing video. I was able to figure out that the problem was the ink was stuck in the hoses of the pump. It was so stuck that I actually had to use a rigid wire to unclog the ink and use alcohol until all the ink was removed. I just wanted to share my anecdote and say thank you very much. I'm a new subscriber of your channel
Je tiens à vous remercier car vous êtes le seule à avoir su expliquer pourquoi que l’ encre noir ne faisait pas d’ impression, maintenant je vais pratiquer le débouchage et remettre en service cette imprimante. Je souhaite une bonne journée.❤
Thank you for such a detailed video on how to clean the HP5520 series printer. My neighbours HP5524 was leaking black ink out of the bottom of the case onto the desk! I followed your dis-assembly instructions and found that the bottom of the case at the right hand end was simply swimming in ink. On checking the Purge pads and pump, all was working OK. Further investigation showed that the reservoirs, at the very right hand end of the printer, were over flowing. Managed to remove sponges, washed them (now white instead of black!) and soaked up residue in the bottom of the reservoirs, and the bottom of the case, with kitchen towel. Re-assembled the printer, prayed, then switched on the power. All seemed to work OK so printed test sheets. First was a bit messy, but after that it was perfect. Happy neighbour. Thanks again for such a detailed video.
Solved my problem, there was masses of black ink around the pump which had solidified on the pads along the side blocking the pump hose outlet. With hindsight I would try cleaning those first (21:20) in case it solved the problem before disassembling the whole pump assembly. Big thanks for posting this!
this is the very best tutorial video on you tube .. great tutorial and clear instructions . 78 year old english guy retired to Portugal . I already flushed the dirty ink zone using warm water and a small paintbrush .Flushed the cartridge tray using a sheep syringe filled with nice clean hot ish water . great explanation on the function of the purge unit .I didn,t understand the function / how it pumps in both directions . well done you deserve a medal . I bought a HP envy 6430e printer to replace my HP 5520 and was not able to configure it to function with my HP tower computer running windows 7.. the two techies in Staples also failed to connect the new printer to my Windows 7 computer .. they returned my payment and then I discovered your brilliant tutorial video which restored my 5520 to as new printing performance .I am refilling my original HP cartridges .. the cost of four new cartridges was massive .
One of the very best descriptions of a fix, any fix, I've watched. Easy language explanations attention to detail cautions warnings. Pleasant relaxed demeanour. Thanks Paolo Marcelli. Thanks Leanne Neal for pointing us to him (3-months ago).
Thank you so much for a brilliant video. This is the one that sorted out my printer problem. I watched others but they all refer to cleaning the printhead and that isn't the problem. On my printer I found that the purge system tubes for the black ink were so badly clogged up, I had to use a piece of wire to unblock them. Like using drain rods on a blocked sewer pipe!! A couple of tips for anyone else doing this. Firstly, wear old clothes as the ink will wash off your hands eventually but not easy to wash out of fabrics. Also, put some clingfilm on tiles at the back of your sink as the ink will stain the white grout. When using the wire keep the tube straight and don't attempt to go round corners as the wire will push through the side of the tube. Every time you pull the wire out give it a wipe then dip in water before going in again. Where the tube goes round a bend, squeeze it with your fingers to break up the ink then finally flush it out using the syringe. It takes time and patience but it got my printer working again.
Amazing! With this incredibly detailed video I was able to discover that this printer had dried black ink pretty much everywhere. I really tried not to pull on the purge pump tubes but by holding them near the base of the pump where they are attached, but pulling on them did enable the dried ink to break apart. It took a great deal of efforts that really felt like they might damage the printer, including an intense combination of isopropyl alcohol and a syringe both the pump tubes and on the wire mesh that the black ink cartridge rests on. I also used compressed air to get the dried ink out of the printhead. I am far from an expert, but figured that the printer wasn't working anyway and I couldn't really break it worse. Honestly I am shocked that my printer actually is back to working again now and it is at least as good as new. I wouldn't have ever attempted this fix with out these amazing videos and the comments from others who also tried and succeeded in saving their printer. Thank you all!!
Thank you for the comment! I think if you used glass cleaner (something like Windex) would've been much better because isopropyl alcohol is not as good as dissolving dried ink, but I'm happy that you fixed the printer and now it's working fine :)
brilliant video, just saved some land fill. my printer was nobbled by a hp update that was rectified by removing all updates and returning to original specs by using the "hidden menu" that hp do not share for obvious reasons. my printer is now 10 years old. thank you.
I dont generally leave comments, but this video was soooooo good and to the point, explaining everything, I dont think I have seen a better video tutorial ever on RUclips. For people using Photosmart 5520, there is one screw beneath the name sticker on the outer dock, and one extra inside on top right for the purge pump! Thank you so much!
Unpacked my 5510 after a couple years of no use post-university, managed to find ink that didn't cost me the price of a new printer, no black ink on any page. Managed to find how to remove the printheads but no dice on fixing it. Saw this video and since I had the guts out to remove the printheads, figured I should check the purge pump. Hoo boy. A day's worth of work, 2 syringes, some plastic line, stained fingers, and part wiggling later, I have black ink again. Nearly every line in the black ink side of the pump was severely clogged and took about an hour to clear out. But lo! I have black ink again! And now I know how to clean it should it get clogged again. Full marks from me, sir, you've extended the life of my printer dramatically and saved me a large headache.
Thank you for your great video I followed it concisely, found the problem and "job done", blocked black outlet hose, I could not shift the blockage so I separated the pump, removed the pipe, pushed a wire through it followed by the water in a syringe and reassembled. I took loads of photos so I could put it back how it was, so the pump is fixable. Your presentation, content and delivery is excellent, you saved me loads of money and hassle, also it boosted my self confidence. Regards, Stephanie.😃
Wish I'd read yours before posting this: Black ink had hardened within the pump. No amount of vacuum+pressure liquid would shift it. So, unclipped the pump casing in halves to reveal tube blockage inside. Used thin copper wire to carefully break through and then flush the rest. Don't puncture the tube! After partial reassembly of printer, and to watch ink flow in the tubes during "Clean Printhead", stick some black tape between arms of the "Door Open" sensor (at rear lower left corner of display unit). Motor gears give huge torque, mind your fingers! (Not many of us Ms/Mr Fix-it's left, in this HP dumpster world).
This video is incredible. However, I had to take it to the next level and open the motor assembly! Hose was SOLID inside. So I put the hose in a plastic bag with rubbing alcohol and laid the bag flat. While it's flat use your palm and fingertips to massage the hose. If your hose is like mine its not very transparent. Move on to the next step. Keep massaging and rollingit around. Start in the middle. You should see fluid moving out of one end or the other. Whichever end doesn't have fluid moving in and out as you press on it is the direction of the clog. Now. Let's see if I can put this summmumabish back together correctly.
SOLVED. Thank you for saving my printer! Fixed! My HP 5524 printer wouldn't print black. Now it prints black! These are experience-informed tips for future me (or other viewers). I spent two hours writing these tips, spread out over multiple comments below my own: - If the video of "hot-wet-paper-towels-under-printhead" by Marcin Błaczkowski doesn't work, this above video is for you. - Use gloves! My fingers are still black a week later. Washing my hands with bars of soap helped, as did showering. - Going through the troubleshooting process for the first time as beginner without experience, and doing testruns, took me around 3 days or 24h before printing black worked. In my inexperience, I was very careful. But it was a hobby for me and gave me a sense of accomplishment. I would do it again. PREP - I recommend wearing gloves and doing it in a room with tiles or in a sink. - Spilled ink? Pat on it, don't smear. - Have paper towels on hand, ones that don't fall apart when you look at them. - before disassembly, watch the entire above video and read my entire list - Read the top comment by an ex-HP employee, on the video "Printer Ink, It's a SCAM" by Fstoppers to understand why printing in black also drains your colour cartidge. - 70% alcohol did nothing to clean the print ink. Hot water helped, don't burn yourself though. If you use so much heat it burns, the sillicon tubes get soft and I worry about making them to big. - I think I used torx screwdriver bit size 10 for the screws. - You probably want to use WD-40 grease. GETTING TO THE PRINTHEAD - INJURY DANGER when pressing the top lever to pry off the screen. Left and right of it are extremely sharp edges and I hurt my fingers. I have permanent holes in two fingertips because I used so much force and when it shot loose, I impaled my fingertips on the sharp edges. I got revenge on the screen. I used a hobby knife to cut off the top hook, an the right hook. The screen is now MUCH easier to take off, but still clicks firmly into place. In the process of testing, I must've removed the screen and top plate at least fifteen times. I'm extremely glad I cut off two of those three nasty hooks immediately at the start. - Put screws in cups. - Don't let screw 08:01 fall into the printer. - At the flat cables, pull on the thin plastic cables, not on the white sockets. - The clear copper-coloured plastic is fragile. Memorize which side is top and which side is left, so you can put it back correctly. - I followed a 'how to clean your printhead' video that takes out the printhead carrier for a guide on how to disessemble the first part. The other video's presenter used crocodile pliers and a paperclip to hook into the springs of the printhead. This was a safer and more controlled removal of all springs, since there is a lot of tension on it. - I never fully removed the metal bar with the red wires on the left side. I didn't want to accidentally break them, so I put the bar down at an angle. It was partially loose, and the right part leaned on the location where the screen attaches to the frame. Comment 1 of 3 with my tips. For more tips, see my own comments under this post.
