1614 Questions

[westpointsigns]

I'm considering purchasing a used 64" 1614 locally that's about 4-1/2 years old.
Everything on it is original.

Just wondering if there is any common problems that occur with a unit of this age? (Heaters, Motors, Cables, Dampers, Capping Station)

How much life would be left in the printhead? (They say it hasn't been used very much) and it currently prints flawlessly.

Is there any way to be able to tell how many hours the printer has been used?

Are there any tell tale signs that it is going to be needing work done on it?

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[CS-SignSupply-TT]

Stealth Ryder here on signs101 is a GREAT! resource for all things Mutoh. He will be able to help you shake down that 1614 and determine IF it is a good investment. Keep us posted.

 

[FatCat]

The 1600 series from Mutoh is pretty solid overall and built much more robustly than the 1200 or 1300 series. I would look at the head, maintenance station and gantry system (making sure the head unit slides back and forth with no binding or squeeky wheel bearings.) Make sure you run lots of test prints, testing some long solid runs and also detail stuff with thin type and lines. That should tell you if everything is working OK.

After that, I think you could only guess if any of the sensors or motors would go out (fairly easy to fix) or electronic boards (more expensive and difficult). Like anything electrical, pretty much a crap shoot, but if it looks well taken care of and is overall clean and doesn't look like it's been abused it should be fine.

*BTW - yes, I agree Stealth Ryder is the "Man" that knows these ValueJets.

 

[Jeff South Florida]

If she is original from 4.5 years, there are many things that probably need replacing. First would be the maint. station. This ususally lasts 3 years when properly maintained. After that would be dampers. I would try to have a Mutoh tech do an assesment of the machine. They can go into diagnostics and get an idea of the usage. On the user side of the front panel, you can go in and check the lifetimes of most replacement parts (pf motor,cr motor, head, pump, and so on)

 

[jkdbjj]

Start with the simple nozzle check. If any of the lines are missing, that needs to be addressed. It could be pointing to aging head, or vacuum issues which point to the pump or maintenance station.
If the nozzle check is good, run some solid colors. What you are looking for is uniform color. If it is off, some basic calibration will be needed, and if you don't know how to do that, demand it be done before you buy it.
Other than that, I would also, run a strong clean on it, and watch carefully the tube behind the front left door. What you are looking for is that the waste ink is going down the tubes into the waste bucket. You will only see a little bit draining, but if none is visible it means again there is a clog, or the pump is not working correctly.

 

[westpointsigns]

Thanks everyone for the good advice.