mostly idle mimkai jv3-160sp, too much ink?

[stevenjowens]

We have a mimaki jv3-160sp that we bought used.

It's great, though we're having a little trouble with the black head, which I posted about last week (still working on that). However... most of the time it's just sitting around, idle, in standby mode. And it is chewing through ink at a ridiculous rate, more than one load of 8 cartridges a month.

Is there anything I can do to reduce this overhead cost?

We could switch to bulk inks, but I've heard that the fumes can be worse, and I'm a little worried about insufficient ventilation as it is.

 

[stevenjowens]

I have seen some posts about changing some of the cleaning settings to reduce ink consumed during standby, like this one about the MAINTENANCE/SLEEPClean setting:

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?114954-How-to-leave-JV3-for-weekend-and-holiday

Are there any other, similar settings I should check on? Since we got this printer used, it's entirely possible that there are other settings that are set too wastefully.

I've noticed that it takes several minutes when you first hit the green button, most of that time with the pump going. Could that setting be adjusted to reduce ink waste?

 

[stevenjowens]

Something else I've considered is routinely using a fully-powered-down, multi-day nozzle wash when the printer's not in use. I'm a little gunshy on taking chances with clogging up the heads, but I've seen a number of posts about using long nozzle washes, like these:

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?88502-Mimaki-JV33-Auto-sleep

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?67727-Mimaki-JV3-160s-no-ink-coming-out

 

[MikePro]

+1 power it down during nozzle wash if wanting to leave it unused for multiple days, turning off both front & rear switches.
i did it for up to a month on multiple occasions without issue.

When you DO power-up for print, just make sure to give your machine some proper maintenance, scrubbing the sides of your printheads & wiper blade with swabs/solution and running a few disway washes to flush your waste lines.... since your printer will not be cycling itself as designed, things other than the printheads may get gummed up during this time.