CLEANING THE PRINTHEAD - Bring the printhead to the tap. - The printhead has a green plate on it. Try to avoid getting it wet. But if you do, dry it thoroughly in a warm location for a day, so all moisture is gone. If there's still moisture on the copper plates, I get an error, and I took it out again to continue drying. - The printhead has a sensitive!!! underside. This underside has four slits for four cartridges. I only put the printhead on its side, or put it on a wet paper towel. - I took out the rubber nubs from the place where the ink cartidges touch the printhead. And I used hot water to fill up the reservoirs. I used hot water to fill the reservoir with the metal mesh, and drained it repeatedly until no black ink came out. - I used cotton swabs on the underside of the printhead to remove some clogged ink, and was careful not to get cotton into the slids. - When only clear water came out of the printhead, I was fooled. - The printhead's slits are likely clogged. One slit has six miniscule dots inside them. These are clogged. I used hot water to fill the reservoir with the metal mesh, and drained it repeatedly AGAIN, to soften the ink that was deepest. Clear water came out, but that's because the ink was so diluted. How did I clear the tiniest six dots from the inside? Blowing on it with my mouth didn't help. So I filled up the ink reservoir with water, and I shook it downwards from shoulder height to knee-height, so the gravitation velocity would put pressure on the clogged ink inside the tube. This put a satisfying splatter pattern of black ink across my bathroom wall. Then I put the slit on a dry paper towel to determine which of the 6 holes had opened and was now producing ink. I repeated this shake about 20 times, occasionally rotating the cartidge so another end was topside. Only once I was pretty sure that all six holes of the black slit were open, I reinstalled it. Leaving it in a layer of 1,5 cm water overnight and then shaking it out, might help the process. WIRES, PUMP, MOVING PART - Dear older me, I promise cleaning the printhead won't slove your problem if your printer has been standing still for three years. Clean the tubes while your printer is already halfway disassembled. - My black-ink tubes were most clogged. - I used mostly hot water for this. I never put alcohol in the tubes. - My printer's problem was dried ink from HP cartridges. It was in the tubes, the pump, and especially the printhead. - I had to go through the video's entire process. I am grateful for the uploader's clear explanations and HD quality. - I used pens and then stickers to mark which tube reconnects on which black plastic. - Tubes are all the same sizes and can be reconnected front to back, so you can safely disconnect them. - I disconnected the tubes from everything except the round pump, and except the four black cables attached to the catch reservoir. - The pump is plastic, it can handle water. - First I put every bit of black and white plastic under a running tap like in the video, this helped for a 1/4th of the tube's clog. - Blowing on the tubes didn't work for me. - Then I squeezed the dried up ink out of the tubes. This helped for 1/4th of the tube's clogs. - Then I used a paperclip in the tubes to break clogged ink apart and used water to get the broken inkt clots moist, and then squeezed them out of the tubes. This helped for 1/4th of the tube's clogs. (I used a needle into the four reservoir holes to get some the ink out of the tubes where they are attached to the movable ink double catch reservoir.) - Then I filled a bowl with steaming hot water, and submerged the tubes (and half of the pump) and I let the ink seep out of the tubes overnight. This helped soften the last, most difficult to reach 1/4th of the tube's clogs. Using the pump function to pump water into it, helped me get out the last of the ink. - I pumped glass cleaner through the cleared tubes to remove residue and make sure they were absolutely clear. I only did this at the last step, once I had a current going from one end to the next. Comment 2 of 3 with my tips.
REASSEMBLY - The "most watched" part of getting the moving parts back in, has a trick that involves the carriage in a different position. To see how to install the 'difficult' parts in an easier manner, watch a different, spanish video of THIS SAME UPLOADER (the video where the word for the black reservoir catching carriage is auto-translated as the word 'police'). That other video shows how to do it without violence! - Grease, grease, grease. WD-40 - Check your own earlier made pen marks and stickers to guide you for which tube reattaches where. - I never put back the silver screws behind the screen, and never put back the screw behind the plastic sticker. The top lid stays on just fine without them. During frequent reassembly to solve the carriage jam error, putting those back was more hassle than it was worth. TEST RUNS (notes for older me) - Don't ever buy HP cartridges, only mock ones. - Put a key in the sensor hole so the printer thinks the lid is closed when it's actually open (so you can see what's going on). - If you're peering with a flashlight into the printer while it struggles with a carriage jam, and you see steamy grey smoke? More grease! - If you're peering with a flashlight into the printer while watching a cleaning cycle, this allows you to see that the purged magenta and yellow ink are causing steamy smoke. This is normal. Don't breathe it in though. - Cartridge jam error is annoying. I suspect that the black, ink-catching reservoir, plastic train needs to be under the printhead when it's on the most leftmost side, but the reservoir trian should still have grip to move forward and back. - Yes, it will complain about Official HP ink cartridges errors. Keep trying to reseat the cartridges, and that might make it accept the cartridge. - If it doesn't, check the spinginess of the four metal wires below the chip. Clean the cartridge's chip with 70% alcohol and a paper towl, and the springs too. If any of the springs are bent (even if they don't look bent) then pushing them back in place might help. Also cleaning these springs with 70% alcohol might help. - Also having new, full ink cartridges might help. I got mock cartridges from european store Action for 10 euro. - Using new ink cartridges, I used the TOOLS > CLEAN PRINTHEAD procedure 15 times. This drained 1/3rd of my brand new cartridge. I cut off the side of the paper, so I could line up the black boxes and inspect improvment. I did not thoroughly clean the printhead's black ink slit with the six dots. In cycle one to eight, printhead dots 1 to 3 printed almost perfect, then grew perfect. During cycle one to eight, dots 4, 5, 6 were halfway clogged and gave stripy results. Running seven more 'Clean Printhead cycles' solved the clogs in dot 5. When I'm comparing cycle result one to cycle result fifteen, I see that the stripes in dots 4 and 6 have reduced with 50%, and I suspect that running 15 more cycles could get rid of the clogs completely but I got bored. Or I could take out the printhead again, and "shake" the water through it again until I'm sure dots 4 to 6 are free of blockage. But not right now. - When I print a black-and-white page, using only black in (somewhere deep in the printer's setting) I get a result with some stripes but it's still readable. - When I print a black-and-white page, and I allow the colour cartridges to help enhance the black print, then my black prints arrive without stripes. "Ah-ah! There's more clogged ink! And HAH! I solved the clog!" Is a really rewarding and fun pasttime. Dear uploader: you are the best. Thank you so much. For anyone else: The EPSON ECOPRINT seems to be a reliable printer with big ink reservoirs an self-cleaning cycles and okay performance despite long weeks of doing nothing. Comment 3/3 with tips.
Great tutorial and you are quick in replying to my message when I got stock and your immediate response made the repairs a success. I sent the message while working on the printer.........Your clear and detailed instructions had revived my 7 years old printer - Hp photosmart 5510 back to life.... Since I bought it i used it few times and it has been sitting there to print once in a while..... Keep the good work
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! This fixed our old printer! It would not print black ink. I followed this all the way to removing and rinsing everything. It works, but is time consuming and messy. Thank you!!!!
Excellent video! I was able to fix my printer by following your instructions! In my case the issue was an occlusion in the black tube, which I removed using a syringe and pumping Window cleaning liquid. For this I didn’t have to disassemble the printer completely, so it was a bit easier at the end.
thank you so much for this detailed video. I've literally never seen a printers insides before and with your tutorial I could still repair it! The purge unit was clogged so much that I even had to use a small wire to clean it on the inside (recommended by another commentator here), and it works now!
Brilliant! This worked but I have to add a caution... After all this work do NOT wipe down the clear sensing strip that threads through the printer head. I got a little ink on it and when I wiped it down some of the lines were damaged. New error on power up was "carriage jam" and none of the usual issues like gears missing teeth or worn switches were the issue. Had to spend 20 bucks to order a new sensing strip.
Excellent tutorial! Following this to the letter resolved my Black ink problem, I now have a neat, fully functioning printer again. Would not have been able to do it without you, thanks so much.
A+ Excellent instructions. Fixed my printer using methods described but be extremely careful when reinstalling associated ribbon cable to touch screen ensuring ribbon cable is installed behind tidy cable lug keeping ribbon cable well away from screws holes located behind touch screen. (lucky near miss nearly screwed into loose ribbon cable). Use disposable gloves as task very messy as ink stains hands. When wearing disposable gloves rinse ink contaminated gloves under running water, (ink easily washes off) saves having to use too many gloves.
This was such a helpful tutorial!!! Thank you so much for posting this. I cleaned and replaced my printer head, but was still not able to print black ink. With the help of this tutorial, I was able to find the issue and fix the purge system plug. Thank you!!
Thank you! The pump was the thing! I had clogged both black ink hoses coming through the pump and that white plastic “four hose” connector (black ink connection on the right). Check these if you have this problem.
Thanks so much for sharing. I followed every step. my black ink tube was actually clogged. I was able to unclog it and my printer is back working like new!!!
Thank you so much for your clear instructions. I've never attempted ANYTHING like this, (just given my first printer) followed your instructions to the letter and it worked!!! Yes, it was messy, but so well worthwhile. THANK YOU.
Thank you so much for sharing. This is an absolutely great video, great job. You explain everything in such an easy und understandable way, it is a pleasure to watch this from start till end. Probably on of the best tutorials I have ever seen. Now the work starts on my side - hope this will bring back my printer to life.
Excellent video of rare quality. I was able to take my printer to bits, clean it fully and get it to work again as new. Keep up the good work and thank you on behalf of the planet.
