1204 Stopped printing M in middle of job. Need some advice!

[chrisx28]

I was printing a banner and about half way through the job I noticed discoloration. Than I did a nozzle check and noticed my M was missing all else looks great. I took it apart and seen air in the line. I checked the pressure on the pump and its good, checked for leaks and seen none, I took the line off by the cartridge and was able to blow ink that was still in the line and it moved through the line ok. Being a novice I dont know what else to do, I did clean head and wiper and everything. I read through many many threads and only thing Im thinking is head may be clogged, but like i said it did print fine for about 3ft of the banner than bam M was gone. I'll put some cleaner on a paper towel and let it soak but I'm pretty lost here.

Thanks Guys
Chris

 

[artbot]

swap a printing color damper/ink line to the M position on your head adapter and put the M damper/ink line where you pulled the proxy damper. it will tell you if the M is truly clogged, or you have some kind of restriction on the M. also, pull some ink on the M damper, observe if the PET membrane attempts to stay concaved under vacuum or does it relax. a damper that has high vacuum is a sign of restriction.

 

[Compilla]

Did you run out of M ink?

 

[Stealth Ryder]

Did you run out of M ink?

Ditto

 

[chrisx28]

Deal is that I have 3 sets of cartridges and all of them started giving me errors 1/2 way to 1/4 of a way through that they were near empty. I had Sign Warehouse send me new cards and after I did that print M can up as empty although it was near full, I swapped the cards and the cartridges are reading fine now but M isn't pulling ink. I'm thinking the machine though it was empty and stopped pulling it. I don'y have the knowledge that you guys have, read tons of your answers to other post and you guys can build these things from ground up. But ya i did get an error of empty and I did replace the card and I am not getting no errors nor M ink. Artbot I will investigate your suggestions, in the meantime if you all have anymore ideas I will try them to.

Thanks Again
Chris

 

[artbot]

well these machine can't pull ink from all the lines save one.

first do the damper swap, it will immediately tell you what it can be and what it simply can't. do that and report back the results. also, if you have a photo of the ink dropping out, that would be helpful. did you possibly get frustrated with all the cartridge issues and slam a cartridge into the machine bending the piercing needle? just asking.... i prefer to kick trash cans across the studio.

 

[chrisx28]

Ya I have been known to kick a few cans myself but no Art this wasn't and still isn't a frustrating process, I am learning here and as long as I am learning I am ok. My machine is not for profit so I'm not losing money, if I was than yes shit would be flying everywhere! I noticed you spend a great deal of time on the forums helping, thank you for that. when I get a little more wise on this I will do the same. Art your instructions were geared at someone who understands the terminology a bit better than me, if you have a few links or wouldn't mind explaining the process in a idiot proof manner that would be great! I refuse to hire a tek, I will learn on my own or at least with some guidance and I am pretty fast on my feet but I just do not understand what you want me to do. If you are busy I understand...

Thanks Again
Chris

 

[artbot]

okay.... when ink drops out, it is discussed as starvation. your print head isn't clogged, there is just this lack of flow. the flow of ink depends on two things, supply and vacuum. the supply side is a siphon. in your printer the ink is balanced on a very delicate siphon (toward the print heads). if restricted just slightly by a clogged damper or ink line, the color will drop out. if the ink line lets air into the tube, this disturbs the prime of the siphon. on the vacuum side the printer pulls the ink toward the head, frequently refreshing the siphon. if the vacuum side is clogged or the pumps aren't working very well, you will have heads without the ink fully ready at the very bottom edge to eject the ink drops.

damper swaps are for isolating this issue to either be above (supply) or below (vacuum) of course the head is in the middle. if you have a color that drops out, actually cross the damper lines. don't take a damper off one ink line, etc. unplug the bad damper still connected to the ink line and put it on a color position that is printing fine. if it suddenly starts printing magenta ink at the yellow position, than you know it has good supply. otherwise it would drop out where ever it is plugged. therefore your cap, or cap tube going to the pump, or pump isn't priming the magenta very well. after this if you suspect bad vacuum, you can swap cap tops (not on all printers), and also swap pump tube lines to further trace if something works or doesn't, without guessing and throwing parts at a machine that rarely breaks but often clogs.

hope this makes sense, i'm fried from a long day of designing stuff.

