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Blocked Blue and Yellow heads on the JV3 250sp

badouali

New Member
Hi everyone. I did a test print and the blue and yellow heads are not showing anything. I checked the pumps and also did a strong clean but the results are the same. I recently got the machine but it took two months to arrive to me by ship. Do you think that the heads are really clogged and if so what is the best solution to unblock them.Thanks.
 

artbot

New Member
first, what ink set, double cmyk? also, is there ink in the caps (does it look wet or dry), is it very wet under the removable caps, if you fill the caps with solution and run a soft clean, does the cleaning solution disappear?
when you say you checked the pumps, what did you do to check them?

if you are running CMYKlmlcSS, swap the black/magenta pump/cap line with the cyan/yellow pump/cap line and run a soft clean and see if it starts pulling cyan and yellow. if so your pump lines are clogged.
 

badouali

New Member
I am running double CMYK and the inks are SS2 OEM.The red and black caps had ink in them but the blue and yellow where very dry. I then opened the covers and realised that the inks where not flowing at all in the blue and yellow tubes.I changed the blue and yellow pump with a brand new one. I then opened up the head cover and suck the inks untill they came up to the dampers. I then pushed through some cleaning solution in the blue and yellow caps. But what i now think is that the heads are really clogged. Is there any other thing i need to do. I had the printer shipped to me since April and it took two months to arrive. It was second hand but before i bought it, they did some prints on it and it was perfect.
 

artbot

New Member
when you pour cleaning solution into the cyan and yellow caps does the solution quickly fall away or does it fill and sit there? also, when you were pulling ink into the dampers, did it seems to have some resistance and did the membrane on the damper relax?

i guess you already did a head soak for a while? (filling the caps with fluid to wet the heads)

first i'd divide and conquer. you know you've got good unclogged sealed pumping on the black and magenta. unplug the two magenta dampers and the two cyan dampers, without changing anything, swap their positions so that the magenta cap is pulling cyan ink and vice versa. do a soft clean. if the cyan flows, you probably have clogged caps (right under the cap) or an air leak at the union the pump, or bad caps... etc. if it doesn't i'd do a head soak periodically checking and pulling ink from the cap tube with a syringe.
 

badouali

New Member
I changed 5 dampers and replaced them with new ones cos they where kinda blocked.I changed the yellow and blue dampers and one of the black. I have not soaks the heads. I think that is what i will do tomorrow. In regards to the caps, when i poured the solution in them, it quickly goes into the pipes and some are left in the caps. But i will try the solution you are saying tomorrow too. I cant wait for this plotter to work. You are very helpful and may God Bless you.
 

artbot

New Member
if the solution is dropping down into the system, to do a good solid head soak, i'd pull the union that connects the caps to the pump. force cleaning solution down through the pumps so that they don't gum up over night. then block the bottom of the cap tube and fill. you want that solution in contact with the base of the head. and you won't get that otherwise. i once heard that there is some way to set the pumps in blocked position... i don't know how to do that.
 

badouali

New Member
Thanks for the advise. I will do all that tomorrow and let you know the outcome. You have been a miracle.Am all the way in Africa and do not have any Mimaki dealer around. So am just going by the Maintainance Manual and advice am getting from people like you.
 

artbot

New Member
no problem, tomorrow there will be a lot of very knowledgeable mimaki owners on this board.
 

badouali

New Member
Hi its me again. Just to update you on what i did today. I got a friend of mine who has a Roland and his system is very similar to the JV3 250sp. We took the heads apart and noticed that the blue and yellow where really blocked and dirty. We then cleaned it properly and drained it with cleaning solution. We then replace them and also checked the pumps and all was working well. But we fixed everything back and did two strong cleans and ink fill, I did another test print and noticed that still the blue and yellow is not showing. Do you think the heads have problem or the cables because i dont think the ink flow system is faulty cos now all the caps now have ink. Please help
 
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