Thank you so much for this video, I fixed my printer after watching your video min 30 times. My printer was blocked and I could not even do your method with the syringe on both side, but since the problems are similar, I tried to figure out a way to clean it, and now it works perfectly! it was very close to end up in a recycling centre, and I am very happy that I could fix it and keep on using it.
Hola Paolo, ¡gracias a tus detalladas y precisas explicaciones he podido recuperar mi photosmart 5520 en 2-3 horas de trabajo!. Great job helping people to extend printers life!. Thank you!
I had significant difficulty clearing the purge unit, it was completely blocked, in the end i had to use some air duster. I didnt have the right syringes to form a vacuum. even the purge pad was completely blocked - I can only imagine the printer was left unused for a long time! Thankyou SO MUCH for this video, i now have a fully working printer to give back to my mother-in-law
Wow. Without this video my printer would have gone in the skip. However mine was much worse. The clear pipe taking black to and from pump totally clogged all way thru dry ink like treacle. Also the black pipe that carry black ink. Had to soak the pump and the ink tray in warm water and then get an earth 2mm copper wire and push thru pipes a little bit at time. Then back in warm water then push wire again and vice versa till got all clear, watched this video pausing rewinding zooming in over and over. Took over 3 hours, put back together and yahoo all is working wonderfully. My friend I can't thank you enough for taking the time to make this video. Thanks so much. Meurig
Thank you so much Meurig! To prevent this from happening again you could take some windex (or any other glass cleaner) and put some on the two pads of the cleaning station, black and colour, then move manually the purge pump gear to suck it, it will clean the tubes and remove any dried ink. Also, totally up to you just if you want and can :) you could contribute to making these videos possible by using the "Super thanks button" or the PayPal link in the video description. Don't worry if you can't or don't want :)
This is the video I've been searching for because this is the exact problem I'm having. I will try this procedure tomorrow and I'm confident this will be the fix. Thank you very much. You are a good man.
@@PaoloMarcelli I had a really bad clog in the pump because the printer had sat for several years but I used the suction and pressure method and finally unclogged it. But the bad part, when I put it all back together now it says the printhead is damaged or incompatible and all I did was remove the carriage. I reseated the ribbon cables cleaned the contacts and nothing. I was so happy to clear the clog but now it's still broken. At least before it printed color but now nothing. Your method worked perfectly but something I did ruined the day. Grrrrrr.
Thank you very much for this video. I found a HP5510 printer someone had thrown out, but the black didn't work. I tried all the easy stuff, then bought a new print head, but still no black. So I followed your instructions and the grey tube carrying the black from the purge pad was blocked. Now the printer works perfectly!
la meilleure intervention vidéo que je n'ai jamais vue sur le Web concernant la réparation d'une imprimante hp je vous remercie beaucoup, tout mes respectez
Thanks loads for this Video - my 5520 was leaking ink onto all the wires in and around my computer, it was a right mess - close to throwing the printer in the bin. However stripped the printer down (looked like an ink bomb had exploded around the purge pump assembly) and cleaned like in the video. Now printer is put back together and printing O.K. Fingers crossed for no more leaks! Now need to look up a video on how to remove printer ink from your skin!
Thank you so much for your great video. I've done it all and fixed the issue with the black colour in the end. Great job and great spirit to give and take and repair things instead of waste them!
This video was a huge help from "Paolo Marcelli at ADCSFXworks Printing Center" in fixing my HP printer, and bringing it back to life... the purge pump WAS clogged, and this solution worked, without even having to remove the entire purge pump to the sink, (just the tubes) and doing this with 2 syringes saved the HP printer from becoming landfill material... Paolo, Thank You!!! ~BigSmiles, Gene
Thanks, I had previously tried replacing the black cartridge, cleaning the print head in sw and then cleaning it by removing it from the printer and still had no luck ... I found this video and cleaned the purge unit as described in your video and Alhamdolillah it worked.. my printer is office jet pro 6950 but it was very similar inside
Thank you so much, this inspired and helped me to revive my parent's 9 year old 5510 not printing black. It prints perfectly again ✌️ Such a great feeling, to have avoided creating e-waste and the purchase of a new one
Seriously the best video on this printer. Tried everything else suggested . I had disassembled the printer more than six times to remove and clean the printhead and even , in an act of desperation ( because I don't like to lose!) replaced the printhead ( Alibaba to the rescue!) and nothing worked to get the @#$% black to come through. This fixed it . Black lines were so plugged that I had to use some .032" safety wire to ream them out before flushing. If you do this be very careful not to go sideways and puncture the hose . Make sure you do the black flex hoses as well as the clear ones . I ended up disassembling the purge head itself to get the hoses off so I could ream them out because no amount of glass cleaner or hot water was going to clear them. I would add that each purge head section has two orfices; one you can see and the other is under the pad . The one that is visible is actually the vent line , the one you can't see under the pad is the one that is going to be plugged. I thought I had the plug cleared as the visible orifice was flowing nicely. ...until i had it halfway back together and tested it again as you suggested. Only issue was the ink that ended up on the tile backsplash in the kitchen . That caused some excitement. Be forewarned the syringes and small hoses can really launch the ink! Thanks again for the comprehensive and clear posting , much appreciated
Wish I'd read yours, before posting this: Black ink had hardened within the pump. No amount of vacuum+pressure liquid would shift it. So, unclipped the pump casing in halves to reveal tube blockage inside. Used thin copper wire to carefully break through and then flush the rest. Don't puncture the tube! After partial reassembly of printer, and to watch ink flow in the tubes during "Clean Printhead", stick some black tape between arms of the "Door Open" sensor (at rear lower left corner of display unit). Motor gears give huge torque, mind your fingers! (In my case, under-pad orifice seems clear. It sucks cleaning liquid away as Paulo demonstrated). Reaming the pipes, I like that (more correct) description.
Mine was the purge pump,print head & the little plastic clip thingy in between them both that they plug into. Back up & running after flushing all 3 of them out with a syringe and 3 print head cleanings. Thank you!
Hello, thank you for this really useful tutorial, I didn’t followed it fully but I have been able to repair my step parents printer thanks to you ;) I found where the purge circuit were “blocked” and managed to unblock it without tearing down all the purge block. Thank you again for this.
Wish I would have found this sooner. Appears to be a common issue with this model. I pulled out the print head and tried to clean it, but now get a damaged printhead error. It was worth a shot.
I am very grateful for this video, for days I have been trying to repair my printer and it has been very useful, the knowledge and experience when it is shared, people are better human beings ... thanks again for sharing your knowledge.
You are the real MVP! My Printer is back after 3 Years! BTW my Pipe/Hose in the Pump was so clogged, that i had to take them out of the Purge Pump, and clean them with a small stick by just poke it in the hose. You can open the Pump by twisting the Pump and push up this one hook. Just for the ppl who have the same problem
Wow thanks for the video. I took my 5515 apart and it was the pump. It had about 2 “ of ink clots in the black. I stopped the video when u were at the sink. I took out the pump caseing. It’s a roller that travels over the silcone tube just like a blood pump works . Very messy. But saved $$$$$
This was extremely detailed and very helpful. Unfortunately I found it after I made the stupid mistake of taking apart the purge pump and now can't remember how the hoses were ran inside so it's binding up. I should of taken pics.
First of all, thanks you very much for this excellent tutorial. Every thing is very well explained. My HP Photosmart 5520 printer was not printing black, but the color printing was OK. Cleaning the printhead brought no change. Thanks to your video, I could see that the purge unit was completely clogged (pump and black ink conduit). By applying the procedure given in the video, I succeeded to unclog the pump and the black ink conduit. After that, an HP printhead cleaning was performed automatically, and it was possible to see the black ink flowing through the conduits. The printer was then able to print black again. However, one problem remains: the printer is able to print only a few pages, and after that, the black ink print becomes lighter and at the end, the printer doesn’t print black again until a new HP printhead cleaning is performed, and so on... The printhead and ink cartridges have been replaced with new ones, but the problem is still remaining, and I don't see how to fix it. Have you ever encountered such a malfunction, and which suggestions could you offer?
You rock brother! I haven’t even started working on my 5510 yet but I’ll approach it with much more confidence and peace of mind armed with this excellent instructional video. Thank you for doing this!
Great Vid , never taken printer apart before , cleared purge pump and tubes, black pad clogged too cleared ok but still no black print , run the head clean 4 or 5 times still no black, decided to leave it over night and following morning started printing black again !. Thank you for putting this vid up.
Hi Milo Excellent instructional video, I wish that I had discovered it before I replaced my printer. I had the same problem with the black not printing. Tried cleaning the print head and cleaned the black ink build up the the resovior which had a lot of dried ink. Assembled all and still didn't work. I know now that it could have been a blocked purge unit. I have subscribed to your channel and look forward to your next installment, Nick
Hi :) Thank you for subscribing :3 For sure I'll have even more english repair videos uploaded in the future, my channel is mainly in Italian but I do english videos as well :)
great thanks, my 5520 now works ! it was in even worse condition that the demoing one. I had to fully unplug the 4 black conduits and unclot them with a steel wire But thanks to your advice I was able to reassemble it and it works Thanks!
Thanks, you saved my printer! At first I though that it is because of printer head but then I found your video and voalá, the printer works even with original print head (I had to clean it too). Only difference was that hot water did not help, I had to use thin wire to remove the clog.
