Check this out: VJ1204 Nozzles Stuck "ON" - NEED HELP

[victor.sjakovs]

Has anyone ever seen this before?

Check out the attached picture. The nozzles are stuck ON.

Things that have been done so far.
1. Head verified clean and clog free.
2. Both head cables replaced
3. There are no errors on printer
4. Maintenance Station works great. No leak issues or pump issues.
6. This printer has not has a lot of use either. Maintenance has been up kept though. Always left powered on and auto cleanings scheduled.

The printer will print lines passed the media too... In the middle attachment you can see where that happens... The last picture shows me attempting to print a simple 4 colored print. 4 rectangles 1x10 inche each. Each one colored different (yellow, black, red, blue). As you can see in the last attachment the 4 blocks are faintly there... but they are smothered but the black and blue nozzles

ANY IDEAS!? Ive been working on this for over a month. Here on the west side of North Dakota I dont have anyone to come service it...

LASTLY, DOES ANYONE HAVE A SERVICE MANUAL I CAN HAVE??

 

[victor.sjakovs]

Just tried a palette test print... Same result with the nozzles staying open.

 

[heyskull]

I do not want to be the bearer of bad news, but that looks like a faulty print head!
I would maybe change the head cable again for an original item.
But if this does not clear it I am afraid this is what's wrong with it (in my opinion)!
Probably this has been caused by the lack of use as these printers work a lot better and have less issues if they are used a lot.

SC

 

[Umca]

This problem can be caused by poor contact on long flat cable connector. On mainboard or carriage board.
Try to reconnect cables.

 

[victor.sjakovs]

heyskull, why do you think its the print head? Have you seen this before?
Umca, that is what I plan to replace next... The CR to Mainboard cable. Then CR Board. After that, Im left with the expensive stuff.


Well I got a hold of a service manual.
I will be ordering one part at a time but the order of troubleshooting goes as follow:
1.Check CR Board cable leading to the Head. Replace Cable. $45
2.Mainboard to CR cable could be faulty. Replace. Parts $90
3.Is the print head damaged? Never physically damaged or anything. And the print actually shows up just smothered in open nozzle ink. Parts $1600
4.CR Board assembly could be acting up. Replace. Parts $120
5.Main Board could be faulty. Replace. $1500

Total Cost to replace all the parts without labor and shipping $3355 (prices are all from one site)



**Now I'm just waiting on the Head Cables to come in.**

 

[victor.sjakovs]

Ok. So I unplugged and re-plugged the Long cable from the main board to the CR board. The results are now that ALL the nozzles stayed open during a "nozzle check". Interesting.

 

[tbaker]

in my experience, I've found that this can be caused by a couple things.

1) dirty encoder, clean with isopropyl alcohol, bit the strip and the encidervread head.
2) faulty encoder, if some attempted to clean with a harsh chemical it can lead to corrupted data getting through to the head.
3) bad data cable. The flat ribbon cable from the carriage to the mainboard can develop a break which will cause that.
4) faulty connection to the heads, if the ribbon cable isn't square it can cause a short causing that issue.
4) bad head, yes, one bad head can cause that, disconnect each to see if one is affecting the rest.
5) fried main, it happens, if you have crappy power subject to spikes, it's more likely.

 

[knabbie]

We had this issue on a 2606 we went through all the same things you did,
we found it to be the carriage motor was arcing and causing the head to drop ink.

 

[E Coloney]

Nozzles "stuck on"

I've had the exact same thing happen on my ROLAND XC-540. I was at fault. I don't know if ROLAND makes the MUTOH VJ1204 or major parts for it but it sure looks like the same performance/problem.

So,

Background:
I had changed a print head following the procedure in the manual. You can probably buy one (a download) at www.sign-in-china.com
Following the procedure for XC-540, I used up a LOT of ink and cost a few hundred dollars in wasted ink.
The next time I changed a print head, I figured I'd save some money and employed a different procedure to move unlock/move the print carriage but shot myself in the foot.

There is a step where you to pull the flat ribbon wire from the head (before removing the head) but there is a warning AFTER that step that says be sure the LED on the print carriage is NOT illuminated. In my opinion, the warning should come first and it should have an "OR ELSE" this will happen. The OR ELSE is that it will trash the circuit board on the print carriage. It would also help if the manual said WHERE TO LOOK for the LED because it is not easy to see it unless you're sitting on a chair while performing the head change. I'll tell you: the LED (on my ROLAND) is on the TOP of the print carriage on the circuit board that gets trashed. It's safe to turn off ALL POWER before yanking the ribbon cable and that's what I'll do the next time I change a head.

