Cyan cap has air leak

[MikePro]

longstory short, cyan test print was gradually decreasing to no print at all. Initial assumption was either a clog or an air bubble in the line. flushed everything out, did multiple fillupink, and even pulled a LOT of ink through the line with a syringe to make sure I wasn't missing any bubbles.
Afterwards, the test print came out nearly perfect except the left channel was missing 4 entire grids at the top AND bottom.

pulled a syringe from just above the pump and I can hear the distinct "hissing" noise that would lead me to believe that the capping station isn't holding a seal. PITA since I just installed a NEW cap for the cyan just 2 months ago and everything was working fine until just now.

any ideas on how to fix without replacement parts? Would really like to not be down during shipping and I also can no longer find the individual capping station pieces from my normal suppliers, only the entire capping station.
also, if i were to install an entirely new capping station... is it as simple as plug&play or is there fine tweaking necessary?

 

[Redz Signs Inc.]

mimaki sells there new capping station with built in hooks to keep the metal grid from poping out i paid 175.00 shipped . very simple to install. i have my old capping station witch is still fine if you want it i can ship it to you overnight i totaly cleaned it so all u need is to hook up the hoses and go. the capping station i have is im great condition.

 

[artbot]

you can also buy the cap tops separately with the little hold downs.

that said, i betting you springs are getting a bit weak. take the cyan capping station apart and pull your cyan spring out a bit maybe 1/4" beyond when it tightens to lenghthen the spring. i had to do this after i chased an air leak foreeeeever. i'd also make sure your capping station position is just right there's a bunch of adjustments, wiper, approach, flash, parked...??? i forget.

 

[MikePro]

i'll give it a go with the springs, that sounds like an easy fix to try before going with the alternative.
I still have to keep my printer running, and luckily my 300' of print only requires a 96% M/Y that had a +7% C for the watermark. Doing a color replacement for K 4% instead of the cyan and it looks pretty darn close. Gonna just run with it and take my printer back apart afterwards.

(just hoping that air leak/lack of ink refresh for the next 24hrs doesn't kill my printhead)

Anyone besides ebon sell the individual caps? I've also noticed that everyone's now selling the black wipers without the clipmounts for more than i'm used to paying for the old standard white ones with clips.

 

[MikePro]

tried elongating the springs, and no improvement. still running on 3 heads at the moment, but i'm placing an order for a new pump and should be looking forward to getting covered in more ink very soon.

I'm hoping this will be the fix, but will also be installing new cap tops + dampers just in case.

 

[MikePro]

still yet to throw new parts into the machine, since technically I don't know what my issue really is...
further into detail with current situation:
took apart everything below the printhead. flushed the pumps, cleaned capping station, made sure all connections are tight upon reinstallation. Still leaking air.

After a long nozzle wash, I noticed that the air leak in the cyan is diminishing while pulling a syringe from the waste bottle. I'm now able to draw staggered beads of ink and the hissing noise is now almost gone! BUT the odd thing is, when left to draw ink on its own... the cyan pump draws nothing UNLESS I tug a bit on the line and some of the line threads through the pump. After I pulled about 1" of line while the pump is engaging (all the while the other 3 colors are pulling bursts of ink through their respective lines) I see a couple of blobs of ink trickle through the cyan and into the waste bottle! ...but it does not continue to draw if left alone during a cleaning cycle.

so maybe my issue now lies within my pump?
is there special care needed for threading a waste line through the pump to make sure it engages properly? should it be stretched/pulled tight or am I supposed to cram a bit of slack into the mechanism to accept the pumping cycle?

 

[MikePro]

air leak returns!
test print comes out great after pulling with a syringe, but still hearing hissing noise (again). repeated test prints confirms that head is not refreshing.
pushed cleaning solution up through the waste line to see if I can spot where the fluid comes out at the capping station, and it appears that it might be coming out above the head!

half the cyan ink from one of the dampers has disappeared, as well...
cracked manifold, possibly?

i've seen manifolds sold seperately from printheads... does this mean they can be swapped out? Thinking about taking apart an old one of mine and swapping it out... not looking forward to it but I'm running out of options.

 

[artbot]

hey mikepro! first off drink a beer. then go to autozone and buy an automotive stethoscope. you need to pin point the hiss to it's exact location. they only cost $9 and are a must.

as far a eliminating the pumps, just to a pump tube swap and see if the issue migrates. as for the manifold, i recently had an invisible fracture in my cyan and it had me guessing for an entire two days. it looked perfect. i could hear the leak right at the manifold's top with the stethoscope but kept blaming anything but the manifold. when i got suspicious is i placed a syringe with solution on the nipple and the little mote filled slowly with solution. i thought "that's not right". switched out the manifold and i was done. two days down, ten minute repair.

if it's the manifold, just get an old manifold, flush it really good and replace. but i'd still go about hearing exactly where the leak is.

 

[MikePro]

just swapped the damper positions to eliminate a possible bad seal, and suddenly i'm printing fine! sending out fields of 100% cyan to see if it drops out but for the moment i'm suspiciously pleased.
still watching the drainage lines as the capping station refreshes the ink, and all lines but the cyan are still pulling ink/draining per usual. air leak must still be there, but at the moment my siphon must be just enough to keep the head refreshed on its own!
temporarily out of trouble, but i know the demon will resurface soon... will look into that stethoscope, as I definately don't want to pull a head unless absolutely necessary.

 

[artbot]

you'll be amazed at how essential the stethoscope is for diagnosis. for the longest time i would hold a 1/2" poly tube to my ear (if you have a tube laying around..?). with that alone you could hear exactly where the leak is at. when you zoom in on the exact spot it's about 20x louder then when a 1/4" away. there's no debating where the leak is coming from.