Hello Paolo, thank you so much for your efforts. People like you are doing their bit to preserve the earth's natural resources by stopping devices like these just being thrown out at the first sign of trouble! Have gone through the video and I have a different problem. Perhaps you have experienced something similar. So, I have a HP 5510 that wouldn't print black. So after cleaning the print head and refilling the cartridge I did a factory reset as the refilled cartridge wouldn't print. I used the hidden menu for the reset, but now the printer is now stuck at the alignment page step. I power on, proceed pass the "paper loaded?" screen, then get to the "alignment is important" screen, press ok to start the alignment but nothing happens it just sits there with the HP logo animation. The cancel button does nothing. The wireless light also flashes so I think the reset has also reset the wireless access and the computer is stuck in a setup process? I can't access the hidden menu as I cant get back to the home menu (as soon as I turn it on it goes into the alignment setup). Have tried all the hard reset /power off suggestions. I even disconnected the motherboard power and removed the battery to try and force a new factory reset Any ideas how I might do another factory reset without access to the home menu :-0 ? many thanks if you get time to read this UPDATE (maybe it can help others with similar problems): I got the printer printing again by connecting it to my mac via a USB cable and using my mac's HP Utility to reset the WIFI connection. By the way the HP Smart app was useless. The printer display is still stuck in the Print Alignment Page loop, but the printer will accept jobs from my mac and ignore the Alignment loop.
thank you, had given up on my printer. tried everything on the internet. my printer is now back to as new. have subsribed to your channel and will tell my friends about you.
Very good. At 18:42 this will only work if the tubes are not jammed with solid ink. The printer I am working on the black tubes, in and out are jammed with solid, dead ink. At 20:54 all the black tube was solid. Soaked everything in warm water overnight and then used some copper wire to push out the gunk. 28:33 this junction block was also rock solid with dead ink, don't ignore it.
I used isopropyl alcohol and water to flush with syringe. I also removed the print head soaked in the solution as well as the purge head tube. Use can air to get all the water out. A+ video, I went from no printing to full print color and black ink!
Thank you it works again, but I had to flush out the cartridge holder (black) after as the black ink would not be dispensed. After the cartridge holder flush, it works like brand new.
This a great video, I need someone to do this for me as it’s to fiddly for me to do. I’ll certainly get someone to do this for me. I was going to buy a new printer. Hopefully after doing this it resolve my printing issues.
Thanks for such a helpful video! Clogged purge pump fixed and working perfectly using 2 syringes. Also clogged connecting nozzle on black line unblocked using a thin needle. Still not printing black however (after a complete disassembly and clean as you did) and I can see the black side of the base pad has no ink to suck through the purge pump. I must have a blockage somewhere else between that cartridge and printhead (I have cleaned the pads beneath the cartridges too). Am I being impatient or does it take many clean printhead operations - the color bands from the color cartridges are perfect (all 4 brand-new) and nothing from the black? Does this sound like a dead print head? Thanks again! :) Update: No ink is getting out of the black cartridge due to the black printhead being completely caked in ink. Have used a wooden toothpick to clean out the grooves on either side of the black printhead and have left cleaner on the cartridge black pad hoping it will make it's way through. Final Update: Printhead removed and cleaned using the HP recommended process except I used the lint-free cloth (large optical cleaning cloth) to repeatedly "dunk" the head very gently in a shallow tray of warm water until ALL ink was gone. Printer working perfectly now! Thank-you very much for this video! :D Note: If cleaning the printhead be sure to give it a long time to dry afterwards. HP recommend 15 mins - I would recommend 1 hour.
Excelente tutorial!! Vi muitos tutoriais mas este para além de ser tecnicamente muito completo e pedagógico o estilo de comunicação é muito bom. Segui as instruções e resultou!!!
Very good video, very clear and detailed. My printer was blocked because the black ink tube had not been properly installed :( . It was very easy to put it in the right way. I did a small cleaning but still with a lot to do. It will be for another time !
Thank you for posting this video. It has been instrumental in solving my printer. In my case I have an HP Deskjet 3520, which is internally almost identical to the one you operated in (only major difference under the hood is the circuit board). I had previously followed other videos to clean the printing head (that involve taking the printhead enclosure out and soaking it with water or other liquids for a long time) and did not work. With the help of your video I dismantled the whose purge unit and found that I had clogged back ink both inside the pumb as well as in the conducts that come from the heads cleaning artifact. It is not easy to do the process, but with your steps I was able to dismantle, work on it and put it back together. The only thing I did differently is that once going into the sink with the pump unit, I had to open the pump to access the inside tubes and then pass a small wire through the pipe to unclog it. The printer is now printing well again.
Thank you so much!! After watching a video of cleaning the print heads and finding that still did not fix my problem (no black printing), I found your video. After watching the video, I started in on my printer (HP 6520). I took a while but I got it!!! I never realized, and actually can't believe, how sticky black ink actually is - no wonder these printers always have problems. Mine is only 2 years old and because I don't use it very much, I am sure that makes it much worse. Will make a sincere attempt to print something at least weekly so maybe this won't happen again. But next time, I think I may invest in a laser printer. Again, thank you so much!!!
Very useful tutorial, it really helped me to clear the black pump occlusion. Unfortunately I accidentally bended the door sensor (the black piece of plastic on the motherboard shaped as a U) and now it always detect that the cartridge is open.
Outstanding video Paolo! Very professional! I followed your tutorial for a HP 3520 (cartridge 364) and, thanks to your detailed guidance, it worked! Thank you, very much appreciated.
Hello, I'm french, i've find you video on the net and for me, it was very detailled. My printer in an HP 3520 and it's the same configuration of your's. Thanks very much.
I have a HP 3520 that recently stopped printing black ink. I assumed it was the cartridge so I put a brand new HP on in there and it did print enough for one page (well half a page) and then after that it stopped. So I replaced all the inks (the colours were empty anyway) and it still won't print black ink - the colours are perfect, but no black. I figured it was the print head which is how I found this video (looking to see how to remove it). I just ran the same test I saw in your video by putting glass cleaner on the little sponge pads and spin the white cog, it sucks all the glass cleaner on the colour pad, but not the black. I can see small bits of black ink in the tubes moving, but only in the direction of the wheel when purging the colour. So I assume it's my purge pump that is blocked.
This was a great video and very helpful. Unfortunately as I was working on putting it back together I found a plastic pin (covered in ink) in the bottom corner of the housing near the ink pad that I must have knocked out and now I do not know where it goes. I am hoping that is the reason it is still not printing with black. When I took the housing apart the ink is all over the pads again so I know it is flowing. Have been trying to find diagrams online to figure out where it goes.
thanks for the video, I had to poke with a paper clip inside the purge pump and the ink pad tubes while running it under hot water to remove the clogs (pressure wasn't enough), but this was super helpful. THANKS!
Thanks for your fantastic tutorial! It is extremely helpful and clear. I took apart my Photosmart 5520 with your help today and cleaned it. It works great now. Unfortunately I have 1 small part left and do not know where it belongs. Can you help me?
Hi! Someone contacted me on Instagram today with the exact same question, if it's you please send me a photo over there, if you're not, send me a photo via email, you can find my email address in the info section of my youtube channel :)
Got to say, you are really a genius. I have a Photosmart 5510 that wasn´t printing in black. I tried to clean the heads myself, but it didn't solve the problem. I took the printer to a technical service, and they told me to buy another printer because they thought it was a problem with the heads. But I didn't give up and found your amazing video. I was able to figure out that the problem was the ink was stuck in the hoses of the pump. It was so stuck that I actually had to use a rigid wire to unclog the ink and use alcohol until all the ink was removed. I just wanted to share my anecdote and say thank you very much. I'm a new subscriber of your channel
Je tiens à vous remercier car vous êtes le seule à avoir su expliquer pourquoi que l’ encre noir ne faisait pas d’ impression, maintenant je vais pratiquer le débouchage et remettre en service cette imprimante. Je souhaite une bonne journée.❤
Thank you for such a detailed video on how to clean the HP5520 series printer. My neighbours HP5524 was leaking black ink out of the bottom of the case onto the desk! I followed your dis-assembly instructions and found that the bottom of the case at the right hand end was simply swimming in ink. On checking the Purge pads and pump, all was working OK. Further investigation showed that the reservoirs, at the very right hand end of the printer, were over flowing. Managed to remove sponges, washed them (now white instead of black!) and soaked up residue in the bottom of the reservoirs, and the bottom of the case, with kitchen towel. Re-assembled the printer, prayed, then switched on the power. All seemed to work OK so printed test sheets. First was a bit messy, but after that it was perfect. Happy neighbour. Thanks again for such a detailed video.
Solved my problem, there was masses of black ink around the pump which had solidified on the pads along the side blocking the pump hose outlet. With hindsight I would try cleaning those first (21:20) in case it solved the problem before disassembling the whole pump assembly.
Big thanks for posting this!
this is the very best tutorial video on you tube .. great tutorial and clear instructions . 78 year old english guy retired to Portugal . I already flushed the dirty ink zone using warm water and a small paintbrush .Flushed the cartridge tray using a sheep syringe filled with nice clean hot ish water . great explanation on the function of the purge unit .I didn,t understand the function / how it pumps in both directions . well done you deserve a medal . I bought a HP envy 6430e printer to replace my HP 5520 and was not able to configure it to function with my HP tower computer running windows 7.. the two techies in Staples also failed to connect the new printer to my Windows 7 computer .. they returned my payment and then I discovered your brilliant tutorial video which restored my 5520 to as new printing performance .I am refilling my original HP cartridges .. the cost of four new cartridges was massive .
One of the very best descriptions of a fix, any fix, I've watched.
