Stepping out? How to Prepare Your Edible Printer for an Extended Period of Not Being Used
Maybe you’re stepping away for something amazing like a cruise or a holiday trip to visit friends or family.
Maybe you’re being called away to handle a family emergency.
Regardless of why you are taking an extended absence, a few minutes of preventative maintenance with your edible printer will help avoid problems when you return. Let me walk you through the entire process!
What is Not Considered an Extended Period?
All edible paper printers need to be used regularly to stay in shape! If you plan on using your edible paper printer a few times a year, and store it between uses then an edible paper printer may not be for you.
What is Considered an Extended Period?
If you plan on being away longer than a week, I would consider that an extended period. If that sounds like a short time to be considered extended, here’s why I say it is:
You may not use your printer for a couple days before the trip.
Your trip is unexpectedly extended a few days.
You’re busy for a few days when you get back.
All that extra time may add up to being almost two weeks of your printer not being used! Edible Tech Guru recommends using your edible paper printer at least once a week to prevent clogs.
What to do Before You Leave
Take a deep breath and realize this will not be nearly as scary as you may think!
Remove the cartridges and place them in their clips. Put all of the cartridges in a zippy bag.
Remove, clean, and fully air dry the printhead (I recommend the Images Power Max Cleaning Kit). Store the printhead in a zippy bag, too.
Close up the printer, and place it inside a thick garbage bag. Tie the garbage bag closed. You want to prevent air movement that can cause anything to dry out, and prevent anything from getting in it.
Enjoy your trip, or at least make the best out of whatever shenanigans are taking you away.
What to do When You Return
Take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back for having the foresight to prepare!
Remove the printer from the bag. Inspect the waste sponges to make sure they didn’t dry out. If they did, add one or two drops of distilled water to revive them. (Distilled water does not contain minerals and other contaminants that could lead to future clogging.)
Reinstall the printhead and cartridges.
Run a regular cleaning cycle, but skip the nozzle check at the end. This will prime the printhead.
Run one of my Weekly Test Prints. Don’t worry if it looks crummy, I’d be surprised if it looked perfect the first time.
Wait 5–10 minutes for the ink to resaturated everything.
Do another Weekly Test Print. This one should look good. If it doesn’t, wait another 5 minutes.
If a third Weekly Test Print looks rough, remove and clean your printhead. More than likely, there was a clog in it already that wasn’t removed fully before you packed it up.
If you found this interesting, or want more information, check out Edible Printer Maintenance.