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Question Captop problem?

timstudio

New Member
After changing the black/cyan printhead (SP300i), the captops, dampers, the pump, and the wipers I get sometimes missing nozzles, and after a cleaning, I get a nozzle check that seems like cross contamination.
I also notice that with the aftermarket wipers (all rubber, no felt) the front of the heads is dirty once the wipers have wiped (I clean the head manually, than the wiper puts a new fresh layer of ink on the front.

Any ideas what is wrong? just to be sure I ordered new captops/wipers because I have non in spare.

When printing, it actually prints fine. It's just that i'm not used to the machine being so messy. It wasn't before. Ink is Ecosol Max.

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Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Make sure you got the wipers in the right orientation. If you put them in backwards they don't make good contact with the head surface. Sounds like ink is being left behind which would cause the contamination. Also, take your waste bottle off and hold it under the waste tube and run a cleaning to verify ink is flowing during cleaning cycles.
 

damonCA21

New Member
If you move the head out of the way and turn the machine off, fill each captop with cleaning fluid, then turn the pump manually by hand and make sure the cleaning solution is sucked out of the captap fully and evenly on both sides. If the lines to the pump get clogged at all, or the y-piece where they join together this can leave too much ink ink the captop after cleaning, and it will soak onto the other head giving the kind of test prints you are seeing
 

timstudio

New Member
Not sure if all oem, but order all parts from Digiprint supplies. I washed all lines from Y splitter to waiste bottle (captops had new lines.)
I do find the wipers a bit strange. The top is at an angle. I think I got them installed correct (bit with cutout to the right.)

They also seem to collect a lot more of inkt after each wipe in comparison to the felt ones I had previous.

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damonCA21

New Member
Yes the tops should be at an angle, that is how they work as it pushes the ink off more effectively than if they were just straight.

Have you also cleaned the wiper plastic blade and the inside of the metal cover that covers over the wipers? These can build up ink on them as well.

If your lines are clear I would look at the pump being faulty as for some reason the ink sucked out when cleaning isn't draining properly from the captops ( check as well the hoses to them are still attached, and not kinked at all ). When ink sits in the captop it will soak back into the heads. It soaks in fairly equally but the two darker colours ( black and magenta ) as more apparent the next time it does a test print. When the printer is running this will clear itself so the print itself is often fine.
Just to check as well you have emptied the waste bottle as a full bottle will stop them draining as well.
 

damonCA21

New Member
Do the manual test with the cleaning solution first as I suggested. Without moving the pump it should sit in the captop, and only get sucked out when you turn the pump by hand.This will let you know what the next thing to look at is
 

timstudio

New Member
All the above was checked before (and again this morning. Cleaned everything again, and finally went for the flushing adjust (cap station height on other machines.) Looks like that did the trick (fingers crossed.)

As far as I could tell, it needed lowering a few steps.
 
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