Easy language explanations attention to detail cautions warnings. Pleasant relaxed demeanour.
Thanks Paolo Marcelli.
Thanks Leanne Neal for pointing us to him (3-months ago).
Thank you so much for a brilliant video. This is the one that sorted out my printer problem. I watched others but they all refer to cleaning the printhead and that isn't the problem. On my printer I found that the purge system tubes for the black ink were so badly clogged up, I had to use a piece of wire to unblock them. Like using drain rods on a blocked sewer pipe!! A couple of tips for anyone else doing this. Firstly, wear old clothes as the ink will wash off your hands eventually but not easy to wash out of fabrics. Also, put some clingfilm on tiles at the back of your sink as the ink will stain the white grout. When using the wire keep the tube straight and don't attempt to go round corners as the wire will push through the side of the tube. Every time you pull the wire out give it a wipe then dip in water before going in again. Where the tube goes round a bend, squeeze it with your fingers to break up the ink then finally flush it out using the syringe. It takes time and patience but it got my printer working again.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and tips!
@@PaoloMarcelli You are a hero! Thank you so much for saving me. This is the best tutorial Ive ever seen! Much love!
Amazing! With this incredibly detailed video I was able to discover that this printer had dried black ink pretty much everywhere. I really tried not to pull on the purge pump tubes but by holding them near the base of the pump where they are attached, but pulling on them did enable the dried ink to break apart. It took a great deal of efforts that really felt like they might damage the printer, including an intense combination of isopropyl alcohol and a syringe both the pump tubes and on the wire mesh that the black ink cartridge rests on. I also used compressed air to get the dried ink out of the printhead. I am far from an expert, but figured that the printer wasn't working anyway and I couldn't really break it worse. Honestly I am shocked that my printer actually is back to working again now and it is at least as good as new. I wouldn't have ever attempted this fix with out these amazing videos and the comments from others who also tried and succeeded in saving their printer. Thank you all!!
Thank you for the comment! I think if you used glass cleaner (something like Windex) would've been much better because isopropyl alcohol is not as good as dissolving dried ink, but I'm happy that you fixed the printer and now it's working fine :)
@@PaoloMarcelli Dammit Paolo, I'd ordered two litres of Iso for the job - it didn't work so well. Windex (Ajax for us), next time.
brilliant video, just saved some land fill. my printer was nobbled by a hp update that was rectified by removing all updates and returning to original specs by using the "hidden menu" that hp do not share for obvious reasons. my printer is now 10 years old.
thank you.
I dont generally leave comments, but this video was soooooo good and to the point, explaining everything, I dont think I have seen a better video tutorial ever on RUclips.
For people using Photosmart 5520, there is one screw beneath the name sticker on the outer dock, and one extra inside on top right for the purge pump!
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much Avi
Awesome video! Your detailed instructions brought my 5520 back from the dead! My black purge circuit was completely clogged... Thank You very much!
Unpacked my 5510 after a couple years of no use post-university, managed to find ink that didn't cost me the price of a new printer, no black ink on any page.
Managed to find how to remove the printheads but no dice on fixing it. Saw this video and since I had the guts out to remove the printheads, figured I should check the purge pump.
Hoo boy.
A day's worth of work, 2 syringes, some plastic line, stained fingers, and part wiggling later, I have black ink again. Nearly every line in the black ink side of the pump was severely clogged and took about an hour to clear out. But lo! I have black ink again! And now I know how to clean it should it get clogged again. Full marks from me, sir, you've extended the life of my printer dramatically and saved me a large headache.
Great job :)
Me too. Saved my marriage. Paolo may be causing another baby-boom.
Thank you for your great video I followed it concisely, found the problem and "job done", blocked black outlet hose, I could not shift the blockage so I separated the pump, removed the pipe, pushed a wire through it followed by the water in a syringe and reassembled. I took loads of photos so I could put it back how it was, so the pump is fixable. Your presentation, content and delivery is excellent, you saved me loads of money and hassle, also it boosted my self confidence. Regards, Stephanie.😃
Great job Stephanie, you must be proud of yourself :3 also you haven't thrown another printer to the landfill, the planet thanks you for this :)
Wish I'd read yours before posting this: Black ink had hardened within the pump. No amount of vacuum+pressure liquid would shift it. So, unclipped the pump casing in halves to reveal tube blockage inside. Used thin copper wire to carefully break through and then flush the rest. Don't puncture the tube! After partial reassembly of printer, and to watch ink flow in the tubes during "Clean Printhead", stick some black tape between arms of the "Door Open" sensor (at rear lower left corner of display unit). Motor gears give huge torque, mind your fingers! (Not many of us Ms/Mr Fix-it's left, in this HP dumpster world).
This video is incredible. However, I had to take it to the next level and open the motor assembly! Hose was SOLID inside. So I put the hose in a plastic bag with rubbing alcohol and laid the bag flat.
While it's flat use your palm and fingertips to massage the hose. If your hose is like mine its not very transparent. Move on to the next step. Keep massaging and rollingit around. Start in the middle. You should see fluid moving out of one end or the other. Whichever end doesn't have fluid moving in and out as you press on it is the direction of the clog.
Now. Let's see if I can put this summmumabish back together correctly.
SOLVED. Thank you for saving my printer! Fixed! My HP 5524 printer wouldn't print black. Now it prints black! These are experience-informed tips for future me (or other viewers). I spent two hours writing these tips, spread out over multiple comments below my own:
- If the video of "hot-wet-paper-towels-under-printhead" by Marcin Błaczkowski doesn't work, this above video is for you.
- Use gloves! My fingers are still black a week later. Washing my hands with bars of soap helped, as did showering.
- Going through the troubleshooting process for the first time as beginner without experience, and doing testruns, took me around 3 days or 24h before printing black worked. In my inexperience, I was very careful. But it was a hobby for me and gave me a sense of accomplishment. I would do it again.
PREP
- I recommend wearing gloves and doing it in a room with tiles or in a sink.
- Spilled ink? Pat on it, don't smear.
- Have paper towels on hand, ones that don't fall apart when you look at them.
- before disassembly, watch the entire above video and read my entire list
- Read the top comment by an ex-HP employee, on the video "Printer Ink, It's a SCAM" by Fstoppers to understand why printing in black also drains your colour cartidge.
- 70% alcohol did nothing to clean the print ink. Hot water helped, don't burn yourself though. If you use so much heat it burns, the sillicon tubes get soft and I worry about making them to big.
- I think I used torx screwdriver bit size 10 for the screws.
- You probably want to use WD-40 grease.
GETTING TO THE PRINTHEAD
- INJURY DANGER when pressing the top lever to pry off the screen. Left and right of it are extremely sharp edges and I hurt my fingers. I have permanent holes in two fingertips because I used so much force and when it shot loose, I impaled my fingertips on the sharp edges. I got revenge on the screen. I used a hobby knife to cut off the top hook, an the right hook. The screen is now MUCH easier to take off, but still clicks firmly into place. In the process of testing, I must've removed the screen and top plate at least fifteen times. I'm extremely glad I cut off two of those three nasty hooks immediately at the start.
- Put screws in cups.
- Don't let screw 08:01 fall into the printer.
- At the flat cables, pull on the thin plastic cables, not on the white sockets.
- The clear copper-coloured plastic is fragile. Memorize which side is top and which side is left, so you can put it back correctly.
- I followed a 'how to clean your printhead' video that takes out the printhead carrier for a guide on how to disessemble the first part. The other video's presenter used crocodile pliers and a paperclip to hook into the springs of the printhead. This was a safer and more controlled removal of all springs, since there is a lot of tension on it.
- I never fully removed the metal bar with the red wires on the left side. I didn't want to accidentally break them, so I put the bar down at an angle. It was partially loose, and the right part leaned on the location where the screen attaches to the frame.
Comment 1 of 3 with my tips.
For more tips, see my own comments under this post.
CLEANING THE PRINTHEAD
- Bring the printhead to the tap.
- The printhead has a green plate on it. Try to avoid getting it wet. But if you do, dry it thoroughly in a warm location for a day, so all moisture is gone. If there's still moisture on the copper plates, I get an error, and I took it out again to continue drying.
- The printhead has a sensitive!!! underside. This underside has four slits for four cartridges. I only put the printhead on its side, or put it on a wet paper towel.
- I took out the rubber nubs from the place where the ink cartidges touch the printhead. And I used hot water to fill up the reservoirs. I used hot water to fill the reservoir with the metal mesh, and drained it repeatedly until no black ink came out.
- I used cotton swabs on the underside of the printhead to remove some clogged ink, and was careful not to get cotton into the slids.
- When only clear water came out of the printhead, I was fooled.
- The printhead's slits are likely clogged. One slit has six miniscule dots inside them. These are clogged. I used hot water to fill the reservoir with the metal mesh, and drained it repeatedly AGAIN, to soften the ink that was deepest. Clear water came out, but that's because the ink was so diluted. How did I clear the tiniest six dots from the inside? Blowing on it with my mouth didn't help. So I filled up the ink reservoir with water, and I shook it downwards from shoulder height to knee-height, so the gravitation velocity would put pressure on the clogged ink inside the tube. This put a satisfying splatter pattern of black ink across my bathroom wall. Then I put the slit on a dry paper towel to determine which of the 6 holes had opened and was now producing ink. I repeated this shake about 20 times, occasionally rotating the cartidge so another end was topside. Only once I was pretty sure that all six holes of the black slit were open, I reinstalled it. Leaving it in a layer of 1,5 cm water overnight and then shaking it out, might help the process.