 

[Compilla]

Deal is that I have 3 sets of cartridges and all of them started giving me errors 1/2 way to 1/4 of a way through that they were near empty.
Thanks Again
Chris

A new MSA could be the answer...


" A pump actually pulls ink through the head during filling and cleaning cycles by creating a vacuum between the bottom of the head and the capping station seal. Failure to keep the bottom of the head clean and the seal clean and in good condition will limit the ability to pull ink through the head. This may result in nozzles NOT being cleaned properly and will affect the volume of ink values being writting to the smart cards on carded cartridges.
The smart cart counts the number of pump cycles (and number of nozzle firings) to estimate the amount of ink used. It write this information to the smart cart to record the amount of ink remaining in the cartridge."

 

[chrisx28]

Well Artbot I just swapped the Y and C dampers and I and getting this weird error code. The printer starts and than head moves to the left a wee bit than the error pops up and says E068Err CR Encoder and the lights just flash. Any ideas what is going on now? I cannot do a print to see if I can get M or not because it wont allow me to do anything at all once the error message comes up...

Thanks
Chris

 

[artbot]

you must have bumped a data cable while pulling a damper. the printer can't recognize what damper is where. turn off your machine, turn it off from the back, unplug it, and then hit the front switch four times. at the point the printer is empty of latent static charge. then make sure you data cables are seated properly. and remember beware of accidentally dripping ink onto the heads. the first day i had this printer, i broke a head adapter nipple, leaked white ink all over the fourth head and fried it.

 

[ProWraps]

you must have bumped a data cable while pulling a damper. the printer can't recognize what damper is where. turn off your machine, turn it off from the back, unplug it, and then hit the front switch four times. at the point the printer is empty of latent static charge. then make sure you data cables are seated properly. and remember beware of accidentally dripping ink onto the heads. the first day i had this printer, i broke a head adapter nipple, leaked white ink all over the fourth head and fried it.

whaaaa? white ink? fourth head?

i hate to say, but i think you are being fed some advice that although may seem sound, may not be in your best interest to try to do yourself. you can quickly find your printers warranty void if it still exists, or you can fry something that will cost you some serious bucks.

 

[chrisx28]

Art if you arent busy I will pay you to give me some phone support!

 

[chrisx28]

Artbot did what you said and all cables look fine.

 

[chrisx28]

Error was a data strip on the back right in needed pulled forward a bit, Now to get that M flowing again.

 

[chrisx28]

Error was a data strip on the back right in needed pulled forward a bit, Now to get that M flowing again.

 

[artbot]

@prowraps, i was just discussing what i did to my own machine... it has four heads, one being dedicated to white and or clear varnish.

 

[chrisx28]

Ok I switched the Damper M to Y and vice versa than did a ink charge and no ink is pulling into the lines at all. I tried 1 Strong Cleaning and 2 charges and for sure none of the lines are pulling ink. I took the station out and poured cleaning fluid in it and it drained through the tubes I also shot some into the 2 tubes that it connects to and watched in dripping into waste tank. Baffled!

 

[artbot]

just because the lines are clear and you can pour ink straight through is good. that means you don't have a nasty clog. but it doesn't prove that you don't have a bad air leak, or restriction on the supply, or a flat spot on the pump tube going through the pump, the list goes on and on. to eliminate the supply question. with your printer, if you fill the caps without clamping the pump lines does it hold fluid? some do some don't. if your cap holds fluid, fill it with solution (or ink... ink is easier to see through the walls of the pump lines) and run a soft clean. observe your pump lines and see if the fluid in the caps gets pulled to the waste line or at least through the pump. this will prove if you got pumping power regardless of supply, because you've provided fluid after the point of supply, it eliminates the supply even the need for vacuum at the cap/print head interface.

also, you can take the pump tube off the bottom of the cap and pressurize the pumping system with a syringe full of solution or ink and see if you get some leaking, that would be an air leak that is destroying the pumps ability to pull... or still this printer has been down a while and you heads could be supplying the drag because they are now clogged, not that they caused the issue in the first place, but... the printers can get worse as they sit while be diagnosed....

you really have to divide and conquer here. isolate and eliminate, eventually it will be some silly little thing that show up and boom printing again.

 

[chrisx28]

Switched out the MAINTENANCE ASSEMBLY and I am back up and rolling, perfect nozzle check! Thanks to all of you for your help, I learned a ton in the past week.