So, when you pulled and reset the flat ribbon cables to the other print heads, it caused further damage to the circuit board but that's OK because it was going to need replacement after the first one (as evidenced by the streak that the print head lays down).

Fortunately, the (ROLAND) printed circuit board is not terribly expensive and it's pretty easy to change. You can check with sign-in-china. It currently shows only US $90.69 + shipping (for my XC-540). Your mileage may vary.

Changing it was quite easy and I achieved 100% satisfaction after doing it. I expect yours will be similar.

BTW, I'm just south of Atlanta. It's about a 65 mile drive for a technician to come change a print head which he's done several times. They're now up to US $1050/head + a couple of hundred bucks for driving time + labor. Sign-In-China has them for (ROLAND) for under US $600 + shipping. I've now changed 2 of them, myself. But your problem is NOT a bad print head. It's likely the circuit board on the print carriage, as described above.

Sign-In-China has some photos of various parts. Have a look at yours and see if the pictures match up before buying one. They also respond quite well to inquiries.

Cheers!

 

[GTSTech_1]

I have fought this issue a few times over the past 7 years, usually it ends up being the head cable not seated properly. Once it was the order of the CR cables to the mainboard, with all the folds that are needed, the order can become wrong. Does it happen when you send a print file or only within internal prints?
Once I had this issue only when sending print jobs from Flexi, I replaced all the boards,cables and printhead to no avail, after 4 days onsite, I discovered the customer had checked a box that said "Normalize color space when rendering a PDF". Unchecked the box and the problem went away. On a side note, I have yet to get anyone at Flexi to tell me what that option actually does (only 1 guy even knew what I was talking about), had the entire SAI staff scratching their heads at S.G.I.A., including Mark Rugen.

 

[victor.sjakovs]

Hello again. I got my cables in finally. But now there is something new... Here is the step by step.


First, I replaced the head cables for the second time now. Following the wiring diagram to insure the wiring is going into the correct destination. J204 to J1 & J205 to J2
Turned the machine on. It booted like normal operation. Then I sized the media.
At this point i'm ready for a nozzle check. I hold the 2 second nozzle check and then the head starts to leave the maintenance station and then it goes quite...
I look at the panel. Its blank. internal fans turned off and all that remains on the screen are 10 faint boxes on the LCD starting from the left...


I was surprised with this new development. So I thought I might as well replace the long run of cables from the main board to the CR board.
Again I followed the wiring diagram to insure a correct connection. J11 to J201 and so forth...




Got it all back together... Same result.


I checked main board Fuses (Tiny rice fuses) All good there. Fuses are good on the AC end too. Im getting 120 to the power board.
Looking at the service manual it says to check the DC voltage (5v and 24v) but doesn't specify where to check it. I


I see CN301 on the power board is our DC circuits leaving to the main board. But there is not a pin-out or anything to tell you what wire is what...


Hopefully this email makes sense. I couldnt believe that all the sudden the panel went out or the ribbon leading from the main board to the panel... Did my main board take a crap on me? Do you know of a way to verify that the power board is functional??
Any input is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[victor.sjakovs]

Missing Finger

I am going on a month and a half working on this... lol. Good times. Just delays in getting parts.... Not only have I been waiting on parts but I also lost a part on hand over new years!




Working on the printer has officially become a little more difficult. The whole pinky area is broken.. got a couple screws and two pins... Tip of the middle finger is broken too... i'm resilient thought! Just working through it!

 

[victor.sjakovs]

Do you know the pin-out to the power wires from power board to main?

looking for pin-out on the bundle of wires running from power board to the main board? from power board is CN301 to Mainboard J1


Need a way to determine whether the powerboard is good.

 

[victor.sjakovs]

Newest and latest. So I came in again this morning to take a second look at the printer. I decided at this point to investigate the power board... With a meter I checked the AC leads from the power board and was getting voltage throughout. I unplugged the printer and let it sit for about 10 minutes. I unplugged the DC cable assembly from the Mainboard [J1]... I was going to inspect it but just decided to plug it back in.


At this point, I decided to try to turn the printer on again. So I plugged it in and hit the power button. This time it powers on!!?? But, upon startup I am getting a new error. E75 Head Cable.


You mentioned not to spend too much time on the cables after replacing them...


So the long run of cables from the main board to the CR board have been replaced and brand new cables from the CR board to head. All connections marked and verified with wiring diagram. Looking at the service manual, after attempting to replace head cables to replace the head due to a possibly faulty thermistor.


Thoughts?

 

[lucasdowden]

Did you ever figure out the problem with this?