WIRES, PUMP, MOVING PART
- Dear older me, I promise cleaning the printhead won't slove your problem if your printer has been standing still for three years. Clean the tubes while your printer is already halfway disassembled.
- My black-ink tubes were most clogged.
- I used mostly hot water for this. I never put alcohol in the tubes.
- My printer's problem was dried ink from HP cartridges. It was in the tubes, the pump, and especially the printhead.
- I had to go through the video's entire process. I am grateful for the uploader's clear explanations and HD quality.
- I used pens and then stickers to mark which tube reconnects on which black plastic.
- Tubes are all the same sizes and can be reconnected front to back, so you can safely disconnect them.
- I disconnected the tubes from everything except the round pump, and except the four black cables attached to the catch reservoir.
- The pump is plastic, it can handle water.
- First I put every bit of black and white plastic under a running tap like in the video, this helped for a 1/4th of the tube's clog.
- Blowing on the tubes didn't work for me.
- Then I squeezed the dried up ink out of the tubes. This helped for 1/4th of the tube's clogs.
- Then I used a paperclip in the tubes to break clogged ink apart and used water to get the broken inkt clots moist, and then squeezed them out of the tubes. This helped for 1/4th of the tube's clogs. (I used a needle into the four reservoir holes to get some the ink out of the tubes where they are attached to the movable ink double catch reservoir.)
- Then I filled a bowl with steaming hot water, and submerged the tubes (and half of the pump) and I let the ink seep out of the tubes overnight. This helped soften the last, most difficult to reach 1/4th of the tube's clogs. Using the pump function to pump water into it, helped me get out the last of the ink.
- I pumped glass cleaner through the cleared tubes to remove residue and make sure they were absolutely clear. I only did this at the last step, once I had a current going from one end to the next.
Comment 2 of 3 with my tips.
REASSEMBLY
- The "most watched" part of getting the moving parts back in, has a trick that involves the carriage in a different position. To see how to install the 'difficult' parts in an easier manner, watch a different, spanish video of THIS SAME UPLOADER (the video where the word for the black reservoir catching carriage is auto-translated as the word 'police'). That other video shows how to do it without violence!
- Grease, grease, grease. WD-40
- Check your own earlier made pen marks and stickers to guide you for which tube reattaches where.
- I never put back the silver screws behind the screen, and never put back the screw behind the plastic sticker. The top lid stays on just fine without them. During frequent reassembly to solve the carriage jam error, putting those back was more hassle than it was worth.
TEST RUNS (notes for older me)
- Don't ever buy HP cartridges, only mock ones.
- Put a key in the sensor hole so the printer thinks the lid is closed when it's actually open (so you can see what's going on).
- If you're peering with a flashlight into the printer while it struggles with a carriage jam, and you see steamy grey smoke? More grease!
- If you're peering with a flashlight into the printer while watching a cleaning cycle, this allows you to see that the purged magenta and yellow ink are causing steamy smoke. This is normal. Don't breathe it in though.
- Cartridge jam error is annoying. I suspect that the black, ink-catching reservoir, plastic train needs to be under the printhead when it's on the most leftmost side, but the reservoir trian should still have grip to move forward and back.
- Yes, it will complain about Official HP ink cartridges errors. Keep trying to reseat the cartridges, and that might make it accept the cartridge.
- If it doesn't, check the spinginess of the four metal wires below the chip. Clean the cartridge's chip with 70% alcohol and a paper towl, and the springs too. If any of the springs are bent (even if they don't look bent) then pushing them back in place might help. Also cleaning these springs with 70% alcohol might help.
- Also having new, full ink cartridges might help. I got mock cartridges from european store Action for 10 euro.
- Using new ink cartridges, I used the TOOLS > CLEAN PRINTHEAD procedure 15 times. This drained 1/3rd of my brand new cartridge. I cut off the side of the paper, so I could line up the black boxes and inspect improvment. I did not thoroughly clean the printhead's black ink slit with the six dots. In cycle one to eight, printhead dots 1 to 3 printed almost perfect, then grew perfect. During cycle one to eight, dots 4, 5, 6 were halfway clogged and gave stripy results. Running seven more 'Clean Printhead cycles' solved the clogs in dot 5. When I'm comparing cycle result one to cycle result fifteen, I see that the stripes in dots 4 and 6 have reduced with 50%, and I suspect that running 15 more cycles could get rid of the clogs completely but I got bored. Or I could take out the printhead again, and "shake" the water through it again until I'm sure dots 4 to 6 are free of blockage. But not right now.
- When I print a black-and-white page, using only black in (somewhere deep in the printer's setting) I get a result with some stripes but it's still readable.
- When I print a black-and-white page, and I allow the colour cartridges to help enhance the black print, then my black prints arrive without stripes.
"Ah-ah! There's more clogged ink! And HAH! I solved the clog!" Is a really rewarding and fun pasttime.
Dear uploader: you are the best. Thank you so much.
For anyone else: The EPSON ECOPRINT seems to be a reliable printer with big ink reservoirs an self-cleaning cycles and okay performance despite long weeks of doing nothing.
Comment 3/3 with tips.
Great tutorial and you are quick in replying to my message when I got stock and your immediate response made the repairs a success. I sent the message while working on the printer.........Your clear and detailed instructions had revived my 7 years old printer - Hp photosmart 5510 back to life....
Since I bought it i used it few times and it has been sitting there to print once in a while.....
Keep the good work
Thank you for the kind words, and good job for the repair!
Very helpfull video. Just spend several hours cleaning everything, but saved my printer. Thank you.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! This fixed our old printer! It would not print black ink. I followed this all the way to removing and rinsing everything. It works, but is time consuming and messy. Thank you!!!!
Excellent video! I was able to fix my printer by following your instructions! In my case the issue was an occlusion in the black tube, which I removed using a syringe and pumping Window cleaning liquid. For this I didn’t have to disassemble the printer completely, so it was a bit easier at the end.
thank you so much for this detailed video. I've literally never seen a printers insides before and with your tutorial I could still repair it! The purge unit was clogged so much that I even had to use a small wire to clean it on the inside (recommended by another commentator here), and it works now!
Brilliant! This worked but I have to add a caution... After all this work do NOT wipe down the clear sensing strip that threads through the printer head. I got a little ink on it and when I wiped it down some of the lines were damaged. New error on power up was "carriage jam" and none of the usual issues like gears missing teeth or worn switches were the issue. Had to spend 20 bucks to order a new sensing strip.
Excellent tutorial!
Following this to the letter resolved my Black ink problem, I now have a neat, fully functioning printer again. Would not have been able to do it without you, thanks so much.
Thank you, great job!
A+ Excellent instructions.
Fixed my printer using methods described but be extremely careful when reinstalling associated ribbon cable to touch screen ensuring ribbon cable is installed behind tidy cable lug keeping ribbon cable well away from screws holes located behind touch screen. (lucky near miss nearly screwed into loose ribbon cable).
Use disposable gloves as task very messy as ink stains hands.
When wearing disposable gloves rinse ink contaminated gloves under running water, (ink easily washes off) saves having to use too many gloves.
This was such a helpful tutorial!!! Thank you so much for posting this. I cleaned and replaced my printer head, but was still not able to print black ink. With the help of this tutorial, I was able to find the issue and fix the purge system plug. Thank you!!
Great job for fixing your printer!
Very good tutorial, i successfully repaired my printer due to your video. Thanks for sharing. You're the best !
Thank you! The pump was the thing! I had clogged both black ink hoses coming through the pump and that white plastic “four hose” connector (black ink connection on the right). Check these if you have this problem.
Thanks so much for sharing. I followed every step. my black ink tube was actually clogged. I was able to unclog it and my printer is back working like new!!!
Thank you so much for your clear instructions. I've never attempted ANYTHING like this, (just given my first printer) followed your instructions to the letter and it worked!!! Yes, it was messy, but so well worthwhile. THANK YOU.
Great job Alana :)
Thank you so much for sharing. This is an absolutely great video, great job. You explain everything in such an easy und understandable way, it is a pleasure to watch this from start till end. Probably on of the best tutorials I have ever seen. Now the work starts on my side - hope this will bring back my printer to life.
Excellent video of rare quality. I was able to take my printer to bits, clean it fully and get it to work again as new. Keep up the good work and thank you on behalf of the planet.
Thank you :) great job.
Thanks for this great vid!
I cleaned my entire HP 5520 using this as my instruction after it leaked inkt.
Thank you so much for this video, I fixed my printer after watching your video min 30 times. My printer was blocked and I could not even do your method with the syringe on both side, but since the problems are similar, I tried to figure out a way to clean it, and now it works perfectly! it was very close to end up in a recycling centre, and I am very happy that I could fix it and keep on using it.
Thank you Selina :)
Hello Selina! Can you tell me how you cleaned the tubes? Mine is so clogged that the syringes don't work.
Hola Paolo, ¡gracias a tus detalladas y precisas explicaciones he podido recuperar mi photosmart 5520 en 2-3 horas de trabajo!. Great job helping people to extend printers life!. Thank you!
Best repair tutorial I have ever seen 😁
Very good job!
Thank you very much!
