So I am STILL working on getting this machine (VS-640) up and running. Day after day I run into a new issue once one problem is fixed it's on to another. They all seem to stem from the original problem with color drop out. The machine has been sitting for about a month due to a broken tab on the cap carriage (the head was not capping properly due to this; it was off-set). I had it capped manually but couldn't leave it plugged in due to the broken tab. So I got the tab fixed and when I fire it up I have some drop out on some channels while some others are just fine. Do a head clean and things get worse. Powerful cleaning causes even some of my good channels to loose a significant amount of dots. My magenta that was printing about 60% drops completely off. And most of the other colors show a 10-50% loss after cleaning. Caps and dampers have been replaced about 5 times so that shouldn't be the issue. Can the pump be bad? It's pumping but during a heavy clean it isn't putting much ink into the bottle like I remember it used to. Open to suggestions.
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Dropout gets worse after cleaning
- Thread starter IsItFasst
- Start date
during a powerful clean if everything is working right it should be spurting ink into the waste bottle like a cow being milked. pumps tend not to break, but the lines going into them, or into the waste bottle can get clogged or pinched shut.
With these heads, when they have all the nozzles firing, they tend to stay that way, but when they drop it's troublesome to get them back. A choke cleaning in service mode is a good tool for re-priming a head.
With these heads, when they have all the nozzles firing, they tend to stay that way, but when they drop it's troublesome to get them back. A choke cleaning in service mode is a good tool for re-priming a head.
I think the cap or lines were clogged somewhat as I replaced the lines from the cap to the pump and let some cleaning fluid sit in the cap and it started working fine. Did several prints without issue yesterday. But of coarse that worked for one day until two more errors popped up when I came into my office today. This is absolutely ridiculous.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but have you tried firmware update?
Problems now aren't ink related so all is good on that note. All was printing very nicely when it worked yesterday. Linear encoder error and thermistor error now so I can't even attempt to print. Will try and see what firmware it is running but it should've been updated from the place I bought it (who knows though considering the is the biggest POS of anything I have ever bought in my life).
No, it's not new. I bought it used from Ordaway signs supply last September. Was supposed to be fully refurbished and ready to go. Did a few square feet of prints on it and then yellow started dropping out. Figured that was an easy fix of replacing a damper but that opened a whole can of worms. Now it's almost June and I have only printed about 10 decals with it (yesterday) and back to more issues.
Have you called them? Usually refurb have a warranty
Just did a firmware update with same temp issue appearing when turning it on. I read that was an issue with old firmware so was hopeful but no luck.
They didn't seem interested in helping me out even if I paid for parts from them. They used to be my number one supplier for Roland stuff but obviously quit buying stuff from them after this ordeal.
Essentially I set it up a few weeks after I got it (was too busy in September to mess with it). So since October, all that has been ran through it was essentially test prints every few weeks since as soon as I start printing, some new issue pops up. I have fixed about 25 problems over these months (not an exaggeration) with one after another popping up as soon as one is fixed. It's not like it's been sitting this whole time and I just turned it on.....it printed fine yesterday. The print/cut was off quite a bit but I adjusted and it printed perfectly on the second run. Yay!...I made $100 on a about a $20k investment!
phototec
New Member
What is a A choke cleaning, I have never heard of that before, can you elaborate please?
Jester1167
Premium Subscriber
When you do a cleaning an lose more nozzles it's usually a clogged damper/ink starvation. The dampers have a screen in them to keep large particles from reaching the print head. When you clean the head the inks are sucked through the dampers and print head faster than normal agitating the sediment at the bottom of the damper. The sediment then clogs the screen in the damper. If you wait awhile they will get better but they will drop out again under heavy sustained printing. Dampers are cheap in the grand scheme of things and user replaceable. Good place to start.