I had significant difficulty clearing the purge unit, it was completely blocked, in the end i had to use some air duster. I didnt have the right syringes to form a vacuum. even the purge pad was completely blocked - I can only imagine the printer was left unused for a long time! Thankyou SO MUCH for this video, i now have a fully working printer to give back to my mother-in-law
Great job Rob :)
Wow. Without this video my printer would have gone in the skip. However mine was much worse. The clear pipe taking black to and from pump totally clogged all way thru dry ink like treacle. Also the black pipe that carry black ink. Had to soak the pump and the ink tray in warm water and then get an earth 2mm copper wire and push thru pipes a little bit at time. Then back in warm water then push wire again and vice versa till got all clear, watched this video pausing rewinding zooming in over and over. Took over 3 hours, put back together and yahoo all is working wonderfully. My friend I can't thank you enough for taking the time to make this video. Thanks so much. Meurig
Is there something I can do to prevent this ever happening again please?
Thank you so much Meurig! To prevent this from happening again you could take some windex (or any other glass cleaner) and put some on the two pads of the cleaning station, black and colour, then move manually the purge pump gear to suck it, it will clean the tubes and remove any dried ink.
Also, totally up to you just if you want and can :) you could contribute to making these videos possible by using the "Super thanks button" or the PayPal link in the video description. Don't worry if you can't or don't want :)
@@PaoloMarcelli Great will do thanks
@@PaoloMarcelli Ive just donated. Thanks Again
Thank you so much! @@mindiawl
This is the video I've been searching for because this is the exact problem I'm having. I will try this procedure tomorrow and I'm confident this will be the fix. Thank you very much. You are a good man.
Thank you :) how's the repair going?
@@PaoloMarcelli I had a really bad clog in the pump because the printer had sat for several years but I used the suction and pressure method and finally unclogged it. But the bad part, when I put it all back together now it says the printhead is damaged or incompatible and all I did was remove the carriage. I reseated the ribbon cables cleaned the contacts and nothing. I was so happy to clear the clog but now it's still broken. At least before it printed color but now nothing. Your method worked perfectly but something I did ruined the day. Grrrrrr.
Thank you very much for this video. I found a HP5510 printer someone had thrown out, but the black didn't work. I tried all the easy stuff, then bought a new print head, but still no black. So I followed your instructions and the grey tube carrying the black from the purge pad was blocked. Now the printer works perfectly!
la meilleure intervention vidéo que je n'ai jamais vue sur le Web concernant la réparation d'une imprimante hp
je vous remercie beaucoup, tout mes respectez
Thanks loads for this Video - my 5520 was leaking ink onto all the wires in and around my computer, it was a right mess - close to throwing the printer in the bin. However stripped the printer down (looked like an ink bomb had exploded around the purge pump assembly) and cleaned like in the video. Now printer is put back together and printing O.K. Fingers crossed for no more leaks! Now need to look up a video on how to remove printer ink from your skin!
Thank you so much for your great video. I've done it all and fixed the issue with the black colour in the end. Great job and great spirit to give and take and repair things instead of waste them!
This video was a huge help from "Paolo Marcelli at ADCSFXworks Printing Center" in fixing my HP printer, and bringing it back to life... the purge pump WAS clogged, and this solution worked, without even having to remove the entire purge pump to the sink, (just the tubes) and doing this with 2 syringes saved the HP printer from becoming landfill material... Paolo, Thank You!!! ~BigSmiles, Gene
Thanks for the video!
My black pump was completely clogged. It probably started a long time ago.
Thanks, I had previously tried replacing the black cartridge, cleaning the print head in sw and then cleaning it by removing it from the printer and still had no luck ... I found this video and cleaned the purge unit as described in your video and Alhamdolillah it worked.. my printer is office jet pro 6950 but it was very similar inside
Best tutorial for repairing my 4615. It was come back to perfect black printing. I did it with your guides. Thanks for paid your time for us. Regards
Thank you so much, this inspired and helped me to revive my parent's 9 year old 5510 not printing black. It prints perfectly again ✌️
Such a great feeling, to have avoided creating e-waste and the purchase of a new one
Great job Konrad :)
That feeling when you get something fixed pays off even hours of work :)
Seriously the best video on this printer. Tried everything else suggested . I had disassembled the printer more than six times to remove and clean the printhead and even , in an act of desperation ( because I don't like to lose!) replaced the printhead ( Alibaba to the rescue!) and nothing worked to get the @#$% black to come through. This fixed it . Black lines were so plugged that I had to use some .032" safety wire to ream them out before flushing. If you do this be very careful not to go sideways and puncture the hose . Make sure you do the black flex hoses as well as the clear ones . I ended up disassembling the purge head itself to get the hoses off so I could ream them out because no amount of glass cleaner or hot water was going to clear them. I would add that each purge head section has two orfices; one you can see and the other is under the pad . The one that is visible is actually the vent line , the one you can't see under the pad is the one that is going to be plugged. I thought I had the plug cleared as the visible orifice was flowing nicely. ...until i had it halfway back together and tested it again as you suggested.
Only issue was the ink that ended up on the tile backsplash in the kitchen . That caused some excitement. Be forewarned the syringes and small hoses can really launch the ink!
Thanks again for the comprehensive and clear posting , much appreciated
Wish I'd read yours, before posting this: Black ink had hardened within the pump. No amount of vacuum+pressure liquid would shift it. So, unclipped the pump casing in halves to reveal tube blockage inside. Used thin copper wire to carefully break through and then flush the rest. Don't puncture the tube! After partial reassembly of printer, and to watch ink flow in the tubes during "Clean Printhead", stick some black tape between arms of the "Door Open" sensor (at rear lower left corner of display unit). Motor gears give huge torque, mind your fingers! (In my case, under-pad orifice seems clear. It sucks cleaning liquid away as Paulo demonstrated). Reaming the pipes, I like that (more correct) description.
Mine was the purge pump,print head & the little plastic clip thingy in between them both that they plug into. Back up & running after flushing all 3 of them out with a syringe and 3 print head cleanings. Thank you!
This video is awesome! Even I am not English speaker but I could understand your explanation You saved my money Thank you so much
Hello, thank you for this really useful tutorial, I didn’t followed it fully but I have been able to repair my step parents printer thanks to you ;) I found where the purge circuit were “blocked” and managed to unblock it without tearing down all the purge block. Thank you again for this.
Wish I would have found this sooner. Appears to be a common issue with this model. I pulled out the print head and tried to clean it, but now get a damaged printhead error. It was worth a shot.
Yeah that's a very common fault on these
I am very grateful for this video, for days I have been trying to repair my printer and it has been very useful, the knowledge and experience when it is shared, people are better human beings ... thanks again for sharing your knowledge.
You are the real MVP! My Printer is back after 3 Years!
BTW my Pipe/Hose in the Pump was so clogged, that i had to take them out of the Purge Pump, and clean them with a small stick by just poke it in the hose. You can open the Pump by twisting the Pump and push up this one hook.
Just for the ppl who have the same problem
thank you :) and great job for fixing your printer!
Wow thanks for the video. I took my 5515 apart and it was the pump. It had about 2 “ of ink clots in the black.
I stopped the video when u were at the sink.
I took out the pump caseing. It’s a roller that travels over the silcone tube just like a blood pump works . Very messy. But saved $$$$$
This was extremely detailed and very helpful. Unfortunately I found it after I made the stupid mistake of taking apart the purge pump and now can't remember how the hoses were ran inside so it's binding up. I should of taken pics.
First of all, thanks you very much for this excellent tutorial. Every thing is very well explained.
My HP Photosmart 5520 printer was not printing black, but the color printing was OK. Cleaning the printhead brought no change. Thanks to your video, I could see that the purge unit was completely clogged (pump and black ink conduit). By applying the procedure given in the video, I succeeded to unclog the pump and the black ink conduit. After that, an HP printhead cleaning was performed automatically, and it was possible to see the black ink flowing through the conduits. The printer was then able to print black again.
However, one problem remains: the printer is able to print only a few pages, and after that, the black ink print becomes lighter and at the end, the printer doesn’t print black again until a new HP printhead cleaning is performed, and so on...
The printhead and ink cartridges have been replaced with new ones, but the problem is still remaining, and I don't see how to fix it. Have you ever encountered such a malfunction, and which suggestions could you offer?
You rock brother! I haven’t even started working on my 5510 yet but I’ll approach it with much more confidence and peace of mind armed with this excellent instructional video. Thank you for doing this!
Great Vid , never taken printer apart before , cleared purge pump and tubes, black pad clogged too cleared ok but still no black print , run the head clean 4 or 5 times still no black, decided to leave it over night and following morning started printing black again !. Thank you for putting this vid up.
Excellent video very detailed and informative.Thank you very much. I recommend to watch whole video first then follow instructions.
Thank you :)
Hi Milo
Excellent instructional video, I wish that I had discovered it before I replaced my printer. I had the same problem with the black not printing. Tried cleaning the print head and cleaned the black ink build up the the resovior which had a lot of dried ink. Assembled all and still didn't work. I know now that it could have been a blocked purge unit. I have subscribed to your channel and look forward to your next installment, Nick
Hi :) Thank you for subscribing :3
For sure I'll have even more english repair videos uploaded in the future, my channel is mainly in Italian but I do english videos as well :)
@@PaoloMarcelli I can speak reasonable Italian also.
great thanks, my 5520 now works !
it was in even worse condition that the demoing one. I had to fully unplug the 4 black conduits and unclot them with a steel wire
But thanks to your advice I was able to reassemble it and it works
Thanks!
Thanks for this tutorial which enabled me to save my printer. Took a while to wash the pump which was dirty as hell. Now it works perfectly !
Great job :)
Thanks, you saved my printer! At first I though that it is because of printer head but then I found your video and voalá, the printer works even with original print head (I had to clean it too). Only difference was that hot water did not help, I had to use thin wire to remove the clog.
Hello Paolo, thank you so much for your efforts. People like you are doing their bit to preserve the earth's natural resources by stopping devices like these just being thrown out at the first sign of trouble!
Have gone through the video and I have a different problem. Perhaps you have experienced something similar. So, I have a HP 5510 that wouldn't print black. So after cleaning the print head and refilling the cartridge I did a factory reset as the refilled cartridge wouldn't print. I used the hidden menu for the reset, but now the printer is now stuck at the alignment page step.
I power on, proceed pass the "paper loaded?" screen, then get to the "alignment is important" screen, press ok to start the alignment but nothing happens it just sits there with the HP logo animation. The cancel button does nothing.
The wireless light also flashes so I think the reset has also reset the wireless access and the computer is stuck in a setup process?
I can't access the hidden menu as I cant get back to the home menu (as soon as I turn it on it goes into the alignment setup).
Have tried all the hard reset /power off suggestions. I even disconnected the motherboard power and removed the battery to try and force a new factory reset
Any ideas how I might do another factory reset without access to the home menu :-0 ?
many thanks if you get time to read this
UPDATE (maybe it can help others with similar problems): I got the printer printing again by connecting it to my mac via a USB cable and using my mac's HP Utility to reset the WIFI connection. By the way the HP Smart app was useless.
The printer display is still stuck in the Print Alignment Page loop, but the printer will accept jobs from my mac and ignore the Alignment loop.
thank you, had given up on my printer. tried everything on the internet. my printer is now back to as new. have subsribed to your channel and will tell my friends about you.
Thank you so much! I was able to rescue my parents' printer thanks to this!
Very good. At 18:42 this will only work if the tubes are not jammed with solid ink. The printer I am working on the black tubes, in and out are jammed with solid, dead ink. At 20:54 all the black tube was solid. Soaked everything in warm water overnight and then used some copper wire to push out the gunk. 28:33 this junction block was also rock solid with dead ink, don't ignore it.
I wish i saw this video before i installed a new printhead that did not work. thank you for sharing.
I used isopropyl alcohol and water to flush with syringe. I also removed the print head soaked in the solution as well as the purge head tube. Use can air to get all the water out. A+ video, I went from no printing to full print color and black ink!
Thanks! i had a cloged pump and tubes on the black line :) It works like a charm now!
Thanks, this tutorial helped me save my printer HP 5525, the best for you. 👍
I have just lost 3h of my life,
but the printer works again!!! Thank you. Great job. Best tutorial I have ever seen.
Happy new year 🎉
Thank you it works again, but I had to flush out the cartridge holder (black) after as the black ink would not be dispensed. After the cartridge holder flush, it works like brand new.
@PaoloMarcelli You are the hero! Thank you so much for saving me. This is the best tutorial Ive ever seen! Much love!
Thanks for your video!!!!! I have fixed it after trying several things....I have now a totally new printer thanks to you! :)
Great job!!! :)
This a great video, I need someone to do this for me as it’s to fiddly for me to do. I’ll certainly get someone to do this for me. I was going to buy a new printer. Hopefully after doing this it resolve my printing issues.
Thank you so much! Great tutorial, straight to the point, very useful! I saved a printer today.
Hola exelente tu video, Paolo, me gustaría saber como limpias el cabezal de impresión, saludos
Thanks for such a helpful video! Clogged purge pump fixed and working perfectly using 2 syringes. Also clogged connecting nozzle on black line unblocked using a thin needle. Still not printing black however (after a complete disassembly and clean as you did) and I can see the black side of the base pad has no ink to suck through the purge pump. I must have a blockage somewhere else between that cartridge and printhead (I have cleaned the pads beneath the cartridges too). Am I being impatient or does it take many clean printhead operations - the color bands from the color cartridges are perfect (all 4 brand-new) and nothing from the black? Does this sound like a dead print head? Thanks again! :)
Update: No ink is getting out of the black cartridge due to the black printhead being completely caked in ink. Have used a wooden toothpick to clean out the grooves on either side of the black printhead and have left cleaner on the cartridge black pad hoping it will make it's way through.
Final Update: Printhead removed and cleaned using the HP recommended process except I used the lint-free cloth (large optical cleaning cloth) to repeatedly "dunk" the head very gently in a shallow tray of warm water until ALL ink was gone. Printer working perfectly now! Thank-you very much for this video! :D
Note: If cleaning the printhead be sure to give it a long time to dry afterwards. HP recommend 15 mins - I would recommend 1 hour.
Excelente tutorial!! Vi muitos tutoriais mas este para além de ser tecnicamente muito completo e pedagógico o estilo de comunicação é muito bom. Segui as instruções e resultou!!!
we looking for this kind vedeo to service for my hp photosmart 6520 , thanks alot , we liked . you are the best.
really appreciation very very much. we love it.
@@dannynguyen4857 Thank you :)
Very good video, very clear and detailed. My printer was blocked because the black ink tube had not been properly installed :( . It was very easy to put it in the right way. I did a small cleaning but still with a lot to do. It will be for another time !
Thank you for posting this video. It has been instrumental in solving my printer. In my case I have an HP Deskjet 3520, which is internally almost identical to the one you operated in (only major difference under the hood is the circuit board). I had previously followed other videos to clean the printing head (that involve taking the printhead enclosure out and soaking it with water or other liquids for a long time) and did not work. With the help of your video I dismantled the whose purge unit and found that I had clogged back ink both inside the pumb as well as in the conducts that come from the heads cleaning artifact. It is not easy to do the process, but with your steps I was able to dismantle, work on it and put it back together. The only thing I did differently is that once going into the sink with the pump unit, I had to open the pump to access the inside tubes and then pass a small wire through the pipe to unclog it. The printer is now printing well again.
Thank you very much for this video.
My printer is now in full working order. 🙂👍👍
Wow... amazing and very detailed steps, followed this and got my printer working after i thought i will replace it. Thank you.
Thanks had to do about a dozen times but the ink finally came through - very grateful for the vid upload :)
Thank you so much!! After watching a video of cleaning the print heads and finding that still did not fix my problem (no black printing), I found your video. After watching the video, I started in on my printer (HP 6520). I took a while but I got it!!! I never realized, and actually can't believe, how sticky black ink actually is - no wonder these printers always have problems. Mine is only 2 years old and because I don't use it very much, I am sure that makes it much worse. Will make a sincere attempt to print something at least weekly so maybe this won't happen again. But next time, I think I may invest in a laser printer. Again, thank you so much!!!
A laser printer or a better inkjet printer, like an Epson :)
Very useful tutorial, it really helped me to clear the black pump occlusion.
Unfortunately I accidentally bended the door sensor (the black piece of plastic on the motherboard shaped as a U) and now it always detect that the cartridge is open.
I try to do it. Cleaning the bump very good but in the end head of printer damage
Thanks so much
Outstanding video Paolo! Very professional! I followed your tutorial for a HP 3520 (cartridge 364) and, thanks to your detailed guidance, it worked! Thank you, very much appreciated.
Thank you Piera!
Hello,
I'm french, i've find you video on the net and for me, it was very detailled.
My printer in an HP 3520 and it's the same configuration of your's.
Thanks very much.
Thank you so much to you :)
thank you for helping me unclog my purge pump but now i am getting a carriage jam alert and i cant fix it
Same problem....i dont know what to do....
I found the problem. I have removed also the printer head and I didnt put it inside correctly.
I have a HP 3520 that recently stopped printing black ink. I assumed it was the cartridge so I put a brand new HP on in there and it did print enough for one page (well half a page) and then after that it stopped. So I replaced all the inks (the colours were empty anyway) and it still won't print black ink - the colours are perfect, but no black. I figured it was the print head which is how I found this video (looking to see how to remove it). I just ran the same test I saw in your video by putting glass cleaner on the little sponge pads and spin the white cog, it sucks all the glass cleaner on the colour pad, but not the black. I can see small bits of black ink in the tubes moving, but only in the direction of the wheel when purging the colour. So I assume it's my purge pump that is blocked.
Hi, yeah it's a very common problem on that model too.
Already used your tutorial to fix my old printer and the black tint issue overall. thankyou
Spot on video, just goes to show its not always the printhead thats the problem.
Exactly :)
This was a great video and very helpful. Unfortunately as I was working on putting it back together I found a plastic pin (covered in ink) in the bottom corner of the housing near the ink pad that I must have knocked out and now I do not know where it goes. I am hoping that is the reason it is still not printing with black. When I took the housing apart the ink is all over the pads again so I know it is flowing. Have been trying to find diagrams online to figure out where it goes.
thanks for the video, I had to poke with a paper clip inside the purge pump and the ink pad tubes while running it under hot water to remove the clogs (pressure wasn't enough), but this was super helpful. THANKS!
Lo vi así un poco a las prisas, eres un fenómeno, pena que no tenga más subtitulos que el inglés, eres un crack, muy buen video +10
Very nice lecture. Did as you instructed us and.. it worked !!! A thousand cheers to you, Paolo Marcelli.
Thanks for your fantastic tutorial! It is extremely helpful and clear. I took apart my Photosmart 5520 with your help today and cleaned it. It works great now. Unfortunately I have 1 small part left and do not know where it belongs. Can you help me?
Hi! Someone contacted me on Instagram today with the exact same question, if it's you please send me a photo over there, if you're not, send me a photo via email, you can find my email address in the info section of my youtube channel :)